Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
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Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#2Good on Joel for pointing out what many have been thinking and saying. Doing it as one of the few relevant startup bloggers in Germany makes it even more important. Overall, I think there are a few rough patches in the post, but I agree with the sentiment.
I do think that e.g. 6WK are doing the right thing, so it's kind of counter intuitive to point them out. They have scaled back the hype, focused on their well growing product WL again, and have made some tough decisions.
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#3Taking Soundcloud aside, the German scene simply lacks technology-driven innovation and technology insights. As an insight example - how does one expect to produce a productivity platform called Wunderkit that is intended to be stable enough to be used and paid for by companies on the base of Titanium Appcelerator?
Germany has a great tradition of a hardcore hacking culture and engineering culture, yet the startups of Berlin seem to be driven purely by generic management graduates and it shows. Not sure why this is - maybe saying 'I work on my startup' is the same as saying 'I work in Media' five years ago - it's a lot more about the lifestyle, than the substance and results.
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#4Taking Soundcloud aside, the German scene simply lacks technology-driven innovation and technology insights. As an insight example - how does one expect to produce a productivity platform called Wunderkit that is intended to be stable enough to be used and paid for by companies on the base of Titanium Appcelerator? Germany has a great tradition of a hardcore hacking culture and engineering culture, yet the startups o…
Not to mention all the clones... who usually are run by the kind of people you mentioned...
"Germany has a great tradition of a hardcore hacking culture and engineering culture, yet the startups of Berlin seem to be driven purely by generic management graduates and it shows. Not sure why this is - maybe saying 'I work on my startup' is the same as saying 'I work in Media' five years ago - it's a lot more about the lifestyle, than the substance and results." +1
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#5Taking Soundcloud aside, the German scene simply lacks technology-driven innovation and technology insights. As an insight example - how does one expect to produce a productivity platform called Wunderkit that is intended to be stable enough to be used and paid for by companies on the base of Titanium Appcelerator? Germany has a great tradition of a hardcore hacking culture and engineering culture, yet the startups o…
"the startups of Berlin seem to be driven purely by generic management graduates"
Best sentence I read about that. So true.
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#6What about Sociomantic, a Berlin Startup which is focused on innovation and just got an ex-googler.
allthingsd.com/20120910/ad-tech-startup-sociomantic-labs-grabs-google
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#7Taking Soundcloud aside, the German scene simply lacks technology-driven innovation and technology insights. As an insight example - how does one expect to produce a productivity platform called Wunderkit that is intended to be stable enough to be used and paid for by companies on the base of Titanium Appcelerator? Germany has a great tradition of a hardcore hacking culture and engineering culture, yet the startups o…
Berlin has a lot of the right incredients (e.g. an engineering culture, cheap rent and a "hip" reputation). And that last thing along with a Samwer-influenced culture when it comes to start-ups are huge obstacles. And hordes of clueless managment graduates are doing it for the lifestyle and with delussions of a multi-million exit doesn't help neither.
But what I miss in Germany is innovation (not just in start-ups but in general), we have grown lazy over here... ;-)
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#8What about Sociomantic, a Berlin Startup which is focused on innovation and just got an ex-googler. allthingsd.com/20120910/ad-tech-startup-sociomantic-labs-grabs-google
Focused on innovation? It's focused on selling advertising.
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#9Good on Joel for pointing out what many have been thinking and saying. Doing it as one of the few relevant startup bloggers in Germany makes it even more important. Overall, I think there are a few rough patches in the post, but I agree with the sentiment. I do think that e.g. 6WK are doing the right thing, so it's kind of counter intuitive to point them out. They have scaled back the hype, focused on their well grow…
Yes, but I suspect it will be a "Wunder" if they can monetize their TODO-List app..
Re: Why the Berlin startup scene is still in a bubble of hype
#10As a native Berliner and ex-Bostonian, I have to unfortunately concur with the article. There is quite a lot of talk. While I love Berlin as a city, and even love the generally positive and helpful atmosphere of the startup scene in Berlin, there is no denial that doing a startup is the hip thing to do, and it wouldn't hurt some people to get to work.
"I'm CEO of a startup" is a phrase I have heard way more than in the Valley or in Boston. For me a bit surprising as a native, was the aforementioned influx of consultants and management grads. It has become so sexy to do a startup. Or asking for technical co-founders.
However, as much as we can criticize this development, I believe it's generally positive that more people are trying to question the status quo, trying to find alternatives to the coorperate route. As far as I remember, that hasn't been the case a couple years ago. So sure, we should be vary of the hype, but we can go back to the roots and steer all this energy into the right direction.
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