Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

A Fireside Chat with TechBBQ

Congratulations on TechBBQ’s upcoming 10th (X) event! Will TechBBQ 2022 be offering any special activities during this “eXtraordinary” event to celebrate this milestone?

Our main focus this year is to celebrate our 10th year of bringing the community together. We have a new location, we are opening our doors to more people, and more international companies and delegations are joining us.

Our theme for the stage program is “Discovery”, which is focused on how we are embracing developments from our past and present that are provoking questions about our future.

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TechBBQ 2022 Graphic

TechBBQ puts an emphasis on the strengthening of the Nordic ecosystem for both startups and scaleups. What are some of the issues facing the Nordic Tech community and how
is North Star Pitch helping to fix them?

The startups and scaleups in the Nordics are facing several major challenges. For example, limited access to series B capital is an issue, as well as attracting talents, due to the low unemployment rate in the region. Additionally, many startups and scaleups are looking for opportunities to scale up internationally.

TechBBQ helps by attracting the best of the best when it comes to international investors with large funds. We also have a dedicated showcasing area for startups, as well as various pitching competitions and matchmaking activities, which can help in terms of finding the next investor, employee, colleague, or supplier.

We also help startups get more recognition and we help them with finding the investment or scaling internationally. A great example is Comply Cloud, last year’s winner of the North Star Pitch competition: they got an investment of 33.5 million DKK (approximately 4.5M€) from SEED Capital shortly after their win.

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TechBBQ Stage 

In addition to the North Star Pitch competition, there’s a multitude of other challenges for startups and scaleups in which to participate. Can you give us a quick rundown of these other events and what they can offer applicants?

Of course. This year’s program is very eXciting! Tim Draper (a huge investor, who invested in Tesla, Coinbase, and many more), is bringing his global investor pitching show –  Meet the Drapers – to our main stage.

We will also feature garden sessions focused on various topics in the tents outside of the main venue, program stages, a networking corner, and much more! In addition to the North Star Pitch competition, we are also hosting the Playground for Hardware Startups pitching competition, showcasing area for startups, and more.

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TechBBQ Attendees

Now that IRL events are back on the map, how is TechBBQ planning to improve networking experiences for attendees this year?

As in previous years, our attendees will have access to our networking app, Brella, before the event, which will allow them to match with people with similar interests and meet in an allocated meeting area.

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Networking at TechBBQ – Twitter

TechBBQ introduced new stages this year to address sustainability, the building blocks of startup life, industry movement, and the pioneers of the field. Which of these are you most excited to attend and why?

Our main stages are divided into four sub-categories – One World, Business of Building, Techno Sapiens, and Movers and Shakers.

Some of the most exciting talks will be: A Fireside chat with Erika Cheung (Theranos Whistleblower) & Robin Wauters (Founder of Tech.eu), Caroline Farberger (Partner & Chairwomen at Wellstreet and the first senior business leader in the Nordics to speak openly about her gender transition) will be interviewed by Larry Madowo (International Correspondent at CNN), and we will host a Mental Health Open Forum panel, where selected panelists will answer questions from our audience, that they will submit anonymously.

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TechBBQ 2021 stage – Twitter

Finally, TechBBQ has recently updated the venue of the event to Lokomotivværkstedet (AKA the Train Workshop), a cultural building in Copenhagen. What new features does this setting bring and how does it reflect TechBBQ’s ambiance?

TechBBQ is a place where tech and hygge align. You can meet your next co-founder, employee, or investor while sipping a beer. And even with a growing number of participants each year, our aim is always to maintain that special cozy vibe.

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Lokomotivværkstedet – Wikimedia Commons (Frederiksberg)

Get your tickets smrs.link/T-BBQ

❤️ TechBBQ? Join the club smrs.link/TBBQ22

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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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