Just Thoughts #42: Just Everything

Welcome reader! Just Thoughts is for modern-day leaders who want to think better about business, leadership, and entrepreneurship. This article's Content is “handwritten” (highlighted when not) and co-piloted with Grammarly’s spell-checking and rephrasing for tone of voice.

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I haven’t written yet but promised to stick to a monthly cadence. It's a bit late, but here we are. I could try the form where I combine a bit of Just Culture, Poems, Products, Thoughts, and about life all in one writing.

1. Just Thoughts - What is Frisson?

   1. Project Europe Launched

2. Just Culture - Movie reviews, events, handball, and some music

   1. Events

   2. KAJ

   3. Handball

3. Just Products - Story World Progress

4. Just About Life - Women’s day

5. Just Poems - Frisson

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Just Thoughts - What is Frisson?

Frisson is a sudden chill or goosebumps triggered by intense emotional or aesthetic experiences, such as powerful music or moving scenes. It occurs when the brain’s reward system reacts to unexpected yet pleasurable moments, causing shivers, tingling, and a rush of emotion. Some people are more sensitive to frisson, especially those who are highly open to experience.

When you discover a word that describes something about yourself you weren't aware was a concept, it’s called ”lexical revelation” or ”self-verification through language.”

Finding the word Frisson was a lexical revelation for me that caused Frisson because, for me, experiencing Frisson is when I know I’m alive; I’m experiencing life. I often get it when I write; that’s why I write.

When it comes to ”intuition,” especially in art, frisson is a sure sign that something is good beyond any other signal. Art is subjective and meant to make you feel; art does its job when Frisson happens.

While frisson gives you goosebumps associated with joy and pleasure, it made me wonder if there is an expression for what may be the opposite. It is not opposite in how one is good and the other is bad, but seemingly in two ends of a spectrum. If Frisson gives you Goose Bumps, what’s the expression for when art makes you cry?

There is no answer, but one possibility is Pathos, which evokes deep emotion and often leads to tears. However, Pathos doesn’t seem mutually exclusive to frisson, as it’s another type of deep emotion. Exploring this hole with ChatGPT ultimately gave me something called Stendhal Syndrome, but that wasn’t what I was looking for.

With these thoughts, Frisson is the proper form of intuition, and setting yourself up for moments of frisson is an art. Hence the following note;

When you lead yourself to get there, a different exercise is getting others there. If you can consistently get others there, you may have a chance of receiving the label "leader." However, the question is: which one comes first? Are you getting yourself there or helping others get there? Sometimes, you might need to see others experience it to get yourself back on track.

Project Europe Launched

Harry Stebbings and team launched Project Europe, a needed narrative change for European tech! Albiet, they managed to gain some heat by favoring 18-25-year-olds and almost entirely leaving out women from the first 125 advisors and the supporting funds. Nonetheless, they can still correct this, which is better than dwelling on European shortcomings.

Just Culture - Movie reviews, events, handball, and some music

The nice part about building Storyworld is that watching movies feels like work. I kind of like it that way. I watched Good Time on Apple TV, a film from 2017. Rotten Tomatoes rated 91% tomatoes and 82% the popcorn meter, topped with a 7.3 on IMDB, a a solid reflection of the movie.

Interestingly, this movie didn’t reflect the traditional American ending. It was bittersweet, and if you’re looking for a film that leaves you with a jolly feeling, this is not one of those. My key takeaway was that this movie would be completely different without the music and the sounds. You’re living the anxiety and stress in the film in a completely different way if it weren’t for the way the movie was cut and for its sound design. This feels like one of those constructed movies so that you could create the perfect ending scene for this musical masterpiece.

As AI is going to change the way we make movies, combined with the more significant trend of how we’re combining game franchises with movie franchises, I watched The Witcher, The Nightmare of the Wolf (IMDB 7.2, Tomatoes 100%, 83% Popcorn meter), The Witcher, Sirens of the Deep (IMDB 6.1, Tomatoer 52%, Popcorn meter 40%) and Lord of The Rings; The War of Rhorim (IMDB 6.2, Tomatoer 52%, Popcorn meter 83%).

