Is Berlin the new home for tech start-up business? [video] • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by nirvana » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 8:53 PM UTC

asdkl234890 wrote: post #128

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…

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). Why is this true? Honest question, how can a great large Western European city cost a fraction of other, even Eastern European citi…

World War II, the Berlin Wall. Remember the Wall only came down in 1990ish. There is still a huge swath cut thru the city where it used to be, without buildings. The former east german side has many old buildings built up in the prosperous pre-war era, that are now rather inexpensive.

In the past 20 years things have improved quite a bit in terms of renovation, but it takes time for population to build up again, and thus the costs are still low because there is abundant supply.

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

#132

Post by graue » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 9:21 PM UTC

spaghetti wrote: post #97

its_so_on wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.)

Anyone spent a winter in Berlin? It's incredibly cold. Traveling around the city on bicycle, train etc is great during the pleasant summer months but it's literally painful during the winter.

Judging by WeatherSpark's history and averages for Berlin, the winter temps basically hover around freezing at worst, while summers are very mild. That's a strictly better climate than New York, which has comparable winters, but hot, humid summers.

I live in a city that gets much colder than that in the winters, but still has plenty of bicyclists year round. It's all a matter of perspective.

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

#133

Post by yummyfajitas » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 9:23 PM UTC

neilk wrote: post #119

yummyfajitas wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 th…

How are native Americans and African-Americans immigrants? I said I wasn't sure what the author was trying to prove, but I do have a rather good guess.

(Sanandaji also excluded immigrants from the German numbers.)

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

#134

Post by NicoleSimon » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 10:12 PM UTC

spaghetti wrote: post #96

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…

Not everyone speaks English. This might be true in the most touristy areas or in international corporations but it's definitely not the case in cafes, grocery stores etc. So if you move there be prepared to learn a bit of German, For the most part everything else you mentioned is true. I'm not sure about the work permissions. Berlin is an awesome city overall.

A majority of startup folks I run into from Berlin do not speak any german at all. Many of them have been living there for a while, some for several years.

You will need German and or a translater when you talk to officials and you should get somebody with german knowledge before entering contracts, but by itself you will have an easy tiome getting around Berlin when you are in the startup relevant areas.

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

#135

Post by NicoleSimon » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 10:19 PM UTC

MrKurtHaeusler wrote: post #74

I am a foreigner who has been working as a developer or manager in the software sector in Germany for around 10 years. For a couple of years I have been trying to move towards self-employment, with some ups and downs, but I am making progress on a project together with my wife. Last year I had the chance to switch jobs and move elsewhere so I naturally targeted Berlin. I would like to keep working in a high-paying jo…

"The official work experience I have on my CV is more enterprisy stuff"

That already is your point. You are coming from an enterprise thinking and payment structure - Berlin is everything but Enterprise.

With your kind of payment expectations, they will simply expect you to step up the game, and that probably is at least CTO if not co founder. If you want to be your specialized dev, you need to be extra good to work around this area and _understand_ what startups are about.

Also, judging by your nickname here, your name still sounds German. If you are from A / CH by definition (and if not proven otherwise on your CV and through experiences) you are not automatically startup material. Don't get me wrong: it is just about different skillset and mentality and if you cannot provide proof that you are not tainted by that obstacle, you will have an even harder time getting a job in that environment.

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

#136

Post by NicoleSimon » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 10:23 PM UTC

enqk wrote: post #52

codesuela wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The internet in Germany is borderline third world quality that may be true for rural Germany but I'm writing this from a 100 MBbit cable connection which costs me 40 EUR. You can also get 50 Mbit DSL for 35 EUR p.m. (both including a telephone flatrate)

In eastern berlin I have a DSL connection that cannot go beyond 6Mbit.. So there.

Do your homework before moving.

It is widely known that Telekom had problems with certain areas and that is why you make a "Verfügbarkeitsprüfung" before even looking further at renting something. ;)

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

#137

Post by NicoleSimon » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 10:24 PM UTC

wondering wrote: post #59

codesuela wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The internet in Germany is borderline third world quality that may be true for rural Germany but I'm writing this from a 100 MBbit cable connection which costs me 40 EUR. You can also get 50 Mbit DSL for 35 EUR p.m. (both including a telephone flatrate)

For probably half the price in Romania and Bulgaria,you can get Gbit internet connection...not to mention that when you start out,you aren't forced with most providers to sign long ass contracts and on the next day your internet is up and running.If you ever have issues,they'll sort it out in hours. Again,loved Berlin,it's just I always see some guys hyping it without being able to back up their points,so I'm calling…

And how many people need a gigabit internet connection at home or in the office?

Plus if you know you are not ready to move into something long term, then you simply move to a space where you can rent this.

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

#138

Post by NicoleSimon » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 10:25 PM UTC

yctechmgr wrote: post #34

Don't mean to threadjack, but I'd love to team up in Berlin with a biz cofounder. If you're looking for an early employee or technical cofounder, please email me: yctechmgr at gmail.com - tell me something about your startup.

We forward the "looking for co founder" from the Berlin startup group to the Jobs group:

'Berlin Startup Jobs' https://www.facebook.com/groups/395011077224173/

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

#139

Post by NicoleSimon » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 10:44 PM UTC

kori23 wrote: post #28

It all sounds interesting and I've been meaning to drop my corporate job for some time now. So is there a Berlin startup news site (preferably in English) so I could get a feel what kind of startups are there? EDIT: http://siliconallee.com/ seems to be the thing I was looing for, anything else?

You need to drop your corporate thinking first. I suggest you get into some projects to figure out if you are able to work in and with a startup. Note that I am saying that with a background of 15 years in corporate. ;)

Most of the startups are actually very busy doing stuff (as in they don't are yet at the point understanding what proper Communcation means sigh), but http://hascore.com/ has a good list of links.

I will be posting an overview posting asap with additional links.

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

#140

Post by ramanujan » Sun, Jul 22, 2012, 11:11 PM UTC

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…

Just as an observation, it is absolutely incredible how in just 25 years, the capital of one of the sternest and most ideological top-down communist states[1] has become a mecca for technology startups, the apotheosis of bottoms-up entrepreneurial capitalism.

The collapse of Communism and the Soviet Union was a critical factor in unleashing the internet wave of innovation that is still cresting today; though this occurred contemporaneously with the technological breakthroughs of the early 90s, the importance of the fall of the USSR in unleashing the web is not as widely appreciated as it was in the 90s.

[1] And that's saying something; see 'The Lives of Others'.