Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

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Liam Boogar-Azoulay

Highlights

From Bus Driver to Blogger: A Unique Career Path

Liam’s journey into the tech world is nothing short of fascinating. Starting in LA as a bus driver to pay for college tuition, he ventured into the world of startups after moving to France and starting a blog about the local startup scene. His journey began in 2011, and as he recalls, “I started a blog as a creative outlet,” choosing the thematic colors of orange and black as the blog started in the spooky month of October. Little did he know that his creative outlet – Rude Baguette – would later become France’s leading startup blog. As the blog quickly gained traction, he began exploring ways to better monetize the opportunity.

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The Impact of Events (and English) on the Tech Ecosystem

From his community of readers, Liam noticed a demand for connections between startups, VCs, and founders. Readers would write to him to be put in touch with relevant parties that Liam had connections with or wrote about. Out of respect for the ethos of maintaining an editorial independence, Liam did not want to facilitate direct connections. Nevertheless, this was the window of opportunity he needed: to bridge this gap, Liam started organizing events as opportunities for networking among readers and in this way, giving them the opportunity to arrange meetings amongst themselves during the events. They soon discovered that one of the best filters for competitive startups was the fact that they had to participate in English. Naturally, any startup or participants interested in an international audience were willing to participate in English events.

The Rise of SaaS: What You Need to Know

During the conversation, Liam sheds light on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, explaining its fundamental principles. He emphasizes the importance of high gross margins in venture capital and how SaaS businesses excel in this regard. SaaS companies leverage predictability and recurring revenue streams, making them appealing to both investors and entrepreneurs. Understanding the SaaS playbook involves finding a niche, excelling in it, and delivering what customers are willing to pay for, all while ensuring they’re delighted with the product. Liam’s years of experience in the venture capital and SaaS space becomes apparent in how he details the perspective investors have in this domain. He shares insights for founders of SaaS startups to understand how to better capture investor interest.

From Marketing to Revenue Strategy: The Transition at Scaleway

Liam’s career evolved from marketing into the role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Scaleway. He shares his perspective on marketing’s role in revenue generation. Marketing, brand-building in particular, plays a vital role in driving organic demand generation, leading to lower customer acquisition costs for companies with strong brands. At Scaleway, this understanding allows the team to predictably forecast revenue and strategically plan product development.

Facilitating Great Conversations: Event Organizers Take Note

Liam’s experience in organizing events highlight the value of facilitating meaningful conversations within the tech community. He emphasizes that events with a clear editorial focus, designed to foster engaging discussions, are the events that result in more lasting impacts. These conversations create valuable connections and contribute to the growth of the tech ecosystem, making them a crucial element of the industry.

This conversation with Liam provides a glimpse into the dynamic and ever-evolving world of tech startups, the power of events, and the strategic insights needed to thrive in the SaaS landscape.

Liam’s journey from bus driver to tech influencer and CRO at Scaleway serves as a testament to the exciting opportunities that await those who embrace the tech scene with both passion and creativity.

Speaking of events, Liam will be at Station F in Paris on November 17th for Scaleway’s first ai-Pulse event; a one-day technical conference dedicated to AI innovation, research & implementation

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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.

Events + 1
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