Management Perspectives

Marginal behaviours, choices, and ways of life can be eye-openers in their own right, even where they are likely to remain at the fringes. For mainstream marketers and business leaders, there are myriad ways in which a glimpse into the margins can be a source of insight, revelation, and inspiration.

Because one thing is for sure- meaningful growth is unlikely to be the outcome of plodding on with the same tired thinking within the same, me-too, ‘sideways’ innovation groove into which mainstream business seems to be ever more firmly stuck. Here are four marginal behaviours and some entrepreneurs who have decided to pursue them.

Never mind that the behaviours are seemingly confined to the fringes; these founders believe there is scope for mainstream expansion and see growth where others see only issues, confusion or nothing much at all. A few caveats, though, before we launch into the list. These are entrepreneurial startups we are talking about, and that is always a fast-moving subset. Facts that were correct as this copy got published might have changed by the time you read it. Some businesses will have moved on, some pivoted, some joined with competitors, some sold, others run out of cash, or luck or time. And who knows, one might have punched that vaunted hole in the universe. There’s no way of knowing which is which, at the outset. That is just how it is.

1. Polyphasic sleeping
   The COVID pandemic—with many more people working from home—gave the notion of adapting work and life schedules around personal sleep patterns a boost. Some interesting businesses were already seeking to help make that happen.
   MetroNaps was founded in 2003 based on the then ‘crazy idea’, as cofounder Christopher Lindholst puts it, of ‘encouraging employees to sleep at work’. The need was clearly there. In their initial, empirical research, the founders noted that people would nod off at the office anyway, or on the train home, but did not want to be caught sleeping on the job. Some admitted that they would sneak off to the toilet, a parked car, or an unused conference room for an afternoon nap. The remainder simply ‘caffeinated their circadian rhythm in an attempt to keep their focus’.

   The business believes that helping people adapt to their natural sleep rhythms at work makes them both happier and more productive. Its lead product is the EnergyPod, an ergonomically designed recliner with a low-slung privacy hood, purpose built for sleeping at work, and costing upwards of $15,000. Customers today include Google, HuffPost, Virgin, Accenture, and the NHS.

   Apps are another obvious play in this space. One of the most downloaded is Polyphasic Sleep by Alexey Kuzokov, which offers seven different sleep schedules ranging from biphasic (five to seven hours at night and 20 minutes during the day) through to what it calls ‘Uberman’, which is the full-on polyphasic schedule of 20 minutes every four hours, round the clock.

2. Microdosing
   Legality is the thorny issue here. Psychedelics (principally psilocybin, or ‘magic mushrooms’) are banned in most jurisdictions. But they are legal in in the Netherlands, and in the US state of Oregon1, while other parts of the United States and Canada have voted to decriminalise them in medical therapeutic settings. Entrepreneurs have come at the opportunity and the challenges in different ways on both sides of the Atlantic

   At the top of its homepage, Amsterdam based Blissed declares: ‘The psychedelic renaissance is underway!’ To help it along, the venture specialises in packing dried and magic ground truffles into a capsule format. Even a tiny amount, according to  the site, can ‘trigger the body’s serotonin receptors, releasing hormones essential for health, well-being and happiness’.

   Mojo skirts round the legal issues by producing soft chews laced with a blend of ‘carefully selected bioactives’, which, it claims, will mimic the effects of a psilocybin microdose. Founder Peter Reitano, a serial entrepreneur, calls the product ‘the world’s first productivity gummy’2.

   Other businesses are finding ways to blend product and service offers in interesting combinations. The Canada-based Field Trip Health aims to provide a ‘safe space’ to engage in ‘psychedelic assisted therapy’. The business, co-founded in 2019 by a group of five partners comprising bio-scientists, ‘visionaries’ and entrepreneurs, went public in a 2020, listing on the Canadian Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of 102 million Canadian dollars3.

   In Jamaica, where psilocybin is legal, MycoMedications and Silo Wellness offer psychedelic retreats in beautiful island locations. In Holland, Synthesis aims to live up to its name by fusing experimentation with truffle mushrooms in both high and moderate doses with the relaxation of a three-day retreat.

3. New nomads
   Motorhome living has enjoyed more films Nomadland and Into the Wild. It is beginning to feel more like a viable life choice for the adventurous, and businesses are popping up to support those wanting to take the plunge.

   One of them is NomadCreations, founded in the UK by entrepreneurs who self-identify as ‘nomads at heart’. The venture offers both pre-built campervans and a van conversion service that creates tailormade, bespoke campervans ‘to get as many people as possible out on the open road’4.

   Going at it more indirectly is the remote job platform Wanderbrief, founded in 2015 by the Dutch ‘Backpacker Intern’ Mark Van Der Heijden. The business offers a virtual home to remote professionals or, as Van Der Heijden prefers to call them, digital nomads5. 

4. Living off the sea
   What is the next ‘veganism’? That is a question asked by entrepreneurs and established food manufacturers alike.

   Living off the sea is a plausible candidate. This is not about plundering our already overfished oceans, but harvesting or farming kelp and other edible sea plants, which grow naturally at a phenomenal rate, are a good source of protein and are rich in iodine, calcium and vitamin C. Here are three pioneer ventures already exploring the commercial opportunities.

   New York-based AKUA claims to be the maker of the world’s first kelp burger. The business was created in 2019 by entrepreneur Courtney Boyd Myers, who learned about regenerative ocean farming through her connections with charity Green Wave. She was inspired by the nutritional benefits and wanted to find a way to get more people eating sustainable sea greens. Customers buy directly from the website, choosing from products such as kelp ‘ground meat’ and kelp jerky – voted one of Time Magazine’s ‘best inventions of 2019’6.

   The founders of Atlantic Sea Farms created the first commercially viable seaweed farm in the United States. But this was a pivot from their prior focus as a traditional fishing business based in Maine, reliant on lobster and shrimp—both of which were increasingly under threat from climate change. Products include jarred Sea-Beet Kraut, Sea-Chi (a kimchi garnish), and frozen kelp cubes for smoothies.

   The UK-based Notpla does something even more original. It makes edible and biodegradable packaging for drinks and sauces out of a seaweed and plant-based material. Its lead product, Ooho, biodegrades in a matter of weeks...or can just be eaten.

   Working in new ways with new kinds of potential customers can feel challenging, even scary. The risks are real. But on the upside, this is where meaningful growth is to be found. So, if there is one axiom that we take from this article, let it be this: hope trumps fear.