In 2015 before I started Tree Tribe, I was all about software and web dev. At the time, I was building a web app to help automate my gig search flow.

It was a pretty cool app, v1.0 was about 60% done in January 2015. Then I got the idea for Tree Tribe and went hardcore down that path.

By March, I realized I hadn’t written a line of code for my app in a few weeks, so I took that as a sign to go down a new path – my first physical product business.

It’s been quite a ride! I’ve made some cool stuff, helped plant over 400,000 trees, and made a lot of great connections with customers, collaborators, and team members all around the world.

The Code Bug

My new side project Speed Boostr has turned into a business to help online stores be more awesome.

What is it?

Speed Boostr makes Shopify websites load faster.

If you don’t know about Shopify this biz will probably not interest you… But you might like the biz model!

Plastic sucks! Well, it’s quite useful but we’ve gotten too dependent on it, and pretty wasteful with single use plastic. Plastic straws, cups, bags, cutlery… all these get used once, then thrown away, which ends up in the ocean or somewhere on Earth to pollute for 100’s or 1000’s of years. Boooooooooo.

The Challenge

Plastic Free July is a monthly challenge to save the world!

JULY 2018 UPDATE: Tree Tribe has planted over 200,000 trees. Woot woot!

Tree Tribe is an outdoor lifestyle brand that plants 10 trees on every sale. We make eco friendly clothing and accessories and have a mission to make a positive impact on the world by promoting nature and spreading positive energy.

Germination

I started Tree Tribe in early 2015 with a goal to create a business that gives back to the Earth. I love ideas and starting companies! At the start, this was much like any other new project of mine – excitement, optimism, and getting in that creative zone that starting a new project gets you in. At the time I didn’t know it would evolve into much more than a side project, I was just taking a crack at creating a cool business.

When the idea struck me for what Tree Tribe would become, it was February 2015, 1 month after I arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand on a 1 way ticket from New York City.