“I just wanted to show the world his contribution to design, and we’re selling trees all over the world now.” Matt Bliss “When you have someone you love with Alzheimer’s - and they’re the centerpiece of the family and they’re not able to be at their best - it’s a very helpless feeling,” Bliss says of his grandfather, who designed the first Modern Christmas Tree in the 1960s. The entrepreneur went through the Shark Tank process with his mother, Stoecker’s daughter, making it all the more special for Bliss. He says the experience has been great exposure for Modern Christmas Trees and a tribute to his late grandfather, who passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2012. It took roughly 45 minutes to pitch on the show back in September, Bliss says, though he cannot disclose whether or not he got a deal until the episode airs on December 3. It’s a seasonal product, and it’s not a business everyone may want to be in, but I think I got a fair shake.”

“They were really impressed that I have a product line, not just one tree. “I got a call in the spring of last year that Shark Tank would be doing a Christmas show, and they were wondering why I hadn’t applied,” Bliss says, adding that the producers contacted him after they saw his Kickstarter campaign online. Over the past four years, as sales have skyrocketed and demand has increased for this modern take on a holiday tradition, the executive producers at ABC’s Shark Tank - a reality show in which entrepreneurs go head to head for funding - have taken notice, as well. In 2014, the local entrepreneur spoke to Westwordabout how he took his grandfather Lawrence “Bud” Stoecker’s design - a set of concentric rings that hang from the ceiling - and created Modern Christmas Trees, a successful business selling collapsible artificial trees to customers as far away as the United Arab Emirates and Ireland.

Matt Bliss's small-business adventure started with an A-frame cabin, his grandfather and a fresh way of looking at the Christmas tree.

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