One of the first things Anne Holland and Cassandra Farrington of Marijuana Business Daily did in their new venture was conduct a survey of businesses in the field—their audience. What did people really want from an information company?

I attended the Annapolis (Md.) Film Festival over the weekend and besides the impressive films—I still recall Itzhak Perlman talking about not making live events feel too rehearsed in a documentary about his extraordinary life—I was really impressed by their survey method.

I just received a suggestion for a session at SIPA Annual 2018 called Content Is Now Everyone's Business. How true.

"We believe in a purpose-led company," said Anne Holland, president, Anne Holland Ventures, describing her initial thought in a stirring, opening keynote address this morning at the 41st SIPA Annual 2017 Conference here in Washington, D.C. "We wanted to be in business to help people—kind of a cataclysm of the conscience. Companies that have a purpose also tend to be more profitable. People stick with them."

"We have a specific way of putting together our events, a branding way we do it," Anne Holland, co-founder of Anne Holland Ventures Inc., told me a couple weeks ago. She and co-founder Cassandra Farrington—they both also run Marijuana Business Daily (MBD)—will be keynote speakers at the SIPA 2017 Annual Conference, June 5-7, in Washington, D.C.

Marijuana Business Daily, a division of Anne Holland Ventures Inc., debuted at #302 on Inc.'s fastest-growing private companies in America list last year. It also ranks #4 in the category of "Top Media Companies" on the list and #11 in "Top Colorado Companies." Founded in 2011, MBD has posted a 3-year growth of 1,288.2%—that's no mistake—reaching $7 million in revenue in 2015. Their fall and spring conferences appeared on Trade Show Executive's Fastest [Growing] 50 list in more than one category.