Synopsis
This short book outlines business opportunities developed and at various stages of exploitation, by Sverrir Sv. Sigurdarson. The main opportunities are in the fields of:
1. Pet market, noise phobia therapy.
2. Wine market, new type of de-alcoholized wine.
3. Audio hi-fi electronics, especially loudspeakers, a new approach in design options.
4. Two designer brands, inspired by pets, and the Viking age.
The market potential of these opportunities may range from some hundred thousand US$ annually, to millions, to tens of millions, and at most to several Billion US$ annually combined.
I am looking for ways to make these opportunities, some, or all of them over a longer period of time. This could be through the establishing of a company, or working with already established players in the fields in question.
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Table of Contents
Part One – Overview Of Opportunities. 5
1 Noise phobia therapy service for pets. 5
2 Innovation in the de-alcoholized wines market. 10
4 Design brands: Look Viking! and DuFauna. 18
6 Past Accomplishments: Vatnajokull National Park. 23
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Introduction
This book presents an overview of innovations in product and services, and business opportunities, which I, Sverrir Sv. Sigurdarson of Reykjavik, Iceland, have been working on developing. It also presents briefly past accomplishments, that were quite unique even when viewed on an international scale, and challenges that followed that initiative.
I am seeking
I am seeking financing, investment, partners and/or collaborators, research project, consulting project or an intrapreneur job (different for different opportunities) to exploit an opportunity or opportunities in the way that best fits each one. If your interest is awakened, please don‘t hesitate to contact me with an email, sverrir@sverrir.info, and we can then arrange for further discussions.
In part one
The opportunities that are the subject of part one are in short:
- An opportunity in specialized services for pet owners, with innovations in the process design of noise phobia therapy. Pets that this would apply to are in almost half of all homes, or around 140 million homes in the west. There could also be derived opportunities from the positive contact with the pet owners. This opportunity is close to being ready for launch.
- An opportunity in the international market for table wines, a market which is in total worth around US$ 300 Billion. This is, more specifically, a new approach in non-alcoholic wines. I believe that this new type of alcohol free wine could even expand the current market, and that the market for this new type could become some single-digit-percentages of the total market, and it could also expand the market. Each one percent is today worth around US$ 3 Billion. This opportunity is at the idea stage.
- An opportunity in the global US$ 15-20 Billion market for audio hi-fi equipment. Originally, this was an opportunity in all hi-fi equipment and loudspeakers. Following changes in consumer behaviour, the opportunities are mainly in the markets for loudspeakers, especially larger, higher-end speakers. The innovation could make loudspeakers more desirable for people to buy and enjoy. I boldly believe that the innovation, including innovation in design, promotion and sales, could even 2-3 x the sales of high-end loudspeakers, for the company utilizing it. The opportunity is based on thorough market research, a very clever and flexible use of a certain production technology, plus developing new ways of marketing. This opportunity is at the idea stage.
- A designer brands opportunity. I am in the process of building two designer brands. One of them is inspired by pets, and the other by the ancient, Nordic Vikings. Both could have quite large market potential, and the pet inspired line could be marketed as merchandise with the noise phobia therapy solution, and vice versa. Designs from these two brands are already offered for sale on the web.
- A short overview of other opportunities, including free ideas on Ideabun.com.
- Finally, I tell briefly about past and very notable accomplishments.
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Part One – Overview Of Opportunities
1 Noise phobia therapy service for pets
Main idea: Innovation in noise phobia therapy for pets, named WeStopFear. The new process design should be easier, simpler, safer, more natural and more bearable.
The problem: Due to their in-born instinct, developed in the nature through millions of years, animals are constantly on alert to sounds that may signal danger for them. Sounds that are from known, dangerous sources, as well as unknown sounds, may lead to an instant fear reaction in animals, through an automatic reaction in the sympathetic autonomic nerve system. If they are unable to flee the perceived danger, as pets often are in their confined situations, this fear can escalate and become a serious noise phobia. Modern, industrialized, society has meant that animals are set out for hearing many more unknown sounds than in their natural habitat.
Around 20% of all dogs, and up to 50% of dogs of certain dog breeds (herding and working dog breeds), may be prone to becoming seriously suffering from inordinate fear of phobia.
Noise phobia therapy is a way to work with this fear, either as a preventive measure, or to treat the problem. The problem is that the process has been rather complicated and has called for high levels of involvement by the pet owner. There have also been dangers of mistakes in the process, that may lead to setbacks, escape behavior, injury or even death at its most extreme. Solutions have mainly been available on CD discs, that are slowly becoming technologically obsolete.
If all pets would receive this therapy as a preventive measure, rather than dealing with a problem afterwards, then the average health level, well-being and the feeling of being secure would improve for those pets. Problems, injury and even premature death would be less frequent, and owner would enjoy happier and more relaxed relationships with their pets.
