Valkee - Brightening your Winter
Valkee has been on my radar for some time now (months? A year?) possibly through ex-colleague Petteri, and it’s always been a bit of a curiosity for me. The company claims to be able to alleviate seasonal affective disorder (SAD) using a headset that shines light into your ears. And they have evidence to back it up. Sounds completely awesome. Sounds completely crazy. Sounds like a slight overdose might have light shining out of my eyes (I’m certain that the Valkee team have heard more than their share of those jokes).
I consider myself to be affected by SAD. The tedium of British winters is gruelling. And I know for a fact that my boss would overjoyed if I ever showed up at work in the morning during winter months and weren’t drooling or sleepwalking. So Valkee seems like a very tidy solution. I’ve considered getting sunlamps, but they aren’t necessarily cheap and anyway as a fan of material minimalism I don’t like bulk.
So Valkee, if you’re listening, I have a deal for you. Your product sounds awesome. And if anyone knows SAD, it must be the Finnish. But your product also sounds crazy (despite the evidence). And it is £185 crazy. Now, from one startup guy to another, and as a guy who knows what it’s like to try to convince people to buy into a crazy idea, how about you let me trial one of your headsets and see if I can become one of your superusers (look, I have a Klout score of 51! Wow! I’m even influential on the topic of “marriage”!??? ;-). If it doesn’t work out, I’ll send the box straight back and only say good things about your phenomenal community relations :) Deal?
