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Now, on to this week’s episode.
It starts with a question that might shift the way you think about building a company.
How do you build an IP company and successfully sell it?
Two brothers from Amsterdam West built speaker technology so revolutionary they kept prototypes locked in an aluminium briefcase, with an actual padlock, that never left their hands. Not in the hold. Always cabin luggage. Eagle eyes the whole time.
Three years later, Sonos acquired their IP for $100 million.
Not a single product was ever sold to a consumer.
Not one.
This week on The Startup Leap, we sat down with Mattias Scheek, co-founder of Mayht, the Dutch deep-tech startup that cracked a 50-year-old speaker design problem, built a licensing business around pure IP, and exited to Sonos without ever going to market. It’s a masterclass in building deep technology and engineering a sale while staying authentic.
It's one of the most unusual founder journeys we've heard. And it's got a lot in it for you.
Now, we know your time is your most valuable asset. Our goal for every single episode is simple: one actionable, real-life insight, just the raw, experience-backed insight from founders who've been there, done that.
Useful advice you can apply immediately.
Let's get into it 👇🏾
The Question: How do you sell your company for over $100M without shipping a single product?
🔹 Mattias Scheek, Mayht (Speaker Driver Technology → Acquired by Sonos)
Mattias grew up in Amsterdam West, pulling apart €10 speaker sets from the thrift shop with his brother and sister. His grandfather was an airplane engineer. There was always a hammer and a drill in the house.
Creativity wasn't a hobby, it was just Tuesday.
He studied Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft. His brother Timothy went deep on acoustics and sound design. Years later, Timothy started sending Mattias late-night WhatsApp messages: I got something new. It works. It's amazing.
Mattias learned to scroll to the last message first.
But one night, the something was real. Timothy had moved the magnet in a speaker driver, a change so simple it sounds obvious, and so consequential it had never been done at scale. By repositioning the magnet, the membrane could move further, displacing more air from a much smaller enclosure. Better sound. Smaller speaker.
That was the invention. What they built around it, a licensing business, zero manufacturing, no consumer brand, was the strategy.
They spoke to 50+ companies. Got an LOI from Sonos within a week of demoing in Santa Barbara. Signed the deal in early 2022. The whole founding team started at Sonos the following Monday.
🔑 Key Takeaways:
On knowing your business model: "Become the next Dolby, the Intel Inside." (08:38) They wanted their technology in every speaker, not just theirs. Licensing meant scale without supply chain risk, and it made the acquisition pitch obvious.
On not over-perfecting: "You thought you had something 500% better and it ends up being 180% better. It's still very interesting." (11:43) They had to let go of making speakers 20x smaller and ship what worked at 10x. That call, stopping, shipping, iterating, saved the company.
On staying lean: "We didn't mind eating beans out of a can for lunch." (18:22) Their 4x4 metre office was the meeting room by day, prototyping lab by evening, and acoustic testing space by night. Constraints made them more disciplined, not less.
On building your cap table with intent: "We specifically looked at what gaps we had to make this company very valuable." (30:24) They brought in a world-famous DJ before going public for consumer credibility. Every advisor had a job to do.
On the exit not feeling like the lottery: "When the money hits the bank account, it doesn't look real. It looks virtual." (32:43) They were so deep in deal-making for three months, 14-hour days, that when the wire landed, it felt like the natural end of a very long project. Not a jackpot. A result.
On co-founder dynamics: "We both did what we liked." (16:00) Timothy went deep. Mattias went wide. They never really had to negotiate roles, the split was just obvious and in real life, their roles overlapped.
The one thing we're taking from Mattias: build the business around what the technology actually is, not what you wish it were.
They could've chased a consumer brand. They could've raised another $40M and fought for shelf space against Apple and JBL. Instead they looked at what they were genuinely great at, inventing, and built the entire company around protecting and licensing that one thing.
That discipline is rare. And it's worth thinking about in whatever you're building right now.
See you next week!
The Startup Leap Team
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