The "startup capital of Europe"? Is that like being the soccer capital of America?
> Is that like being the soccer capital of America? Like Brazil? Yes, it is.
Out of the box thinking. You nailed it.
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
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The "startup capital of Europe"? Is that like being the soccer capital of America? Wouldn't that mean that Europe has a fairly strong, by global terms, actual performance in startups, despite European popular culture mostly ignoring startups?
The American national soccer team got crushed in Copa America so they are pretty far from strong.
> The American national soccer team got crushed in Copa America
No, they won their group, won and advanced from the knockout stage, and, yes, got crushed in the semi-final round by Argentina, to finish ranked fourth in the tournament.
Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe
#63I have been in Berlin for 8 years and would not change it for London at all. In data science at least there's far more action here. More interesting technologies (Flink), people taking more technological risk and reaping the benefits.
How much German do you need to speak in the Berlin startup community?
I've lived in Berlin for 3 years and have never had to use German to interact with people in the startup community. Since a high number of startup founders/employees are from other european countries, it's more practical to use English as the language of business.
Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe
#64Shouldn'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…
Brexit may re-adjust house prices in London by as much as 10 - 18%, so there's that...
Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe
#65Europe never had a proper startup capital, or more accurately never did well at startups in general. It's not unlikely that there will just be less investment, nobody has to win.
Given the very small numbers, every European country [1] has a lot of potential to multiply their startup output. I doubt any trade deals or policy changes are going to bring it about. Not happening without major cultural change IMO. One might as well say that UK just 'bought' itself the ticket to make some major changes (tho I'm not betting my money on it either).
Just look at Israel, that tiny 8 million country consistently tops most European countries in terms of absolute funding. [0]
[0] http://www.slideshare.net/gdibner/europe-israel-4-q14-deals-... [1] maybe with exception of Sweden, it seems to pull of good numbers sometimes (given the small population), but doesn't seem consistent
Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 Briti…
It's not clear that anyone knows what will happen.
Historically the EU plays hardball with dissenters. The leavers are gambling that our trading relationships are essential to the EU - but unfortunately they really aren't. So it's unwise to expect anything too conciliatory from Brussels.
What is clear is that if the UK does leave it will have spent the last forty years building up the City as the key European/World financial center, and then thrown away that advantage through the actions of a small clique of overly ambitious and utterly dishonest politicians.
And if you take away the City, no one in power has any idea at all how to build a 21st century economy - never mind a 20th century economy, or even a 19th century economy.
While the rest of Europe will be developing new startups, England will be playing with its union jack and wondering if maybe it should build a big navy again.
Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wages being low is a good thing, no? CoL is significantly lower too which is great.
In what way are lower wages good for the employees you're trying to attract? While some aspects of cost of living are low, others are not low at all. I guess if you're looking for nothing more than a temporary lifestyle involving enough money to go to concerts and eat at restaurants, the wage is fine for a younger person in Berlin. But it's a fantasy to believe you can effectively grow a company that way. You really…
Plus the total amount of taxes (Income, VAT, GEZ/ARD) a person has to pay on a wage higher than the average in Germany, and inability to legally keep multiple citizenship, make the location even less appealing than CH and UK in a long run.
Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Living is also not as pricey tho
It doesn't balance out at all. If you care about being a very successful start-up, then you are implicitly competing for international talent, whether you like it or not. The same people choosing to work in SV are the people you should be trying to convince to work in Berlin. Saying they get ~ 50k euros/year but don't worry, the cost of living is low is a universal non-starter. That's just simply not competitive. The…
american and german salaries are fundamentally not comparable if you look at the bare numbers. German salaries already include pension and healthcare for example, for which the employer pays 50% of the total, which goes on top of the salary. That alone makes a 50k EUR salary more similar to a 75k USD salary (not taking into account the exchange rate, which adds another 10% as of today). There's also at least 4 weeks of paid holidays and unlimited paid sick-leave. Rent difference can easily account for something like 1k to 2k per month. Rent is still comparatively cheap even in the most expensive and central parts of Berlin. Having 15 minutes of travel to the office instead of hours can also change the equation massively, at least if you're looking at your quality of life. The crucial number is how much money is left in your bank account after all your expenses are paid for - and that can vary massively depending on your personal lifestyle. The salary before taxes and other costs is a fairly uninteresting figure.
Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Part of that is mobile games companies like Supercell with Clash of the Clans - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercell_(video_game_company) ... Hay Day, Angry Birds and others. Basically out of the ashes of Nokia, a bunch of mobile gaming companies has sprung up and to some extent are dominating the industry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Video_game_companies_... - more at https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/10…
It is not just a nokia thing. Also from Nordic countries: 1. Linux 2. Irc 3. Demoscene 4. DICE
5. Skype (AFAIK).
Re: Berlin is now in a position to usurp London as the startup capital of Europe
#70Shouldn'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…
> a pleasant climate
I've heard that washing your car in Ireland is a non-issue; the climate takes care of that.