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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]

#81

Post by danmaz74 »

TillE wrote: post #72
hastur wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Seriously, Greece is a small and fairly unimportant part of the European economy. The Euro collapsing is an apocalyptic scenario that requires quite a lot of things to go wrong. Much more than just Greece.

I agree that it would be an apocalyptic scenario and would require a lot of things to go wrong. But if every eurozone member only thinks about its immediate interests instead of working together and acting in a decisive manner, everything could really go wrong.

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

#82

Post by AlexanderZ »

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…

What exactly is Urge.io creating?

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

#83

Post by neilk »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #75
bpyne wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. L…

By the numbers, Germany's public education system is basically identical to that of the US (scoring 525 and 524, respectively). http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2010/12/amazing-truth-abou... What makes you believe it's education system is better? Or it's health care system, for that matter?

Your source fiddled with the PISA numbers for the USA to exclude all students of non-European descent. I'm not sure what s/he was trying to prove.

This post breaks results down by income segment and suggests that if you exclude poverty, the USA does indeed do great. Otherwise the USA as a whole is no better than average, maybe a little below average.

http://www.schoolfunding.info/news/policy/2011-01PISA.php3

I have to say this agrees with my anecdotal experience of the USA. If you went to high school in Palo Alto, you might be having enriching experiences that even students in rich European countries can only dream about. Or you could be like the students some friends of mine tutored in North Carolina, who were not aware of what the Duke University buildings in their city were for.

I'm not actually knocking the USA. It faces social challenges that no other country faces, and often gets a bad rap from critics who've never even visited and think it's populated by sociopathic Randroids. But it is a country of enormous contrasts.

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

#84

Post by oceanician »

I would love to buy one of the 10,000 sq metre mills 5 mins taxi from Manchester's central Picadilly train station and turn it into startup accomodation. We're only 2 hours from London's Euston!! (So less than 3 hours from Shorditch)

Berlin however does seem to have the greatest multicultural vibe going for it for startups. It's pretty impressive, and I hope to sample it later in the year :)

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

#85

Post by yummyfajitas »

neilk wrote: post #83
yummyfajitas wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the numbers, Germany's public education system is basically identical to that of the US (scoring 525 and 524, respectively). http://super-economy.blogspot.com/2010/12/amazing-truth-abou... What makes you believe it's education system is better? Or it's health care system, for that matter?

Your source fiddled with the PISA numbers for the USA to exclude all students of non-European descent. I'm not sure what s/he was trying to prove. This post breaks results down by income segment and suggests that if you exclude poverty, the USA does indeed do great. Otherwise the USA as a whole is no better than average, maybe a little below average. http://www.schoolfunding.info/news/policy/2011-01PISA.php3 I have t…

Your source fiddled with the PISA numbers for the USA to exclude all students of non-European descent. I'm not sure what s/he was trying to prove.

It's trying to prove that US schools are just as good at educating European Americans as German schools are at educating Europeans. (Sanandaji also excluded immigrants from the German numbers.)

I.e., any gaps in output between US and German schools are caused by gaps in the input, not the school system itself.

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

#86

Post by DanWaterworth »

AlexanderZ wrote: post #82
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…

What exactly is Urge.io creating?

Hype.

That may have been a little harsh, but I couldn't resist.

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

#87

Post by Spearchucker »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #77
adambyrtek wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It's just a building. Let me just add that I'm from Poland, so I understand what you are trying to say.

Because in Germany it's a building that my own ancestors, relatives, or family friends may well have owned or inhabited before being forced out. Putting the war behind us is a good thing. Getting cheaper housing prices because Berlin has never entirely gotten over the war... is not putting the war behind us. In fact, it's capitalizing today on the lingering effects of the war.

I'm German, and spent my teenage years in South Africa. That mostly means that kids at school called me Nazi (I doubt they meant it as badly as I took it) and then when the Berlin wall came down the whole apartheid thing got big in South Africa.

The upshot is that I had quite a chip on my shoulder in my 20's.

I outgrew that. So I'd suggest, if I may be so bold, not to stay stuck in a past you can't change. Don't miss out on what's there now (wherever "there" is for you). Right now Berlin is awesome. I'd be there if my partner didn't have the opportunity of a lifetime as an economist at the Bank of England.

Oh and if you're looking for well paid work in Berlin, brush up on WinRT and go knock on Nokia's door. That company is amazing. Well, the Berlin bunch are.

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

#88

Post by burke »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #77
adambyrtek wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It's just a building. Let me just add that I'm from Poland, so I understand what you are trying to say.

Because in Germany it's a building that my own ancestors, relatives, or family friends may well have owned or inhabited before being forced out. Putting the war behind us is a good thing. Getting cheaper housing prices because Berlin has never entirely gotten over the war... is not putting the war behind us. In fact, it's capitalizing today on the lingering effects of the war.

I don't mean to be harsh, but if a building that existed at the same time as the war is enough to evoke unpleasant feelings for someone, perhaps Germany is not a great place for that person to be living in general.

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

#89

Post by flexie »

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…

"(even cheaper than any Eastern European capital)"

That may be true if you exclude Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Bratislava, Bucharest, Sofia, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Skopje, Riga, Talinn, Vilnius, Kiev, Bratislava and a few more: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/rankings.jsp

Otherwise I agree with your 5 points. And Berlin is cheap in comparison with much of Western Europe.

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

#90

Post by fallenhitokiri »

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…

"In addition, Germany has an amazing social health care system including health, unemployment and pension (when working as an employee)."

I am sorry but this is simply wrong. There are social health and pension systems but both of them suck and are horrible broken. If you are under 30 and not nearly dead you should do everything possible to get out of those and take care of your self with private insurances.

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