Daniel CrennaSuccess is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.Earl Wilson

AbstractBusiness ventures often fail even when market demand is demonstrated and evaluated by peers, and when the project team is capable of producing the work. In this informal case study based on the author's own experiences, the topics of market size and fit, team size, human dynamics, business validation, and interaction design are explored to form a picture of how a business with seemingly promising prospects could still fail. Specifically, the challenges faced by small or single-person implementation teams are discussed, with suggestions for overcoming these challenges to produce more realistic and viable businesses.

IntroductionMost entrepreneurs enjoy reading the success stories of technology companies and their leaders, both local and global. Depending on the entrepreneur's disposition, these stories can be motivational, such as when the entrepreneur can identify with the hero, or they can add pressure, such as when the hero sounds less capable than the entrepreneur perceives themselves to be. Stories of success are so captivating that we forget that most of what we do as a technology entrepreneurs will be classified as failure.

If an entrepreneur is in this game for the long haul, they will fail so many times that they will no longer differentiate failure from success, because like any human endeavour that improves with practice, the art of business building is a steady march of preparation, timing, execution, and aftermath. And while the current opportunity landscape lets us attempt more experiments than were possible in the past, this only means that we can fail faster and cheaper, ultimately failing more often.

While most of the stories we hear are written like victory speeches, this story is about failing. In this particular case, the story is not about failing particularly fast or cheaply; in fact, the story is perhaps even about failing at failing well. This article is not meant as a means of helping you avoid failure, but instead hopes to serve as a signpost. To quote J.S. Cournoyer, "this is who you're competing with." By sharing failure, we all stand to gain by the perspectives of similar people working towards similar goals. If we have no stories like these to tell, we might think our world is made of shining stars and obvious frauds, rather than the richer landscape of many talented, inspired individuals who are earning success one failure at a time. If we make that mistake, we might not even try.

BackgroundIn the summer of 2009, I was finally coming to terms with a previous failure to build a business in the dating industry. I was a victim of something I like to call the "Frind Paradox", named after Markus Frind, the programmer that created thePlenty of Fishdating site that, despite its many technical, security, design, and character flaws, and much to the chagrin of a crowded marketplace with demonstrably better solutions, continues to generate more than ten million dollars in advertising revenue annually. The paradox is defined as the mistaken belief that a terribly executed plan plus perfect timing is always defeated by a well-executed plan after the fact. (Hint: it is not). Eager to start another chapter, and with the encouragement of new colleagues in a new city, I began development on Lunarbits, an e-commerce platform for selling digital goods.

I had a vision for a platform that gave absolute control to the content creator, whether they wanted a traditional "one URL equals one download" type of experience, or whether they wanted to stream video content within a browser to a subscriber base. In effect, Lunarbits was meant to possess all of the flexibility ofShopify, without the out-dated transactional approach to content purchasing ofFetchorPulley, or countless other market participants.

Shortly after the initial flurry of excitement and imagination of what Lunarbits could be, I began product development. The Lunarbits brand was a happy stroke of luck, as I had found the logo (Figure 1), complete with its nerd-chic design, onBrandStack, an open marketplace for brand identities. In hindsight, the name Lunarbits is not a great brand name. It suffers from not having an obvious relationship with the proposed solution. This issue is especially problematic for products competing in the consumer Internet. I had chosen to focus my first marketing vertical on technical content producers - software developers like me that thrive on teaching others - and wanted to look likePeepCode, a popular screen-casting platform, while doing it. Using my own passion about a frustration I had, I replaced my own individual desire to solve the content delivery problem, with the intention of solving it for anyone.

Figure 1. The Lunarbits Logo

The immediate next step was applying for, and being accepted into, Ottawa'sLead to Winprogram. Lead to Win is a six-day, intensive, business-building exercise put on by successful entrepreneurs in the region who are passionate about growing opportunities. Through a series of keynotes, peer evaluation, and private planning, culminating in a "big pitch" to a small group of successful CEOs and investors, business ideas are put through the ringer to determine if they, and the people behind them, have what it takes to become successful technology businesses. Each business that passes the evaluation is tasked with creating at least six jobs within three years. Lunarbits was put to the test, and came out the other side with the green light: "Go build this!".

