Downloaded 22 times
![the hundert
the hundert
Director of the Center of Entrepreneurship at the TU Berlin
Together with Prof. Dr. Jan Kratzer,
Agnes von Matuschka heads the
Center for Entrepreneurship (ZfE)
at the TU Berlin. The TU Berlin brings
together expertise in entrepreneurship research, teaching and start-up
services within the ZfE, and has been
designated a member of the “EXIST –
University-Based Business Start-Ups”
[“EXIST – Die Gründerhochschule”]
program of the Federal Ministry of
Economics and Technology (BMWi).
Every year, 21 high-tech start-ups are
launched at the ZfE. In 2011, start-ups
launched at the TU Berlin generated
a turnover totaling more than
one billion euros.
Agnes von
Matuschka
www.entrepreneurship.tu-berlin.de
One of the TU Berlin‘s tasks is to make ideas conceived at the
university useful to the general public. Many innovative start-ups
are launched at universities. With 30,000 Natural Science and
Engineering students, the TU Berlin‘s potential is huge. Start-up
companies begin in people‘s heads: at our “Start-Up Days”, we bring
the start-ups and students of the TU Berlin together with Berlin‘s
wider start-up scene. We help company founders by supporting
them for twelve months, developing incubator rooms, making a
prototype workshop available, and providing contacts in the
industry: the Business Angel and VCs. As a consequence, our
network of mentors, industry partners and investors grows every
day. Thus an explosive mix is created in Berlin. Preliminary,
measurable successes can be seen: in the first half of 2013, more
start-up teams were supported within the TU Berlin‘s business
incubator than in the whole of the previous year. For us, this means
that we are currently entering into a new age of entrepreneurship.
We are currently
entering into
a new age of
entrepreneurship
152
153](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/thehundertalltogether-131022090341-phpapp02/85/The-Hundert-77-320.jpg)
![Stefan Wolpers
the hundert
Founder of the Entrepreneurs
the hundert
Against this backdrop, does Berlin have the potential to become the
next Silicon Valley?
Despite this frequently being considered a done deal in the media,
I believe it is unlikely in the foreseeable future. Two decisive
ingredients, which make this model unique, and which cannot
merely be copied, are essentially lacking for this.
I’ll never do that again. You can play this game forever here. Step
outside the Bay Area and try that anywhere else in the United
States – let alone anywhere in the world – and you’ll never get
another job.” 5
While discussions are taking place in the Valley on whether “failure
is the new badge of honor” and part of the start-up martyr culture,
the failure of start-ups here in Germany unfortunately assumes
an entirely different dimension due to the complexity of German
insolvency laws, and tends to lead to collateral damage to the
personal liability of the entrepreneurs involved. Steve Blank’s
comment that “you’ll never get another job” is a very real problem
in Germany, which all those involved are reluctant to address.
By this I do not so much mean the vast sums of money with which
the Pentagon fed the basic and contract research at Californian
universities during the Cold War. After all, the West Coast region
is not called Social Media Valley today, but rather is named after an
ingredient that is key to all types of weapons systems.
Club Berlin, Startup Camp Berlin
and Twittwoch. Mentor of the
Startup Bootcamp and Microsoft
Accelerator Berlin. Advocate
of agile start-up methods (lean
start-up), management and
software development.
Founder, BerlinUp
de.linkedin.com/in/stefanwolpers
Hipster or company builder – Was that it, Berlin?
“I would like to announce that we have stopped accepting new
start-ups into HackFwd three years, three months and three days
after we first began supporting Europe’s most passionate geeks.”
Lars Hinrichs, September 2013. 1
It was one of the most remarkable attempts to date to bring the
Valley – or at least parts of the idea behind it – to Germany;
reservations of the engineers, the geeks, the “rest of us”, against
the suits, the entrepreneurs in residence from the WHU and HHL
included. And it failed – 3,000 pitches and 8 million euros later,
as if an attempt had been made to relocate a foreign species to a less
hospitable environment.
Hamburg is not Berlin, and the consolidation of a market exaggeration,
here the mini bubble among the accelerators, is a normal reaction of
a dynamic system. It is therefore a good time to take a critical look at
the state of the hipster nation:
Successes:
• There are countless accelerators in Berlin. After the company
builders and ambitious lone wolves come the corporate accelerators.
Overall, this is a good development, since everything is becoming
more professional.
• The density of accelerators is magnetic; many new people and
ideas from all the four corners of the globe are drawn to the city.
• Gidsy and Amen were the first acqui-hires of note.
• While the crowdfunding of projects that ultimately become
companies appears to be dominant in the USA, crowdinvesting has
become a substantial financing option in Germany (cf. Seedmatch,
Companisto, Bergfürst). One example: Urbanara aims to generate
between 2.99 and 3.74 million euros through its Bergfürst campaign
(299,200 new shares with a book building range of 10–12.50 euros). 2
Issues :
• One typical market failure in the initial phase of a start-up ecosystem is funding. There are barriers to market entry on both sides:
new Angels struggle to access “good” deals, and founders with no
previous contacts in the active scene struggle to find funding. This
reinforces the impression that the usual subjects divide up the seed
investments between themselves, with accordingly low post-money
valuations...
• … which consequently dilute the founders to such an extent
in subsequent financing rounds t that one can hardly talk of
entrepreneurs any more.
• Where is Berlin’s Sand Hill Road? In Torstrasse? Earlybird Venture
Capital is relocating to Münzstrasse. You can count the other VCs on
one hand.
For me, it also is not so much about the German clone debate (or
the associated supposed lack of creativity), which is pretty much
incomprehensible to most US entrepreneurs and investors in their
highly stylized principles. Every start-up is more or less a remix of
technologies and/or business models; e.g., it does not bother anyone
that all automobiles tend to have four wheels – one at each corner.
The second, fundamental problem with Berlin lies in the early-phase
financing opportunities for start-ups. When the political sphere does
not know how to proceed, a commission is generally set up. The
outcome of their lengthy work is often a well-meaning funding
program. There are meanwhile so many, on state, federal and EU
levels, that they are having a crowding-out effect on the Business
Angel level. Unfortunately, it can be seen that a privately invested
previously taxed euro has far greater leverage. Start-up development
is different when it is possible to focus on the customers rather than
on preparing the next auditors’ office report on the allocation of
funds. Not to mention the intelligence of the private investors,
who ideally open doors and initiate business.
This does not mean that the old debate will not come up again. After
the Pinterest/Pinspire debacle a few years ago, who would have
thought that the time of 1:1 copies would be repeated again. Or, to
sing from Deutsche Startups: “Muss das sein? Fashion.de kupfert
eiskalt bei Wanelo ab.” [“Is this really necessary? Fashion.de copies
Wanelo with cold calculation.”]
Something else is missing. To be precise, German mentality is
standing in its own way again. A Ukrainian migrant and meanwhile
US citizen once described one of the problems that so limits Berlin’s
potential as follows:
Crowdinvesting platforms are nevertheless currently enjoying a
high degree of interest among private investors, who have been
unable to participate in the financing of start-ups to date; perhaps
it is a trend and not just a flash in the pan. Despite this, it is
characteristic that Berlin presently still lacks an equivalent to the
AngelList. Or must manage without one. Forget about the first Angel
Bootcamp. For those wishing to take a look into the world of the
Silicon Valley Angels at this point, we recommend Semil Shah’s post
on “Making An Addition To My Twitter Bio: ‘Investor.’” 6
“The very first company I started failed with a great bang. The
second one failed a little bit less, but still failed. The third one, you
know, proper failed, but it was kind of okay. I recovered quickly.
Number four almost didn’t fail. It still didn’t really feel great, but it
did okay. Number five was PayPal.”
For Berlin, these two shortcomings mean: (1) Attempts to copy the
Valley are doomed to fail: while the consolidation of people, ideas
and (some) capital in one place is required for the formation of
clusters, it is not enough. (2) A change to our cultural image of ourselves through the linguistic distinction between debt and guilt
is required. In the 21st century, the captain no longer needs to go
down with his ship and also no longer belongs in a (virtual) debtors’
tower. And (3) the start-up culture is not supported by distributing
taxpayers’ money as subsidies to those prepared to invest in this
market anyway. This is once again merely clientelism due to
short-term PR strategies in the run-up to elections.
The Ukrainian in question is Max Levchin, the former CTO at
PayPal. And his words are from FailCon 2009 – a very un-German
conference that focuses entirely on failures. 3
We have identified one of the lacking components: while self-help
groups such as “Anonyme Insolvenzler” [“Insolvency anonymous”]
are being formed here in Germany. 4
Silicon Valley draws its strength from just this phenomenon. In the
words of Steve Blank – the father of the lean start-up methodology:
“The biggest thing that makes this area a technology cluster is, you
know what we call a failed entrepreneur in Silicon Valley? Experienced. Nowhere else in the world do we say that. Anywhere else in
the world if you failed you embarrassed your family, your community, your state. Not here. Failure is accepted as experience. And that
changes this culture. Screwed it up? Great, as long as you don’t blame
it on someone else and you say: listen; let me tell you what I learned.
1
http://hackfwd.com/kthxbai
2
https://de.bergfuerst.com/unternehmen/urbanara
3
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114271856
4
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/service/0,1518,786368,00.html
6
154
5
I believe we can begin entirely pragmatically to make the insolvency
regulations competitive on the European level, so that “experienced”
entrepreneurs are not required to ‘escape’ to London and will
perhaps instead stay here. Moreover, the appropriate tax funding
of seed investors beyond kickbacks in the purchase of shares could
be considered.
http://blog.semilshah.com/2013/09/07/making-an-addition-to-my-twitter-bio-investor/
http://gigaom.com/2011/03/27/steveblank/ [ab 21:38 min]
155](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/thehundertalltogether-131022090341-phpapp02/85/The-Hundert-78-320.jpg)
Uploaded byKonstantin Iwanow
The Hundert
This document provides an overview of the magazine "Hundert: insight about the online capital Berlin". It begins with an introduction thanking contributors and readers. It then lists some of the magazine's content sections, such as impressions of Berlin, popular cafes, co-working spaces, incubators, social startups, and guest articles. The document promotes upcoming issues of "Hundert" as a series. It concludes by thanking all involved in the magazine's creation and production.
The Hundert
- 1. number 01 Insight intothe Online Capital Berlin With contributions from Alexander Kudlich, Ansgar Oberholz, Michael Brehm, Mathias Döpfner, Carsten Maschmeyer, Christian Reber, Jan Beckers, Fabian Heilemann, Fabian Siegel, Florian Heinemann, Ijad Madisch, Jens Begemann, Klaus Hommels, Lukasz Gadowski, Joel Kaczmarek and 85 other great minds.
- 2. „ Berlin hasthe most potential of all cities in Europe“ peter thiel * Peter Thiel, Former CEO of PayPal, first investor of Facebook and partner of the venture capital firm, Founders Fund.
