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Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

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Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#21

Post by fauigerzigerk »

HalfwayToDice wrote: post #13
div wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point the article is trying to make wrt immigration is that when the UK leaves the EU, it will also leave the free movement of workers zone, making it harder to attract immigrants, regardless of how London feels about them.

Immigration system for skilled workers is not going to change. If the UK actually does leave the EU, they'll replace EU rules of skilled immigration with something similar. The UK is a knowledge economy, it will always be open to skilled immigrants. Yet people actually believe that the UK will close down all immigration. It's absurd.

We are a fintech startup in London. Some of us have advanced degrees. Others are skilled but have no degree to show for it.

There's a tsunami of red tape heading our way both in terms of visa regulations and in many other areas where EU and UK regulations are going to start to diverge.

Unless they quickly agree on Brexit in name only we will probably move into the EU, possibly to Scotland if they become independent.

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#22

Post by misja111 »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #17

This was shared earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11983154 > I'll repeat the comment I gave there: >I don't view Berlin as a viable replacement as a top start-up hub because wages in Berlin are simply ludicrously low. >With Google's investment in the Zurich office, and the much, much more internationally competitive wages you can earn in Switzerland, I think Zurich could be better positioned. >There's cer…

I don't understand your points about wages being too low in Berlin. If low wages are a problem for a start-up, what is keeping it from offering high wages, even in Berlin?

On the other hand, I could imagine that start-ups would rather keep costs low, especially in the beginning. Then it would be a problem to be situated in a city like Zurich.

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#23

Post by philefstat »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #17

This was shared earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11983154 > I'll repeat the comment I gave there: >I don't view Berlin as a viable replacement as a top start-up hub because wages in Berlin are simply ludicrously low. >With Google's investment in the Zurich office, and the much, much more internationally competitive wages you can earn in Switzerland, I think Zurich could be better positioned. >There's cer…

Wages being low is a good thing, no? CoL is significantly lower too which is great.

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#24

Post by pekk »

HalfwayToDice wrote: post #13
div wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point the article is trying to make wrt immigration is that when the UK leaves the EU, it will also leave the free movement of workers zone, making it harder to attract immigrants, regardless of how London feels about them.

Immigration system for skilled workers is not going to change. If the UK actually does leave the EU, they'll replace EU rules of skilled immigration with something similar. The UK is a knowledge economy, it will always be open to skilled immigrants. Yet people actually believe that the UK will close down all immigration. It's absurd.

This is the attitude which caught the remain campaign flat-footed - the sense that what we traditionally believed about the UK can't change. We want to snuggle up in our blankets and think nothing can go wrong. But this referendum had legal force and won by a large margin, which is how things do change.

Legal aspects aside, this referendum was also a shot across the bow to foreigners. To have such a large majority expressing such a strong disdain should give pause to anyone considering immigration, because it is unpleasant and even dangerous to have neighbors who think of you like this. Seeing as Trump has made his campaign a referendum on immigration, it will be the same in the US if Trump is elected with a similar majority.

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#25

Post by Symbiote »

onion2k wrote: post #11
nailer wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of funding, yes. It's also the fintech capital of the world. Regarding being the banking capital: it's been two business days. You might be jumping the gun just a little. ;-)

Regarding being the banking Ng capital: it's been two business days. You might be jumping the gun just a little. I strongly suspect the UK won't be able to continue any passporting[1] arrangements because it would greatly benefit Germany's financial sector if foreign banks had to establish a European presence to trade within the EU. That is an existential threat to London's finance industry. Obviously it depends on t…

I think the point was, it's not even clear if the UK will leave the EU.

The referendum result was 52-48, with some people regretting their decision since they only meant it as a protest against the current government. Others are furious that the things they thought they voted for (money for healthcare, much reduced immigration) have already been backtraced upon by politicians.

We live in interesting times.

(I'm British and live in Denmark, so I have a clear bias in this.)

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#26

Post by rwallace »

Shouldn't we hope that something does? By all accounts, the house price situation in London has become bad enough that it's wiping out the middle class, which is very bad news; the rise of the middle class was a key factor in enabling the transition from feudal society to modern civilization.

But while I'm here, I'll throw in a shameless plug: Dublin is still in the EU, and is an English-speaking capital city with modern infrastructure, a skilled workforce, a pleasant climate and low corporate taxes.

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#27

Post by germanier »

branchless wrote: post #15
bertil wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Was London at any point the startup capital of Europe? Yes, very much so. I am an experienced Data scientists, and I looked around Europe for the last four years, needing a new job every three to six months, and London consistently had the top 5 best offers, be it in quality of the project, money raised, size of the db, etc. The conferences have been consistently larger, better and more relevant here than in Paris,…

Life is cheaper there because Germany hasn't (yet) invited the parasitic banking sector into the nest.

The banking sector would certainly move to Frankfurt and not Berlin.

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#28

Post by romanovcode »

p4wnc6 wrote: post #17

This was shared earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11983154 > I'll repeat the comment I gave there: >I don't view Berlin as a viable replacement as a top start-up hub because wages in Berlin are simply ludicrously low. >With Google's investment in the Zurich office, and the much, much more internationally competitive wages you can earn in Switzerland, I think Zurich could be better positioned. >There's cer…

Living is also not as pricey tho

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#29

Post by branchless »

germanier wrote: post #27
branchless wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is cheaper there because Germany hasn't (yet) invited the parasitic banking sector into the nest.

The banking sector would certainly move to Frankfurt and not Berlin.

I meant inside Germany. Will they let them in to hollow out their economy via rentier activity, giving the initial "wealth effect" via high land prices or are the Germans smart enough to know to steer clear?

Will the banks move from a country where they have totally captured the government and legal system? Will Germany guarantee no prosecutions for financial crimes like the UK tacitly did?

Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe

#30

Post by fredley »

rwallace wrote: post #26

Shouldn't we hope that something does? By all accounts, the house price situation in London has become bad enough that it's wiping out the middle class, which is very bad news; the rise of the middle class was a key factor in enabling the transition from feudal society to modern civilization. But while I'm here, I'll throw in a shameless plug: Dublin is still in the EU, and is an English-speaking capital city with mo…

The house-pricing problem is not due to startups (although this has put pressure on/gentrified a few small areas). The startup scene is a very small part of London as a whole. It is the combination of under-investment in new housing, building the wrong types of new housing (vast luxury flats instead of smaller, affordable units), and selling large amounts of it to foreign buyers as investments (often left unoccupied), putting further pressure on the remaining stock. Many other factors too - it's a big complicated mess, but these are some of the biggest ones.
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