The solution: I have developed an innovative solution that has the goal of making the implementation of the process easier, simpler, and safer, and to make the experiencing of the therapy more natural and more bearable. The new solution, named WeStopFear, was developed using the methods of process analysis, process re-design and re-engineering. The main innovations in the process are called Simple Secure Steps, Natural Intervals and Volume Anchor. The delivery technology of this new therapy can be through streaming audio, downloadable MP3 sound files, or CD discs. It also includes extensive instructions and support services.
In the conventional noise phobia therapy, the user has one set of sound files, and then must adjust the volume manually for each playing session. It is possible to make mistakes, that can have negative consequences. In the Simple Secure Steps, with Volume Anchor, there are several sets of sounds with preset volume levels. This means that it is not possible to make the mistake of playing the sounds too loudly, too early, in the therapy, and setting the volume is much easier for the user.
I have also made a preliminary design of how an app would be organized. The app would make the implementation of the therapy better tailored for each situation, and more seamless. Instead of the Simple Secure Steps, this would feature Simple Secure Flow, while the Volume Anchor and Natural Intervals would remain unchanged as parts of the process.
In order to implement the therapy, it is necessary to use an audio system of some sort, with amplification and loudspeakers that are capable of generating the sounds in the places where the therapy is done, in such a way, that the sounds are realistically similar to the sounds in reality. If users currently don‘t own such equipment, then a part of the business model can be to rent or sell such sound systems. They can for instance be relatively powerful wireless sound devices, which would be connected to the user‘s mobile phone or computer.
Possible market size: The types of pets that can benefit from this therapy are around 450 million, living in around 140 million homes, or half of all households in the Western world. Those are all pets that have reason to listen and be on alert to sounds in nature. Ideally, a long term relationship would be built with the pet owners, since the therapy should not be implemented only once, but should ideally be maintained over the life span of the pet. This would call for a subscription service. Through this relationship and the trust that would be built, one would attempt to develop other revenue sources. Estimating the possible market size in dollars at this time, however, is difficult.
Where is this idea at currently: A membership website with all sound files and instructions is close to being ready for use. The website also has a „30 second fear test“, which will allow dog owners to sign up to an email list, answer questions, and get answer about whether their dog is in danger of suffering from noise phobia, and what can be done. The address is www.westopfear.com.
What needs to be done to launch the service:
- The website will be using the Active Campaign email list service. So-called automations need to be programmed that define the user path, and give the user access to different Simple Secure steps as the user progresses through the process.
- The idea is, among other, to use the 30 Second Fear Test to inform and recruit new users, and to use UpViral to incentivize new sign ups, so UpViral needs to be synced with the Active Campaign and Active Member systems.
- Payment processors need to be integrated.
- As I look at the member‘s area of the website WeStopFear, it is apparent that the pages are a bit too crowded with text. Too much reading material. So the task at hand would be to create simpler pages that the users would interact with, and then there would be links to the pages that have already been created with extensive instructions. It might also be a good idea to adjust some graphics and logo designs, which were designed by me.
- I would be interested in creating special WeStopFear-branded versions of products in the DuFauna product line (which I design), and offer them as merchandise to WeStopFear users and enthusiasts.
- To organize and set up the long-time running of the social media presence of WeStopFear, including Instagram, Pinterest (infographics), Facebook and Youtube.
- It is necessary to look into utility patent and trademark registrations possibilities of the various aspects of the services, to protect the brand and solution.
Apart from these, the WeStopFear solution is actually quite close to being ready for launch.
The app, on the other hand, with the envisioned Simple Secure Flow process architecture, is currently at the idea stage.
Pilot project – fireworks sounds: I set up a pilot project, and created a website in Iceland, to test the service. It focused on one type of sounds, fireworks, which Icelanders do a lot of during the new years. The name of the website is Flugeldahljod (fireworks sounds) at www.flugeldahljod.com. On the website, the user could choose from the conventional way of noise phobia therapy, or the new Simple Secure Steps method. There were sections for dogs, cats, horses, birds, small mammals, and households with several types of pets. The website opened in the fall of 2016, and became quite popular with hundreds of sign ups (Iceland has around 300,000 inhabitants). The website was featured on the front page of a national newspaper with an interview with me inside (DV), and I was interviewed in the evening news on a national TV channel (Stöd 2), and the 12 o‘clock news on national radio (RÚV).
Infographic with instructions:
The setup of the WeStopFear service is such, that the user will be able to start using it, and finish it, at any time during the year. However, since the Flugeldahljod service focused on fireworks sounds, the pet owners had to start the therapy in October or November, which few of them did. Most people started thinking about the fireworks craze and its effects on their pets right after Christmas, just a few days before the new years. That was too short of a time to conduct the actual therapy. Despite that, the website gave me valuable experience, and I got some direct feedback from users who had tried both the old and the new process.
How will this be best implemented? The WeStopFear project is run by TopFauna LLC, which is a Delaware LLC formed and owned by me. It can be turned into a C-Corporation, for the purpose of allowing others to invest in it. This is essentially an Internet / tech operation. It seems to me that this business idea is best developed in a company, and that I would not be interested in a project management or consulting job for another company in building it up. The company TopFauna could then have exit potential in being sold to a larger player in the market.
