WeGrow App Interview
Cannabis.net talks to Mason Levy, founder and CEO of the WeGrow App, an interactive app using chat-bot technology to help you grow cannabis right at home. The app has everything you need to help you monitor your plant’s growth, and has a feature similar to Siri where users can chat and ask questions about cannabis plant growth.
Based on an April press release, Levy says, “To date, WeGrow has had 8,200 downloads and has completed over 20,000 conversations: 97% of users want to grow cannabis in their homes, 65% of these users indicated they have faced frustration on how to get started.”
The app is Levy’s answer to the complex process of learning how to grow your own medicine right at home, simplifying it wiuth educational modules instead of having to search online and reading from hundreds of different feedback from growers.
1. WeGrow app is a handy tool for anyone who wants to grow their own medicine. In your experience, what aspects of growing confuse people the most?
Growing cannabis to maximize yields is a grower’s ultimate goal. We have found that Harvest, drying techniques and curing confuse the novice grower and often stymie even the more experienced growers.
For Indoor Growing - we find that our growers are confused as to the setup - for example, what size and type of light to use during the different grow phases. As well, ventilation, a key element to ensuring a healthy grow, can be a confusing element. For more experienced growers, topics such as training plants for an even canopy can be a difficult topic to master.
2. It’s interesting that you have AI in the form of Elle, the chat bot that answers users' questions. What are the most common questions that Elle receives today?
A majority of the people who meet Elle, our GrowBot™, want help setting up their first grow space. And they are curious as to how much time and money it will take to successfully harvest their first crop. She is a people-friendly garden assistant for the modern gardener and answers a lot of questions surrounding plant biology and growing techniques.
3. Where else do you see the use of AI in the cannabis industry?
Everywhere. Technology is disrupting every imaginable market. Cannabis will be no different.
The cannabis industry is unique and exciting because we have an opportunity to do something truly special. Be built on the back of the technology revolution, not the industrial revolution.
4. Can you tell us more about the milestone-based engagement engine used by the app?
Our technology allows us to engage and teach in context to someone’s skill level, past pain points, and learning preferences. Elle, our Growbot™ will provide images, videos, and push notifications to guide the grower through each step of the growing process.
We mark the big milestones in a plant’s lifecycle and provide our growers information critical to the plant’s development - when they need it. We make it easy to get set up and continue to present educational material and purchase opportunities throughout the grow process. For example, as a user who is getting close to harvesting - we teach them about how to identify a plant’s peak harvest by looking at trichomes through a magnifying glass.
5. What features do you intend to add in the future?
We are building a powerful conversational education platform that will be accessible from SMS, FB Messenger, & Siri.
Currently we offer a hydroponic module, but will be launching soil and soilless modules in Summer 2017. As well integrating more advanced sensor integrations - measuring temperature, humidity, air quality and electrical consumption. And have exciting plans to launch our first service offering, WeGrow Mentors for $8.99/month in the next few months.
6. What other projects are you working on that we can look forward to?
WeGrow believes strongly in building technologies that engage, educate, and empower people. We focus on creating platforms that connect people to increase the collective knowledge surrounding specific topics. Chatbots and conversational interfaces are that technology.
Growing cannabis is just our phase one in the educational arena, we can easily see a move to other verticals such as consumable gardening and smart home automation. We are also working with select partners with domain expertise to build out an eco-system of Education Bots to help empower and educate people on any number of topics.
7. As a startup in the cannabis space, what can you advise others who want to get into tech as a solution for many problems in the industry?
Get started and focus. Build a team with as much passion as you have in your vision.
WeGrow is available at the iTunes App Store and Google Play.
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