I think animated movie-making should be produced faster. Since these films are placed at different points on a franchise timeline, having one database to check the narrative timeline would be helpful. Also, I had to verify some stuff in the LOTR movie to see if they were getting it right, which is ridiculous. They talk about a “threat to the east," but on the Middle-Earth map, the antagonist is based in the northwest (Isengard). Getting the facts right in these stories is crucial to fan engagement. These elements are ones that AI could assist you with when analyzing your script or story rather than being the entity that hallucinates something entirely random.

Events

I recently came across the event Käänne, which was funded by the entire campaign budget of leftist politician Li Andersson. It is dedicated to political and cultural discussions. As I think about it, I wonder what scaling ambition could look like. Could this be related to all the issues Davos is failing to address?

The first edition of Oddfest is coming up in June. Created by young future creative persona Ronny Eriksson.

“Oddfest is a new kind of festival—a bold fusion of a conference and festival that breaks down silos between business, art, and society. Over two electrifying days, the heart of Helsinki transforms into a living lab, pulsing with the energy of innovators, artists, and thought disruptors, reimagining the future of creativity.”

It’s something we’ve been missing from Helsinki in the early summer. If we scale ambition, what could this be? The future of culture discussions - allowing flow to focus on being the best music festival in Europe and skip their industry talks because there is now a better forum for it?

Nordic Business Forum is an oldie but a goodie, even though I’ve never attended. I’ve never understood the value of networking since the main focus is the talks. This year, they have two of my favorite thinkers: Simon Sinek, whose work I know like the back of my hand, and Rick Rubin, whose book I’ve read three times because it’s so good. However, I still wouldn’t join if the only reason would be to watch their talk live; ultimately, you can watch a stream or a recording just as well. Nonetheless, the event has scaled ambition as far as you can take it unless you make it a global brand, but then you’re competing with TED Talks.

The nice part is that this short list shows we know how to create world-class events in this cold region. Bravo.

KAJ

When your kids tell you to listen to a song, and they sing it on repeat, you know it’s good.

The general discussion is: why did the Finns win the Swedish Eurovision qualifiers? Is this good or bad for Finland? Would they have won in Finland? Did we show off the Swedes? It doesn’t matter. It’s a good song, and it’s cool to have a “joint venture in culture.” It will be even better if we win… note the use of the word “we”.

Handball

The following insert is a summary from ChatGPT of some writing in our club's WhatsApp group before the men's national team game, where Finland won with one goal over Slovakia. I care because my son loves the sport and learning taken from the world of startups; don’t try to grow your company; aim to grow the market :)

Summary: How to Boost Handball’s Popularity

Handball is a fast-paced and exciting sport, but it struggles with visibility compared to basketball or football. One reason is that it lacks easily recognizable highlight moments that instantly impress casual viewers. However, there is one major exception—goalkeepers.

Key Points:

1. Goalkeepers as Stars:

   • Handball goalkeepers have one of the most challenging roles in any sport, making their saves exceptionally valuable.

   • They should be given more visibility, and young fans should have better access to meet them (e.g., fan events, autograph sessions).

2. The Role of Community and Parents:

   • Handball has a stronger sense of community than football, as teams are smaller and every player gets more attention.

   • The game is fast-paced and easier for young children to learn than basketball.

   • Parents are more likely to support and engage with the sport if they feel included in the club environment.

3. The Importance of Team Managers:

   • Team managers (jojos) are just as crucial as coaches in keeping the sport organized and attractive.

   • However, they receive little to no training. More networking and training opportunities should be provided for them.

4. Making Handball More Spectator-Friendly:

   • The sport is shifting from long-range shooting to more dynamic breakthroughs, making it more exciting to watch.

   • 7vs6 play creates fast-paced, buzzer-beater-style moments that should be better highlighted in media and promotions.

5. Opportunities for Growth:

   • The Finnish Handball Federation has a new chairman who understands communications, which presents a chance to improve the sport’s visibility.

   • To grow handball’s popularity, the focus should be on better promotion, increased fan engagement, and stronger community-building.

By emphasizing goalkeepers, fan engagement, community, and the sport’s evolving gameplay, handball can become more attractive to a broader audience.

Just Products - Story World progress

We’ve added a designer to our team and found several other prospects to work with us in different roles while becoming much wiser about user pain points in our product discovery calls.