More information: See www.westopfear.com for more information. There are screenshots there from the member‘s area and 30 second fear test, on the page www.westopfear.com/screenshots.
Overview of solutions for all possible pet types:
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2 Innovation in the de-alcoholized wines market
Main idea: Market opportunity in de-alcoholized wine.
The problem: De-alcoholized wine isn‘t considered good tasting, so the greatest majority of wine drinkers are not interested at all in it. But drinking a beverage without alcohol is very desirable for those who are, generally or in certain circumstances, not interested in alcoholic intake.
The solution: Modifying the taste of de-alcohoized wine so that it is better tasting, and closer to the taste of wine that contains alcohol. You might say that this new product would be more real tasting. De-alcoholized wines are well known, with several brands on the market. This product idea introduces a factor to the product mix which doesn‘t seem to be found in the market (or I couldn‘t find it), changing the characteristics and content. Because of that, it is questionable if this could be called de-alcoholized wine, or if some other name needs to be coined for the product category.
The main positive benefits of the new product: De-alcoholized, or alcohol free, table wine doesn‘t make you drunk with the loss of clear thinking, doesn‘t affect your ability to drive a car, is okay to drink for pregnant women, can be safely consumed by those participating in sports, contains one-third to one-sixth the amount of calories as does wine with alcohol, and doesn‘t have various negative effects on health that area caused by alcohol. De-alcoholized red wine still contains many chemicals, like anti-oxidants, that are considered to have positive health benefits. It is thus an attractive choice for those who want to steer clear of the negative sides of wine with alcohol. Of course, wine with alcohol will continue to be available for those who want to drink that.
Possible market size: With the global market for table wines approaching US$ 300 Billion. Keeping in mind the positive benefits of this alcohol-free product, it is easy to envision that great tasting de-alcoholized wine could in the end have even as much as 1-5% of the total market, because of the benefits that many will see from drinking it. People would be able to drink this wine-like drink in places and situations where they couldn‘t before. Thus, the total market for this new approach could be as large as US$ 6-15 Billion annually in the global market. The market, however, would quite likely be saturated between many smaller brands, just like the wine market. This is the largest of the business ideas that I have envisioned, although the market would probably be fractioned as the wine market is today.
Could this be Halal? Another thing to consider is whether this product could be attractive for Muslims. For the product to receive classification as being Halal, or permissible for consumption according to traditional Islamic law, the alcoholic content would have to be exactly 0%. This can be achieved via specialized processing techniques. Muslims are around 1.7 Billion so this would be an issue to consider, as this new type of de-alcoholized wine is supposed to be better tasting, or more realistic tasting, than previous de-alcoholized wine offerings.
Where is this idea at currently: This opportunity is for the most part at the idea stage. I have done some blending tests, with promising results. I have also had some considerations regarding the different de-alcoholization processes, manufacturing processes, the bulk wine market, the chemical elements of wine, of things that have to do with the taste experience including the chemosensory perception of the flavor of alcohol, based on chemosensory irritation, taste, and olfaction, and then the taste experience when alcohol is not present, and other factors that I will not disclose. I have also been reading material about beverage marketing and how to build a New Age beverage brand.
How will this be best implemented? I can envision a new company that would develop and offer non-alcoholic wine in this new way, owned by me and other investors who have expertise and knowledge in the wine and beverages markets. Or I might have the possibility of taking on a project management or consulting job for a company in this field, in building up a new brand.
More information: There are some more considerations on this page:
www.ideabun.com/focus-ideas/wine-idea-2
Image, clockwise from top-left: 1. Grapes and wine, 2. spinning coil column de-alcoholization technology explanation diagram, 3. Spinning coil column production unit by Flavourtech, 4. Spinning cone centrifugal thin film vacuum evaporator “EVAPOR”production unit by Okawara.
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3 New opportunity in Audio hi-fi equipment; up to 18000 times more consumer interest in product attribute
Main idea: Revealing a very promising potential opportunity in the global US$ 15-20 Billion market for audio hi-fi equipment, especially loudspeakers but perhaps also hi-fi components, based on research and strategy development, and also based on recent changes in a certain production technology. The opportunity is not based on a technological innovation basically, but on a psychological innovation or realization, so to speak, (no patents or trade secrets are discussed here).
The problem: I believe that for decades, the main companies in this part of the international audio/video consumer electronics markets never had a correct understanding of the market they were operating in. They had a good understanding of the technology, and believed they were selling a technological solution. They did not have the best possible approach to all the potential consumer groups in their potential market, or what the fullest range of customer satisfaction could be about. This could mean that these equipment are serving the needs well among some groups, but could be doing it much better among groups that could be deeply interested in enjoying music, but are less interested in acquiring current types of offerings to do so. This may mean, in short, a very large lost market potential, perhaps without the companies fully realizing it. This difference may be huge. The key question is: What are people seeking through using these equipment? Why would people want to buy them, both people who buy and more importantly, who consider it but don‘t buy? The right answer is the key to unlocking new potential, a set of needs that were there all the time, but relatively new innovations may open new possibilities.