Validation Is Not EnoughRegardless of the size of the team, we routinely seek out the counsel of others when determining the potential value of a new venture. We support this idea culturally with business incubators, angel and venture capital investments, and strategic partnerships or ecosystem development. In many ways we are seeking permission, from people with experience, from informed business theory, and from ourselves, to invest a significant amount of time, effort, and money developing our vision. The thinking goes: if our plan is validated, it stands a much higher chance of succeeding, and the sacrifice is worth the risk.

But validation is not enough. In many ways, the act of validation is a brilliant way to postpone the hard work, because it takes you out of the details of delivery and you become engaged in a socially acceptable form of pretending through financial forecasting, customer and market analysis, and partnership development. These are important tasks that I believe fit further down the spectrum, certainly after the initial launch stage, where validation is no longer on the radar. When you are in the thick of it, there is some small solace in knowing that other people approved and believed in your vision, but putting too much stock in others' armchair business development keeps you in your own metaphorical armchair, away from making real progress that can be validated by paying customers, or a lack thereof.

With Lunarbits, validation was never the problem; on paper, Lunarbits is still a viable business and its competitor landscape remains largely unchanged after two years. However, that does not mean it is a good idea. And that does not mean it will not fail for countless other reasons.

Mockups Are Not EnoughWe often hear abstract lessons about failure, but there are plenty of concrete reasons for projects to falter. One of them, which applies more specifically to software but has broader applications, is designing without mockups. This approach assumes that the vision of your business has its own natural metaphor that can express itself in software without disciplined work. With Lunarbits, I paid up front for quality graphic design of the website (i.e., the brochure), admin portal (i.e., the back end), and default store theme (i.e., the marketplace). When I met with the designer, I had an idea of how the application should "feel", but I only brought feelings to the table. I thought that my vision was obvious and that the design would be self-evident. It was not. I was surprised to find myself tongue-tied when asked simple questions, such as: "What happens next?" with respect to customer workflow.

The reality is that front-end work is one of the most challenging details of a business, because it is the most obvious to the customer. It is easy to take great design for granted, and that is half of the trap, believing that it is an afterthought. It is not the pudding, it is the proof. Rather than put the brakes on Lunarbits until I had articulated a complete picture of how the application would work, I had the designer work on a basic concept, and I hoped I could slice and dice and reuse most of the general layout to fill in the blanks for development areas I had not fully imagined. This ended up being the kiss of death, because I spent more time trying to jam an evolving application into the design elements I already paid for, rather than start over. By the time I realized my mistake, I was already too stretched financially and emotionally to turn the corner; I would need to rewrite Lunarbits to fit the metaphors I learned building it, which I could have learned if I had "built it out of paper" first.

The lesson is that you cannot know the generic without attempting the specific. I now recommend to everyone that there are two very specific stages that you should go through before you spend a cent on graphic design. The first is using a mockup tool (or a good pencil and pad of graph paper) to outline every screen of your application, even those that seem obvious to you. Make copies, and then assemble them into "decks" that represent tasks your customers need to perform, such a "sign up for an account" and "upload a new video". When you can see all of these interactions clearly, the next step is to throw them away.

Mockups are not enough. They are a great mental exercise, but they do not go far enough in preparing you to truly know what you need from a graphic designer. Instead, you should build a live interaction system, which is essentially the entire application, using an unremarkable, unbranded theme. You can find clean, standards-compliant software application themes from many online stores, though I have the most luck with modern treatments atThemeForest.net; these themes typically cost less than $20, but they are priceless in that you can reassemble them into any of the screen designs you created at the mockup stage. This live interaction system will allow you to build out your project from back to front. Hire the designer last, but start the design first. This approach will pay off both in terms of the ownership you will have over the vision of your product and in the amount of input you will be able to provide to get the design you need the first time.