I believe founders should express themselves in a way that suits them; however, those funding startups still prefer specific industry standards. As told in earlier inserts, The good part about creating a long-format write-up is that you can quickly adapt it to any format, whether it’s grant applications, investor decks, or one-pagers. Here’s our one-pager write-up, summarized from the 48-page long format document (yes, my co-founder and I are writers by heart);

StoryW°rld is an AI-powered platform transforming storytelling and franchise management. Positioned as "GitHub for story creation," it provides professional storytellers with AI-driven tools for structuring the creation story world to support ideation, writing, world-building, and monetization. The long-term vision is to create a comprehensive content ecosystem integrating co-creation, publishing, and fan engagement.

Problem & Market Opportunity
The film industry is outdated, relying on manual, fragmented processes. High production costs limit creative risk-taking, while AI is disrupting traditional workflows. StoryW°rld addresses these pain points by offering a scalable, AI-native storytelling solution. The total addressable market (TAM) for text-based entertainment exceeds $1.8T, with a $55B serviceable obtainable market (SOM) in professional writing.

Solution & Product
StoryW°rld aims to develop an AI-powered story creation platform in four phases:

1. Go-To-Market with Master Storytellers - AI-assisted writing, ideation, and collaboration by first helping them structure their story world (GitHub for stories)

2. Integration to Generative Tools & Publishing - Seamless workflows for AI-driven content creation.

3. Platform for Co-Creation - Enabling fan engagement and monetization.

4. New Open Ecosystem - Broadening into an industry-wide entertainment hub.

Business Model & Monetization

• Subscription Model: SaaS pricing for professional creators.

• Marketplace Transactions: IP trading, licensing, and AI-generated assets.

• Fan Monetization: Direct-to-fan revenue streams (e.g., paywalls, digital experiences).

• Brand & Advertiser Integrations: Partnerships with studios and advertisers for targeted content alignment.

Go-To-Market Strategy
Initial traction will focus on master storytellers (screenwriters, IP creators) to drive adoption and establish credibility. Expansion plans include integrating AI-generation tools, forming partnerships with entertainment stakeholders, and leveraging early adopters to grow the viral community.

Competitive Landscape
Existing solutions (Final Draft, NovelAI, Runway, streaming services) cater to fragmented needs but lack an integrated, AI-powered ecosystem. StoryW°rld’s differentiation lies in its end-to-end storytelling workflow, AI-assisted world-building, and community-driven monetization model.

Team
Co-founded by Nicolas Dolenc (former Slush President and entertainment strategist) and Pauli Kopu (award-winning storyteller media entrepreneur). Actively recruiting for key roles: ML specialist and frontend developer. The team includes a designer, two advising back-end developers,

Funding Ask & Use of Funds
Seeking €475,500 pre-seed funding for a 12-month runway to:

• Build and launch Phase 1: AI-powered writing & world-building tool.

• Develop a community of 50+ master storytellers.

• Validate early product-market fit and secure 5-10 institutional partnerships.

Vision - We help the world's best storytellers by assisting them in structuring and storing their Storyworlds.
StoryW°rld aims to be the go-to AI-native platform for storytellers, bridging the gap between Hollywood-grade productions and independent creators. The ultimate goal is to redefine entertainment by enabling scalable, AI-enhanced storytelling at an industry-wide level.

Just About Life - Women’s Day

Women’s Day happens once a year, but I aim to highlight that it's a discussion I, at least, am part of every day. More often than not, during the majority of my life, the decision-makers have been women: my Mother, my partner, my grandmother, my daughter, or my boss. My book release was an event also to celebrate the women in my life.

I built the AI within the Art event with young female expats instead of sourcing experienced help, which felt more meaningful. However, it was hard to do that without being perceived by others—or experienced by Yuzu and Mathilda—as anything but a genuine attempt at radical inclusivity.

Women’s rights are essential, but more often than not, it’s how you treat the women in your sphere of influence that matters more than remembering to give them flowers once a year.

Just Poems - Frisson

A whisper runs along my spine, A fleeting chill, a spark divine. A note, a word, a touch, a glance, A sudden rush, a soul’s presence. Oh, frisson, you elusive spark, You light a fire within the dark. A gift that needs no grand design — Just magic felt through heart and spine.

DALL-E - Generated picture of Frisson

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Until next time! I hope to keep up the monthly cadence. Subscribe so you do not miss exclusive notes in the email headers, nor will you miss a beat from Just Thoughts!

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You can find me on LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, and X @DolencNicolas. I also have accounts on Facebook and Instagram, and I am more active on the latter than the first.