My recent investigation into market data has shown me, that there is a huge gap between how the equipment have been, and what important consumer groups may be more interested in. For instance, in the data I gathered, there were more than 5,000 (five-thousand) times more individuals interested in a certain field of experience, rather than how these equipment are often portrayed. That was more specifically 92 million individuals against of around 17,000 individuals.
Further steps: I would like to offer my time and work in defining, researching and unleashing these opportunities, as a consultant, project leader or staff member of a company that has the willingness and ability to go after this opportunity. Let‘s look at this a bit further.
This opportunity is possibly, or probably, outside the areas where you have been most actively looking for new opportunities. It may even be that you have concluded that this is not an area of potentially strong growth. If you decide to go ahead and participate with me further, be prepared to get a completely new insight from a new viewpoint into consumer values and preferences, consumer pain points, and new solutions using a flexible production technology and the internet, where the value chain is re-organized in a new and flexible, cost effective way, with the goal of opening new opportunities for market penetration, fantastically successful promotional initiative, sales growth, revenue growth and improved profit margins.
The three steps to find the right path:
- A theory on what the situation really is, or how well current product offerings are answering the full spectrum of needs and preferences of different potential buyer groups, including groups that might have potential to become customers, but have been less interested. This means creating the theoretical framework to understand the forces in human psychology that may be active here. A theory on how it may be possible to increase price premium, and especially to increase interest among possible buyers in the more expensive, higher-end equipment, or more specifically, make certain affluent groups interested who were less interested before.
- Research that can be conducted to find out about how interested different consumer groups are in the product features in question. In short what may entice them to buy and use. A key area to investigate is: How have consumers been probed until now, what questions have been asked, what is the angle, and how could consumer opinions data be gathered to reveal a new angle, a more accurate picture, that may open up a vista of new opportunity? There is, for instance, a rather simple and not costly way available to gather key data.
- Given that the outcome of the research conducted to test the theory is as I believe it will be, then I can present recommendations on how the product offerings can be altered. It is rather straight forward, using flexible production technologies that have become more widely used recently, and would also call for a new emphasis in design, promotion and sales.
The Solution: The main function of audio hi-fi equipment is understandably to deliver sound in the most satisfactory way possible, within all limits set. However, even if the makers of these equipment don‘t like it, then it is a fact that these equipment have two basic functions. The main function (delivering audio), and the „second function“. So what is the „second function“, and how can it be better served? Here are clues.
Audio hi-fi equipment are often quite big and well visible, especially big, higher-end loudspeakers. It came to my attention long ago that not everyone is interested in the visual effect that these objects have on the place they are in. I saw very clearly what the problem was. They buy these equipment to listen, but they will also have these objects in their homes, before their eyes. So how they perceive and judge these objects, emotionally speaking whether they realize it or not, is done in the same way as they perceive and judge all other large and visible things that are going to be visible in the living room. They judge them based on the basic function (here, to create sound), but also on the second function, how they look. Together, these two factors create the overall „rating“ and influences how these things rank against all other things they might be interested in spending their limited, hard-earned money on. This might mean that people interested in enjoying music at home are less interested in investing in these equipment, and to set them up in their own homes. People‘s purchase decisions, according to my theory, are not fixed, they are extremely changeable. In a split-second, the possible buyer can make a decision of what to buy, not just choosing between two different audio offers, but between such equipment or something totally different, another product or service category entirely, and that is based on the total emotional reaction. To win the sale, you must offer something where the two functions both serve in a superior way. Audiophile „equipment nerds“ often seem to be very important target markets for these companies, but I believe that interest in these products could be increased considerably among other groups, simply because they are interested in high-quality enjoyment of music, and especially other finer things in life, even if they are not interested in the technology as such, (see the numbers here after).
I often see remarks, in editorial content of audiophile magazines, in advertising, and on the websites of equipment makers, that they strive to create equipment that do the only thing they say that matters: To deliver the best sound. Many offer hi-fi equipment that are very „hard core“ technological electronics equipment, and they look as such. It is true, that for some consumer groups, this is all that matters. They don‘t care about the second function, all they want is the best new tech and the best sound. But there are other groups that care very much about both functions. In fact, the number of those who are especially interested in equipment and technology that deliver sound, are dwarfed by those who are more interested in what the second function is active in. Of these, women are quite important, but men are as well. The fact is that women influence 80-90% of household expenditures, and make decisions on 57% of all consumer electronics purchases, and much more can be said (Barletta, Marketing to Women). How can you win the hearts and checkbooks of women? Here are some numbers:
According to easily accessible market data, I found the following: There are more women interested in music than are men, 195 million women versus 168 million men.* Audio hi-fi equipment allow you to play music. Among men and women, ages 20-65+, in the Western World (minus Japan), let us take a look who are interested in music and high-end audio equipment, but not interested in the „second function“ I spoke about (here, „interior design“ but other similar interests give similar results). Let‘s call that interest 1. Then how many are interested in music and the second function, but not interested in high-end audio devices as such, and we call that interest 2. Among women, there were only 16,700 women with interest 1, while there were 92 million women with interest 2. This is a 5,500 fold difference. Among women in the USA and Canada only, the difference was more than 18,000 times. That is 1,800,000 % (one point eight million %) more interest! If you look at interest in general home audio, rather than high-end audio, then there is somewhat more interested in that, so there the difference is „only“ 2,400 fold.