Going Alone May Not Be EnoughI have always been an advocate of solo entrepreneurship. I consider myself a "code soloist", someone who has the imagination to solve a problem and the broad base of technical and communication skills needed to build it with their bare hands, with the exception of graphic design, which should never be left to software developers or other mere mortals. Yet, over time, I have learned that certain categories of problems need teams, no matter how ambitious or capable the soloist. It is more a question of simple human dynamics than it is about the character of the person. People are energetic beings, and we cannot sustain a high degree of intensity or capacity for work indefinitely without encouragement and consistent feedback, which are impossible to provide for yourself.

Building a technology business is a grind. Like any stressful, all-consuming journey, you need supporters, both for accountability and momentum. They cannot be the kind of supporters that do not understand the problem space you are trying to tackle, have their own focus and projects, or are able to separate themselves emotionally and financially from any challenges that come up. Those kinds of supporters are called "friends", and while they are essential for your well-being, they are not enough. Your true supporters need to be in it for the long haul, and take on as much risk as you. These kind of people are called "co-founders", and you need them if the kind of business you are building solves a problem your mother can understand. In other words, if your business is well understood by non-technical people, and it is trying to provide value to "anybody" (which is itself a sign of business planning immaturity), the market you are after is so horizontal that there is little hope of achieving success without a team.

With Lunarbits, I made the mistake of continuing despite an inability to form a team. Left alone long enough with the massive task of architecting a platform that could be used by anyone, I lost interest. I attempted to manufacture a technical support team by extracting components of the underlying infrastructure and offering these components to others under an open source license, hoping that releasing them would attract other developers to my cause. Do not do this. The overhead of extracting takes you far away from shipping anything tangible, and the myth of external contribution coming in a timely fashion, or for areas that really need improving, is a vicious one. Nobody ever built a business with crowdsourcing alone. Open source is an effective strategy for business development in a variety of situations, especially when the core product is a platform used by other developers, or seeded to the general population as well-documented, well-loved hosted platforms likeWordPress. But I suggest that, for hosted solutions that are charging monthly service fees up front and rely on execution as a key market differentiator, there is simply too much pressure to ship and too many proprietary aspects that must be carefully separated from any potentially sharable infrastructure. The time and effort needed to open source before you have shipped your first version will have a direct impact on your momentum, which is the most critical "soft" value you have in the beginning. Save open source for when you have already established a first version and are looking to improve cheaply, rather than gamble that the mere idea of open source's potential, with no concrete examples, will be enough to gain developer confidence and support.

Scratching Your Own Itch May Not Be EnoughA lot of the time, we take colloquialisms at face value because we expect a "truism" to be true. That is why it is easy to read and believe sentiments like "scratch your own itch" - the idea that a virtuous circle is created by the entrepreneur that is simultaneously solving a problem that they themselves need solving, while at the same time being uniquely suited to solve it. There are clear benefits to this strategy beyond capability, especially as an antidote to the mistake of "going it alone", since the creator is intrinsically motivated by a real frustration where they can see a solution and are capable of producing it. A lot of effort normally destined for user stories and usability testing is liberated by the entrepreneur's ability to use themselves for feedback.

Often what we want for ourselves is not generally useful to others, at least not in numbers high enough to justify the time and cost necessary to see an idea through. As entrepreneurs tend towards a narrow and focused view so that they can find underserved markets, we also have unique needs. With Lunarbits, my initial frustration was that there were no turn-key options for remixing and selling digital content (specifically instructional videos); existing solutions did not have the flexibility of a hosted storefront or the ability to restrict purchased content to download versus online consumption, or they required multiple integrations between shopping cart, storefront, and back-end delivery systems. The frustration of realizing that I would have to create my own platform to solve the problem of selling my digital content was replaced by the idea that there was a real need for this in the general public, rather than the idea that this might be useful for a small group of people who demanded major publisher quality for their indie video commerce projects. In hindsight, I should have realized that the needs of this niche group are clearly different from the needs of the general public.

