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Show Summary
In this engaging podcast episode, Quentin and Sarah Orlik discuss the unique strengths and opportunities of O2 Treehouse, a custom treehouse architectural firm. They explore the company’s innovative designs, the challenges they face in business development, and their exciting plans for a crowdfunding campaign to expand their product line. The conversation also touches on competition in the industry and the importance of community support in their journey.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Sarah Orlik (00:00)
All right. So O2 Treehouse is a custom treehouse architectural design and manufacturing firm. So we are based in Petaluma, California, which is about an hour north of San Francisco. And we do everything from design, engineering, ⁓construction, manufacturing, and installation ⁓ for these incredible arboreal works of art ⁓ that we create these transformational space, we create these beautiful spaces for people to have transformational experiences in the trees.
Quentin (02:17)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. I am laughing because we’ve had so much technical difficulties and now I’m just like looking, I’m like on pins and needles, like, can we do this? And I think we won’t be able to do this. And so I am super excited about my guest. I am super excited about what she’s going to talk about. ⁓ this is absolutely fascinating to me. ⁓ She is a direct, well,You know what? I’m going to her give her title because I don’t want to give too much away, right? So I’m going let her give her title. But one thing she’s going to talk about is tree house manufacturing. And I’m excited for her to dive in and talk about this. So let me move out the way and introduce you guys to Ms. Orlik How you doing today,
Sarah Orlik (02:49)
Ha!I’m doing so well. so excited to be here. Thank you for having me. How are you doing today?
Quentin (03:10)
Absolutely.I’m doing good. I’m doing good. I mean, really, you have been like the calm and the storm. So I appreciate you keeping me straight because…
Sarah Orlik (03:19)
Well, you know what, let me tell you, Iam the eye of the storm, actually. I’m in the eye of the storm.
Quentin (03:27)
Well, youknow, I think they say the eye is the mirror. I think they say that’s the calmest part. So you’re saying, so you got it. Okay. So we want to say a page. you, I am, I’m being affected by the whirlwind and you’re just sitting there, very zen. And so I appreciate you. I appreciate you.
Sarah Orlik (03:32)
It is, it sure is, it sure is, yeah.Mm I’m coming to you, my
friend. I got all my ducks in order and then I went and I meditated and I came to center before coming in and before because I’m tuning into you from our 10,000 square foot manufacturing facility. And I looked at every one of our guys in the eye this morning and I said, hey, I’m doing a podcast at this time. Work needs to stop so we can do this in a good way.
Quentin (04:07)
Are you serious?⁓ my goodness. Listen, that even gives me an even more clear perspective of who you are, what you do. And so did I get your last name right? I want to make sure I put some respect on your name Orlik Did I say that correct? So beautiful. Beautiful. So listen, Sarah, I want to dive in. I want you to take us into your world. I want you to tell us what your main focus is these days. Maybe how you got started.
Sarah Orlik (04:11)
⁓ no.Yeah.
That’s correct.
Okay.
Yeah.
Quentin (04:35)
the markets that you operate in. But please just take us into your world and let us know about what it is that you do.Sarah Orlik (04:38)
Yeah.Cool.
Sure. So first and foremost, ⁓ I’ve got my cute little dog here. She’s, she wants to be part of things. I got a cute little English Springer Spaniel who’s always by my side. ⁓ My name is Sarah Orlik and I am, you know, so honored to be the head of marketing for O2 Treehouse and the head of fundraising and business development for Treewalkers.
Quentin (05:37)
I love it.I love it.
Sarah Orlik (05:54)
And I want to pace ourselves and get into what is O2 Treehouse, probably first, and then get into what is Treewalkers and go from there.Quentin (06:05)
Absolutely. Well, listen, man, you got the floor. Dive in. Lead us down the road. Tell us all things about what you’re doing.Sarah Orlik (06:11)
All right. So O2 Treehouse is a custom treehouse architectural design and manufacturing firm. So we are based in Petaluma, California, which is about an hour north of San Francisco. And we do everything from design, engineering, ⁓construction, manufacturing, and installation ⁓ for these incredible arboreal works of art ⁓ that we create these transformational space, we create these beautiful spaces for people to have transformational experiences in the trees.
And ⁓ we’re able to do that on pretty much any landscape by using
either our proprietary suspension technology where we’re suspending tree houses into trees and ⁓ if the as the landscape and the tree health allows because we have a specialized team that does tree health assessment and then we can also do stilted tree houses if the tree house and the landscape
doesn’t align with having suspended treehouses on the property. And so, you know, that’s what we do at O2 Treehouse.
And I want to also introduce and pay respect to the founder and CEO of our company at O2 Treehouse, Dustin Fider.