- 3. ENJOY BERLIN VALLEY! HUNDERT ISA PROJECT FROM BERLINVALLEY.COM DAILY NEWS FROM THE BERLIN ONLINE SCENE what a great family: hire! We Model: Jennifer Irmler (www.model-fabrik.com) photo: Max Threlfall (www.threlfall-goers.de) Makeup: Bianca Bensch (facebook.com/BenschBianca) OUTFIT WITH FRIENDLY SUPPORT FROM PEPE JEANS (Neue Schönhauser StraSSe) WE ARE LOOKING FOR COOL INTERNS AND EDITORS, MALE OR FEMALE. CAREER CHANGERS WELCOMED. APPLY WITH 100 WORDS OR LESS AT pimpmyfuture@why-berlin.com
- 4. the hundert Register now,and receive every issue by mail for free! Introduction Klaus Wowereit Klaus Wowereit has been the governing mayor of Berlin since 2001, and the longest serving head of government in office of any German state. Hundert Continues as a Series! We are very excited about the response that “Hundert – insight on the Online Capital Berlin” has received. Therefore, we have decided to continue “Hundert” as a series. In the coming year we will present new issues such as, “Hundert: Online entrepreneurs speak about their biggest mistakes”, “Hundert: Startups that you should know”, and “Hundert: Online marketing experts explain the way to web success”. Every issue of the series “Hundert” is available free of charge, both as print magazine as well as PDF download. Be Berlin! Governing Mayor of Berlin People from all over the world come to Berlin to turn their ideas and visions into reality. The lively startup and founder’s scene of Berlin is greatly responsible for our city’s creativity, innovation, economic development as well as international attraction. In recent years, our Berlin startup metropolis’ digital industry has particularly made the biggest leap. More than 60,000 people are already active in this field, and the future value of the industry has already surpassed that of the construction industry. The impressive growth figures are optimistic for the coming years as well. To ensure that this trend continues and Berlin further proves to be one of the world‘s leading locations, the Berlin Senate is continuously and effectively improving the environment for startups and the digital industry. The „Hundert“ 100 portrayed people are all representatives of this development in Berlin. Whether as a founder, financer, investor or networker, they all contribute to the upswing in the German capital. They are the prominent faces of the startup metropolis Berlin. To all of the readers of „Hundert“, I can only recommend that you try and do the same. Berlin welcomes you – Start up in Berlin! Sincerely, Simply register and receive every issue for free: www.the-hundert.com 7
- 5. 100 Claudia Helming Founder &CEO DaWanda Rainer Maerkle Partner HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Oliver Borrmann CEO bmp Ijad Madisch CEO & co-founder ResearchGate Rayk Reitenbach Investment Manager IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft Johannes Reck CEO GetYourGuide 99 Mark Krymalowski Consultant Egon Zehnder 89 Philipp Hartmann Managing Partner Rheingau Founders 80 Simon Willnauer Lead-Engineer & Co-Founder Elasticsearch Inc. 90 Gabriel Matuschka Principal Partech Ventures Aydogan Ali Schosswald founder hy! Berlin Eric Schweitzer President IHK Berlin 70 Daniel Engelbarts CEO & founder Sparwelt.de Madeleine Gummer v. Mohl co-founder & CEO betahaus 60 Ansgar Oberholz Co-Founder St. Oberholz 50 Miho Tanaka Co-founder Airmarkr 40 Verena Delius ceo goodbeans 79 30 Neil RIMER co-founder & partner Index Ventures 69 20 Fabian Siegel Partner Global Founders Capital 59 10 Bernd Monitor Member Business Angels Club Berlin e.V Max Senges Manager Internet Policy & Innovation Google Dirk Freytag CEO YOC AG Carsten Maschmeyer entrepreneur, consultant & Investor Ulrike Hinrichs Managing Director BVK Sascha Schubert spendino & Entrepreneur’s Club Berlin 98 49 Stephanie Richter COO Adspert 88 39 Joel Kaczmarek Publisher Gründerszene 78 29 Jan Borgstädt Head of European Ventures BDMI 68 19 EyeEm Team 58 09 Fabian Heilemann Founder & CEO Heilemann & Company Andre Alpar CEO AKM3 Thomas Brandhoff founder & managing director Sociomantic Labs Béa & Oliver Beste Founders Tollabox.de Matthias Ehrlich President BVDW Alex von Frankenberg managing director HTGF 97 48 Masoud Kamali & Alexander Kölpin WestTech Ventures 87 38 Alexander Hüsing Editor-in-Chief deutschestartups.de 77 28 Martin Sinner Founder Idealo 67 18 Yaron Valler Managing Partner Hasso Plattner Ventures Management 57 08 Dominik Matyka CEO & co-founder plista Mike Butcher Editor At Large TechCrunch Pawel Chudzinski co-founder & partner Point Nine Capital Alexander Ljung co-founder & CEO SoundCloud Conrad Fritzsch CEO tape.tv Kai Diekmann editor-in-chief BILD Zeitung 96 47 Lucas von Cranach CEO & founder iLiga 86 37 Nikolaus Röttger editor-in-chief Gründerszene 76 27 Marcus Börner Founder reBuy 66 17 Ulrich Kissing Chairman Investitionsbank Berlin 56 07 Stefan Glänzer co-founder Passion Capital Melanie Bähr managing director Berlin Partner Caroline Drucker Head of Int Brand Communications Etsy Ciarán O´Leary Partner Earlybird Ventures Doreen Huber Partner Operations Springstar Ralf Rogosch ceo Tradeers 95 46 Corinna Powalla founder & managing director Modomoto 85 36 Charles von Abercron Founder & CEO Glossybox 75 26 Lea-Sophie Cramer founder & Managing Director Amorelie 65 16 Stephan Jacquemot Emerging Business Lead, Microsoft Deutschland 55 06 Tilo Bonow Founder & CEO piâbo Klaus Hommels founder & partner Lakestar Lukasz Gadowski Partner Team Europe Mark Hoffmann CEO Vertical Media Torsten Oelke owner and CEO Smart Mobile Factory Lars Dittrich founder & CEO Gauly | Dittrich | van de Weyer 94 45 Constanze Buchheim founder & managing director i-potentials 84 35 Paula Hannemann Campaigns Director Germany Change.org 74 25 Jens Begemann Founder & CEO Wooga 64 15 Bernhard Rohleder Director General BITKOM e.V. 54 05 Simon Schaefer Entrepreneur Mathias Döpfner CEO Axel Springer AG Christian Reber Founder & CEO 6Wunderkinder Alexander Kudlich managing director Rocket Internet Tim Dümichen / Marius Sternberg KPMG BERLIN Andreas Thümmler Founder & CEO Corporate Finance Partners 93 44 Sven Lubek Founder & CEO Covus Gruppe 83 34 Raúl Krauthausen president & initiator Sozialhelden e.V. 73 24 Mato Perić Founder & CEO Epic Companies 63 14 Tomislav Bucec managing partner Laserline 53 04 Stefan Wolpers Founder BerlinUp Jan Beckers founder & managing director HitFox Group Ingke Weimert Head of Moviepilot Deutschland Michael Brehm CEO & Founder Rebate Networks Günter Faltin Prof. of Entrepreneurship, Founder „Teekampagne” Stephan Zoll Vice President eBay Germany 92 43 Frank Thelen founder & CEO doo und e42 82 33 Cornelia Yzer Senator for Economics, Technology and Research 72 23 Viola Bensinger Head of Technology Germany Olswang 62 13 Markus Beckedahl Founder & Editor-in-Chief netzpolitik.org 52 03 Agnes v. Matuschka Director, Center of Entrepreneurship TU Berlin Tanja Haeusler gardener gaining new grounds RE:PUBLICA 91 Nikolas Woischnik CEO Tech Open air 81 Burckhardt Bonello CEO Found Fair & Everpreneur 71 Andrea Peters Managing Director media.net berlinbrandenburg 61 Riva-Melissa Tez Co-Founder StickStar.com & Kardashev.ai 51 42 Christian Vollmann Enfant Digital 41 32 Florian Nöll spokesperson Bundesverband Deutsche Startups 31 22 Florian Heinemann co-founder & managing director Project A Ventures 21 12 Heinrich Arnold Senior Vice President Deutsche Telekom 11 02 Nenad Marovac Managing Partner DN Capital 01
- 6. Table of Contents 10 11 20 32 46 48 49 66 90 106 Introduction Thank You Introducing the Federal Association of German Startups e.V Impressions of Berlin (in Cooperation with EyeEm) The Most Popular Cafés to Work From (in Cooperation with Yelp) Overview of Berlin Co-Working-Spaces Overview of Berlin Incubators The Cloud: IT Launchpad for Startups (AWS) Social Startups Berlin Guest Article “The hipster thing is a bad joke!” 108 126 137 166 168 170 172 174 176 178 Berlin Startups That You Should Know Working at Silicon Platz (T-Labs) Groundhog Day with Pactas The Hype is over (Sugarhigh’s Guest Article) Fashion in Berlin (Superior Magazine’s Guest Article) Scarosso; On the Way to Becoming a Multi-Channel Retailer Events for Startups and Founders Notes of Berlin What Berliners don ́t say Imprint and Contact Thank You! Without the help of all of our sponsors and supporters, this magazine would have never of been possible. Dear Readers, You may not believe us, but the fact that you have our magazine “Hundert: insight about the online capital Berlin” in your hands, makes us just as happy as you. A precise concept, three intensive months, thousands of e-mails, and what has felt like hundreds of liters of coffee are finally behind us. Above all, it was a time filled with positive meetings with extraordinary people. That was the greatest. Hundert is meant to be a sort of mosaic of opinions, capturing and highlighting the booming hype about Berlin as THE online city. And who better to compare and analyze the reality here better than the people who live, experience and shape it daily? We want to give our many thanks to all involved and thank you all for your willingness to participate in this project. We hope that the finished magazine does justice to all involved, and also conveys how much fun we have had with this project. Berlin is an incredible city to work and live in. Those of you, who did not yet know this, will find impressive reasoning in this Magazine. We hope you enjoy reading this! Jan Thomas and Konstantin Iwanow (Editors of the magazine, “Hundert” and the tech blog, berlinvalley.com) Our main objective was to gather as many different opinions, insights and views in order to understand the full picture. Therefore, we not only spoke to successful entrepreneurs and active investors, but also newcomers, media professionals as well as representatives of associations and organizations. As a result of one hundred subjective articles a balanced, overall picture with hundreds of different personalities and perspectives has emerged. To avoid any bias, the selected people of this issue were not based on their importance, and the order in which they appear has no relevance to any ranking system. The contributors themselves have written the magazine text, and all views and opinions reflect only those who have written them. We asked contributors to please provide their interpretations on Berlin as an online city, as we wanted to portray the existing opportunities offered for founders and startups in Berlin. We wanted to avoid any glorification of the city, therefore we explicitly expressed that advice and constructive criticisms regarding the online city Berlin were also welcomed. PS – If you have any questions of how you can support this ambitious project, please visit www.the-hundert.com for a free download. We value all feedback, and would appreciate any sharing of this through e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Please be sure to tell all of your good friends and colleagues about this! Thank you in advance! Even if the core team of “Hundert” consists of only two people, a project of this magnitude could never have been completed alone…especially in such a short period of time. We would therefore like to thank the many supporters who have stood by our side for their help. Paul Bengelsdorf for his behind the scenes work; Susanna Pozzi, Balázs Tarsoly and the team from Operation Butterfly for the great design and incredible cooperation; Andrea Peters, Nadja Pahl, Marcus Börner, Thomas Letz, Philipp Hartmann, Jürgen Schepers, Nicolas Wittenborn, Matthias Pindter, Andreas Stammnitz, Ciarán O`Leary, Alexander Kölpin and Sascha Schubert for the many great contacts, Christian Herzog, Uwe Gralapp, Melanie Bähr, Sina Kassler, Heike Herckelrath and Jutta Chouraqui from Berlin For those of you with any questions regarding the many ads: We have simply offered these ads as a present to those who have helped us with the costs of “Hundert” along the way, and also proudly gave ads to projects such as Wheelmap, in which we support from the bottom of our hearts. Additionally, we were able to create valuable media partnerships in order to increase the reach of this magazine. We ask for your understanding in regards to how this process developed, and without all involved, we could not offer this magazine to you for free. Partner; Robin Haak for his help (we would have loved to have your article in the magazine!); Christoph Blumberg and the entire team from ´the European´ for the hospitality (we really feel so comfortable); David Pelletier, who saved us from the worst; Özlem Buran for her reliability; Thomas Schneider for his technical support; Ansgar Oberholz, Max Senger, Stefan Wolpers and Oliver and Béa Beste for their magnificent XL contributions; Christoph Raethke and Sugarhigh for their remarkable guest article; the Team from EyeEm and Superior Mag for your great pictures; Joab Nist for his humorous article (Notes of Berlin / What Berliners don’t say) Steffen Setzer and Manuela Wachs of Laserline for the great cooperation; the PR team from Rocket Internet and Team Europe for your helpfulness; Maria Widelak for editing; the many assistants who put up with their manager (keyword ‘a sack full of fleas’); Gruenderszene, Deutsche Startups and Netzwertig for your contributions of “24 Berlin Startups you Should Know”; Michaela Kagerer from Amazon Web Services; Cem Ergün-Müller from the Telekom; Elisabeth Gressl and Susanne Krüger from Olswang; Tim Dümichen and Marius Sternberg from KRMG; Anne Seubert from Yelp and of course all of the media partners, sponsors, startup events and advertisers. Last but not least, we would like to thank all hundred of the participants for their great statements. It was a pleasure to work with you all. With such entrepreneurs, great success can happen in Berlin.