A compounding problem of "scratching your own itch" is that wanting something for yourself is not the same as wanting something for everyone. While it is easy to make imaginative justifications for how others will benefit from the solution to a problem you have, and while you may even represent a large market of solution seekers, it is a mistake to think that a solution that solves your problem is generally useful as-is. Entrepreneurs grossly underestimate the amount of time and effort it takes to take a working concept and make it widely available, stable, scalable, and supported. From a design perspective, interactions that make sense for a prototype are rarely well received by the general population without refinement. An additional problem is that once the solution works, the entrepreneur's problem is solved. This takes away the motivational leverage, but leaves a large body of work that seldom resembles the original problem and has more to do with maintenance than creation.

Big Ideas May Not Be EnoughAs indicated earlier, Lunarbits as a business idea is still just as viable and just as validated today as it was when I began two years ago. What many entrepreneurs will pay lip service to, but generally fail to recognize in any of their own ideas, is this: "if it's broke, it could be because it ain't worth fixing." Similar to the Frind Paradox, sometimes bad solutions exist because better solutions are not worth the effort. This is a real phenomenon. It could be a function of the market's expectations, or the secret, real truth behind the profitability of some seemingly attractive segments, but I believe that if I launched Lunarbits tomorrow, chances are I would have a very real problem attracting a sufficient number of subscriptions to sustain a business. I come to this conclusion based on the number of competitors that have launched in two years (two) and by the number of those competitors that are deviating from the existing entrenched and uninspired business metaphors (zero). This does not mean there is no room for disruption in the digital goods market, but it does mean that I am skeptical that anyone "going it alone" could crack it, at least without burning out ten feet from the finish line. The idea is simply too big.

Sometimes the big vision we have cannot be solved well for all of the people, all of the time. This is a curious property of big ideas: they all start with an optimistic burst of energy that seeks to topple the status quo, but their proponents forget that the existing solutions did not spring up out of a lazy person's mind, and it is a mistake to take any of them lightly, no matter the apparent gap between a new idea and their reality. To maximize your chance of success, when faced with a big vision that cannot be solved well for all of the people, all of the time, the correct response is to shrink the vision, or get a new one.

ConclusionIn the end, Lunarbits failed not because it was a bad idea, because nobody believed it would work, or because its team was not capable of creating it. It failed for regular, human reasons. I simply could not sustain the effort long enough. I did not spend enough time up front getting the experience nailed down before spending my budget on a designer. I did not find a co-founder even though the scope and effort required to execute a full-scale platform clearly demanded it. I spent too much time generalizing infrastructure details hoping for external collaboration through open source efforts. I kept pursuing a huge problem I could not solve alone in an acceptable amount of time, for the widest possible audience. I did not interpret the lack of market movement as a possible warning sign that there was not a strong market to begin with. I mistook my own problem of needing a flexible content commerce application to warrant a common and widely desired solution. I scratched my itch for so long I forgot what I was scratching. After two years of hard work, I could not access any of the original inspiration I used to feel. The problem was, and is, "dead to me".

I do not have a success story to tell today, but I will in the future. I will because I recognize that success and failure are identical experiences of effort and learning, but have different outcomes depending on whether a lesson is truly learned, rather than merely witnessed. It would be easy for me to postpone telling my failure stories, choosing instead to reminisce on them fondly and cite them in victory speeches, but the truth is that these painful experiences are most of what we do every day as technology entrepreneurs. These stories are important. The more we share them, and the data behind failing, the better chance we all have of understanding where we fit, and learning what we need to take the next step.

Rural development through the establishment of a community partnership company: the upper Meza valley development programme11Case study presented at the Eighth FAO/REU International Rural Development Summer School, Malaga, 18-23 September 1995.

M. MeslNov'na Studio for Rural Development, Ravne na Koroskem, SloveniaThe agency Nov'na Studio for Rural Development decided to extend its Rural Community Development programme through the establishment of a Community Partnership Programme (ALP) based on the process of 'activating local potential' in the Upper Meza Valley of Slovenia.

