Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

blank

Matt C Smith: From Venture Capital to Entrepreneurship

Matt C Smith’s professional journey began in venture capital at Condé Nast’s corporate venture fund, where he worked with high-growth companies like Farfetch and Vestiaire Collective. This experience gave him critical insights into business strategy and scaling, preparing him for future ventures.

venture capitalist

The Lunicorn: A Pivot to Success

After his time in venture capital, Matt founded The Lunicorn, a media brand focused on technology and entrepreneurship. Initially pivoting to white-label content for companies like Microsoft and Danske Bank, The Lunicorn grew into a multi-million dollar business. However, Matt sold the company early in the pandemic, only to buy it back a year after the buyer’s strategy shifted. This rare move highlights Matt’s adaptability and strategic thinking.

Olympic Aspirations: Applying Entrepreneurial Drive to Sports

In a new venture, Matt began training for the Winter Olympics in cross-country skiing, seeing it as a startup-like challenge. By leveraging the same discipline and focus he used in business, Matt is on track to compete in the World Championships.

venture capitalist

Storytelling as a Tool for Entrepreneurs

Matt emphasizes the importance of storytelling in business, calling it “story selling.” His ability to communicate his journey has made him a sought-after speaker and coach. His advice to founders is always to pitch and recognize opportunities in every conversation.

Find Matt on:

LinkedIn: Matt C Smith

Website: mattcsmith.com

Find Ben on:

LinkedIn: Ben Costantini

Twitter/X: @bencostantini


Be sure to follow Sesamers on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X for more cool stories from the people we catch during the best Tech events!

you might also like

Events Startup
blank

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
New Materials
blank

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.

New Materials
New Materials
blank

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

New Materials

Subscribe to
our Newsletter!

Stay at the forefront with our curated guide to the best upcoming Tech events.