Surprisingly, since men are often seen as being more technologically thinking and interested in equipment of all sorts, the same difference is also very large. There were 260,000 men who had interest 1, while there were 36 million men with interest 2. The difference is 138 times. If you look at interest in Home Audio instead of interest in high-end audio, the difference is 100 fold. If you present and portray hi-fi audio most strongly from the viewpoint of being technologically advanced, home audio equipment, then you are obviously not hitting the home run with everybody.
So how good are the equipment makers in serving the second function? Makers of audio hi-fi equipment have always had trouble with the second function. It is understandable, because serving the second function, with extremely varied and personal preferences, and making and offering equipment that serve those, is both costly and has extreme business risk. There is a great risk of manufacturing, and stocking too much of one thing, offering it and hoping to sell, but not being able to sell it, and having too little of something else. Therefore, a great number of equipment makers have almost completely refrained from serving these different needs. They even boast that the second function isn‘t important at all, and they completely shun it. But it is important nevertheless, among many. Whether that is based on conscious thought, or an unconscious feeling, then I believe it can often be the key to the final decision. The numbers above indicate that very clearly.
Recent changes increase potential: This opportunity has been known to me for long, it‘s one of my oldest ideas. I always found this opportunity most interesting, but the manufacturing solutions were complex and potentially expensive. This meant that responding to these unfulfilled needs in the market seemed to make sense mainly in the most premium luxury segments of the market. Partners that would have made sense were companies like LVMH, Groupe Richemont, and Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (now Kering). Those companies were not very accessible for me at the time.
However, there have been recent changes in production processes which change this situation, and make it very exciting. It would now be possible to offer solutions to less premium segments of the market, or from medium priced I think, and then up towards premium luxury high-end. I can now point out a more flexible, cost effective way of serving this secondary function. It would be the goal of a project undertaken by me to present the research and argument for how that could be done.
The solution when it comes to both loudspeakers and components could use a relatively simple technological solution, which has recently become quite widely used, and to use the internet and information technology solutions for sales. It would be rather simple for loudspeakers, and slightly more complicated for components, but both could be very attractive business wise, as it seems to me that serving better the second function could open vast possibilities. Instead of being bland, boring, unsatisfying, the possibility would now be to being able to offer absolutely drop dead gorgeous equipment, which will possibly set a new standard in how the „second function“ is served. The idea would be to go after a larger market, with higher margins and increased profitability. It could allow to increase the diversity of product offerings, without driving cost and risk through the roof. The innovation may allow a loudspeaker company to use less expensive raw materials in the build of the loudspeaker, allowing for cost reduction.
Possible market size: The opportunity is in the market for audio hi-fi, which will be roughly worth around US$ 15-20 Billion around 2018-2022, according to various forecasts. The solution has the goal of building mid-range to premium offerings in the market (which however was difficult with the previous manufacturing technologies), with the ability to charge higher price premiums, and increase profitability. The solution did include innovations or new approach in market research, design, manufacture and assembly, promotion, sales and delivery of these equipment. A key concept here could be „a new/additional definition of style focused and high-end hi-fi.“
I believe, that how the market is divided between different levels of price premium is a reflection of two things: The level of affluence of different groups among the public, and how accurately the offerings on the market reflect the full spectrum of needs and desires of those markets. I believe that this match has not been accurate in the home audio equipment markets. This means that the industry has not been fully offering the types of products that all groups would be most delighted to acquire, use, and talk about. It might be possible to change the mix of offerings, and move the market towards the „natural“ proportions in terms of the premium price levels.
The evaluation was based on a certain distribution of price premiums, based on known numbers about the distribution of people into groups of affluence. These groups were: Conventional offerings, (around 88% of total number of customers), Style offerings (10%), Stylish premium luxury offerings (1.8%) and Top tier prestige luxury offerings (0.2% of total number of customers). The results gave me the preliminary, theoretical conclusion, that the possibilities of improved sales numbers, margins, profitability, and stock market prices of companies that would implement this successfully, could be „very considerable“ and perfectly in scale with the basic size of the market.
Recent changes in how people enjoy music, with emphasis on mobile devices, wireless tech, earbuds and headphones, has changed the scope of the general opportunity. For that reason, I am not saying what the preliminary conclusion was, regarding possible changes on market value. The market size is difficult to predict, before the research and analysis has taken place mentioned before.
Let us put it this way: If you evolve the focus in how the product is conceived, designed, presented and positioned, emotionally speaking, from being very technology audio equipment device focused (which around 398,000 men and women show special interest in, in the Western countries*), and you move the balance towards incorporating better, and responding better to, a focus on the „second function“, (which around 128 million men and women show special interest in), then what may the effect be? The answer is: I cannot predict accurately at this moment, but it could be significant. The future market size is only predictable when the basic focus of products offered are predictable. A change in this focus could unleash forces with surprising results.