In developing the Programme for ALP four elements were deemed important:

Background data for programme development.

The concept.

The partners.

The strategy.

Background data for programme development

An analysis of the area to be developed (Upper Meza Valley) revealed the potential, the problems and the obstacles against development of the potential. These were manifested in the following way:

the process of global restructuring of the area's economic base caused high unemployment (stagnation of the traditional industry which represented 70% of the area's GNP; closing of the mines which were a major source of employment; the changing market conditions for agriculture);

efforts by individual developers did not influence the economic situation to any great extent as unemployment continued to rise; and

there is a rich supply of natural resources such as forests, landscape, geographic location suitable for rural tourism, a rich natural and cultural heritage, people qualified in traditional skills relating to wood processing, metal and machinery industries.

The conclusions for this analysis were: that the overall potential for development is good and there is opportunity for individual entrepreneurial initiative and ideas but the following obstacles must be overcome:

lack of information and specific knowledge relating to farming and industry;

lack of investment and start-up capital (labour intensive industry; low income structure and a negative image of the area for investments from outside);

poor access to markets (lack of knowledge of available information and poor infrastructure); and

lack of infrastructure in the area for development of new economic activities.

To overcome the outlined obstacles it was necessary to organize the individual development of the area into a comprehensive united development activity through a community effort. This opened up opportunities for further development in relation to accessing information, start up capital and for assuring the necessary infrastructure conditions in the area for the development of new economic activities and for the future quality of life.

The concept

The concept was that ALP be established as a Community Partnership Company and that it should be:

owned by local communities, companies and individuals, as equal shareholders, managing the company on the basis of common development strategy and operational programmes;

operated as an non-profit making organization, which is investing its income and profit into the priority development activities in the area;

operated as a development agency, which is covering and supporting the whole development process, from the business idea generation, consultancy in business planning and development, designing, training, towards the financial and marketing support; and

operate as an incubator, supporting the development of new businesses from the beginning until they are ready for independent, successful development.

The partners

The partners in the company, who expressed their interest in shareholding, are:

the local communities of: Ravne na Koroskem; Crna na Koroskem; Mezica and Zerjav;

the existing industry i.e. Mezica lead and zinc mine with its seven companies; forestry and wood processing industry and two tourism (hotel) companies;

private companies in the field of tourism (seven accommodation and food providers) and private companies in the field of services (five units);

the development and consultancy agencies (six existing companies); and

farmers, farm co-operatives and some individual farmers.

In the first phase thirty companies and individuals signed the agreement to join the company. The input for each member for the establishment of the company was from 50 000 to 200 000 Slovenian Tolars (about 250-1000).

The strategy

According to the potential and the needs defined in the Development Programme, the company strategy will be mainly oriented towards:

assuring professional assistance in generating and developing new economic activities in the area through:

- creating an entrepreneurial climate in the area;

- providing motivational and training activities for potential entrepreneurs;

- providing in one place at a reduced cost professional high quality and regular support in developing new businesses at reduced rates and adapted to the real needs of the community; and

- providing business services for new entrepreneurs, offering space, administration and accounting services.

assuring harmonised, systematic and long term quality development of the activities in the prospective development fields through:

- tourism development: realisation of the community tourism offer of 'King's Matjaz Park'; raising the quality of the existing tourism offer; developing new activities; developing marketing strategy;

- wood processing: organizing forestry and basic production; motivating and supporting development of new activities in processing; and

- development of new programmes adapted to the traditional industry: exploring existing knowledge, places and equipment.

assuring the necessary infrastructure conditions in the area through:

- environmental planning and protection: avoiding further ecological problems and conflicts;

- organizing building and industrial zones; and

- developing physical infrastructure: traffic connections, communications, water supply.

ALP Operational programme. Priority projects and activities

The ALP Operational Programme as outlined includes the priority projects and activities for the year of initiation 1994-95. These include:

establishment of the local development company;

entrepreneurship and small business development; and

development of the prospective economic activities.

