Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

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Susanne Najafi

Embracing Diverse Ecosystems in Venture Capital

Susanne Najafi began her journey in venture capital with a distinct perspective: capital often remains in tight networks, missing out on the potential of diverse founders outside of these circles. “Almost all capital remains in very tight networks,” Susanne explains, highlighting the opportunity in investing beyond these circles for better valuations and the creation of new ecosystems. She underscores the importance of reaching out to founders who might not traditionally have access to venture capital, thus tapping into a broader range of innovation and opportunity.

The Poker Table Networking Strategy

Networking plays a crucial role in the venture capital world, and for Susanne, a poker table was more than a gaming surface; it was a networking hub. She shares an anecdote about how playing poker led to meeting her co-founder and first investors. “We actually met when playing poker,” she recounts, emphasizing the unconventional ways one can enter business networks and the importance of being present where potential investors are.

Proactive Deal Sourcing

In a venture capital landscape where most firms are reactive, waiting for deals to come to them, BackingMinds VC distinguishes itself by actively seeking out potential investments. They employ a methodical approach to deal sourcing, focusing on identifying significant issues such as carbon emissions and targeting companies that are developing solutions to these challenges. This hands-on strategy allows them to uncover groundbreaking startups and technologies, demonstrating their commitment to proactive investment discovery.

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📷 BackingMinds

Investment in Underrepresented Entrepreneurs

One of BackingMinds strategies is to focus on groups that are often overlooked or underserved by the traditional VC ecosystem. Susanne discusses their investment in Transfer Galaxy, a fintech company addressing the high costs immigrant populations face when sending money home. “It’s a shame that the people many times with the least money have to pay the highest fees,” Susanne remarks, shedding light on the potential in catering to the needs of diverse communities.

The Future of VC: Diversity and Data-Driven Decisions

Susanne is a strong advocate for diversity in venture capital, not just as a moral imperative but as a business one. She highlights that data shows diverse teams perform better, with a 25% higher return. “It’s a question about return,” she says, emphasizing the need for the VC industry to broaden its perspectives and leverage data to overcome biases and tap into a wider pool of entrepreneurial talent.

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📷 Transfer Galaxy

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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.

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