And Dustin Fider,
has been building tree houses for over 20 years. ⁓ And he’s the
Quentin (08:07)
This is unreal. Can you hear me at all, Mr. Sarah?Sarah Orlik (08:10)
visionary and the leader behind O2 Treehouse. So that’s a little bit about O2 Treehouse. And then I can also introduce and give some context around what Treewalkers is. Treewalkers is really at the heart ofQuentin (08:19)
Can you hear me at all, man?Sarah Orlik (08:29)
You know, the core vision and the ethos that Dustin brought into his work at O2 Treehouse and Treewalkers is a modular building system based around our proprietary technology called Tetra Trust that allows us to build these networks oftreehouse structures, decks, rope bridges, and connect all these things to create these really incredible ⁓ eco-resort spaces. And this is a really exciting system that is light on the land, that is ⁓ really much more efficient.
build and design process than our typical custom treehouse. And it is something that can accommodate as little as one structure, a little modest one structure treehouse setup. And then it can accommodate
and be expanded upon as the
as the site and as the host allows, you can expand upon the building system of tree walkers to add a whole network of both our tree walkers, light on the land kind of base product, and that can weave in with these more intricate custom structures that we build at O2 Treehouse.
Quentin (10:47)
I thank you so much. I thank you for your storytelling. I thank you for your explanation, taking us down the journey, taking us down the road. So let me ask you this. I know things are not always easy within the climates that we’re in. So what’s been the key to that machine running smoothly? What keeps you guys passionate and pushing forward?Sarah Orlik (11:04)
What keeps us passionate and pushing forward is the heart and the community that surrounds us, both beyond our organization and within our organization. And people that work with us are drawn to us by this shared vision that extends beyond just the artistic expression of what we do.And there’s so much that in Dustin’s design ethos and philosophy, he’s deeply inspired by the works of Buckminster Fuller. His designs are influenced and inspired by sacred geometry. We draw from these forms that occur in nature. And then we apply the most advanced design and architectural and engineering ⁓ practices to bring them to life. And so the people that are attracted to working to us
The people that have the tenacity to stick around and have stuff with us through this long journey are people that share in this ethos and in this mastery of both the skill set and the heart and the vision behind what we do.
Quentin (12:18)
I love it. I absolutely love it. So let me ask you this. So normally if I’m talking to an operator ⁓ within the real estate space, I’m asking them about the deal. And there are times when the deal goes sideways, where just things just didn’t go the way they expected. It got real. They had it pivoted fast. And so from your unique vantage point,Sarah Orlik (12:39)
Wedon’t know anything about that. We’ve actually never ever experienced that. ⁓ So this is new. This is new information to me. I’d never heard of that.
Quentin (12:47)
Right, right.Next question. ⁓
And why go down this road? Because it’s so easy for us to talk about the success, but there’s a process, and there’s a journey to get into the success. And so during your process to getting successful, what are some things that just did not go the way y’all was expecting with a build or just any kind of situation where y’all had to pivot fast? Yeah.
Sarah Orlik (12:56)
man.Yeah.
Hmm.
Yeah. You know, these are really, when we’re talking about the custom work, like these are really advanced long-term projects. So the contracts and the implementation of these contracts are multi-phased and multi-staged. So, you know, we take our clients into, if I can just kind of give you a brief overview, a little bit of like, of how that goes.
is, ⁓ you know, we, you first step is a site visit. So we’ll send out a representative, usually our CEO, Dustin Fider, or and or our director of sales, Jamison hubs, or one of our lead designers, shout out to Luke Wilson, Justin Henderson, and other folks, we’ll send one of our core team members to site to do a site visit to get the vision to assess the tree health.
et cetera. And then we’ll move into a design phase. ⁓ We’ll move into a proposal phase. throughout these and kind of so on and so forth. And so throughout all these different stages, there’s a lot of heart. There’s a lot of resource that goes towards these deals. And there’s different stages where these things can move forward.
these things can be at a standstill or these things can fall through our fingers. And that’s just the nature of business.