Establishment of the local development companyElaboration of the concept, organization of the community partnership in developing and marketing the products of the areaWhy?Professionalisation of the community development efforts with the establishment of a partnership company is a new concept in the Nov'na Organization. Therefore to be successful in the pilot example (in the Upper Meza Valley) it has to be systematically and efficiently prepared and developed.

Aims and purpose- To collect and adopt suitable experiences from other countries in the field of organizing community development activities;

- to develop an appropriate methodology for the concept of community partnership companies;

- to define organizational issues and rules for the company; and

- to prepare a strategy and an operational plan for managing the company.

Expected results- An elaboration of the concept and methodology for the Community Partnership Company in Slovenia;

- an organizational system, management and development; and

- a strategy and an operational plan.

In this development, experience from EU member countries (Ireland and Scotland), where the concept is known and successful, will be adapted to the Meza Valley environment. The transfer of this model and experience to other parts of Slovenia can offer an opportunity for change at a time when the whole system of communal organization is in the process of change.

FinancingFinancing sources will be:

- EU contributions for technical support from Ireland; and

- Ministry for Economic Affairs of Slovenia, small business development fund.

Building renewal and equipmentWhy?In the Upper Meza Valley there is no community or business centre suitable for developing common activities and services. On the other hand there are a lot of unexplored buildings in the area.

One of the partners in the company, i.e. the Forestry organization, offered the company a building in the centre of Crna na Koroskem, which can be developed into a company seat and business centre for the whole area.

The valley, which is known for hard industry (mining), with no tradition in small businesses and entrepreneurship and which has a very typical rural Slovenian settlement (two local centres, more than twenty small villages and a lot of individual farms in the high mountains), needs a Development Centre to provide support and services.

Aims and purpose- To develop a community business centre in the unoccupied building, provided free of charge by the Forestry organization to the ALP Company;

- to organize suitable places for Company offices, administration service, education and training needs and a business incubator; and

- to assure the necessary technical equipment for the business support centre.

Expected resultsThe provision of:

- five offices for the Company and for the business administration service, with all the necessary equipment;

- two centres for information and training activities; and

- business incubator with four units suitable for organizing new businesses in the fields of services and domestic crafts.

FinancingFinancing sources will be:

- EU contribution for technical equipment;

- company investment, input from the partners;

- donors;

- credit; and

- national funds for development of depopulated areas.

Entrepreneurship and small business developmentBusiness centre developmentWhy?There are five consultancy and development agencies in the Community of Ravne na Koroskem, there is also a lot of specific knowledge in other companies in the area, which is not recognised nor offered to the potential users. On the other hand, in the area there are more than 220 private companies and enterprises, which are searching for the development and administration support for their businesses. There are more than 500 unemployed people, with a growing potential of unemployment from existing industry. There is a generation of about 110 young school students with almost no job opportunities and there are farmers, looking for opportunities to supplement their income, which is badly needed in the high mountain farms. All of them are potential users of the business centre, because they are thinking about self employment but they do not know how to start. Many people need to do something but they do not know what and how; they may have already started a business but do not know how to manage finance and marketing; others want to expand their business but they do not have money and knowledge.

Aims and purposeTo develop a business centre with appropriate offices in order to:

- provide all the necessary support for small business development in the area;

- offer administration, accounting and consultancy services at favourable costs;

- ensure that all existing knowledge in the area will be organized and used; and

- provide all services from one central venue.

Expected results- Business incubator for four new businesses;

- employment for three young qualified people who will be able to service at least one quarter of the existing small businesses; and

- organization of a consultancy group leading to better utilisation of existing knowledge in the local development companies and other organizations, improved exchange of ideas and team work and needs covered of all the target groups of people.

FinancingFinancing sources will be:

- Ministry for Labour, Family and Social Affairs;

- Consultancy Business, partner's input; and

- Ministry for Economic Affairs, small business development fund.