- 7. the hundert Do whatyou believe in and avoid conformity the hundert Jan Beckers gardener gaining new grounds I have lived in Berlin permanently since 2008 and established what is now my fourth successful online company here: HitFox. Berlin makes this possible. Building up a strong team is currently easier for young entrepreneurs here than anywhere else. The division of Germany meant that there was very little “business” in Berlin, and consequently few jobs for highly qualified workers. Following its reunification, Berlin became extremely popular as a base for people from around the globe. The access to a highly-qualified, international workforce is therefore difficult to top. This is a fundamental advantage of Berlin as a location. Global successes such as HitFox and SponsorPay now establish Berlin-based companies on the international level. And not only company founders find everything that they need here. Everybody needs a place of work, and the digital industry is one of the capital‘s most important employers – with a growing tendency. Major VCs are now focusing their searches on Berlin. At the moment, Berlin is still “poor but sexy”, but thanks to the many successful online companies, Berlin will be “rich and sexy” in just 10 to 20 years‘ time. I look forward to accompanying the city on its journey towards achieving this. T Haeusler anja Oh, Berlin! When my parents come to visit, you are a scruffy mutt that rubs up against strangers’ knees and prefers to do its business in well-lit, central locations. When friends come to visit, you are transformed into a shaggy but photogenic mongrel that spontaneously helps blind people across the street while howling Bowie songs. Unlike almost any other big city on earth, Berlin readily submits to the eye of the beholder but never curries favor. Instead, Berlin feeds on the illusion of authenticity, because a city of character, however dubious, is a treasure in a globalized, standardized, plate-glass world. Young entrepreneurs, set Berlin a good example: do what you believe in, avoid conformity, forgive yourself for your crooked teeth, and show them now and again. Unless you‘re into pedigree dogs. We can’t afford them here. Woof! founder and managing director of HitFox Group Tanja Haeusler is one of the founding team members of re:publica, Europe’s biggest Internet conference. Together with her husband Johnny Haeusler, she also runs the Grimme award winning blog Spreeblick, writes soothing books Jan Beckers already built up two event companies POOR, BUT SEXY while studying. In Berlin, he was involved in the successful launch of Gründerszene.de prior to for parents anxious about the Internet and, founding his own companies, Absolventa, Madvertise after work, worries about the sorry state of Ber- and Sponsorpay. In 2011, he launched the HitFox Group lin‘s schools, to which their sons are subjected. incubator. His company currently employs a workforce of over 400 in Berlin. In June 2013, the www.re-publica.de AppLift HitFox spinoff reported a round of investment totaling 10 million euros. www.hitfoxgroup.com 12 13
- 8. Mathias Döpfner the hundert the hundert founderand partner Lakestar The courage to leave gaps! CEO, Axel Springer AG I enjoy taking a stroll. While strolling through Berlin, one thing in particular catches the eye: the city‘s inconsistent structure, both architecturally and socioculturally. At times ugly, at others beautiful, bourgeois, hip or avant-garde, but it is always colorful. Berlin is the playground of a variety of different people and places. In its recent history, the city has repeatedly been forced to reinvent itself. As sad as the reasons may be, the resulting potential is huge. Too much stability leads to sluggishness, too must wealth to laziness, and too much supposed freedom to indifference. Berlin is different in this and also exudes this. Berlin is neither one thing nor another. It will always remain a building site. This is also a good thing! For this causes it to attract people who wish to build, to give their creativity free rein, to fill the gaps. A Mecca for start-ups. Berlin is a melting pot of differences, which is also why it is so very dynamic. Hopefully, we will never achieve to fill the gap. Dr. Mathias Döpfner has been with Axel Springer since 1998, where he was initially the editor-in-chief of DIE WELT. He became a member of the management board in July 2000 and CEO of Axel Springer AG in January 2002. the city I find most intriguing right now Klaus Hommels There are few cities in the world that I find as fascinating and attractive as Berlin. It is rare to find such a colorful mixture of people in one place. Many times in its history, Berlin has been a distinctively young, hungry, creative and disruptive city. That is precisely what makes Berlin stand out, not only as a capital city, but also as the perfect ecosystem for the start-up, technology and media sectors. For years, Berlin has registered a net influx of intelligent minds from around the world. For this reason, Berlin is the city I find most intriguing right now, followed by Stockholm, New York, San Francisco and London. So, Berlin, if you show not just creativity and fun, but also discipline and staying power, a great future lies ahead of you! Klaus Hommels is among the most successful Internet investors in Europe. He has invested in businesses such as Skype, Xing, King.com, Facebook and Spotify, among many others. He is also the founder of and partner in Lakestar. In 2013, Klaus Hommels was ranked first among European investors on the Forbes MIDAS list. www.lakestar.com www.axelspringer.de 14 15
- 9. the hundert the hundert MelanieBähr Mike Butcher is Editor At Large of TechCrunch. managing director of Berlin Partner for Business and Technology Mike has been named one of the most influential Europe is famously known as the place where nothing much happens. It‘s great when you want to see some history. But Berlin is the newest city in Europe. And as such, it‘s been re-making it‘s own history for at least the last 24 years (and of course, longer). But in recent times it‘s become a city that I liken to a Tabula Rasa – or a blank slate in Latin. Berlin is not so much a city as a platform on which you can build something. That‘s appropriate, because technology is all about platforms. Here, you have a city where pretty much anything is possible. And in a continent where so much has happened already, is nice to start making some new history together. people in technology by Wired magazine and is a regular tech commentator for the CNBC and Bloomberg. He is also co-founder of TechHub.com, Coadec.com and is an adviser to the Mayor of London on digital. www.techcrunch.com Mike Butcher Editor At Large, TechCrunch Copyright: Berlin Partner for Business and Technology / Christian Kielmann Melanie Bähr knows her subject. In 2006 she founded her own management consultancy in Bulgaria, which she ran for five years as managing partner. Today she works as the managing director of Berlin Partner for Business and Berlin is the start-up capital of Germany. A company is founded here every 12 minutes. This puts Berlin considerably above the national average. The experts agree: Development in the digital industry is particularly lively. Start-ups provide jobs and bring international capital into the city. Hasso Plattner and Bill Gates are leading examples of this. Berlin’s entrepreneurs are highly qualified, open-minded and driven to shape the way we will live tomorrow. They come from all over the world. Our city is also educating its own next generation, and we currently see number such as 15,000 students enrolled in courses linked to the IT and digital sectors. When it comes to investing in business and technology, tech start-ups meet people who speak their language and can give them active support. We know Berlin and open up our scientific and economic networks to support future projects. Technology. The Public Private Partnership, backed by the Senate and over 200 businesses, is responsible for promoting investment and technology in the city. www.berlin-partner.de Driven to shape the way we will live tomorrow 16 TABULA RASA 17
- 10. Olswang means morethan law. We mean business. the hundert CEO of AKM3 So many brilliant people surround you „ A young and dynamic team of lawyers with a unique mix of optimism only found in start-ups combined with decades of experience and industry knowledge that help deliver ‘magic circle’-level advice.“ Kanzleien in Deutschland Olswang Germany LLP www.olswang.com Andre Alpar Working with online marketing and startups is what I am passionate about! Where better to succeed than in Berlin? It is here, in this spontaneous, inspirational metropolis that Internet and online marketing are thriving, especially within the startup community. This is felt here more than most other cities, and of course the reason why I made the move from Cologne to Berlin. In my opinion, the online scene in Berlin has an incredible future, as seen with its rapid growth in the last 10 years. What is particularly great about Berlin? So many brilliant people from almost every industry surround you! It is not easy to name any other European or global city that have so much talent and damn good online marketers working so closely together. Additionally, Berlin offers top networking and further training events right outside your front door, as well as the benefit of having Internet companies, agencies and startups all encompassed into a close proximity. As a result, networking, knowledge and experiences can be casually shared during your lunch or work breaks. Since 1998, Andre Alpar has been an online marketing (SEO focus) entrepreneur and consultant. He has successfully founded several companies and is a diversified, active Business Angel. Most recently he was a strategic consultant at Rocket Internet GmbH. He is the CEO of AKM3 GmbH and CMO of the online cigar retailer, Noblego.de. In addition, he has organized the annual online marketing conference OMCap since 2010. www.akm3.de 18 Berlin · Brussels · London · Madrid · Munich · Paris · Singapore · Thames Valley the hundert
- 11. the hundert the advertorial Introducingthe Federal Association of German Startups E.V. (Der Bundesverband Deutsche Startups E.V.) “Startups need a clear voice in politics and society. That voice is BVDS, and that is why we are members.” Dr. Tom Kirschbaum, waymate “BVDS networks founders with each other, giving us a lobby for business needs.” Christian Miele, TodayTickets “The Association represents the interests of the startup industry and is the voice of young entrepreneurs.” Franziska v. Hardenberg, Bloomy Days “agility of startups alone is not enough to be successful in the long term, nor to compete against established companies – The association gives us an uncomplicated representation that is in our interest, as well as a platform to communicate on a high level” Andreas Richter, plista GmbH As the representative and voice for startups in Germany, we are committed to a founder friendly Germany. With opening political dialogue, we develop proposals that support entrepreneurship, and reduce barriers for business startups. We promote innovative entrepreneurship and support the startup mentality in society. As a network, we connect founders, startups and their friends together. PUBLIC RELATIONS: With events, we support a positive image of startups in society. Through studies, we emphasize the importance of startups in Germany. POLITICS: With a functioning ecosystem for startups in mind, we work out company founding political positions and represent them in relation to politics. NETWORK: Our primary focus is the establishment and networking of regional startup initiative in the Federal Republic. At the same time we enjoy making it a priority to work with industry associations, major institutions as well as established companies. Founded in Berlin in autumn of 2012, the Startup Association has more than 200 members. Founders volunteer, interact and are involved with the association in 8 states. 10 topics are included in the political agenda of the BVDS that were developed in workshops with more than 100 new entrepreneurs. The first results were seen when the Startup Association prevented the “Anti-Angel-Law” from passing, and continue to gain momentum. Highlights also include events from and with the BVDS. Politics also play a big roll here. Whether Angela Merkel, Philipp Rösler or Gesche Jost, there has never before been so many meetings between top politicians and startups. This year, 100 entrepreneurs were given the chance to attend German Valley Week; something they will never forget. The intensive week in the Bay Area was offered to preferred members of the association as well as non-members, and allowed the founders to meet with the likes of Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen and Andy von Bechtolsheim. “If you want to change something then you have to get involved! I do this with the Bundesverband German startups because I am convinced that our country, along with the whole of Europe needs to become founder friendly. That’s why we’re working on it.” Christian Vollmann, Business Angel “The association has the duty to be the voice and catalyst to support the interests of the scene, help remove obstacles out of the way, to push the digital scene as a center of innovation, and pave the way for an entrepreneur-friendly Germany. Through membership with the Startup Association, GameGenetics would like to help strengthen the founder’s thought and promote innovation in Germany.” Alexander Piutti, GameGenetics
