Closing Tree of Life

Tree of Life was founded around a simple idea: that businesses could be built not only to generate profit, but also to create positive outcomes for people and the planet. Our vision was inspired by the People, Planet, Profit framework, also known as the Triple Bottom Line, introduced by John Elkington in 1994.

We believed that technology, operational excellence, entrepreneurship, and more recently the introduction of AI, could unlock extreme efficiencies. Rather than capturing all of those gains as profit, we sought to pass part of that value back to society through lower costs, greater access, and better outcomes.

Over the years, we pursued this vision through projects in legal services, medical cannabis, sustainable agriculture, and social housing. Through Solvify, we worked to make legal support more accessible. Through 5Spot, we improved access to medical cannabis. Through VitaVine, we explored climate-resilient viticulture. Through SocialIMM, we sought new approaches to social housing.

While each initiative generated valuable lessons and, in some cases, meaningful impact, we ultimately reached a difficult conclusion. Many of the challenges we encountered were not technological, financial, or operational. They were human. Misaligned incentives, short-term thinking, self-interest, and institutional inertia proved stronger than we anticipated.

Tree of Life was an experiment in whether business could consistently align economic efficiency with social benefit. We remain convinced that the idea is possible. However, we no longer believe that Tree of Life, as originally conceived, is the right vehicle to pursue it.

For that reason, we have decided to close this chapter.

We are grateful to everyone who believed in the vision, collaborated with us, challenged our assumptions, and contributed to the journey.

Thank you for being part of it.