Quentin (14:55)
Absolutely. Nope. Understanding like, like I said, you get the nail on the head. You just talk about just the heart and the passion that you put into it with that heart and the passion sometimes just come adversity, right? And so we just push past adversity to, know, to get to the success that we’re actually ultimately looking for. And so speaking about success, pushing forward, what is the next real goal for you guys?Sarah Orlik (15:59)
Sure. Well, I mean, it’s a little bit of a loaded question if you’re asking me. So, you know, as I prefaced earlier, like we’re talking about O2 Treehouse, we’re also talking about Treewalkers. So when it comes to O2 Treehouse, you know, for myself as the head of marketing, my goal is to, we’re working to takeand I have this lovely example. So this is one of our most well-known structures. ⁓ It’s called the Pine Cone Treehouse. It’s in the mountains of Santa Cruz, and it is available to be booked on our, ⁓ we have sort of like a private booking ⁓ system for that that you can find access to on our website, o2treehouse.com. ⁓ And so this structure has
gone viral over and over again. And so we’re taking, and it was actually created through, for a commercial for Glade. And this structure was created like practically with a gun to our heads in like a very short timeline. And it turned out just being this incredible work of art. And ⁓ it’s been, I think it was built in 2018. ⁓
don’t directly quote me on that. But we’re working now to take this structure from a custom structure and take it into more of a manufactured structure. And with some of our core designs, we have our equilibrium home design line that we’re looking to do the same thing that we’re looking to take some of our core design and take them from custom structures to manufactured structures. So we can, you know, make that more attractive and beneficial to us.
At the same time, we’re looking to take ⁓ what we’re doing with the artistry of the custom work and drive that up. And so we were making these more standard designs and ⁓ more of our bread and butter designs ⁓ more efficiently and more widely available. And then we’re looking to really push the limit of what we can do with the custom work. ⁓
And then when it comes
Quentin (18:20)
Please, Kazem.Sarah Orlik (18:22)
to tree walkers, ⁓ with tree walkers, and as I spoke to the vision and the, ⁓ you know, the vision and also the description of the, sorry, I know we’re having a little bit of connectivity issues, but I can kind of keep rolling ⁓ and ⁓ Quinton will.Quentin (18:42)
Okay.Sarah Orlik (18:47)
patch back in when he’s able to get connected. But we spoke a bit earlier about tree walkers ⁓ and gave a little description of what that is. I have this postcard here. This is anQuentin (18:49)
Okay.Sarah Orlik (18:59)
example of one of our suspended tree walker structure. And on the back here, you can see some more examples of what a stilted tree walker structure looks like and what it might look like in the given environment.Quentin (19:01)
Thank you.Sarah Orlik (19:16)
With Treewalkers, we had a really successful campaign through Start Engine in 2020, where we raised over $600,000 with over 700 investors to take Treewalkers from a vision and to bring it to life, to create the first actual Treewalkers structures, and to alsocreate the first use case of tree walkers as an independent hospitality model. And so there’s currently a tree walker structure in Georgia that’s available on Airbnb. And so currently with tree walkers, we’re at this really exciting moment where we are about to go public with our ⁓ next fundraising initiative to
take tree walkers from a custom product and launch it fully as a ⁓ manufactured product line and open up reservation and purchasing options for people to buy tree walkers and to make this ⁓ a reality. So it’s a really exciting opportunity ⁓ for us and for our community.
to ⁓ help further the initiative of Treewalkers that we were able to springboard with our start engine campaign. Now we’re at this really exciting moment with the upcoming launch of our WeFunder campaign where we’re going to be taking Treewalkers from this custom product and
taking it into a full manufactured product line. And we’re gonna be launching this opportunity for our community and for investors, whether you are an accredited investor or you’ve never invested in anything before in your life for as little as $250, you can be a part of this vision and you can help us grow and bring to life this,
masterpiece really that is the brainchild and the heart-led vision of our founder, Dustin Fider.
Quentin (21:39)
Listen, I appreciate you so much. Your team is lucky to have you. I can tell you are a person like the glue that keeps everything together. And so thank you for being part of my team today because you have been very, very helpful. And so I appreciate you so much. And I’m glad he was able to get some info.Sarah Orlik (21:51)
Aww. That’s so sweet. That’s so sweet.Well,
know, I’m a part of a team, not to interrupt you, and I appreciate you saying that, but I am a part of a team. I am one of a cast of characters of just incredible humans. And, you know, I’m just, it’s an honor to be here and to be a part of doing what we do.
Quentin (22:21)
Absolutely. Well, listen, this, again, I appreciate you. I heard you giving out some information and excuse me if I kind of repeat what you said, but, or set this up, you know, for you to repeat what you said. But if someone wanted to get in contact with you, if they wanted to collaborate, if they wanted to support your efforts, what’s the best way for them to get in contact with you, Ms. Sarah?Sarah Orlik (22:43)
Yeah, so if you go to our website, o2treehouse.com, ⁓ there is, know, if you’re reaching out from the press, there’s a link on our homepage to, you know, get in touch with us. And that link on that for press inquiries actually goes to my personal inbox. So that’s a way that people can get in touch with me personally. There’s also a page on our website⁓ for tree walkers where you can get on the with more information about tree walkers and about the campaign that we’re doing. So you can get in the loop there. You can join our mailing list. And then of course, ⁓ for those of you that are ready and you know, want to bring one of these architectural masterpieces to your land, to your community and into your life.
bring this transformational experience to your life. There is a button right in our header that will connect you with our sales form and connect you with our amazing sales team to take you in to that collaborative design process.