- 12. the hundert the hundert Max Senges Bysystematically integrating staff participation and taking a flexible approach to the dreams of their employees, these entrepreneurs have the potential to tap previously undreamed of depths of motivation and productivity. Berlin’s financial service providers have a greater ability than Frankfurt with its established institutions to develop a focus on transformative innovation, and particularly on the provision of venture capital and promoting start-ups in the financial sector. In this way, Berlin could in future be seen as the precursor to a reformed and integrated financial & economic location that sees start-ups as an emerging SME sector. Berlin is practiced at tearing down walls. Becoming the first German city to make the transformation from an administration ruled by paper and opening times to one that is open, that welcomes the net as the operating system of society with open arms and can thus offer a single source for online services for everything from start-up enterprises to neighborhood development. In the same spirit, Berliners understand and maintain the data that represent their digital lives as their private property. They respect and use their digital environment to support, on the one hand, democratic decisions based on solid empirical data, and on the other to make their voice heard with the help of egalitarian access to digital resources. By applying a sophisticated “reputation management” practice, they transfer such principles as tolerance for extravagances and different lifestyles from the analog neighborhood community to the networked “global village.” Dr. Max Senges has been with Google in Berlin since 2009. In 2012 he became the Internet Policy and Innovation Manager. As a link to science, entrepreneurs and civil society, Max works with the areas of Internet Governance, Innovation and Technology Philosophy. Prior to Google, he was active in academic, governmental and private organizations in the areas of knowledge management, E-learning and IT governance. www.google.com Manager Internet Policy & Innovation, Google Berlin is a myth. New York, London, Paris, Rome – capital cities develop a collective hallucination. They symbolize the 24/7 world, home to such political and cultural phenomena as punk and #Occupy. They reflect the soul of a nation and represent its history and contemporary spirit. For me, Berlin is the most fascinating city in Germany. It is the German city that can best be unlocked through its diversity, through the symbolic “&.” Berlin has no center, no one branch of industry dominates here. It is East & West, corner pubs & cosmopolitan flair, hipsters & dyed-in-the-wool locals, incomers from Swabia & Hamburg, the Philharmonic & the Panorama Bar, home to squatters & the Chancellor. Berlin is big enough for everyone. Berlin is big enough for every dream. While Paris and New York have already made their mark, we are still largely free to create our own fairytale. On the last weekend in August, 34 forward thinkers from start-ups, SMEs and Dax-listed companies as well as the fields of culture and science came together at the invitation of Google, the Deutsche Bank and Shell, in cooperation with the Start-Up Campus Factory, at whose site the event took place. They debated and developed a charter setting out Germany‘s strongest opportunities for economic & social progress. For me, this charter reads like the dream of a Berlin which, in realizing the opportunities of the new digital millennium, serves as both a carthorse and role model to the rest of the nation. Being an entrepreneur is sexy: start-ups and courageous entrepreneurs, who take their chances and tackle the upheaval of our changing times head on. 22 Similarly, an integrated and synergetic infrastructure for data, energy and mobility is fundamental to this Berlin dream. Thus Berlin could take the lead in the energy revolution, sparking a chain reaction in the entire region. Berlin can consolidate its attractiveness to artists and other producers of informational commodities by developing contemporary monetization models for the digital and thus effect in practice a genuine reform of the Magna Carta of the information society: copyright and patent law. Somewhat along the lines that “the new system only works in practice and not in theory“ (adapted from Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia). When science and business are interlinked, monitored and promoted by politics and authorities, we can take an assembly line approach to innovations and start-ups on the one hand, while, on the other hand, an open educational infrastructure can be created that will make the educational opportunities available to kindergartens, retirement homes or naturalization programs more fun and more relevant. Discussing the Berlin of our dreams, the heroes of our age, will help us to form our collective aims and thus to drive on the implementation of this social & economic movement. BERLIN IS EAST AND WEST, NEIGHBORHOOD PUB AND COSMOPOLITAN, HIPSTER AND ‚ICKE‘, FLOODED WITH PEOPLE FROM SWABIA AND HAMBURG, PHILHARMONIC HALL AND PANORAMA BAR, SQUATTERS AND THE CHANCELLOR‘S HOME 23
- 13. the hundert Es gibtSprünge nach There are leaps upward and there es leaps to the top. oben und aregibt Sprünge nach ganz oben. You have the choice. Du hast die Wahl. Wenn dein Start-up Erfolg haben soll, ist es besser, einen starken, kompetenten Partner an der Seite zu haben. Das Smart Start Team von KPMG versteht dein Geschäftsmodell und kennt deine Herausforderungen. Wir begleiten dich auf deinem Weg nach ganz oben. Wir entwickeln mit dir einen Business-Plan und helfen If you want your start-up brauchst. it is Wenn have dir, wenn du Geldgeber to succeed,Also:better todu a strong, competent partner on your side. The Smart fachkundige Unterstützung und eine persönliche,Start Team at KPMG understands your business model individuelle Beratung suchst – sprich uns an! and knows your challenges. We‘ll accompany you on your way to the top. We develop a business plan with you and help Deine Ansprechpartner you when you need investors. So: If you‘re looking for Tim Dümichenand personal, individual advice — talk to us! expert support T +49 30 2068-2939 tduemichen@kpmg.com Your contacts Tim Dümichen Marius Sternberg T +49 30 2068-4707 T +49 30 2068-2939 tduemichen@kpmg.com msternberg@kpmg.com Marius Sternberg T +49 30 2068-4707 msternberg@kpmg.com Rainer Maerkle Berlin has always been important for our VC fund, and this is reflected in our portfolio. However, we have seen that the start-up ecosystem has accelerated significantly and gained momentum, over the last few years especially. Undoubtedly, one factor is the vastly increased interest in entrepreneurship among young professionals; for top performers on the ideal path to a successful career there is simply no way around entrepreneurship nowadays. This talent is absorbed by the founders of the first generation of start-ups, who today act as mentors and financial backers. A growing number of institutional investors have also intensified their focus on Berlin. With more capital resources, the ambitions of companies established today are greater and more international, right from the outset, making them attractive takeover candidates for international buyers. Furthermore, the capital of such successful exits is mostly reinvested in new ideas and start-ups. Thus the momentum grows, and Berlin continues to gain importance in the international market. Over the last few years, momentum of the start-up ecosystem has increased significantly Rainer Maerkle is a partner at HV Holtzbrinck Ventures where he is responsible for investments www.kpmg.de/connectedworld www.kpmg.de/connectedworld such as Zalando, Home24, fahionforhome, partner, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures Outfittery, Quandoo and Stylight. Besides previous operative experience in the technology industry, prior to his time at Holtzbrinck he helped build up companies such as the start-up 123people. Rainer has a degree in electrical engineering from the TU München and an MBA from INSEAD. www.holtzbrinck.net © 2013 KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft. All rights reserved. 25
- 14. the hundert the hundert atthe heart of digitizing and rejuvenating the European economy Aydogan Ali Schosswald is publisher of The Kernel, an online CEO, Tech Open Air magazine, and founder of the Berlin-based platform hy!, which brings together Europe‘s startups, media and the old economy. In 2013 he was chosen among the NEXT 100 as one of the most important heads of the digital industry in Europe and was also named a „digital economic miracle“ by GQ Magazine . www. hy.co I am a vegan, university dropout and entrepreneur. Where else should I have gone, if not to Berlin? With its colorful, ever-changing culture and its unique history, I consider the capital to be the perfect sandbox for entrepreneurs and designers. All you need is a ticket for the U8 subway to meet hundreds of people who are all trying to make our lives easier, better and more exciting. Here there are brilliant teams working to reinvent academic collaboration, to develop quantified self technologies and financial services for the 21st century, to democratize publishing, to personalize and digitize education, and so much more. Then there are all the international startups that come here to find investors. If we manage to act as a catalyst for these developments by making capital and resources accessible and by creating infrastructure, Berlin will be at the heart of digitizing and rejuvenating the European economy. Aydogan Ali Schosswald Tolerance and an almost unlimited freedom of expression Nikolas Woischnik I have a love-hate relationship with Berlin. My first impression was the most important, but it was not love at first sight. True, I moved to Berlin in winter, which was, of course, a typical beginner‘s mistake. A hefty pinch of masochism is needed for Berlin in winter (which feels like nine months of the year). This is when the streets feel broad, gray and empty. A sort of melancholy hangs over the city like the angels in Wim Wenders‘ film „Wings of Desire“. After five years, Berlin and I still have an on-off relationship. There have certainly been some hot nights, but it is not (yet) a great love. Berlin is just not an easy place and definitely not a pretty one, but the way in which it throws (longed-for) light on its history and the sensitivities of its residents makes it genuine. As my mother used to say, „it is what is inside that matters“. Residents of Berlin have an almost absolute carte blanche in the city. Tolerance and a nearly unlimited freedom of expression are at the root of the creative energy which also drives our start-up scene. Freedom, lived and learned, is an example to the rest of the world. The last time I visited the USA, it almost seemed that „I loooove Berlin“ was the mantra of the Williamsburg/Portland generation. At such times I cannot imagine another winter without Berlin! Nikolas Woischnik is the founder of Ahoy! Berlin, TechBerlin, and the Tech Open Air Berlin festival. Their purpose is to create open platforms to facilitate an exchange between various disciplines (technology, science, art and music) and technologies. Nikolas also acts as an adviser to several start-ups, gives lectures on the Berlin start-up ecosystem and is a trustee of the Zeitbild foundation. www.toaberlin.com publisher of The Kernel and founder of hy! Berlin 26 27
- 15. the hundert the hundert Theworld’s sexiest city Ingke Weimert Head of Moviepilot Germany Ingke Weimert has been with moviepilot since 2009. She built up the company’s sales business and ensured profitability before taking charge of all German business (mp.de) in 2012 and helping the management team to shape internationalization in the USA. Ingke hails from Bonn, and previously worked for ProSiebenSat.1 and NBC Universal Networks in Munich. Moviepilot GmbH employs over 80 people in Berlin, Los Angeles and London. www.moviepilot.com According to the 02/2013 issue of Business Punk on Moscow, “In spring, snow still lies where the Russian Silicon Valley currently is”. This brief description of the climate could also be applied to Berlin. While there was no snow in our city in April 2013, it was certainly bitterly cold at -17° Celsius. If it had snowed, the layer of white would have remained and covered over spring. This is how it is in Berlin: sometimes it is hard and cold, yet it is also giving and so very green in the summer, with endlessly long, light-filled days, and purples and oranges in the late summer and autumn. The colors allow winter to be forgotten. Berlin has over 80 beach volleyball courts, which are located at the very heart of the city. Berlin is sport – whether it be volleyball, soccer, ice hockey, handball or basketball. There is every type of sport imaginable – at the highest level or otherwise. They take place in the midst of it all, everywhere. Berlin is Wowereit, up with the times (he visited us in the Moviepilot offices in July 2013). Berlin is Germany’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and the premieres shown at the Sony Center are more impressive than those shown on Hollywood Boulevard. Berlin has “creative garbage heaps” or little men, who feature on the street signs simply because. Berlin is colorful and the people creative and full of passion. Berlin is “entrepreneurial” and the people ardent entrepreneurs, which is why it is possible to grow here. Both economically and personally, alongside others. Things and companies can exist and occur here simply because everyone somehow wants them to, and this makes Berlin the “world’s sexiest city”. We wish you a wonderful time in Berlin! 28 Berlin is really the perfect city to start a tech company. It is creative, international, youthful, innovative and vibrant (there is always something on from music and theatre to art and design). Additionally, it possesses incredible high living standards while still remaining one of the most affordable cities on the planet. An entrepreneur with a passion for technology and productivity, Christian Reber is the Founder and CEO of Berlin based 6Wunderkinder. As the creator of the much loved to-do list, Wunderlist, Christian is responsible for creating a global success. Wunderlist has been downloaded by more than 10 Here you get the feeling that anything is possible; and it is. As such, we are seeing the rise of a new generation of entrepreneurs based in Berlin. They are disrupters focused on providing a truly creative and unique product that is capturing the attention of international markets. And for all the right reasons! While we still have some way to go, I can happily say that I am now seeing much more technical innovation and a move towards smarter solutions that enrich the users life than a few years ago. It’s often been said that Berlin itself is a startup and well, I truly believe that we are on the verge of something really special here. million people across the world, boasts more than five million registered users, and has been named Apple’s “App Of The Week” in 104 countries. www.6wunderkinder.com THE FEELING THAT ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE ChristianReber Founder and CEO, 6Wunderkinder 29
- 16. the hundert Lukasz Gadowskiis Partner at Team Europe, an internet entrepreneur and an investor. Lukasz founded spreadshirt, When I founded Spreadshirt in 2002, the German internet landscape was in a kind of post-apocalyptic state of shock. The tech-heavy Neuer Markt stockmarket had just crashed and the dot.com bubble burst, destroying millions worth of assets. Even after eleven years of reunification, Berlin was still not at all close to being thought of as the „place to be“ for start-ups in Germany. When I moved to Berlin in 2006 the startup scene was very small – everyone knew everybody and people supported each other. But there has been fast growth in recent years, with no end in sight. Unfortunately I no longer have the time to really stay on top of what is going on with all the exciting start-ups, accelerator programs and incubators. However, what I have seen over the last few years is that a strong foundation has been created in Berlin through hard work. Naturally there are overrated and underrated companies, some of which are successful after ten years and some of which were simply declared successful right after founding. But starting a business is like climbing stairs: some take one step at a time, some two steps, and some run out of breath. The most important thing is to keep steadily progressing. And in Berlin that is what will happen. was a founding investor of brands4friends and studiVZ, and is involved in several internet startups as a business angel. Lukasz has received numerous awards for his entrepreneurial achievements. He is also on the Advisory Board of the digital economy startup organization Junge Digitale Wirtschaft. www.teameurope.net Partner, Team Europe A strong foundation created through hard work Lukasz Gadowski 30 Pimp up your start up! For more than five years media.net has supported start-ups. As a cross-sectoral business association we connect people, the media and their ambitions. Our program media.net:catapult helps young companies to catapult themselves towards success. Our Investors’ Dinner is a culinary idea that pays off. Why? We want to increase chan- ces, support with exciting contacts, accompany visions, create sustainable jobs and strengthen Berlin-Brandenburg even more. www.medianet-bb.de
