Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

Regulating AI Startups @ #SummitAFS

Last week, Allied For Startups (AFS) held their first annual #summitAFS open to the public, giving an insider view into the work that they do to as a pillar in the startup eco-system across five continents: bridging the gap between start-ups and governments by bringing all the relevant voices into one room.

Sat in Brussels alongside representatives from the European Parliament and European Commission alike at the Microsoft Center in Brussels, the event opened the conversation to players from the startup ecosystem across Europe. It was a space where founders and government-level leadership in the startup space could gather to exchange ideas and input on how the European Commission can better support startups in Europe.

This is the founding focus of AFS. With a presence in North and South America, Europe, and Africa, their mission is to serve as a platform that enriches and deepens the support system for startups on a Governmental level. From a keynote talk from the European Commission’s Rudy Aernoudt, it is clear that Europe realizes the deeper value of startups in an economy. As Tobias Henz, a panelist at the event, entrepreneur and Mckinsey partner puts it:

“To the public sector, the aspect of continual job creation and community building around solutions cannot be replaced. To the private sector, the agility and ideation available to startups is a breeding ground for priceless innovation that cannot be overlooked.  However, neither new jobs nor new ideas can flourish from an economy’s startup sector if the environment for these startups is not favorable”

The aim of AFS is to promote a dialogue which advocates for the right conditions needed in the startup eco-system and environment.

The hottest topics at the summit were split across two panel discussions. The conversation included questions like how do we maintain an environement that fosters innovation and supports startups, while in the face of funding pools drying up and a growing list of regulations that can easily limit or hamper the development of startups in the Deeptech and AI community. The selection of panelists was well balanced, with a variety of perspectives in each case, representing the true concerns and interests of the parties actually involved, from founders to parliament.

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The first panel of the day

There was a collective agreement from that great companies cannot emerge from unstable environments. The topic of VC funding and finding availability came up, or rather: the lack thereof. While Europe’s strength in Intellectual Property rests, historically, in inventions and patents from the industrial revolution and onwards: its true that the USA has more funding to offer European startups, a reality that many EU startups are confronting in this post-covid investing climate.

Speculation says there is a greater aversion to risk from Europeans VC’s compared to American ones. Either way, the general consensus communicated by founders was that the most impressive funding options for European startups often don’t come from within Europe, but rather the USA, China, and even Japan. Caroline Louise Lilleor, founder of Sirène, a personal safety device that connects you to a community of Runners, shared how they only began receiving more serious funding once they partnered with a larger and more reputable organization. This was yet another example voiced on the day, illustrating the challenges in the European startup environment.

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Second panel of the day

The second panel talk of the day addressed AI Regulations and how they will impact the startup environment. The panel comprised of four speakers in total. Two speakers with deep insight into the current state of AI regulatory affairs in the USA: Frances Burwell, an advisory expert on the Atlantic Council and Zachary Long, founder of conductor.ai, shared their insigh and opinion on the stae of AI regulatory affairs in the USA. Kai Zenner, Head of Office and Digital Policy Advisor in the European Parliament and Martin Ulbrich, a policy maker also from the Commission, brought equally rich and deep knowledge into the drafting and parliamentary discussions on the Europe’s AI Act.

A common voiced concern on the topic was how discrepancies in such regulatory acts, along with the fact that they are not universal, could hamper international business for startups with the AI-based solutions, especially in the startup space. Failure to meet a long list of information security and data compliance requirements could easily make it difficult for startups to close bigger clients and thereby start not only adding value, but creating higher value business for themselves to go from startup to scaleup. This is a valid concern that AFS insists the Commission takes into consideration.

Various thought leaders in the room shared their insight and opinion, resulting in an afternoon rich with fruitful discussion and detailed explanations. You can catch AFS at their HealthTech congress in January next year.

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Events 2 days ago

Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

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