Quentin (24:02)
Absolutely. I love it. Thank you so much for walking us through O2 Treehouse, walking us through Treewalkers. I’m excited about what you’ve done. I’m excited about what you know, what you have experienced with the storytelling, with the custom builds. And this has been exciting. I just thank you for your time, your story and your perspective. This was awesome, Sarah.Sarah Orlik (24:24)
Thank you so much. I’m so glad we got the opportunity to do this together. ⁓ maybe we can ⁓ get to do this again sometime and ⁓ keep you a part of our journey and a part of our process with what’s next for the company. And I can just share with you, this is my first podcast. ⁓as really actually ever, this is my first podcast interview. ⁓ so you’re meeting me at a really exciting time in my professional journey and a very exciting time ⁓ in the journey of our company. So I encourage everyone, all of our listeners and everyone in your community to ⁓ take this opportunity.
to join our community and stay tuned. And I invite you to be a part of the magic that we’re creating at O2 Treehouse. There are just a wide range of opportunities, ⁓ whether you’re someone that has the means to bring a custom structure into your life or has the means to be an investor.
Quentin (25:20)
Wow.Sarah Orlik (25:48)
⁓ or whether you’re looking to have a transformational experience in the trees, or whether you just want to stay in touchQuentin (25:50)
Okay. ⁓Sarah Orlik (25:58)
with us, you can follow us on Instagram, ⁓ O2 underscore treehouse, and you can follow treewalkers on Instagram at treewalkers underscore resort, and you can get on our mailing list through our website.And there’s just, I wish we just had all day where I could share, you know, so much more of the magic and the artistry and the incredible masterminds behind what we do here at O2 Treehouse. ⁓ It’s just been such a journey for me to arrive here on my personal path. ⁓
to arrive here with the company. And it’s really, it’s a community, it’s like a family in all the ways. And, ⁓ you know, it’s really my, ⁓ my mission, my, you know, really heartfelt mission and intention in my role at O2 Treehouse and Treewalkers to share this.
community and to share these transformative healing experiences with as many people as possible, whether that is through the screen or whether that is in person. I hope that if what I’ve shared today resonates with you, that you can join our world, stay tuned and be a part of what we have going on so that we can all grow.
together into the trees.
Quentin (27:39)
Ms. Sarah, you are awesome. I appreciate you so much. Listen.Sarah Orlik (27:44)
Dude, I gotta tell you, the thingthat I didn’t get to share about with you is we didn’t get into like my personal background. I’m a performer. So, have a personal, I have a, I have a personal, I’m a poet, I’m a performer, I’m an artisan and a fabricator myself.
Quentin (27:53)
Yeah. ⁓ yeah. This is my… Thank you. Thank you for saying that.Sarah Orlik (28:08)
And I am a human at the eye of the storm. so, you know, it’s I’m so appreciative. I think you cut out when I was sharing that this and I’m sure you’ll hear this in the playback. But this is actually my first time doing a podcast. And so I’m just so excited and I’m so honored to be here. And, ⁓ you know, this this is the first time and it certainly won’t be the last.Quentin (28:25)
Yeah.Sarah Orlik (28:34)
⁓ I hope it won’t be the last time that I get the opportunity to chat and connect with you. And hopefully we can continue to update your community as we move into, ⁓ you know, both our WeFunder campaign and the really exciting next steps that extend far beyond the WeFunder campaign and this stage of tree walkers. ⁓ There’s a lot of really beautiful, exciting things ahead for us. And so, ⁓Quentin (28:35)
Absolutely.Sarah Orlik (29:04)
I look forward to being in touch and to keeping you all updated on the magic, the wonder, and just this unique world that we’re creating here at O2 Treehouse.Quentin (29:19)
Absolutely. Well, look, I’m going go ahead and give us an official sign off before I run into any more technical difficulties. But I just want to thank you so much. Thank you for everything you did on the show. Thank you for everything you’re doing. I really appreciate it. Everyone else, listen, make sure you subscribe. You would not have been able to just see Ms. Sarah do her thing if he wasn’t here. And you don’t want to miss out on a future guest that we’re going to have. So just go ahead and make sure you subscribe. So Ms. Sarah, I thank you again.Sarah Orlik (29:25)
Ha ha ha ha.Yeah. Yeah,
Quentin (29:48)
And to everyone else, we’ll see you on it next
