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Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

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Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#61

Post by bpyne »

andreasklinger wrote: post #2

What's the international position on this? I am living/working in the UK startup scene and it seems to me Berlin could become europe early stage garage very soon. Personally i believe London might be still the place to be after P/M Fit (the place to be in europe…) What's the US take on this ? Do people actually care outside of the german speaking areas and maybe Uk?

I'm a US citizen. My take is that if I was still single and not a parent, I would be in Berlin immediately. In some ways, it sounds better than Silicon Valley or New York. Transportation around SV doesn't sound like it's based on public transportation and housing prices are crazy. New York has great public transportation, especially with the addition of water taxies on the East River, but housing is out of control.

Learning German, if you're a native English speaker, is easy. Simple sentences in German can often sound like an oddly accented English. German is highly consistent, i.e. not a lot of exceptions to grammatical rules. You just have to get used to word order being different in some instances, e.g. verbs can appear at the end of sentence, and case endings. (Case endings are no big deal. Getting them wrong doesn't prevent the person listening from understanding you. Getting them right is the difference between a great speaker and a good one.) My experience in Germany around 1989 was that native Germans were more than happy to switch to English when I was stumped about how to say something in German. Learning the German language should not be a barrier.

For anyone thinking far enough ahead about being a parent, situating in Germany has other benefits. Germany has a better health care system and better public education. They are large costs/worries for any parent.

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#62

Post by hastur »

danmaz74 wrote: post #49
hastur wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's funny. ;) Some Euro countries (Greece) might be on the verge of implosion, but there's no way the general currency could suffer any significant damage and Germany is the very reason for that. The German economy is among the most powerful in the world and quite frankly you're more likely to experience an economic collapse in the US than in Germany. (Albeit that's pretty unlikely too, obviously. At least for now…

The real risk is that a contagion effect could bring about the split up of the Eurozone, and in that case a new Deutsche Mark would make German export much less competitive (and Berlin much less cheap). It's not likely, but it's still a big risk.

There's no chance of the Euro zone falling apart. The worst thing that could happen is Greece exiting the Euro zone.

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#63

Post by blumentopf »

its_so_on wrote: post #33
urgeio wrote: post #10

Top 5 reasons why you should move to Berlin, now: 1. Lowest livings costs with highest quality of living. Stay in gorgeous, perfectly renovated apartments in pre-WWII residential buildings with high ceilings, right in the middle of the center and pay a fraction of costs of any other capital (even cheaper than any Eastern European capital). No need for a car—Berlin has one of the densest subway nets and wide streets m…

genuine question: if it's so great and the capital of a rich country, why is it so cheap? (e.g. what you mentioned about apartments in the city center.)

I talked to the CEO of a Berlin-based crypto appliance company and he literally called the place "off-shore". Berlin is located in former East Germany, so it's totally separated from the rich former West German states where all the thriving export industry is. He told me they have practically no customers in their vicinity. They apparently can easily find staff, due to the attractiveness of the city and the various universities there, but all their customers are located in former West Germany or in other countries.

If you go to southern German states like Bayern, Baden-Württemberg or Hessen, cost of living is much higher in the larger cities there than in Berlin. That's because of the export industry which has been able to grow there for the last decades, and the resulting abundance of high paying jobs.

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#64

Post by k-mcgrady »

twfarland wrote: post #55

I'm an NZ expat who has lived in Berlin for the last few years. While Berlin is cool, let me present a caveat... I've enjoyed the music scene and cheap rent, but have experienced major culture shock. It is a very intense place, full of contradiction, i.e. extremely open-minded in some areas and absurdly conservate in others. Berlin alternatively challenges and reaffirms one's various values. Sometimes it seems like t…

Any examples of what is 'absurdly conservative'?

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#65

Post by bojanbabic »

graup wrote: post #11

I'm from Berlin, so I naturally enjoy the kind of hype that's being created since one or two years ago. However, I'd like to stress what someone in the video said: It's just budding and really not yet comparable to New York or London. There are quite a couple of cool start-ups here now, but still few with innovative breakthrough technology and also few large investors. But I see it coming, too. I guess this will also…

I agree on that. I've moved to Berlin together with hype and there is only handfull of really successful startups. Berlin needs more internet millionaires and more transparency. By now, afaiks most of Berlin tech millionaires come from Rocket Internet and people that spawn out of RI have different mindset from what you can see in Valley. But, I'm pretty sure that new generation of Berlin entrepreneurs are on good path to change tech scene from ground up.

