When Sun Matters appeared on Höhle der Löwen (Germany's version of Shark Tank), founder Stella Hinderer knew she had a massive, one-time opportunity. TV generates a huge spike in attention, but that buzz usually dies the moment the next episode airs.
Stella didn't want a flash-in-the-pan moment. She used Temso to turn a national TV spotlight into permanent visibility in AI search results. Here is how she did it.
The philosophy behind Sun Matters
Stella Hinderer started her career in venture capital before expanding FORMEL Skin, an online dermatology business, to Brazil. While interviewing patients, she noticed a troubling trend: people with sensitive skin or acne were skipping sunscreen entirely because they hated the greasy feel and feared it would trigger a breakout.
She moved back to Germany to prove that effective sun protection could work for sensitive skin. Sun Matters was built on the premise of creating textures so light and breathable that people really want to wear them every day, and turning SPF into a daily habit as intuitive as brushing your teeth.
Stella didn't stop at the feel, though; she pushed the science, too. Sun Matters went on to earn the world's first microbiome-friendly sunscreen certification, a milestone that a testing lab initially told her was impossible to achieve because of how UV filters usually interact with skin bacteria.
Now operating in 900 stores across 15 countries, the brand needed a digital strategy that could keep pace with its rapid growth.
Breaking through a crowded market
The skincare industry is dominated by legacy giants with massive budgets, deep retail relationships, and decades of editorial backing. For an emerging startup like Sun Matters, the challenge is getting noticed when the competition can outspend you 10-to-1.
Now, AI search tilts the odds even further. When a consumer asks an LLM for the "best sunscreen for sensitive skin," the algorithm naturally defaults to the brands with the heaviest historical coverage. Newer brands are effectively locked out, unless they know exactly where the digital gaps are and how to fill them.
Temso handed Stella the ultimate equalizer: the ability to compete on intelligence rather than deep pockets.
"The onboarding with Temso was super smooth, so we easily got to grips with the platform. And we learned so much about our brand and the competitive landscape. It was like we got a 6-month head start with our strategy, and we didn't even need to hire an expert."
How Temso exposed the competitive gap
Before Temso, Stella had no way to see where Sun Matters stood in AI Search, or where competitors were pulling ahead. But that changed fast.
"Within the first few days, Temso showed us exactly where our competitors were being cited and where we needed to be. We discovered a direct competitor featured across a range of high-traffic listicles we hadn't considered. Without Temso, we would never have known that gap existed — seeing it changed our approach overnight."
Temso served as both a competitive analyst and a media strategist. But appearing in AI search is only half the battle. When an AI summarizes a brand in a few sentences, it's easy for details like Sun Matters' microbiome-friendly certification or its lightweight texture to be stripped away. Temso helps Stella see how the brand's messaging appears in results, so she can refine it during the outreach phase.
Turning the Shark Tank moment into permanent rankings
When Sun Matters aired on Höhle der Löwen, Stella knew the clock was ticking. TV appearances provide a huge spike in attention, but visibility disappears when the next episode airs. To make it last, she used the Temso agent to convert that interest into permanent editorial authority.
Stella used the Temso agent to act while attention was high. The agent pulled from the competitive intelligence research and turned it into an outreach campaign, identifying the journalists and editorial placements Sun Matters needed to improve its AI Search visibility and ride the PR wave for as long as possible.
"I'd tried PR outreach with Claude before working with Temso, and I just got generic support emails. The Temso agent gave us the right journalists, their email addresses, and the angles we needed to pitch them with. The agent could even help draft the outreach messages."
For a founder managing everything from R&D to retail logistics, Temso helped the startup stay lean without sacrificing its media presence.
"We don't have someone in-house for PR or anyone managing editorial placements. The Temso agent did in an afternoon what would have taken us weeks, or what we'd have paid an agency thousands of euros to do. And the quality was better than anything we'd tried before."
What's next for Sun Matters and Temso
Stella is already turning the brand's coverage into permanent market share, using Temso to track how Sun Matters' brand perception and AI rankings have surged across different LLMs.
From there, the insights will steer the next chapter of Sun Matters.
"Before Temso, I had no clue what AI was saying about us. Now I can see where we're appearing, where we need to be, and most importantly, why. With the data, it's also helping us formulate the growth strategy — like which products we develop next and where we expand."
