Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

Ben’s List 31

I’ve been diving into some Discord servers lately to understand a bit more the craze around web3, NFTs, DAOs, and I still have mixed feelings about them. Is it really a new form of media & ownership? Or a smart way to update capitalism to serve some of the most demanding digital consumers?

Call me a boomer again.

But don’t worry. We also cover productivity, Zoomitis and how a semiconductor company is going rogue in China.

Product

How Product Hunt ships fast with a small, remote team

“Whenever you’re unsure about what you should pick to work on, go for ‘impact.’
What’s can I work on right now that will have the greatest effect? Work on that.”

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Productivity

this meeting could have been an email

“I think a bigger question than how we’ll meet in the future though, is why — why we’re having this particular meeting at all?  No technology can solve boring or unnecessary meetings.”

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Community

The Next Generation of Community Infrastructure

“Clearly, there is no shortage of tools for community builders to choose from today. However, almost all of these tools are focused on a single use case in the community stack, and some are even focused on a specific type of community like brand, professional, creator, developer, or non-profit communities. As a result, most communities are stitching together a variety of individual solutions to serve the end-to-end needs of their members. The community tech stack is incredibly fragmented.”

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All Things Community-Led Growth with Corinne Riley of Greylock

“Over the course of her career, Corinne has built a knack for helping companies build and develop a go-to-market motion. Corinne has extensive knowledge of community-led growth and helping companies grow at the earliest stages of their business. Corinne joins the show to break down community-led companies and the thought process behind her investment decision-making.”

All Things Community-Led Growth with Corinne Riley of Greylock | Founders Forward Podcast | Episode 6
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Community Metrics: What to Track and Why

“In some community circles, engagement metrics are treated as the Holy Grail, while others will dismiss them as ‘vanity metrics’. We’d argue that there is value in these numbers, but only if taken in the context of a ‘then what’. For example, you know that on average 30 people respond to a post within your community. Then what? What does that mean?”

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Blockchain

The NFT Asset Stack

“The Nonfungible Token landscape has evolved from a small ecosystem of collectors and enthusiasts to an emerging multichain ecosystem at the forefront of culture and technology.”

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Media

Joe Rogan, confined to Spotify, is losing influence

“There could be various explanations for the monthslong dip. People might be listening to fewer podcasts post-pandemic, or Rogan fans could have coincidentally stopped using Twitter. But the timing of the dip still aligns with his switch to Spotify exclusivity, suggesting Rogan has lost dedicated listeners. Presumably, the people who took action after an episode and actually followed guests were his most engaged. Now there’s likely fewer of them.”

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UTA Signs NFT Art Projects CryptoPunks, Meebits and Autoglyphs (Exclusive)

“While they were originally given away for free, in recent months sales of the characters (there are only 10,000) have picked up significantly, with eight examples selling for $2 million or more in just the last 6 weeks. The total collection is now valued at more than $3 billion.”

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Policy

The Semiconductor Heist Of The Century | Arm China Has Gone Completely Rogue, Operating As An Independent Company With Inhouse IP/R&D

“Arm China, 安谋科技, is asserting their independence. It is the most publicized instance of a joint venture in China going rogue, but also the most dangerous one. The Arm China board is not in agreement with Allen Wu, but he still holds power despite his formal removal. Minority stake joint ventures have had control wrestled away from the parent company, but this may be the most brazen attempt yet.”

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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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New Materials 3 days ago

Lios Group, the Irish startup behind SoundBounce, was a winner of JEC Composites Startup Booster 2018, and has been making significant strides since taking home the award.

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New Materials 1 week ago

Tree Composites aims to accelerate the energy transition with innovative composite joints.

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