- 17. 3 4 5 7 2 6 1 8 12 11 9 10 13 19 15 16 18 18 14 17 20 25 27 21 28 26 23 24 22 30 32 29 Impressions of Berlin EyeEm photosby www.eyeem.com 31 Made by the eyeEM community 1 Erin L. Hubbs 2 tommasolana 3 tobikirstein 4 steffibley 5 spiegeleule 6 sophiehechinger 7 herr_licht 8 JURB76 9 silkeappetico 10 rbc 11 potemporaer 12 miss_boho 13 is4 14 icerainshadow 15 mohideen 16 mabelle 17 mabelle 18 mabelle 19 LarsFronius 20 Janaanthea 21 clemensmaurer 22 gittestark 23 herr_licht 24 gibsy 25 LAX2NRT 26 freundindernacht 27 evagolightly 28 berliniqueblog1 29 fholznag 30 flinder74 31 berlineska 32 garni
- 18. the hundert the hundert co-founderand partner Point Nine Capital Berlin, you are simply wonderful because… Head of International Brand Communications, Etsy … you are young; … you have had a turbulent history; I‘ve lived in Berlin since 2001. I originally planned to move to Berlin for 2 years, however plans change, which is a lot like Berlin. The thing you can always depend upon in Berlin is change – constantly shifting and expanding to make the most of new cultural and technological undercurrents from around the world. Anyone who tells you it was better before hasn‘t been here long enough or doesn’t like change. If you don’t know of anything fun or interesting going on, you’re not looking hard enough! The creative energy and relaxed but determined Berlin attitude which transforms empty factories into dance-clubs, co-working spaces or installations made it an ideal space for Etsy to open their first European office in 2010. It’s simple to hire creative, passionate people who are attracted to the high-standard of living here. Indeed, it’s what’s kept me here far longer than I had ever anticipated and what’s turned Berlin into my home. … you are international, increasingly so, yet your own character is strengthened and not lost; … you have a huge, almost magical, appeal that goes far beyond Germany’s borders; … you attract talented, well-educated people from across Europe and inspire them to realize their lifelong dreams in Berlin; … you gave birth to a vibrant tech start-up scene that provides an important economic mainstay and high growth potential for Berlin; … you make and give us all space to develop and be true to ourselves; … you are the gateway to Eastern Europe and enable me to stay reasonably close to my family and friends in Poland; … you enjoyed being “poor but sexy,” but where there is spirit, money will always follow. Thus you will always continue to develop. Caroline Pawel Drucker Chudzinski Berlin, I wish… … that you will never lose your character; … that the seed being planted will enable you to grow so strong economically that you can compete with other global capitals, and that you will not become a second “Silicon Valley”, but the first real “European Valley!” … that you will be able to offer a future to the people who come to fulfill their dreams and inspire them to stay; … and above all, that we will continue to have a lot of fun together! Caroline Drucker heads the international brand communi- There is only one constant in Berlin: Change cations at Etsy. Previously, she was a Product Manager and Partner Marketing Manager at SoundCloud, the world‘s Pawel is co-founder of and partner at Point Nine Capital. leading platform for sound and music. Caroline also has Before setting up Point Nine Capital in 2011, Pawel was the extensive experience in media and publishing: She played co-founder of and partner at Team Europe, where he was a major role in the German market launch of VICE responsible for heading up the European investment team. Magazine, led the business development of the DUMMY Before that, he was an associate of the US investment bank magazine, and developed the digital strategy for the Greenhill & Co. in Frankfurt and London. Pawel has a degree re-launch of Der Freitag, a left-liberal weekly. Caroline studied German and urban development at Bryn Mawr College in the United States and graduated magna cum laude. The Canadian currently lives in Berlin. www.etsy.com 34 from the School of Management in Leipzig (HHL). Originally from Poland, he speaks fluent English, German and Polish and a little Russian. Pawel writes a blog on which you can read I wish that Berlin and I will have a lot more fun together! more about his thoughts and opinions. www.pointninecap.com 35
- 19. the hundert the hundert founderand managing director, Sociomantic Labs 15 Years of Global Technology Investment Banking made in Germany Professional Corporate Finance Advisory from A-Z Around the Globe CHOOSING BERLIN WAS ONE OF OUR MOST FUNDAMENTAL BUSINESS DECISIONS Trade Sale to Trade Sale EUR 150,000,000 to Investment of up to EUR 5,500,000 Trade Sale to Trade Sale to other investors included Adviser to Albumprinter Beheer B.V. and its Shareholders Adviser to Founders and Minority Shareholders of Private Sale GmbH Adviser to Cerbomed GmbH Adviser to the Shareholders of DailyDeal GmbH Adviser to Ensogo Inc. and its Shareholders October 2011 December 2010 CFP BioConnect AG September 2012 September 2011 June 2011 Acquisition of Trade Sale to Sale of Trade Sale to USD 273,000,000 Adviser to For-side.com Adviser to Nextag, Inc. Adviser to the Shareholders of hotel.de AG Adviser to the Shareholders of intelliAd Media GmbH Adviser to Jamba! AG July 2004 June 2011 October 2011 July 2012 June 2004 Trade Sale of 74.9% Capital Increase by Capital Increase led by EUR 265,000,000 Trade Sale Trade Sale to Adviser to kaufDA and its Shareholders Adviser to yd. yourdelivery GmbH Exclusive Adviser to Privatesportsale GmbH Exclusive Adviser to the Founder and Majority Shareholder of nikoma Adviser to OfferMobi March 2011 June 2012 July 2012 February 2000 August 2012 Trade Sale Trade Sale to Trade Sale to Capital Increase 61.59% to Investor in intelliAd Media GmbH T Brandhoff homas Thomas Brandhoff co-founded Sociomantic Labs in 2009. As Managing Director, he heads the company’s commercial and organizational development. He helped the company grow without external investments from a team of three founders to a global company with 150 employees in 14 offices. Prior to Sociomantic, Thomas was the Global Industry Manager at zanox. He holds a degree from the University of Hertfordshire England. www.sociomantic.com 3,000 Euro, one big idea and the raw energy of Berlin were all that we had when we founded Sociomantic Labs in 2009. Choosing Berlin was one of our most fundamental business decisions that set the stage for everything to follow. The city simply has it all: the zest to attract inspiring and inspired people from all over the world, the charm and quality of living to retain them, an advanced technological infrastructure, and the benefits of a well-connected capital in the heart of Europe. My co-founders and I have always believed in the power of diversity when breeding innovation. The bustling mix of cultures in Berlin has enabled us to hire the most talented people from all over the world to build a daring team with ambitions that go above and beyond all our expectations – and all geographic borders, too. Today we are a growing team of more than 150 persons of 28 nationalities spanning 14 offices in 12 countries — a dream made reality, thanks in large part to Berlin. to Restructuring EUR 884,000,000 USD 50,000,000 to Trade Sale to Investor in intelliAd Media GmbH to USD 15,000,000 led by Sale to EUR 515,000,000 conditions not disclosed Senior Facility Agreement EUR 300,000,000 Mezzanine Capital Financing EUR 69,000,000 Adviser to PrimaCom AG Adviser to the shareholders of Qype GmbH Adviser to redcoon GmbH and its Shareholders Exclusive Adviser to SYSGO AG and its Shareholders Exclusive Adviser to Trademob GmbH December 2005 October 2012 March 2011 November 2012 November 2012 This could be Trade Sale to Sale of Sale of 25.1% Your Deal Trade Sale EUR 214,900,000 + earn-out payment EUR 48,290,000 to a consortium of to to Adviser to visionapp AG and its Shareholders Adviser to WebMedia GmbH and the Ebner Group Adviser to the Shareholders of zanox.de AG Adviser to Cinco Capital GmbH Exclusive Corporate Finance Adviser April 2011 December 2000 November 2009 July 2007 Frankfurt • Berlin • Vienna • Budapest • San Francisco • New York • Tokyo • Shanghai • Beijing 36 Global Headquarters: Corporate Finance Partners | Kennedyallee 70a | 60596 Frankfurt | Germany | Phone: +49 (69) 90 74 76 10 | Fax: +49 (69) 90 74 76 70 | www.cfpartners.com
- 20. the hundert the hundert CEO,YOC AG The hype surrounding Berlin almost scares me Breeding ground for exciting and internationally competitive projects Dirk Freytag The hype surrounding Berlin almost scares me. A great deal is written; everything is cool, creative and cheap. A great deal has been started, but virtually nothing is really big yet. After three and a half years in New York and two years in Berlin, I have come to think that the fundamental reason for this is that it is cheap. There are of course creative minds for whom ideas are more important than money, however most software developers like to have money coming in every month. A great deal of potential is therefore lost. In Berlin, you can rapidly get involved in a start-up with little money and high percentages. In New York, you pay twice as much and have fewer shares as an investor. This means more money for the company founders, who then have more money for trial and error. I believe this is lacking in Berlin. Even people with great ideas make mistakes and they ought to have the opportunity to do so. This simply is not possible with the money we investors provide Berlin-based company founders with. If we solve this problem, I believe that Berlin will then be only sexy – and no longer poor. Oliver Borrmann Dirk Freytag has lived in Berlin since 2011 and is currently investing in nine different After studying at the University of St. Gallen and start-ups. Two of these are in the US, one is in a position at a Munich management consultancy, Israel and four are in Berlin. After selling ADTECH to AOL, he spent 3 and a half years living in New York and held various positions at AOL. Oliver Borrmann relocated to Berlin in 1992 where he founded bmp. Initially begun as a consulting firm, bmp switched its focus to venture capital in 1997. It has since financed many successful Berlin businesses including aap, Jerini, ivu, nugg.ad and Heliocentris. group.yoc.com www.bmp.com 38 CEO, bmp Beteiligungsmanagement AG Berlin is a colorful, cultural medley: relaxed and, despite its burning social issues, safe, open and always surprisingly different. This attracts creative and intellectual talent alike, and offers a fertile breeding ground for exciting and internationally competitive projects. It is a lot of fun to already have been an active part of the Berlin venture capital scene for over 15 years, during which I have made a total of over 30 investments in the city, and built up economically sustainable businesses, some of which employ hundreds of people. If Berlin maintains its intellectual vigor, we will continue to see many more successful start-ups in the city. However, we should not be too euphoric because the venture capital infrastructure in Berlin bears little comparison with that of London or Silicon Valley. And should the economy falter again – as it does in Berlin from time to time – investors will disappear very rapidly. Berlin has had to live through that experience more than once. 39
- 21. e the place tob f o r t al e n t . Berlin wants tomorrow’s talent. When will you arrive? Job candidates are invited to visit www.talent-in-berlin.de to find out about employment offers in Berlin. Companies can use the site to advertise job openings. The job portal is integrated into the city’s business portal, the Business Location Center, which itself offers a quick overview of important information regarding living and working in Berlin and about schools, cultural and recreational opportunities in the German capital. The portal provides an ideal outlook for job beginners, specialists and executive staff. Come and find your dream job! www.talent-in-berlin.de
- 22. Burckhardt Bonello the hundert The European Mecca fornew businesses CEO and founder of Sparwelt.de the hundert CEO Found Fair & Everpreneur Daniel Engelbarts It is no coincidence that Berlin is Europe‘s Mecca for new businesses: The German capital is ingenious and different. That is the reason why I came here. Berlin offers ideal conditions for originality, authenticity and creativity. To generate business success from these qualities, you need the courage and self-confidence to set something unique in motion. In a city like Berlin, with its lively online scene where you can feel new ideas and projects coming to life every second, believing in your own idea and your own project is almost the most important thing. After all, I have to be able to convince others of my ideas – over a beer, on a rostrum or on my website. All these different options for making contact, and the informality with which you meet people here, make Berlin a very special place for me. Daniel Engelbarts is the founder and CEO of Sparwelt.de, one of Germany‘s leading recommendation and advice portals for online shopping and saving. Prior to this, as the head of transactions at Axel Springer AG, he was responsible for the product management of Bild.de (including the Games, Mobile, Shopping and Search areas). The future is exciting Burckhardt bonello has founded 4 successful startups as the CEO (myBet/QED, Novedia AG, sMEET, Berlin has an inspiring environment for creative people who want to achieve something. Although Berlin still has many clone projects and lifestyle motivated founders, fortunately the city still attracts more and more true visionary tech entrepreneurs from all over Europe. Berlin is still enticing for those who have the courage to be real game changers, such as FriendSurance and SoundCloud who chose our city as where they feel comfortable. In addition to a lack of 1 to 10 million of investment capital, Berlin is also missing heavyweights such as Google and Facebook for a healthy eco-system as well as local exit channels. Berlin needs all of these things in order to become established, grow as a sustainable global tech center against Silicon Valley, and to avoid becoming a „melting pot“ for seed startups. Berlin not only has the potential for it, but it is now the best city in Europe to start a startup, and of course, last but not least, to party. The future is exciting. Univent) with up to 600 million in net revenue. He studied technical computer science and completed research as a PhD student and lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin and as a teaching assistant at Stanford University. He is currently CEO of Found Fair, a Berlin company builder focusing on a few disruptive models, and CEO of a small seed fund. As a company builder, he is the co-founder of successful game changers such as FriendSurance (insurance at half price) Returbo (eCommerce) as well as 3 other startups. www.foundfair.de www.sparwelt.de 42 43
