A force of nature

The founding partner of new CBD brand NaturalWorks talks to Cannabis Health about an unexpected career change, discovering the power of nature and the importance of doing things ‘properly’.

Trained as an aeronautical engineer, Max Moldaschl could have been designing aeroplanes, but instead he’s engineering another high-flying opportunity, with the launch of his own CBD company.

After taking on the fast-paced world of finance after university, 13 years of high stress levels, and 12 hour days spent staring at screens were starting to take a toll.

Despite some initial scepticism he was persuaded to try CBD and became an instant fan.He was less of a fan, however of what he describes as the ‘Wild West’ marketplace, which had little consistency and a lack of regulation.

This led to a sudden career change and the first product from NaturalWorks, an organic, broad spectrum CBD oil grown, lab-tested and certified by experts in Switzerland is just the beginning of a journey driven by a love of the natural world that stems from growing up in his home country of Austria.

CH: You say you were unsure about CBD at first, what changed?

Max: Over the years I’ve had my share of ups and downs with work-related stress and just over a year ago a friend said, ‘you’ve got to try CBD’. I didn’t know much about the industry then and it sounded too good to be true.

A few months later I gave it a try and became an instant fan.What I like about it is that it sort of takes the edge off, but not in the way a glass of wine does, it’s a natural remedy.

It rebalances you, I sleep better and wake up feeling like I can take on the day better. Also, sitting at screens 12 hours a day, my back is constantly in varying degrees of pain and I found that CBD cream really helped that as well.

What were some of the problems you saw in the industry?

I felt that the marketplace wasn’t very transparent. Up until recently there was no real regulation, so it felt a bit like a Wild West. The pricing structures and labelling wasn’t consistent.

As a consumer I felt very confused and didn’t really know what to trust.

So why did you decide to branch out with your own brand?

The biggest reason we launched the brand is to do this ‘properly’, to educate the consumer on the benefits of CBD, to help them understand the products and ultimately share the many positive experiences you can have with them, while knowing that they’re doing something which is safe and legal.

Of course I’d be lying if I didn’t say that there is also tremendous opportunity here.

You can’t really find many industries which are growing so strongly and being at the infancy of it we have a chance to help shape it, which is another reason why I’m very excited about this career change.

What makes NaturalWorks different to other companies?

What we are trying to achieve is a first-class product, but at an affordable price. We’re in the process of building an online knowledge base – which covers anything from how CBD can help with stress to how to read lab reports – to help consumers navigate their own personal journey with CBD.

We lab test all our products at various stages of production and we are about to launch a batch tracker so people can scan a QR code on every product, which we hope will give consumers confidence in what they’re buying from us.

Why did you go for a Swiss-based product?

When we did our research we just felt that the best ones out there were Swiss-grown. I’m from Austria, a neighbouring country and both have a very strong sense of nature, of being in the mountains, which was the inspiration for the brand.

As a company, what impact do you think the FSA guidelines will have on the industry?

Max: We welcome the novel food regulations. I think it will help bring that transparency which I felt was lacking and will hopefully provide consumers with more confidence in the industry.

We have been lucky to be able to partner with a UK scientific advisory, because to educate people you have to have a backing in proper science and rigorous research.

What else can we expect from NaturalWorks in the future?

We have started working on a mindfulness app which will offer meditation techniques. Our tagline is ‘taking nature’ and a big part of that is finding what CBD can do for you and using it mindfully.

We’re also working on a cafe that will sell fresh juices, coffee and CBD-infused products, which again will be focused on being in touch with nature. Find out more at NaturalWorks.com