When he thinks about growing up in northeastern Connecticut, Ben Sisko remembers his family’s annual trips to cut down their own Christmas tree. After moving to Washington, D.C., not having a car or a lot of free time made getting his own tree feel like a hassle. But he still missed having one around during the holidays.
“The holiday season, for me, is a good reminder that while work is great and being fulfilled professionally is great, it is a time to center yourself and be reminded that your family and friends are really important,” says Sisko, a strategic partnerships and growth manager for startups. “For a lot of people, a Christmas tree is the embodiment of that.”
This sentiment inspired DC Tree Delivery, which delivers freshly cut Fraser firs from a local farm to city dwellers. After setting it up in a stand, they’ll even vacuum up those pesky pine needles. The WeWork Commons members also offer a removal service.
“I’d been thinking about this idea for a while,” says Sisko. “It’s something I thought I could execute really well with the help of a friend.”
That friend was Koby Arthur, associate community manager at WeWork Wonder Bread Factory, who Sisko met in an entrepreneurship program.
“Ben pitched me the idea, and I was 100 percent on board,” says Arthur. “Ben is very detail-oriented. He’s the kind of guy you trust to make sure everything happens on time, so he’s been handling logistics and business development. I have a good sense of what customers want to see, so I handle marketing and strategy.”
With the team assembled, the friends needed to see if there would be any demand for their product.
“We both knew that when you have an idea, you can talk about it and get really excited, but you have to put it out there into the world,” says Arthur. “We built the website in about one sleepless night. We let our families take the first glance at it, and then immediately after that, Ben and I walked around D.C. and talked to strangers and asked them what they thought about the idea.”
According to Sisko, “It was challenging to send that first friends and family email. The biggest thing is getting over that imposter syndrome hump and keeping that at bay as you make decisions.”
People responded. DC Tree Delivery sold out its entire stock by November 30. More customers joined an email list so they could be informed when more trees were available.
“We want to make sure we’re starting off their holidays on a good note,” says Arthur. “I can’t imagine a better way to spend Christmas than helping people across the city set up their Christmas trees.”
Photo credit: Foster K. White, Dennis Crowley/Flickr