Build by Gamers for Gamers

The story began far from any exhibition hall, in Salomo’s living room. While building his own home cinema, he became obsessed with the idea of making entertainment more immersive, to create a mini vacation in between stressful days. Not just louder. Not just sharper. But richer, by adding the forgotten sense: smell.
That spark of curiosity never went away.

But when graduation approached, reality knocked: bills to pay, a career to start, and no time left for experiments. The dream could have ended there.

In 2023, Salomo joined the Startup Co-op Camp module at TH Köln. That’s where he met Samuel, an engineering student who, at the time, saw the idea as a fun side project. Over the course of a week, they discovered they worked well together and decided to keep pushing the concept forward.

They built their first MVP during the program and later presented it in Aachen, supported by the local Gründerzentrum and A-Tech. Samuel, with his background in mechanical engineering, led the hardware development and even wrote early firmware code. Later, much of that work was handed over to Jasmin, a talented game developer who joined to focus on the software.

By the end of the year, Samuel began shifting from hardware into business development alongside Salomo: scouting events, seeking partnerships, and figuring out where Zestum could grow next. For Samuel, what started as “just a fun project” during his bachelor thesis slowly transformed into a serious business venture.