Motivation and training activities for small business developmentWhy?There is a negative climate and image in the area which needs to be changed. This is due to the poor economic structure, poor income, traditional thinking and general stagnation with rising unemployment. Some entrepreneurs have taken the initiative for self employment, but all of the potential entrepreneurs face the same problems at the beginning i.e. how to start, where to get money, how to organize and how to avoid the risk involved in new businesses. There is a lack of information and specific knowledge on these aspects.

There are a lot of motivation and training programmes for entrepreneurship and small business development in Slovenia. But mostly, they are too far away, they are expensive and they are not relevant to the needs of all target groups. Training programmes which are tailored to the 'needs' of the people concerned are required.

Aims and purpose- To organize systematic motivational activities in the area for idea generation, job creation and self employment through information exchange, presentations, workshops and training programmes for unemployed people, young people, farmers, etc.;

- to organize training in entrepreneurship, testing ideas, business planning;

- to organize training in management, marketing and other business functions;

- to organize training for special needs in tourism, services and manufacturing; and

- to organize 'training of trainers' for people involved in development activities for project leaders and for potential managers

Expected resultsAccording to the needs expressed in the preparation phase of the project, there will be about 150 people involved in different kinds of motivational and training activities in the first year. A group of ten people will be involved in the 'training of trainers' programme through the technical support given by the EU project and partners.

Financing- EU contribution for training programme for the Group of Project Leaders and Consultants;

- Ministry for Economic Affairs, subsidising the cost for the training programmes in entrepreneurship and business development;

- Ministry for Economic Affairs, fund for tourism development for specialised training for tourism providers; and

- Ministry for Labour, Family and Social Affairs, workshops for unemployed people.

Development of the prospective economic activities Tourism.

Wood processing.

Traditional industry.

Development of the community tourism product 'King's Matjaz Park'Marketing strategy' and promotionWhy?The King's Matjaz Park has a cultural and historic significance which provides attractions for both natives and foreigners. Therefore, a global promotional strategy is being prepared under the brand name of King's Matjaz Park'. This will include a marketing and communication plan which will market benefits and features and will be supported by promotional material and action.

Aims and purpose- To prepare a systematic and quality programme for changing the negative image of the area (as an industrial area with ecological damages) to an area with a new trade mark 'King's Matjaz Park', which will focus on a specific quality tourism offer that is community owned; and

- to develop suitable informational materials and to organize promotional activities.

Expected results- A portfolio with a representative prospect of the Upper Meza Valley;

- a folder map and catalogue of the tourism offer;

- guides for thematic tourist roads;

- an information terminal;

- signposts and route markings in the Park;

- postcards; and

- organized promotional activities for marketing 'within' and 'without'.

Financing- EU contribution, preparation and materials;

- partners' contributions, financing the activities; and

- Ministry for Economic Affairs, Tourism Department, co-financing the promotional materials.

Information centre of King's Matjaz ParkWhy?The essential tourism infrastructure in the area is developed (hotels, inns and restaurants, ski facilities) but nobody really markets them and because of that they are empty and in bad condition. The potential for tourism development is great but the information infrastructure for its promotion is poor.

Aims and purpose- To establish a professional marketing structure for tourism offer in the Meza Valley;

- to organize a central information office for promotion and booking of the existing tourism offer; and

- to organize tourism packages and linkages between the carriers.

Expected results- An organized Tourism Centre in a suitable building (old) centrally located with professional staff end the necessary equipment;

- organized relevant information about the existing tourism offer in the Meza Valley;

- organized packages and guided activities for tourists; and

- an organized central booking system.

Financing- EU contributions for office technical equipment;

- partners' contributions for collecting and organizing information; and

- Ministry for Labour, Family and Social Affairs, costs for the employees (public works).

Arrangement of the thematic tourist roadsWhy?In the initial project of the 'King's Matjaz Park' (KMP) there are several thematic tourist roads planned as mountain bike roads, historical roads, geological roads, etc. These roads will contribute to the whole tourism offer and attract specific target groups of tourists. Development of thematic roads will also be the basis for further development of the supplementary services and tourism offer for the potential carriers in the mountainous rural surroundings.