- 23. the hundert the hundert Berlin:I never wanted to move here, but now I never want to leave CEO and Founder, Rebate Networks For Berlin, the best is yet to come Everyone looks to Berlin: once the city of division, Berlin is now at the center of Europe, and is closely linked with the world. Internet start-ups have played a major role in this, and have helped the city to rank alongside London as the start-up capital of Europe. The benefits of Berlin as a location are as clear as ever: it is an exciting city and offers a great quality of life. Thousands of good graduates want to stay in Berlin, or move here, from practically every country on earth. The price level continues to be competitive. Many entrepreneurs have taken advantage of this to build up highly successful firms . These start-ups have given rise to new generations of young entrepreneurs and online specialists who now make up this highly praised ecosystem. More recently, companies have started to emerge out of Berlin which, although based in Berlin, generate most of their revenue in other countries around the world. At Rocket Internet we love Berlin too and we are building a largely Berlin-centric company. Established in 2007, we are now the largest internet incubator in the world. Our portfolio currently encompasses 75 ventures in over 50 countries with more than 20,000 employees. We will remain faithful to Berlin and celebrate the huge development of its internet sector. We are sure of one thing: for Berlin, the best is yet to come. Michael Brehm is a serial entrepreneur and start-up investor with shares in 20+ start-ups. He is currently, among other things, the founder and managing director of Rebate Networks, which runs Alexander Kudlich has been the eCommerce firms around the world. managing director of Rocket Internet After graduation and a stint at a bank, GmbH since 2011. Among his previous he became managing director of the positions, he worked for Axel Springer as studiVZ Group which he built up to assistant to the CEO and then for Zanox, become one of the largest social a company in Axel Springer’s portfolio. networks in Europe before it was Kudlich studied business at the University bought by the Holtzbrinck publishing of St. Gallen and has a master’s degree group in early 2007. Since then he has in philosophy from UCL London co-founded numerous other firms. and an executive MBA from ESMT. Michael Brehm www.rebatenetworks.com Berlin was a city I never wanted to move to. Now it is the city I never want to leave. It is contrasts like these that make this city so uniquely exhilarating. In early 2006, when I first put my suitcase down in an apartment on the Hackescher Markt, I was shocked by how run-down our capital still was: there were semi-ruined houses everywhere, daubed with fading, ancient graffiti. But if you just get one step closer, that is precisely where you will see a lively bustle of cafés with customers thronging around a few old wooden tables, decorated with colorful wild flowers. It is a revelation: in this city, beauty is created by people living out their dreams, on whatever scale. Every street corner, every broken-down car can be transformed overnight into a sales stand selling lactose-free organic ice cream or the venue for a new tech start-up. Being part of this transformation, witnessing people putting so much love into getting something of their own off the ground, is what makes Berlin unique for me: a city in which there is great joy in seeing dreams come true every day. managing director Rocket Internet 44 Alexander Kudlich www.rocket-internet.de 45
- 24. the hundert coffee andan inspiring atmosphere. It is reassuring to know that on Yelp.de and the Yelp app you get the best cafés in your preferred neighborhood in which others have already checked the sofa thickness, power outlets, Wi-Fi av ailability, Milch und Zucker Oranienstr. 37, 10999 Berlin – Kreuzberg und Warschauer Str. 69, 10243 Berlin – Friedrichshain – www.yelp.de/biz/milch-und-zucker-berlin Extras: free Wi-Fi, carrot cake, two locations in Berlin Atopia café attracts customers with its spacious rooms, living room vibe and ping pong table for a quick game now and then. It is not surprising that freelancer Joaquim R has practically set up his office here: “I come to Atopia every day to do my programming. The staff are super friendly, there is free Wi-Fi, good coffee, lots of sofas and the prices are fair. The music varies, but most of the time it is lounge style. There are dance events in the evenings and they even have classes!” hy Prenzlauer Allee 187, 10405 Berlin, Berlin- Prenzlauerberg Extras: free Wi-Fi, ping pong table, sofas grap “A stylish, peaceful oasis amid the hustle and bustle of Berlin,” wrote Natalye R. “I love to come here and write after work, when everyone else has hurried off home for dinner or to a restaurant. The atmosphere is good, there are usually only a few other customers around and the café has lots of places to sit. The choice of music suits the surroundings and the free Wi-Fi is reliable.” And hopefully there will still be a slice of divine carrot cake behind the glass counter if you fancy a snack! hoto Atopia Kaffeehaus p UM C TR “BASE_camp offers lots of space to work, free Wi-Fi, a great selection of drinks and snacks and usually some interesting people to talk to,” said Michael U. “Events also take place here regularly and you can check the dates along with the daily menu on the website. Prices are very reasonable for the location.” BASE store, café and co-working space – the concept really works here. SPE UAL 04 , VIS lmer service and accessibility. 08 westberlin Friedrichstr. 215, 10969 Berlin – Kreuzberg – www.yelp.de/biz/westberlin-berlin Extras: sandwiches, free Wi-Fi, designer furniture 05 Sankt Oberholz Rosenthalerstr. 72a, 10119 Berlin – Mitte – www.yelp.de/biz/sankt-oberholz-berlin Extras: entrepreneurial spirit, co-working space, apartments Jasson S discovered Sankt Oberholz in the winter. For him, it is the “German version of the Coupa Café in Silicon Valley: a great place for coffee with friends, to do a few hours’ work on the laptop or simply to people watch. The coffee is good, as is the food, but what this place is really all about is the atmosphere, the energy!” This legend among Berlin’s digital hotspots on Rosenthaler Platz even has its own ice cream counter in summer! BASE_camp Mittelstr. 51, 10117 Berlin – Mitte – www.yelp.de/biz/base-camp-berlin Extras: free Wi-Fi, events space, E-Plus mobile sales L . Ba It was for good reason that Yelp Berlin held its coffee shop working hours in Espresso Ambulanz in September. Beatrice K tried out the café early in the morning: “This espresso bar is a recommended way to start the day as it opens at 7:00 AM. The service is on the ball, music lilts softly in the background and you can either lounge on the sofa or perch on one of the bar stools and gaze at Oranienburgerstraße out of the big window.” 03 erably one with a stable wireless connection, good Espresso Ambulanz Oranienburger Str. 5, 10117 Berlin – Mitte – www.yelp.de/biz/espresso-ambulanz-berlin Extras: free Wi-Fi, great cakes, open from 7:00 AM 02 or you don’t even have one? Go to a café! And pref- n Julie 01 Where can you work if your office is too cramped, 13 ©20 Berlin’s Yelp community presents the best CAFÉS for workspace the advertorial 06 Mein Haus am See Brunnenstr. 197-198, 10119 Berlin – Mitte – www.yelp.de/biz/mein-haus-am-see-berlin Extras: open 24/7, live gigs in the basement, separate smoking lounge “Mein Haus am See is a comfortably furnished café and the ideal place to meet friends and make plans. The Internet connection is excellent and the comfy sofas with small tables are perfect for relaxing with a laptop and pen and chatting about things with friends. A bit like at Starbucks, only the opposite of commercialized and much more cozy.” Manuel M knows what he is talking about when he recommends this former bookshop. The city’s creatives can be seen working away on their laptops here even at three in the morning. 07 Brezel Bar Kreuzberg Friesenstr. 2, 10965 Berlin – Kreuzberg – www.yelp.de/biz/brezel-bar-berlin-berlin Extras: fresh pretzels, power outlets at every table, reading lamps “The back of the Brezel Bar is a wonderfully peaceful area to work in. I like to order a glass of fresh green tea and enjoy the funky music. The staff are really friendly and the café is rarely overcrowded, even though it is not particularly big. The prices are OK and although the selection of food is not especially large, there are lots of different sorts of coffee and tea,” said Kifah A. “Such a beautiful (not to mention delicious) place as this is not what you would normally find in this part of Berlin, which is full of chains and tourist joints,” enthused Julian S. “There is space to relax and read the many interesting magazines and newspapers (which you can also buy) and Wi-Fi for laptops on the large table with power outlets. The café offers excellent coffee, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit juices and some of the greatest sandwiches I have ever eaten in Berlin!” What is Yelp? Yelp is an online city guide. Yelp is av ailable as an app and a website. Yelp is a community of capital city 09 Cuccuma dwellers who love Berlin and want to share their favorite places with you. And anyone can get in- Zossener Str. 34, 10961 Berlin – www.yelp.de/biz/cuccuma-berlin Extras: balcony, smoking lounge, walnut tart This little café in Bergmannstrasse is a typical locals’ café. “It feels as if the staff know everyone who comes in here and will even recognize you again after a couple of weeks,” said Mason D. “Cuccuma is the ideal setting for a few hours’ work, with free Wi-Fi and lots of places to sit inside and outside.” He recommends a slice of home-made cake to go with the reliably good coffee. volved on Yelp by providing descriptions and reviews of exciting places: from cafés, concept stores and dentists to the latest hot Italian restaurant. Yelp was founded in San Francisco in 2004, and since then Yelp communities have sprung up in 23 countries around the world. Yelpers have now contributed over 42 million reviews on local businesses and have 10 Café CK Marienburgerstr. 49, 10405 Berlin – Prenzlauerberg www.yelp.de/biz/café-ck-berlin-2 – Extras: pancakes, French press, brownies “CK was the first place I stopped for a coffee in Berlin. I found it from Yelp recommendations and can confirm that the cappuccino is phenomenal! Not only is it perfectly balanced, it also blew away my jet lag,” reported Berlin newcomer Grey J. “Honestly, it is first class stuff for coffee enthusiasts. Add the steady Wi-Fi connection and pleasant atmosphere, and CK has become somewhere I can while away several hours, no problem.” made Yelp the leading portal for everything local. Yelp’s mobile app is used by around 10.4 million individual mobile devices every month. The Berlin Yelp community is continually setting out to discover the city together – and enjoy it. For further information, please visit http://www.yelp.de/ Berlin or contact Anne, the Berlin Yelp community manager, at: annese.yelp.de – aseubert@yelp.com
- 25. Coworking – Berlin incubators– Berlin Coworking spaces are an interesting alternative to traditional offices. Emerging as the result from freelancers, young startups and creatives who no longer wanted to work at home alone or in cafes, coworking spaces offer not only a cheap place to work, but also the opportunity to exchange valuable experience in an environment with like-minded people. Through the various rental offers, you are sure to find something suitable to your needs. You can rent a space, a desk or even an entire room for daily or monthly rates. We are happy to take this opportunity to introduce Berlin Coworking Spaces to you Instead all starting up alone with the hopes of finding an Angel or VC funding, incubators provide support for potential founders or already founded startups. It is not only about the capital, but also the startup experience, the technical know-how, network and office space, which promises relief to the beginning of entrepreneurship. Below we are pleased to present Berlin Incubators. Nest Coworking Space House of Clouds Axel Springer Plug and Play hub:raum The Nest Coworking Space offers comfortable interior combined with functionality and the charm of a traditional Berlin old building apartment. A spiral staircase to the restaurant NEST on the ground floor directly connects the office space. The space also provides a beautiful view of the Görlitzer Park. Spread across 150sqm, three spacious group rooms for 6-8 persons are offered, as well as a large conference room for up to 20 people for creative development. At our coworking space, we offer offices and fixed individual workstations. A workplace for 168 € per month consists of a large working desk with plenty of storage space, electricity, cleaning, Wi-Fi and fair-use printing. Offices, individualized or fully furnished, start at 298 € per month. Axel Spring AG and the Plug and Play Tech Center, a leading startup investor and accelerator from Silicon Valley, has established the Axel Springer Plug and Play. The offer includes not only the exchange of knowledge, but also office space as well as 25,000 € of seed funding per startup. The program concludes with a “Demo Day” in which teams present to a panel of international investors in order to vie for further financing. In May, 2012, Telekom opened its own incubator in Berlin called hub:raum. The incubator is a support center for startups, and the aim is to back young startups with new ideas for telecommunications, Internet services as well as digital media. All startups can receive seed funding in amounts up to 300,000 euros, are provided office space, and can draw on the expertise of a high-caliber mentor pools. www.axelspringerplugandplay.com www.hubraum.com www.houseofclouds.de www.cafenest.de/coworking Welance – space for professionals THE WOSTEL Magic Cube – Berliner Brutkasten für lokale Preisvergleiche Rheingau Founders A community of skilled experts ready to take on almost any web-related challenge. We believe in our diverse team of specialized professionals working within the Welance co-working space. Get in touch and start your project now! The Wostel is a place where freelancers work in a family environment and can exchange thought and ideas. Through the 1930s - 1960s décor, a cozy and timeless vintage feel is created. Startups like Amen and Capsule.fm as well as firms such as Nokia and eBay have already used our coworking space. Jan Dzulko and the founders of CHECK24 launched the Magic Cube in 2012 with a focus on domestic price comparisons. From driving schools to carsharing all the way through to gravestones, M Cube and its subsidiaries seek out to provide clear price comparisons order in non-transparent, local markets. M Cube is located in Kreuzberg, and currently employs about 40 people in its six portfolio companies, and there is always room for more. Do you have the heart of the founder or already have a specific idea for the price comparison market? Then apply at M Cube and become part of a team with over 14 years of Internet excellence! Rheingau Founders is a Berlin-based, professional co-founder with a focus on digital business models. In addition to financial support for the startup phase, Rheingau Founders actively helps its investments with operational expertise and its international network, which can be critical for the development of a sustainable enterprise, especially in the first 12-18 months after laying the grounds of foundation. The company was founded in 2011 by three partners, Philipp Hartmann, Dr. Tobias Johann and Kai Hansen in Berlin, who, as experts in the digital industry, previously founded Lieferando and madvertise. www.welance.de www.wostel.de www.rheingau-founders.com www.m-cube.de other coworking spaces: Agora Collective, www.agoracollective.org – Neukölln; Betahaus, www.betahaus.de – Kreuzberg; Club Office, www.club-office.com – Wilmerdorf; co.up, www.co-up.de – Kreuzberg; creative|media|lab, www.creativemedialab.de – Mitte; Fireworks, www.fireworkscoworking.wordpress.com – Wedding; Halle am Wasser, www.coworking-halleamwasser.com – Mitte, mobilesuite, www.mobilesuite.de – Prenzlauer Berg; Puls Raum, www.pulsraum.de – Kreuzberg; raumstation, www.raumstation-berlin.net – Moabit; St Oberholz, www.sanktoberholz.de – Mitte; Tante Renate, www.tanterenate.de – Kreuzberg; uberdesk, www.uberdesk.de – Prenzlauer Berg; Webworker Berlin, www.webworker-berlin.com/coworking – Treptow; Weserland, www.weserland.net – Neukölln other incubators: BeVation, www.bevation.de – Mitte; Covus Ventures, www.covus.de – Mitte; Found Fair Ventures, foundfair.de – Wedding; FoundersLink, www.founderslink.com – Prenzlauer Berg; HitFox Games Ventures, www.hitfox-ventures.com – Mitte; MAS Angel Fund, angelfund.vc – Kreuzberg; Project A Venture, www.project-a.com – Mitte; Rocket Internet, www.rocket-internet.de – Mitte; Springstar, www.springstar.com – Mitte; Team Europe – www.teameurope.ne – Mitte; YouIsNow, www.youisnow.de – Friedrichshain; Epic Companies, www.epic-companies.com – Kreuzberg; garage berlin, www.garageberlin.de – Lichterfelde; K - New Media, www.k-newmedia.de – Mitte; Möller Ventures, www.moeller-ventures.de – Wilmersdorf
