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Tom Miskin

From Diplomacy to Startup Dynamism

Tom Miskin’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of career shifts. With a background in international diplomacy and a stint at the British foreign office in Oslo, his introduction to the startup world came unexpectedly during a royal visit. As Tom recalls, “We introduced them to, I think, four startups, including reMarkable and No Isolation, helping children that are unable to go to school because of illness.” This pivotal moment opened Tom’s eyes to the burgeoning startup scene in Oslo, leading him to his current role in fostering innovation.

Embracing Digital in Times of Crisis

When the pandemic hit, Tom had just taken the helm of Oslo Innovation Week. The sudden shift to a digital world posed challenges but also opened new doors. As Tom describes, “We had to pivot like all other events… so we managed hybrid. Again, that was new, difficult, and challenging, but also an opportunity because you did actually manage to attract international attendees online that may not have traveled.” This ability to adapt has proven crucial in maintaining the event’s relevance and reach.

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📸 Oslo Innovation Week

The Ecosystem’s Evolution: Scale-ups Taking Center Stage

The startup ecosystem in Oslo has matured significantly, with Tom noting a shift in focus from startups to scale-ups. “Startups have gotten a lot of the support they need, and it’s meant a natural move towards us supporting the scale-up ecosystem,” he explains. This evolution reflects the growth and increasing sophistication of the entrepreneurial landscape in Oslo, which now boasts over 200 scale-up companies and a significant contribution to job creation.

International Capital: Fueling Norway’s Innovation

Despite the common perception of Norway as a country flush with funds, Tom highlights a surprising gap: “There is lots of money in Norway…but not VC.” He elaborates on the cultural and historical reasons for this and the strategic pivot toward sustainable and impactful startups as Norway transitions away from oil and gas. “We’re very reliant on international VC capital in Oslo and in Norway,” Tom adds, underscoring the international community’s role in fueling local innovation.

Oslo Innovation Week: A Community-Centric Approach

Oslo Innovation Week stands out with its unique, crowdsourced format. “It’s a collaboration with the ecosystem in Oslo and beyond,” says Tom. With events free to attend and no charge for companies to participate, Oslo Innovation Week fosters a community spirit. Looking ahead to its 20th anniversary in 2024, Tom is enthusiastic about the future: “We have few resources, but big ambitions So we’re always reliant on working with good collaborators.”

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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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