Back in 2011, few cannabis investors were expecting the sector to mature into a $12 billion industry in just eight years.
Even Cassandra Farrington, co-founder and chief executive of Marijuana Business Daily, or MJBizDaily, admits she was taken aback by the pace of growth that has helped elevate her news site and conference business, MJBizCon, into a key service for those navigating this new legal sector.
This year she expects more than 35,000 people from all over the world, including Canada, which fully legalized cannabis last October, to converge at her industry-shaping Las Vegas event in December. Attendance has surged from about 400 in 2012, her first year for the conference, which is widely considered to be the biggest gathering of cannabis professionals globally.
Farrington was a former Citigroup vice president who had left her job to become a B-2-B media professional, and by 2011 had launched two sites with a silent partner aimed at targeted audience segments. It was only when she began to notice the proliferation of medical cannabis dispensaries in Boulder as part of Colorado’s medical program that she got the idea to move into the space.