- 26. the hundert the hundert CEOVertical Media The only city in Germany where you don’t have to speak German Berlin’s entrepreneurial scene is like a wildfire. It’s happening because of the DNA of the city. Nobody engineered this; it’s happening in a 100% organic way. The main reason is that it is one of the most inspiring urban English speaking environments in the world, and this is where entrepreneurial talent is migrating to in large flocks. Where talent goes capital will follow. We are so optimistic due to the fact that entrepreneurship is center stage in Berlin; it is defining the city. CIARáN is the only Irish with a Bavarian accent. He is most passionate about consumer web products, dev platforms and building the Berlin tech ecosystem. O’Leary is a Partner at Earlybird. www.earlybird.com Partner of Earlybird Mark has been the CEO of Vertical Media since April of 2010. Previously, he was the Editor in Chief of the games news site, GameBizz. His previous positions included work with various online and media startups such as Turtle Entertainment, GIGA Digital and SponsorPay, in which he worked as a Manager’s Assistant, TV Presenter and Editor in Chief. www.vmpublishing.com like a wildfire! Ciarán O´Leary Mark Hoffmann When I came to Berlin four years ago, I had no expectations for the German capital. Maybe this was just the right thing, because I have seen many people who have succumbed to the pressures and the possibilities of (night) life in Berlin. For me, Berlin is the only city in Germany where you don’t have to speak German. It is here where so many different worlds live so closely together, separated merely by the zebra stripes in the roads. This is the city in which you can celebrate as being the new star with your first round of financing today, and tomorrow have to walk with your head hung low to the Charlottenburg district court. From the city facets, the potential of the people and the drive for innovation, let us create what we want. Let us not be the next Silicon Valley, but rather THE European capital for the European digital scene. After all, if you want to be something, then you should not be constantly comparing yourself to something else. 50 51
- 27. the hundert co-founder andCEO SoundCloud Berlin is a city that immediately captured my attention when I moved here six years ago. In 2007, Eric Wahlforss (SoundCloud’s co-founder and CTO) and I ventured into Berlin and were instantly struck by the city’s air of optimism and determination. As Berlin is a relatively cheap place to live and its population is young – half of the population is under 45 – there is an infectious youthful entrepreneurial atmosphere. We often refer to it as ‘punk meets tech,’ to describe the alternative, ambitious lifestyle of ‘going your own way’ that is still very present in the city. In addition, Berlin is growing all the time; I read somewhere that 1,300 start-ups have been founded here since 2008. Given that there is a very diverse pool of talent and a strong relationship between technology and art, it’s a great place to find developers and designers, and it made perfect sense for SoundCloud to establish its headquarters here. We’re proud to call the German capital home Alexander Ljung launched SoundCloud in 2008 with Alexander Ljung co-founder and CTO, Eric Wahlfross. As CEO, Alex is responsible Alex’s personal interests lie in the positive change and wider for SoundCloud’s vision, overall strategy and leadership, societal impact technology and design can have. In his spare and oversees a global team of over 200 people. time, he enjoys listening, traveling, geeking out on academic theories, diving shipwrecks and trying to not break his foot SoundCloud is the world’s leading audio platform that in South American coastal cities. He’s also a proud member allows everyone to discover new, original music and audio, of The Cloud Appreciation Society. for creators to build audiences, and for everyone to share what they hear, on the web or on mobile. Creators on Prior to co-founding SoundCloud, Alex began his career SoundCloud now post over 12 hours of music and audio every working in sound design for feature films and obtained minute, and the platform reaches over 200 million people. a M.Sc. degree from The Royal Institute of Technology. He was born in the UK, grew up in Sweden and splits his Alex was named a “2012 Social Maverick” in February 2012 by time between SoundCloud’s HQ in Berlin and the U.S. DETAILS and through his leadership, SoundCloud was featured office in San Francisco, California. Modular. Flexible. Scalable. as one of Fast Company’s “2012 Most Innovative Companies“ for giving the internet a voice. www.soundcloud.com 52 Learn more about the universal furniture system from Berlin: www.system180.com
- 28. Béa and OliverBeste the hundert THE SECRET OF BERLIN‘S WONDER OF FOUNDERS IS THE UNIQUE ENTREPRENEURIAL CULTURE THAT THE PEOPLE OF BERLIN, THEIR POLITICIANS AND THE MEDIA HAVE PRODUCED IN THE SECOND DECADE OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM. Founders of Tollabox Berlin 2020: triumph for the city’s people and politicians. Berlin has the highest quality of life and one of the lowest unemployment rates in Germany. People flock to Berlin from all over the world to work and study. They also come to party. Berlin’s nightlife, clubs, tolerance and liberality are legendary. The number of artists and musicians grows from year to year. To experience Berlin is to want to stay. The number of motivated young people is one of the drivers of the Berlin miracle. Berliners recognized the economic effects of the club scene early on, and skillfully encouraged them. Berlin is the undisputed capital of the new wave of start-ups in Europe. Berlin’s start-ups achieved striking success with their stock market presence. Several of them have attained European and global dominance. Money is flowing into Berlin from investors around the world. The city has a magical attraction for start-ups and keen wouldbe entrepreneurs. Onlookers all over the world wonder how Berlin has made the leap from Internet hype to becoming a sustainable European megacity for start-ups. Is it because Berlin has been a major city, but with affordable wage levels? The well-educated young people? The fact that living costs and rents were low in international terms? The farsighted subsidies available to start-ups? The major German crowdfunding platforms or the innovative funding programs open to angels? The fact that Berlin’s authorities only needed one day to set up a limited liability company, which could also be done electronically without having to deal with government agencies and, if desired, in English? Or that Berlin’s politicians worked together to set up an immigration program for skilled labor from across the world, which bypassed the ominous bottlenecks in the system at a stroke? All the formalities in English via the Internet with no need to visit in person? 54 As important as these influences were, they could not in themselves transform hype into a sustainable ecosystem. The experts have agreed: the secret of Berlin’s start-up miracle is the unique entrepreneurial culture created by the people of Berlin, their politicians, and the media in the second decade of the new millennium. Entrepreneurship is taught in every college in Berlin, and from as early as the 7th grade, there are annual business plan games. Highly motivated teachers work alongside entrepreneurs who serve as mentors. Students and teachers are competitive. Berlin’s professors and researchers are respected and rewarded for setting up spin-offs. Berliners, school children and pensioners alike, take entrepreneurs as role models. There is no stigma in failure; instead it is seen as valuable experience and an occupational hazard for courageous start-ups. Outside Germany, there is envy for the support offered to Berlin’s start-ups by its authorities, universities and politicians. Start-ups are the hundert Béa Beste is an education entrepreneur, was born in Romania, studied in Berlin at the University of the Arts, worked at in SAT.1 and BCG, and founded the Phorms bilingual schools in 2005. In 2011, after six years as the CEO, she traveled on an education expedition throughout India, Australia, Indonesia and the United States. She then founded TOLLABOX.de to encourage learning through games for children ages 4 and up. Her husband Oliver partners the project, using his experience as a CEO in E-Commerce. Oliver Beste studied politics, and was involved in finding a solution to overcome the East-West conflict, in which to his surprise became reality in 1989. After 4 years of‚ re-training‘ at McKinsey, he found that the world had enough consultants and needed more entrepreneurs. Oliver went to the „most exciting German City“ and founded companies such as, but not limited to MYTOYS, FOUNDERSLINK, DEAL UNITED, TALENTORY and RATEPAY. Oliver is fascinated by Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof. Yunus‘ „Social Business“ concept, and tried to encourage more and more people (including women!) to found their own companies. www.tollabox.de regularly featured in the press. These models and the atmosphere of cooperation between start-ups and angels are infectious, and they attract more and more would-be entrepreneurs to Berlin. There are also more female start-ups in Berlin than anywhere else in Europe. Founders of successful start-ups act as coaches and angels to foster success in the next generation. Berlin’s mayor makes headlines in 2020 with an appeal to the pupils and students of Europe: “Do you want to see the future? Do you want to learn more about yourselves, life and the economy than you can anywhere else? Then come to the coolest city in Europe and take up an internship in one of Berlin’s many international start-ups.” 55
- 29. the hundert the hundert entrepreneur,consultant and financial investor Carsten Maschmeyer is a successful entrepreneur, consultant and financial Ijad Madisch is CEO and co-founder investor. As such, he is continually in search of ResearchGate, the professional of promising business models. All consulting network for scientists. The physician activities, joint ventures and investments established the company back in 2008 are united beneath the strategic umbrella together with his friends Sören Hofmayer of the Maschmeyer Group. Maschmeyer was and Horst Fickenscher. Over three million born in Bremen on May 8, 1959. Initially he researchers now use the network to studied medicine in Hanover, but worked collaborate, exchange findings and part-time in the sales department of efficiently advance their research. a financial consulting firm. From 1982, he Investors include Benchmark, devoted himself entirely to financial the Founders Fund and Bill Gates. consulting. Carsten Maschmeyer is father of two sons and engaged to German www.researchgate.net Silicon Valley or Berlin? The decision came easily to me. I lived in the USA for a few years, gained experience there and met many people – this is unlikely to have been such a success without the ResearchGate. Despite this, I wanted to return home. In Berlin, I found what I needed for our young company: creative, highlyqualified individuals from around the globe, who are eager to achieve great things. This is the advantage over Silicon Valley, where people capable of achieving something have often already had their fill of success. In contrast, Berlin is still fine-tuning its profile. The city‘s history and art scene play an important role in this. Start-ups complement this and drive the city‘s economy. This does not happen overnight though. The frequently criticized “copycats” have created an ecosystem of highly-qualified specialists, who now wish to work creatively on entirely new ideas. These exact companies are currently establishing themselves and will make Berlin the European hub for start-ups. Perhaps we can then also be proud of Berlin without calling ourselves “Silicon Allee”. Carsten Ijad Madisch Maschmeyer actress, Veronica Ferres. www.maschmeyer-group.de Currently, the trendiest metropolis in Europe with a pulsating creative scene While I am not from Berlin, I certainly enjoy returning to the city for a visit. Berlin is currently the trendiest metropolis in Europe, with a pulsating creative scene in which young people from around the globe come together. This is the ideal hotbed for innovative start-ups. Time and time again I am astounded by what young entrepreneurs come up with here, far from all convention, rigid structures and career paths. At the same time, Berlin is Germany‘s political center. For me, it is exactly this mix that makes the city so very interesting. Unlike Munich, Frankfurt and Hamburg, Berlin is still searching for its own identity. After the Wende (the fall of the Berlin Wall), the city had to rediscover itself entirely, and I do not believe it is yet a real unit. However, it does not even need to be; It is exactly these stark differences between the people and city districts that explain the city‘s uniqueness. I firmly believe that Berlin is the Silicon City of Europe. 56 Creative, highly-qualified individuals from around the globe CEO and co-founder of ResearchGate 57
- 30. Our start start coupon foryou: for you: 10 € Rebate valid Rebate valid until 31.12.2013 until 31.12.2013 Rebate Rebate code code More is More! Millions of Prints for “Hundert”, and also for You As an innovator in the printing industry, LASERLINE specializes in busiLASERLINE specializes in business and commercial print. From business cards and letterheads, flyers to letterheads, flyers to exhibition systems, we provide you with the perfect visuals. Best service visuals. Best service practices are just as important to us as the highest quality. We guarantee quality. We guarantee the fastest delivery times on every job. LASERLINE makes it easier for you makes it easier for you to start your own marketing: Redeem your € 10 print coupon at our online coupon at our online shop: www.laser-line.de. One coupon per person. Green Printing As a printing company, we realize our responsibility for the environment. Therefore, we offer our clients CO2-neutral printing, and we also provide you with a quality seal of approval. We apply for your licensing number in order for your product to be stamped as “Print CO2 Approved”. LASERLINE Druckzentrum · Scheringstrasse 1 · 13355 Berlin ·· Tel. 030 46 70 96 -- 0 ·· www.laser-line.de 13355 Berlin Tel. 030 46 70 96 0 www.laser-line.de F0BE19CC F0BE19CC
- 31.