How will this be best implemented? In this audio hi-fi opportunity, as well as regarding the opportunity described in Chapter 2 (de-alcoholized wine), I am in a similar situation as I was when I was introducing my ideas regarding the Vatnajokull glacier: I had a bold, strategic vision, facts to point out, good arguments, and a blueprint for a solution that might be economically very valuable. What happened then was so spectacular that something similar was seldom seen in the world history of the 20th century, (see chapter 6). Now I have to ask what are the best steps to take? What is the best way of creating a vehicle that can successfully exploit these opportunities in the audio hi-fi sector, according to my discoveries, in a way that is fair, and offers opportunities for growth and value creation for those who are involved?
I am interested in working for or with in some way a company that is already well-established in the audio hi-fi consumer electronics. It is also possible that a strong contender in luxury markets might be interested in being involved in this project. I offer you to enter discussion on how this can be done in the best way for all parties involved.
If your interest is awakened, I suggest that you or someone also reads the other parts of the e-book „Overview of Opportunities“ to better understand the author of this is, his background, history, past accomplishments, and potential. (* Based on easily attainable market data from a social website).
Progression of home audio-video technology from 1920 till today (chart by me).
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4 Design brands: Look Viking! and DuFauna
Main idea: I am in the process of building up two designer brands. These are:
Look: Viking!, with designs that are based on patterns found on actual archaeological finds from the Nordic Viking era (approximately 792-1050 AD).
The main characteristics or design policy of Look: Viking! is to create mid-level to higher end style luxury-style products, with patterns from the Viking age. There are a number of brands that create clothes, jewelry and other products in Viking styles, but these are positioned in the culture that emphasizes brutal masculinity, black t-shirts, black leather, steel jewelry, grotesque forms including skulls (which were not motives used by the actual Vikings), tattoo, motorcycles and such. Look: Viking! on the other hand is seen as offering designs and products that are similar to premium brands that are often rooted in the art and designs for the higher classes of past centuries, like baroque, rococo, empire, english lords and aristocracy. But Look: Viking! will instead focus on Norse Viking patterns. In short, the Vikings were not outlaws, they were the kings and nobility of their countries, and Look: Viking! will emphasize the finer things in life.
DuFauna, with designs that are inspired by the pets we love – dogs and cats, and others.
The main characteristics or design policy of DuFauna will be the pets motives, focusing both on pet types and individual pedigree breeds, in many colors, where the motives are hand drawn vector images. We know print patterns that are based on flowers and abstract elements. DuFauna will be based on animal faces and bodies, where these images will be used as flowers and abstract forms are in pattern designs. There will also be designs where one face has a prominent position in the design.
Both brands will in the beginning utilize print on demand technologies, where a design is created in electronic format, and when a design is bought, it is made and shipped to the buyer.
Possible market size: Currently, the TV drama show Vikings, (HBO), is the fifth most popular show in the world. With this popularity, I hope that people will be interested in the Viking style. Viking styled products can also be in interesting addition to the tourist market in Iceland. However, such offering would not use print-on-demand technologies, that are relatively expensive per piece. Rather, they would need to be mass-produced to be economical.
Dogs and cats are of course owned by many, as we know. However, the market is very saturated with hundreds of thousands of products in each product category. So standing out is a long-term game. The ideas is that, among other, that these products may be offered as merchandise to WeStopFear customers.
It is very difficult to estimate possible market size for these two brands, so I don‘t attempt to do it.
Where is this idea at currently: Designs are already for sale from both brands. See examples below.
How will this be best implemented? This project is already operating under my LLC company Topfauna LLC, but it may be necessary to move it to another company if more happens with the noise phobia therapy service. It might be a good idea to form a collaboration with someone with expertise and finances in the designer brand space.
More information:
See Look: Viking! designs at www.lookviking.com.
A few Look: Viking! designs – based on basic patterns in Borre style (850 to 950 A.D.) and Broa style (790-850 A.D.), from Viking era archaeological finds in Sweden and Danelaw (England under Danish Viking rule), and then the designs are by me:
More information:
See DuFauna designs at www.dufauna.com.
A few DuFauna designs (all designs by me):
Look: Viking! videos
A video showing the coloring of the blue/brown Broa styled scarf in the upper right corner, created in a one hour long live stream video on Facebook on December 30 of 2017.
1 minute excerpt is here: https://youtu.be/AQ4A-VCcMds
7 minutes excerpt is here: https://youtu.be/2mLB5XCtqeA
DuFauna videos
Drawing faces, among those the Chihuahua and Pug faces seen in the designs above.
Video is here: https://youtu.be/ug9gg7pmoYI
Creating a new color scheme for a beach towel, 1 minute excerpt.
Video is here: https://youtu.be/9dv_nF-WL9M
Promotional video, created for Instagram.
