A Digital Mom and Pop

Having worked through those initial challenges, the company has grown to 20 employees. Its business model involves buying in bulk electronics that had been returned to retail stores, then selling the items individually over the Web.

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Dyscern started in 2002 in the couple's basement shortly after their first child, Lucas, was born. After a test selling ink-jet cartridges, Canty moved into portable electronics. Frischling was still working for AOL, but well past midnight they would work together on the business. At the end of the first year, as sales neared a half-million dollars, Angerer joined the operation.

In 2003, the business moved to the Sterling site. The couple borrowed a little money from family to fund the expansion, but there were no other investors. Frischling eventually quit his job to join Dyscern full time.

Frischling, Dickstein and Canty pop into each other's offices frequently with quick half-sentence questions and statements, indecipherable to an observer. On a recent afternoon, Frischling walked into Canty's office and said the name of a big-box retailer, just two words. She responded, "Queries." He repeated the name of the retailer (not for print, he added). She again responded, "Queries." He left.

Frischling was reminding Canty to bid on a set of electronics from a retailer; Canty was reminding Frischling to program a certain screen in the inventory software. It all took less than 10 seconds.

In business meetings, that idiosyncratic style extends beyond Canty and Frischling. Dickstein, 38, knows she has to put something directly in front of Frischling's face for him to pay attention. "I find myself treating Bill like he's my husband," said Dickstein, who joined the company this summer. "I know exactly what he's going to say."

In Dyscern's 10,000-square-foot warehouse next to the offices, workers spend most of the day receiving, testing, packing and shipping products. One person is testing iPods to make sure they hold their charge, another is applying tracking labels and a third is packing the devices.

A circle of workers in the warehouse also have personal connections to each other. One recommended his brother and a close friend for Dyscern jobs. Another suggested a cousin. Another offered her brother. They often play soccer in the company parking lot.

Hiring by word of mouth was a more effective way to add staff because unemployment in Loudoun County is low and there's little demand for warehouse jobs, Angerer said. "Our employees know our expectations and the job requirements. They only recommend individuals that they know will last."

Angerer, who says he tries to keep his work and family lives separate, is impressed with how Frischling and Canty are able to work together. But they say one of their enduring challenges is allowing work to follow them home. Hours after the birth of their daughter, Amelia, Frischling was on e-mail doing work for Dyscern. "We'll go out on a date and end up talking about a deal," he said.

But the couple haven't done much to create barriers between work and personal life for the rest of the team, either. They have regular dinner parties for Dyscern employees -- a.k.a. family and friends.

On a recent Sunday, they all gathered with their spouses and children in the company's old headquarters: the basement of Frischling and Canty's Great Falls home. Apart from the people present, there were constant reminders of work.

Standing with Angerer and another friend, Frischling showed off his new iPhone when he blurted out, "We've got some gorgeous new Sony" digital cameras ready to be sold.

Canty sat in the middle of the room, on the floor, amid scattered toys and a colorful slide set. Within an arm's reach: A line of 40 outlets the couple had installed into the wall of the basement, where she would test electronics before shipping them.