Nineteen. / Contributor Thirteen: Adrian Solgaard, Solgaard
On Leopard Print Pants, the Scourge of Ocean Plastic, and Aligning Your Team On One Single Goal.
Hey, everybody. This week’s contributor is an awesome gent who I’ve known over the past years grinding and growing an amazing travel brand via bootstrapping and Kickstarter: Adrian Solgaard! Adrian’s been one of my favs in the startup world, particularly in terms of navigating the wild world of fundraising for a consumer product startup and finding the right partners in the end. The brand continues to impress me, and if you haven’t tried any of their things (especially their Carry-On Closet - basically a suitcase with pop-out shelves!), definitely check them out.
Enjoy!
Adrian Solgaard is the founder of Solgaard, a fast-growing sustainable travel brand for global citzens. He was born in Canada to immigrant parents, a Norwegian mom and a German dad, and spent his life on-the-go and ‘settled’ down in New York 2.5 years ago after living in 7 countries over the last 10 years. With spending time in so many different countries, it’s easy to spot the trends of problems the world faces globally. He’s built a brand based on solving the frustrations of life on-the-go while working to tackle a global problem at the same time - ocean plastic.
A fun fact: I once wore leopard print pants for a year to prove to the Kickstarter backers of my 4th successful campaign that I was that committed to getting them their stuff as quickly as possible. Yes, there’s a link.
What are you currently working on?
My core focus is building Solgaard, a sustainable brand with a focus on travel. We use ocean plastic to make backpacks and suitcases. For every item sold we pull 5lbs of plastic from the ocean.
What are you currently excited about?
Through the research we’ve done on sustainability and ocean plastic, we’ve discovered a ton about what happens with plastic once it enters the ocean, 90% of it sinks within 5 months. Therefore the focus should really be on stopping it before it gets into the ocean. 10 rivers put in 90% of the plastic that gets into the ocean, and 1 of those rivers puts in about half of that. Herein lies a crazy opportunity of low hanging fruit for making the world a better place - we can be a driving force to help stop half of the plastic from getting into the ocean by focusing our efforts on the Yangtze river.
What’s a story or article that you're currently thinking about?
I’m thinking about an article that isn’t out yet - one that will be written about the Yangtze river project and the team of people we’re building to be behind pushing awareness on this. Feel free to reach out (adrian.solgaard@solgaard.co) if you’re interested to be a part of it.
What’s a product you’re currently obsessed with?
Besides the products I’m working on that I can’t talk about yet, We just moved into a new office, and with it we got office chairs with a built-in leg rest. It sounds ridiculous (and it is), but it’s so comfortable, paired with a curved sit-stand desk that feels like it came out of a spaceship, I’m not sure I’ll ever leave my office again.
Wild Card: What’s an item you can’t shake your mind off of?
I guess I’m turning into a one-trick pony - intentionally. I can’t stop thinking about the beauty and simplicity of one single goal for a team to be aligned behind. Simplicity is the key to moving major progress, hence why I’m now unable to shake my mind of everyone on our team being aligned to stopping the flow of plastic out of this one river, and by that being a part of cutting ocean plastic in half in one fell swoop. (Editor’s Note: It’s an honorable single goal, especially on how much it brings back to Solgaard’s brand ethos.)
~ C O L O P H O N ~
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