Video is here: https://youtu.be/PdgDqQ-TXcQ
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5 Other ideas
Other opportunities and ideas can be found on the website of Ideabun, www.ideabun.com.
The website is named IdeaBun (like a hamburger bun with some juicy meat of ideas inside), or the name can be seen as being based on „idea abundance“. I created this website to showcase the many ideas I have developed.
They are so great in numbers, that I decided to offer many of them for free. Anyone can use an idea he or she likes that is offered as a free idea. There are fourteen free ideas currently on the website.
Apart from the four main opportunities that have been described above, here is another opportunity that can be mentioned specifically as well, as it is linked to the pets ideas:
Pet friendly Christmas decorations: Dog and cat owners, especially cat owners, know that pets can be very interested in Christmas decorations. Decorations can, however, be dangerous for pets, especially those made of glass that are prone to breaking. The idea is to develop pet-friendly, or break and chew resistant, Christmas decorations, so that pet owners can decorate their homes without worries. As there are cats in around 36 million homes and dogs in 43 million households just in the US, then this may in fact be a sizeable market.
How will this be best implemented? I can envision a new company that would develop and offer these products, owned by me and other investors. This idea, interesting as it is, is however not at the top of my list of priorities.
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6 Past Accomplishments: Vatnajokull National Park
My past accomplishments that are most notable are the creation of the basic ideas, propositions and arguments, that were obviously the start of the process that led to politicians deciding to form the Vatnajokull National Park in Iceland, which they decided on in 1999 and 2000. In the years before that decision was taken, only one person had developed and introduced formally, comprehensively and openly, ideas on something like that. That was myself, Sverrir Sv. Sigurdarson.
The Vatnajokull National Park is a spectacular national park in East-Iceland. It is the largest national park in Western-Europe. It covers around 14,000 square kilometers, or around 14% of the total area of Iceland. Within its boundaries are some of the country‘s most remarkable natural landmarks, and the geological diversity is very great. Within the park, you find Vatnajokull which is Europe‘s largest glacier, Oræfajokull which is Iceland‘s highest peak, Dettifoss which is Europe‘s most powerful waterfall, and a number of other waterfalls, active volcanic areas both under the ice cap and outside, some of which have erupted in recent years, and mountains, rivers, sands, lavafields, highland meadows, springs, geothermal areas, and more. It includes the famous Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon, which was featured in two James Bond movies.
Unique ideas never seen before: Throughout history, many propositions had been put forth for the protection of areas in Iceland. There were around 260 areas on the Nature Conservation List (Náttúruminjaskrá), which is a kind of wish list of areas that have not yet (and perhaps never will) been protected. However, the large glaciers in Iceland were not on the list, as traditional nature conservationists had never been interested in the protection of glaciers. Glaciers were not the kind of areas where they thought protection was necessary. I was the first one to formally suggest that all the ice area on Vatnajokull could be protected.
The ideas that I introduced were in most ways unique to the discussion. Such ideas had never been heard before. This was the first time that anyone introduced nature protection ideas from the standpoint of business, marketing and creation of jobs. These were in fact a business idea for Icelandic society at large. They were not developed or introduces from the standpoint of my personal dreams and longings. This may be the very reason, why the political majority in the parliament Althingi, who consisted of the right-wing Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkur) and the Central Party, were at all interested in these ideas. Especially the right-wing party had never been very interested in nature conservation. Their focus had always been on business, the industries, on hydropower plants and heavy industry. In the eyes of many in that department, nature conservation was an opponent of industrial developments.
What was very unusual when the formation of the park was decided, that at the same time, the hydropower and heavy industry sector in Iceland was working actively on its plans to build a large hydropower plant in the same area, or next to it. The situation was very intense between this sector and conventional nature conservationists. In the years that followed, some of the harshest and loudest disputes that had been seen in Icelandic society were raging. The Kárahnjúkar hydropower project, with the accompanying aluminum smelter that would use the electricity, was the largest in Iceland‘s history, worth a combined US$ 3 Billion. It was finally realised, after a lot of disputes.
Two strategies and economic value: There were two strategies that were at the core of the ideas I developed, and these may have been the reason why these political parties were interested in forming this national park.
The first strategy was that such a large nature protection area or national park would have many highly remarkable natural phenomena within its boundaries. This could in time become one of the most famous national parks, at least in Europe, and comparable to the big, famous national parks in the United States, like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and more. That attention might then strengthen the opportunity for marketing the area, which would benefit creation of better paying and more stable jobs. The park could also benefit othe sectors of the economy, through the improved nature image of Iceland.
The second strategy was, that if it would be the conclusion that Icelanders were going to build more hydropower or geothermal energy projects, for heavy industry, then Iceland would look better in the eyes of the world, if Iceland would at the same time show that they were going to protect their spectacular nature as well. That could be done through forming an area of that kind on and around the Vatnajokull glacier, which is what I had proposed, and such an area would not necessarily have to stop hydropower developments, as they were in different areas. Ideas of this kind had certainly never been heard from nature conservationists, who saw it as one of their main goals to try to stop further hydropower projects, and were very vocal in their protest.