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#66

Post by eli_gottlieb »

urgeio wrote: post #10

Top 5 reasons why you should move to Berlin, now: 1. Lowest livings costs with highest quality of living. Stay in gorgeous, perfectly renovated apartments in pre-WWII residential buildings with high ceilings, right in the middle of the center and pay a fraction of costs of any other capital (even cheaper than any Eastern European capital). No need for a car—Berlin has one of the densest subway nets and wide streets m…

Stay in gorgeous, perfectly renovated apartments in pre-WWII residential buildings with high ceilings

I'm not sure everyone feels that prewar residences are a good thing. For many of us, it's sort of a reminder of everything that, you know, happened.

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#67

Post by radicalcut »

monopede wrote: post #51
radicalcut wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was young my attitude was similar but in my elementary school and high school two foreign languages were mandatory (English, German or Fench) so I didn't have any other choice. I live in Czech Republic. At that age I couldn't care less but now that I'm thinking of doing a PhD in Germany (from what I've heard a very affordable country with many great life science labs) I'm very glad that I remember at least bas…

"I'm thinking of doing a PhD in Germany" I'm not discouraging, but once you're considering a particular position, please try and talk to previous PhD students of your prospective supervisor. Germany has hardly any fully-funded PhD positions. Instead you typically get employed as staff and have to combine that with your PhD work. The problem is, often professors take on lots of PhD students to get more funding and end…

Thanks a lot for advice. I have still more than a year ahead before I need to make a decision so there's enough time to ask around when I narrow my choices. I haven't even made my mind whether I want to get into neuroscience or stay in molecular/cell biology.

Sadly, the situation as you decribed is almost the same with PhD students in the lab where I currently work on my diploma thesis and in some around in the institute. Having seen what I've seen (troubles with disertations and giving the PhD defense go-ahead) that's definitely something I want to avoid.

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#68

Post by kellysutton »

I've been back and forth from Berlin for a little while now. My company's home base is in NYC, but I sometimes work out of Berlin.

Even this year while I was there (Feb. - May), the startup scene is exploding. I liken it to the satisfaction of knowing of a great band before everyone else: there's no doubt that Berlin will be muttered in the same breath as the Valley, NYC and London. It's only a matter of time.

The German culture can be a bit harsh to outsiders, but the Berlin startup scene more than makes up for that. The folks there are very kind and always willing to entertain a good conversation.

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#69

Post by eli_gottlieb »

hastur wrote: post #62
danmaz74 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real risk is that a contagion effect could bring about the split up of the Eurozone, and in that case a new Deutsche Mark would make German export much less competitive (and Berlin much less cheap). It's not likely, but it's still a big risk.

There's no chance of the Euro zone falling apart. The worst thing that could happen is Greece exiting the Euro zone.

Which would rapidly approach equivalence to a New Deutschemark.

Germany has itself in the Euro trap just as strongly as the PIIGS. If they go under, how will Germany keep its currency down and where will it export to?

Re: Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video]

#70

Post by jfaucett »

wondering wrote: post #60
jfaucett wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're missing some big points with Berlin. Where to begin... germany has a great social health care system, the economy is booming, it has a world class educational system, relatively crime and corruption free AND compared to what you get it is cheap (maybe not as cheap as Romania, but the benefits outway the costs). If you want to get talented developers germany has something to offer them and their families.

Again,the points were about setting up a very early stage company in Berlin YOURSELF.It wasn't about finding employment.I've been robbed only in Western Europe,Berlin included and not even once have been victim of a crime in Eastern Europe for 18 years.So there you go :)

okay, but once you get beyond a 2 or 3 man team and want to attract experienced devs and expand or get investing Berlin has a lot. Its centrally located in Europe, you can jump to Warsaw, Paris, London, all quickly, plus the points I made above. I've never been to Romania so I don't know how international and networked the scene is there for comparison. You mention it being cheaper but its not all about being cheap though, the plus is in berlin its relatively inexpensive for the quality and connections you get.

Sorry, to hear you got robbed! I've only lived in countries with high corruption levels (in the gov't), so germany is kind of a breath of fresh air even though its not perfect - I doubt anywhere is.

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