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Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

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Re: Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

#21

Post by matt4077 »

k__ wrote: post #5

Before I click the link: Berlin is cheaper than London. Edit: And I was right, haha. While London is one of the most expensive cities in the world, Berlin is cheap for German conditions. At least the parts that haven't been gentrified yet ;) Berlin is really cool and has lots of alternative people and seems to be the only german city with a bigger start-up scene, but it's poor AF. I'm living in Stuttgart and while I…

The benefit of "cheap" in that context isn't just that you save money - it allows people much more freedom. There are lots of people working on "interesting project" up to "wild idea of a madman" because they don't have to work 60h/week to pay rent. That creates a pretty good mood, even for people choosing a more traditional career.

Re: Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

#23

Post by hellofunk »

rurban wrote: post #16

Dresden is even better. I moved from Houston, TX to Dresden and I'm very happy with my choice. Technically it's more interesting, as the University and high tech companies here are much more advanced (i.e the l4 microkernel is from here), prices are the same, and Dresden is a much more beautiful town than ugly Berlin. Lots of English speaking foreigners, and people are more friendly. For startup's there's only one or…

> Dresden is a much more beautiful town than ugly Berlin.

That is certainly subjective (and offensive). I have not been to Dresden but I found Berlin to be quite an interesting aesthetic environment and hardly sore on the eyes. It has huge, lovely green parks and I find the wide open spaces throughout the town rather refreshing.

Re: Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

#24

Post by DasIch »

hellofunk wrote: post #13
jorgemf wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She must learn German. The thing with Berlin is that there are a lot of startups with foreign people, and a lot of Germans speak English. But when you want to do normal day things as going to the market you need German to understand what are you buying and to talk with the people. It is not like other countries where you cannot get a job or life if you don't speak the language. You can get a job in Berlin as a Englis…

I agree, my experience after a week of work in Berlin was that a lot of the restaurants I visited, the waitress couldn't speak English at all. Or taking a cab was sometimes quite an effort to communicate as well. Even more strange, Berlin (and perhaps much of Germany, I don't know), places much greater emphasis on cash than on electronic payments like credit cards. I gave a credit card to a vendor once and they looke…

Cash is much more popular however another big factor is that credit cards aren't really a thing. Instead Germany has its own system of EC cards which are directly tied to your bank account (which most people get as a child here) and work more like debit cards.

The only reason to have a credit card as a German is for buying this outside of Germany.

Re: Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

#25

Post by matt4077 »

ptaipale wrote: post #15
jorgemf wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She must learn German. The thing with Berlin is that there are a lot of startups with foreign people, and a lot of Germans speak English. But when you want to do normal day things as going to the market you need German to understand what are you buying and to talk with the people. It is not like other countries where you cannot get a job or life if you don't speak the language. You can get a job in Berlin as a Englis…

Learning enough German for daily things is probably not a problem at all, but can you deal with authorities (business licenses, taxes, mandatory reports etc) in English or very broken German?

Many speak english (except, for some reason, those at the immigration desk). Other stuff can be done online, in English. If people are really nervous, they usually find someone to come along and translate, or they meet someone in the waiting room.

Re: Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

#26

Post by DasIch »

rurban wrote: post #16

Dresden is even better. I moved from Houston, TX to Dresden and I'm very happy with my choice. Technically it's more interesting, as the University and high tech companies here are much more advanced (i.e the l4 microkernel is from here), prices are the same, and Dresden is a much more beautiful town than ugly Berlin. Lots of English speaking foreigners, and people are more friendly. For startup's there's only one or…

In times of Pegida I'm not sure Dresden is where you want to go.

Re: Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

#28

Post by k__ »

alicelthwaite wrote: post #17
drumhead wrote: post #2

She must also speak German right?

Hi there - I'm the author of this piece. I don't actually speak German. I'm trying to improve - however, I wouldn't say it's required in Germany to start something on your own. Many of the meetups are in English and everyone I've spoken to is fluent. I think it's another story if you're trying to get a job though...

Yes, the hardest thing is probably to get a flat and register a business without speaking German and these are one time things, no ongoing stuff.

The start-up scene speaks English fluently and buying stuff etc. doesn't need much talking.

The start-up I work with has 2 employees who don't speak German at all and they say it's only a problem when they are in smaller villages.

Re: Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

#29

Post by doc_holliday »

"My business is called The Echo Chamber Club — we curate articles that counter a traditional metropolitan viewpoint and send them to our hundreds of subscribers. It makes sense that I remove myself from London to understand new points of view and communicate them with my subscribers."

With regards to "liberal metropolitan" viewpoints, Berlin won't challenge you anymore than London did. It's just another global city where inside your group of people you are likely to meet (given what you work in) they will more than likely be liberal and metroplitan.

Re: Why a Brit chose to start a business in Berlin

#30

Post by jfaucett »

The benefits she mentions are legitimate, even though two of them have nothing to do with Berlin and could be obtained by moving to any new city. (no distractions, and changing environment equals greater creativity)

So it really boils down to this for her: Berlin is affordable and it has a good meetup scene. Affordable is relative, salaries are lower in Berlin than in many other cities and the cost of living has been on a rise as more people move in, but at the moment she is absolutely right about this much: cost of living is still significantly lower in Berlin than in London (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...) [1]

Depending on your product Berlin can be good or bad. I think its almost always a great fit if your product targets the German market initially and you want to eventually expand out from there. The other way around will be much more difficult, mainly because you're sitting in Germany and you're whole business side of operations must be run in German, under German law, rules, and regulations.

Having said this, as far as her specific product idea goes, I could see Berlin being a good fit for her. The super young hipster culture is pervasive throughout Berlin, and it seems like an idea that would work well in that market.

1. I worked on a German startup for 3 years in Berlin

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