The national park could become extremely valuable economically, according to official estimates that were done for the Ministry for the Environment. Business wise, it was a decision that could make much sense. If the estimates are to be correct, increase in foreign exchange from tourists could increase by US$ 75-200 million annually, leading to an increase in turnover in the economy at large of US$ 200-800 million annually, based on the so-called economic multiplier of tourism.
The original mastermind behind the national park: So I am the original mastermind behind the Vatnajokull National Park, the one who saw the original vision and opportunity, and presented that to the nation and politicians. At the time I was a student of business administration at the University of Iceland. The fact that a university student sets off such a large thing, in such a short time, leading to a goverment decision of forming something that is as large and unique as the Vatnajokull National Park, which is Western-Europe‘s largest and arguably most diverse and spectacular national park, is highly unusual. It is perhaps unique in the 20th century. On top of it, it could be very valuable.
The story of the origins of the Vatnajokull National Park will not be explained further here, as this short book is an introduction of future opportunities. My work on developing and introducing these original ideas for the park seem also have led to certain challenges in building a career or nurturing other opportunities (among it the opportunities listed here). In the backdrop of the challenges which started very early were the fierce and economically large disputes about the hydropower plant and heavy industry project. One can say that there were influential individuals and politicians who were in power who liked the strategies I formed about the Vatnajokull area. But I also strongly suspect that there were others, also very influential, who didn’t like such nature conservation ideas at a time when there was interest in huge hydropower projects in virtually the same area. They may have been trying to stop the national park behind the scenes, and perhaps also stop that other similar ideas would come out and become the basis for government policies as well. It should be noted that the challenges started more than two years before the company which built the aluminium smelter was mentioned first, so they didn’t take part of those challenges. I was newly graduated from university, with no connections, and didn’t have the influence that was any match against the huge disputes that were going on. Those challenges then seem to have stretched over a long time, as the factors that were needed to fix the situation weren’t there strongly enough, information was scarce, and the events that followed on the national scene were very unusual (the expansion of the banking system, the collapse of the banking system and the severe recession that followed. After that a long time had passed. To explain this all may be necessary, and could be done in another time and another place. Actually, explanations of this already exist, but will not either be discussed further here. But if you find it necessary to learn more about this, you can contact and ask for it.
What stands, and is most important, is the remarkable accomplishment of having seen, developed and introduced the ideas that were the theoretical and argumentative base for something as large and spectacular as the Vatnajokull National Park. I haven‘t been widely known for that, as I wasn‘t trying to push myself onto the stage when I was working on this. And then time passes and things happening in the past seem to become less important. After my work of introducing the initial ideas were finished, this took on a life of its own in the hands of politicians and the government officials which got this into their hands from the politicians.
Comments about my work on the Vatnajokull strategy:
A statement by Ms. Siv Fridleifsdottir,
Icelandic Minister for the Environment 1999-2004.
A comment by Ms. Siv Fridleifsdottir
former Icelandic Minister for the Environment, from 2013
A statement by Mr. Stefan Thors,
Director of the Icelandic State Planning Agency.
A statement by Mr. Hugi Olafsson,
department head at the Icelandic Ministry for the Environment.
A statement by Mr. Tómas Örn Kristinsson,
Editor of Visbending, Icelandic magazine about economic matters.
A statement by Mr. Kári Kristjánsson,
board member of the Icelandic Nature Conservation Council.
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Next steps
As I said in the Synopsis, I am looking for ways to make these opportunities, some, or all of them over a longer period of time. This could be through the establishing of a company, or working with already established players in the fields in question.
The way to implement these could be in the form of financing, investment, partners and/or collaborators, research project, consulting project or an intrapreneur job (different for different opportunities).
If your interest is awakened, don‘t hesitate to contact me. If you know someone who might be interested in some of these opportunities, you have full permission to inform them.
Thank you very much.
Sverrir Sv. Sigurdarson
Email sverrir@sverrir.info
Phone: +354 864 0023
Skype: sverrirsveinn
Main website www.sverrir.info, project service www.marktak.is.
My Vatnajokull social network: www.seevatnajokull.net, my ideas page: www.ideabun.com
About the author
Sverrir Sv. Sigurdarson, born 1967 and living in Iceland currently, holds a university degree in business administration (Cand Oecon or candidatus oeconomiae) from the Univeristy of Iceland, a degree that takes four years of full studies to finish. The partly emphasis in his degree was on marketing. Sverrir was also an art student in Iceland‘s leading fine arts college, the School of Arts and Crafts (MHÍ). He also dabbled in carpentry, and has taken courses or educated himself in creative writing, internet marketing, website design and videography. Sverrir sees himself as a creative, artistic thinker, but firmly rooted in reality with his advanced business degree. This short book explains his previous accomplishments and future focus in innovation and entrepreneurial projects.
The contents of this book describes opportunities, and should not be seen as a binding offer of any kind. The contents of part two in this book describes situations and events as they were experienced and observed by the author. The author receives the right to withdraw any part of the book without further notice.