Aims and purpose- To signpost all the important elements of the natural and cultural heritage and to include them into the tourism offer. There are more than sixty dendrological, geomorphological, hydrological and botanic monuments and many other ethnologic and cultural monuments; and

- to develop and signpost the interesting recreational roads on and around the Peca mountain, such as climbing and mountain bike roads.

Expected results- Signposted marked roads for mountain bikers; marathon around the Peca mountain (common programme with the neighbouring country) and 'Wild hunt', marathon roads for children; and

- signposted and marked historical roads with interpretation points as 'miners' road' and 'Geotrans', presentation of the mining tradition and history.

Financing- EU contributions for the preparation of the interpretations;

- Ministry for Labour, Family and Social Affairs for signposting and arranging the roads (public works); and

- Ministry for Education and Sports for preparation of the educational materials on the historical roads.

Tourism attraction 'underground of Peca Mountain 'Why?The area, which is not known as a tourist destination, needs a special element to attract tourists. The 300 year old mining tradition is the most important heritage of the area and this can provide the much needed attraction for the area. Within the initial project, a programme for development of the interpretation centre in the old mining shaft on the mountain is being prepared. In about 1.5 km of shafts, tourists will be able to see the development of mining over 300 years, the life of miners in different historical periods and natural development of minerals. Such attractions cannot be found anywhere place else in Slovenia or in neighbouring countries.

Aim and purpose- To transform a 1.5 km of the shaft into the oldest mining settlement on the Peca mountain into an interpretation centre, which will attract different target groups of tourists in the area.

Expected results- Design the presentations in 1.5 km of old mining shaft;

- development of the tourism company which will ensure approximately seven working places for the mine workers (the mine will be closed in two years);

- development of supporting tourism elements in the surrounding area (in the mountain village of Helena);

- in the long term ensure more than ten new working places; and

- attract 20 000 tourists in the first two years.

Financing- Ministry for Economic Affairs for technical arrangement of the shaft, education and pre-qualification of the potential employees;

- EU contribution for designing the scenography in the shaft; and

- individual investors for developing the tourism offer in the outside buildings.

Development of the ski-fields on the Peca MountainWhy?On the other Austrian side of the Peca mountain there is already a well known ski centre. Development of the common facilities on both the Slovenian and the Austrian side of Peca is an old idea which is now an opportunity for development. The plan includes extending the ski fields from the Austrian side across the top of the mountain to the Slovenian side as well as the development of ski-lifts and support services. This will be supported by investment from the Austrian partners.

Aims and purpose- Establishment of the joint-venture company for development of the ski capacities on Peca mountain; and

- development of the ski fields on the top of Peca mountain, with connection to both Austrian ski centres and Slovenian local centres.

Expected results- Two ski-lifts on the Slovenian side (1900 m) in the first phase (1995); and extension of the ski fields on the Slovenian side and the development of other necessary infrastructure on the Slovenian side.

Financing- Austrian partners, investment in ski-lifts; and

- Slovenian partners, investment in local infrastructure and local centres.

Development of the hotel Planinka in Crna Na KoroskemWhy?In the privatisation process, the local Community of Crna na Koroskem became the owner of the Hotel Planinka in the town centre which represents the basic tourism infrastructure and the largest accommodation facility in the area. The hotel is in a very bad condition. The planned tourism offer of KMP demands a high quality infrastructure.

Aims and purpose- To raise the category of the Hotel, to adapt its offer to the high quality needs; and

- to extend its offer from accommodation and food only to include elements that are needed in the area (e.g. recreation facilities).

Expected results- Adaptation of the building which is categorised as a pension into a four-star hotel; and

- exploration of the existing building i.e. unused spaces for the different supplementary elements of the tourism offer which will ensure new jobs and employment.

Financing- Austrian partner for investment in accommodation facilities; and

- local partners for investment in supplementary activities.

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