Kevin's journey as an entrepreneur began with the frustration that many acoustic solutions use materials that are harmful to people and the environment. Materials that also require you to tap into new raw materials, when there are already plenty of valuable waste streams. “I wanted to prove that it can be done differently: acoustic luxury that is beautiful, healthy and circular,” Kevin explains. “From my work as a contractor, I have experience with the products. So I had a pretty sharp idea of how things could be different. Could be better.”
That early period, in 2015, was one of pioneering and experimentation. There he worked on his first acoustic systems, using sheep's wool as an alternative to glass or rock wool. “A beautiful natural material, but difficult to process. It is full of grease, expensive and difficult to control.” Ten years, five patents and 60,000 kilos of recycled textiles further, it almost feels like someone else's story. Yet that's where the first steps were taken. “I sat there in that room and thought: can't I do it myself? I put the question to my father, who was already in acoustics. He indicated that if I was going to do it, I had to do it sustainably. I gladly accepted that challenge.”
‘Plot your goals, make them small and focus’
“If I have an idea, I just want to try it. Not wait too long, but get started.” That way of working took him far: he sold well, his team expanded and he developed new products and applications. Yet at some point he noticed that it was not enough to build on intuition alone. He decided to sign up for the Acceleration programme Future-proof building (ATB). “When I started the programme, I was at a tipping point with my business. I had proven that my products were technically and aesthetically strong, but I was looking for ways to grow faster and reach new markets.”
The ATB helped Kevin take a sharper look at his business, he says. Not only at the products, but also at the way he made choices. In conversations with other entrepreneurs, it became clear that all the different ideas and directions were also causing turmoil. “I learned: set out your goals, make them small and focus. Anything that doesn't contribute to that, leave it. If you do everything, you don't actually do anything.”
Clearer priorities emerged, fewer distractions, and more space to build in a focused way. Kevin: “We are still evolving, but with more focus. That feels like a firmer foundation to continue growing.”
‘Sustainability and affordability do go together’
As far as Kevin is concerned, acoustic comfort should not be a luxury product. “Many people still think that sustainable is automatically more expensive,” he says. “But that doesn't have to be the case at all. We show that it can also be done differently. For the same price as traditional materials, but circular, qualitatively stronger ánd more stylish.”
To do so, you sometimes have to dare to look critically at your process, he believes. Not getting stuck in assumptions or existing margins, but being creative with raw materials, costs and choices. “You have to think it through carefully, and sometimes be a bit tenacious or give up a bit on margins in the short term. But there is actually always an opportunity.”
His long-term dream with Echo Acoustic? That all acoustics in the world will soon be fully circularly made without any concession to appearance or quality. “We increase comfort, using what is already there. That is actually the core. And if we do that on a large scale, you clear up a waste problem at the same time. That's when you make a difference as an entrepreneur.”