- 32. the hundert When weconsidered how we could better support start-ups on media.net over five years ago, the optimism in Berlin was clearly discernible. However, the hype and dynamism that this city would experience in the years that followed exceeded even our expectations. As a media industry network, our underlying principle was to bring the old and new economies closer together. This mix of “young talent” and “old hands” was not new to media.net. In line with the exponential growth of the new media at the start of the 21st century, the word ‘new’ originally also featured in the company name at the time of its founding. With the end of the Internet euphoria, companies of the old economy also increasingly joined the association, and newmedia. net became media.net berlinbrandenburg. Today, over 150 of the roughly 400 member companies are once again start-ups, and our established formats, such as the media.net:catapult and the Investors‘ Dinner, show just how important networking is for both sides. media.net’s history highlights the appeal of this city: lively networks, a spirit of trial and error, versatility and trend sensitivity. The new economic power is a great opportunity for the city. It is now up to us to make use of it. the hundert It’s fantastic when networks work Prof. of Entrepreneurship, Founder „Teekampagne” In 1985, Günter Faltin initiated the “Teekampagne” as an archetype for the foundation of new enterprises. The professor for entrepreneurship is a business angel of various startup companies including “Ebuero”, “Direkt zur Kanzlerin”, “ePortrait” and “Waschkampagne”. 16 years later, in 2001, he started his own foundation, the “Stiftung Entrepreneurship” and in 2009, the Teekampagne received the German Founder’s award (“Deutscher Gründerpreis”). The German Federal President recently awarded Günter Faltin with the Federal Cross of Merit for being a “pioneer of entrepreneurial mindset in Germany”. www.entrepreneurship.de Berlin – more than Silicon Valley Andrea Peters has worked in the media industry for over 25 years. She became Managing Director at media.net berlinbrandenburg e.V. on march 1st 2008. Under her leadership, the network has developed into the capital region’s largest creative network. www.medianet-bb.de Andrea Peters Managing Director, media.net berlinbrandenburg 62 Günter Faltin Crucial impulses and innovations arise from the encounter of ideas from different cultures and disciplines. Diversity drives innovation. In such an “idea space,” one creates the spark to ignite extraordinary developments and ways of looking at things. This is called the “Medici effect”. The Medici family supported and financed creative work across the entire spectrum. Thanks to the climate they created in Florence, sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, painters, financiers and architects learned from each other and moved beyond the limits of their own disciplines and cultures. They generated breakthroughs and innovations that we still admire today. Cities like Berlin have long enjoyed a scientific and cultural scene that does not lag behind that of Renaissance Florence. The Medici built bridges, creating an atmosphere in which there was an open invitation to “look over my shoulder” rather than an anxious emphasis on differences: an idea space that – due to the invention of the internet – constantly gains diversity. These are perfect prerequisites for creative entrepreneurs, whom we as a society, in respect of the problems that we face today, need now more than ever. This is more than Silicon Valley can offer. That’s Berlin and what it has to offer. 63
- 33. the hundert the hundert ownerand CEO of Smart Mobile Factory We were both born and raised in Berlin so it is surely no surprise that this city stirs our blood. Berlin has always been the young upstart amid the great capitals of Europe, somewhere that outsiders like to view skeptically. Berliners get used to that. Our beloved and feared Berlin dialect is in itself proof that this city has been a magnet for people from around the world (not just the rest of Germany) for hundreds of years: it is a “metrolect” – that is, a mixture of the huge variety of languages and dialects spoken by the people who have lived here over time. The city’s attractions unleashed an industrial boom once before, in the mid19th century. The start-ups created then included Borsig’s engineering works and the telegraph construction works set up by Siemens & Halske. This entrepreneurial spirit is in the air again after decades of pain. Without any political master plan or subsidies. If yet more capital follows ideas and talents to Berlin, we both firmly believe that businesses of a similar significance will be born. Our advice to Berlin is this: celebrate your successes. It’s not like you to be so shy. The entrepreneurial spirit is in the air again after decades of pain founded several companies before deciding that he would prefer to work for a large, internationally active law firm. Four has been working as an auditor once more and he met Tim, with whom he created KPMG’s Start Smart Initiative, while working to support biotech firms. After a brief stopover in biochemistry, Tim studied business in Berlin and began his professional career at KPMG in 1994. Between 1999 and 2008 he gained his „outside the box” experience as a taxation law partner at a major international law firm before returning to KPMG in 2008. The media and growing companies are themes that have followed him in his professional life since 2000. As a result, he and Marius initiated the Start Smart Initiative as a start-up within KPMG in 2010: a consultancy platform for young and growing businesses with a focus on technology. www.kpmg.com/de with a client list that includes the publisher Gruner+Jahr, the HOCHTIEF construction group and Rocket Internet. He has over 15 years of experience in the digital industry, and advises companies such as the Scout24 Group, for which he founded the «YOU IS NOW» incubator. He was a member of Federal Economics Minister Philipp Rösler’s delegation to www.smartmobilefactory.com attended business school. In the 90s he policy department at KPMG. Since 2005 he a leading full-service mobile agency, Silicon Valley in May 2013. Marius was born in Berlin where he also years later, in 2001, he transferred to the Dr. Torsten Oelke is the owner and CEO of Smart Mobile Factory GmbH, T im Dümichen Marius Sternberg international corporate tax services partner KPMG Berlin director in the audit department, KPMG Berlin 64 T Oelke orsten I grew up in Berlin. This is something of a rarity in this city, particularly in its digital industry and on the start-up scene. At the same time, it says a lot about Berlin and the way it has changed in recent decades. Perhaps this is the secret behind the city’s power of attraction. Can there be any better place in the world for a start-up than a city that has started up again itself? If the Berlin Wall had not come down, I would have probably left. I would have looked around the world for exciting companies with an unconventional approach to business, doing something creative by abandoning the old ways. I would have looked for fascinating companies with a global vision, making a mad, bold or even utopian impression. I would have looked for development, dynamism, creativity and innovation. I would have looked for a place from which you can change the world. Berlin can be such a place, can become such a place, and is such a place. That is why I stayed. Can there be any better place in the world for a start-up than a city which has started up again itself? 65
- 34. the hundert the advertorial theCloud: IT launching pad for start-ups Get started in business – with the cloud Always available thanks to a reliable infrastructure In the start-up phase, entrepreneurs do not yet know whether their business idea will become a reality, or how the company will develop over the next few years. Nonetheless, they need to invest in their IT equipment in good time to be able to begin operations. If their product portfolio is to be sold online, or indeed if it is an entirely online product, such as a mobile app or an Internet service, particularly high demands are made of their IT resources. So how can these challenges be elegantly overcome, without too much of a strain on their starting capital, laboriously gathered from banks and start-up funds? They need to look up to the clouds, or more precisely, the cloud. Nobody knows the benefits of doing so better than Amazon Web Services, or AWS. The advantages of the cloud are clear for start-ups in particular: instead of investing in costly server resources of their own, businesses can make use of flexible computing and storage capacity provided by AWS, adapted to meet their needs. A start-up company looking to establish an ingenious new app in the mass market, for example, will be in safe hands in the cloud. If the app goes down well with its customers, there will be increasing numbers of users to look after and possibly power spikes to cushion at certain times of day. With your own infrastructure, this would entail enormous costs. Resources in the cloud, however, are so cost-effective in comparison that clients can even experiment with performance. Moreover, the administration of the resources available to you is fully automated. This means that AWS takes care of ensuring the capacity you have booked is always fully available, while you are free to concentrate on your business ideas. AWS runs a highly advancedarchitecture, which currently encompasses nine regions around the world, each with between two and five independent availability zones. Start-ups can therefore rely on AWS’s flexible, scalable and highly available infrastructure anywhere in the world. Pros: cost, flexibility and scalability When running your own server environment, you have to reckon not only with high initial outlay but also with ongoing running costs: there are servers and air-conditioning to manage, not to mention administration and maintenance. Then there is the problem of appropriately fixing the dimensions of your computing and storage capacity ato meet your needs. Make it too small and you will run into bottlenecks, however making it too big will be expensive. This is where cloud services, such as those offered by AWS, come into their own: IT resources are available at short notice and you will only ever pay for what you actually use. Their flexible scalability is absolutely ideal for start-ups. So with AWS there is no problem with switching on IT resources if the start-up idea is a hit. Cloud services can be booked to host web applications, for example, for which scalability is absolutely key. Similarly, the computing and storage capacities in the cloud are ideal as a development and testing environment or for back-up purposes. . “Thanks to Amazon Web Services, we are considerably more agile and can bring new products to market more quickly. Flexible allocation of computing capacity enables us to bypass bottlenecks faster and even to experiment with performance, something that would have been unaffordable with our own infrastructure,” said Christian Reber, founder und CEO of 6Wunderkinder. “The right blend of an original business idea, technological enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit makes all the difference. In our case, we all contributed to our own success story – not least Amazon Web Services who were the ideal infrastructure partners by our side.”
- 35. the hundert the hundert aboveall do not underestimate the berlin creative scene Doreen Huber Conrad Fritzsch conrad fritzsch was born in Berlin on October 16, 1969. After studying directing at the Babelsberg Film University, Fritzsch founded the ad agency Fritzsch & Mackat in 1993, where he was head of creative. In 2008 he and Stephanie Renner founded the online music broadcaster tape.tv, where he has been CEO of the company since. You are crazy child, you belong in Berlin! www. tape.tv Partner Operations, Springstar Berlin is not the biggest, prettiest or oldest city in Europe, but it is in my opinion one of its most vibrant. I love that old saying which goes: „You are crazy child, you belong in Berlin!“ A creative chaos reigns in Berlin, which has a lively multicultural arts scene and over 150,000 students, one sixth of whom have foreign citizenship. Rent in centrally located districts is also relatively affordable compared with the rest of Europe. Thus the conditions are optimal for starting a business. It was a very easy decision for us to choose Berlin to be the headquarters for both eKomi and Delivery Hero, and a springboard for their internationalization. Delivery Hero employs nearly 400 people in Berlin, from over 30 different countries. Successful startups attract more talent and money to the city, which is precisely what Berlin needs after being divided for 40 years. Doreen Huber founded her first startup at the age of 24; she has been in charge of operations and internationalization as Managing Director at both eKomi and Delivery Hero. In October 2013 she became a partner at Springstar. Berlin, city of opposites. Creative and international. Beautiful and rough. Poor but sexy was yesterday. We have taken a great leap forward here in the last 5 years. I personally have a great love for berlin. Yes, sure, I am a Berliner, but Berlin is changing, and is truly becoming an international melting pot. The city is changing constantly and therefore there are ever increasing opportunities for start-ups. We are still not as big as Silicon Valley or as rich as London, but we are hungry for success and work hard to make sure the next big thing is made in Germany. Above all, do not underestimate the Berlin creative scene (Berlin counts success stories like soundcloud, eyeem, wooga and of course tape.tv to name but a few). If you do not believe me I would gladly meet you in Goldhahn & Sampson to talk about it in one of the best cafés in town. Or in the course of a full-on night right through this great city, the kind that is only possible in Berlin. Doreen has a degree in Media Studies, Literature and Art History from Humboldt University in Berlin. www.springstar.com CEO tape.tv 68 69
- 36. the hundert the hundert Presidentof the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V. HERE IS WHERE GERMANY MEETS THE WORLD The cohesion of the start-up scene is what makes the city special Berlin is becoming an international start-up metropolis. I live at Rosenthaler Platz, which is the very heart of the start-up scene. Every morning, company founders meet to exchange their experiences on the first floor of Café Sankt Oberholz just around the corner. Berlin’s private club, the Soho House, is also a popular meeting place for creative minds to streamline their ideas. The cohesion of the start-up scene is what makes the city special, and their drive is also convincing for investors. In 2012, the capital city held the number one spot in the national venture capital ranking with investments totaling 184 million euros. Of this, 141 million euros in venture capital alone went towards Berlin-based IT start-ups. German politicians are also involved and increasing their support. They understand that company founders require more assistance, and are committed to securing venture capital. It is now the case of significantly improving financing with better framework conditions. Company founders rely on financial support and expertise to turn their ideas into success, and in return, venture capital companies can also greatly benefit through their investments.. In my opinion, company founders are very open for those who dare to gain profit. Matthias Ehrlich Ulrike Hinrichs Ulrike Hinrichs has been the Managing Director at the BVK since Since June 2013, Matthias Ehrlich has been president of the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V. (German Federal Association of the Digital Economy) and a member of its executive committee since 2007. A digital and media expert, he was at the head of Germany’s most successful digital marketing company, United Internet Media (formerly Web.de), for over ten years, and is one of the best-known figures in the German Internet industry with business management and strategic development expertise based on many decades of experience. www.bvdw.org Nowhere else in Germany and hardly anywhere else in Europe currently offers such excellent conditions for an ambitious start-up scene as Berlin. It is a melting pot where society meets culture, creativity meets technology, economics meets politics, innovation meets financial capital – and Germany meets the rest of the world. The reason might lie in Berlin’s turbulent history, but without a doubt, the free and frequently radical, anarchic spirit of this multi-faceted and multi-layered city plays a key role by promoting the openness and transparency that new business ideas need and to destigmatize the «trial & failure» approach that is so important for the start-up culture. Aside from assembling incubators, accelerators and mentors, this is perhaps the most important contribution that a city or region can make towards promoting Germany as a digital business location and paving the way for the urgently needed «made in Germany» start-up success story. 70 2011. She has a background in politics and journalism, and previously headed the press and communication division of former Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection as well as at Horst Seehofer. Hinrichs furthered her career as the office manager at the Federal Foreign Office under Minister of State, Cornelia Pieper. She was an editor at ARD and ZDF from 1999 to 2005. www.bvkap.de Managing Director, German Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (Bundesverband Deutscher Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaften – BVK) 71
- 37. the hundert Johannes Reck Injust a short space of time Berlin has developed into one of Europe‘s leading start-up centers, attracting entrepreneurs not just from Germany, but from all over the world. We at GetYourGuide are at the heart of the action, with over 100 staff from more than 25 countries. Few other European cities have such a great appeal as Berlin. The leading venture capital funds have now realized this as well, and we regularly receive visits from Silicon Valley. Berlin‘s development is definitely still in its infancy, but with thousands of new start-ups and some companies now employing hundreds of staff and making sales worth many millions of euros, it is only a question of time until Berlin establishes itself internationally. CEO GetYourGuide It is only a question of time until Berlin establishes itself internationally Promoting new talent Pop in the hood Scholarships & residencies International cooperations Career stepping stone Berlin Johannes Reck founded GetYourGuide in 2009. GetYourGuide is the world‘s leading platform for booking leisure activities. GetYourGuide has had an office in Berlin since 2011 that now employs over 100 staff. www.getyourguide.de We love pop culture. www.musicboard.berlin.de 72
- 38. the advertorial At IBBand the BPW, our Hearts Beat for StartUps Is there anyone who does not know the Berlin Brandenburg Business Plan Competition (BPW)? “This is a competition that applies to everyone, across all industries, who have a good business idea seeking to implement it in Berlin or Brandenburg”, stated Dirk Maass from BPW. During the competition, qualified experts provide individual discussions with young entrepreneurs, answer specific questions and offer professional advice. Prizes worth more than €50,000 will be awarded for 18 business ideas. Participation is free. The BPW 2014 starts on the 25th of October 2013, at 5 pm as part of the opening event of the 29th German Founders and Entrepreneurs Days (deGUT). The organizers of the BPW include the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB), the Investitionsbank Brandenburg (ILB) as well as the Association of Business Organizations in Berlin and Brandenburg (UVB). Further information about the competition can be found on the BPW website at www.b-p-w.de The BPW is not only an initiative with IBB as co-organizers in which many startups in Berlin pay close attention to, but also an important address for young entrepreneurs. and young startups. The Business Development support bank has providesd suitable monetary programs that substantially facilitate the path to independence for these motivated entrepreneurs. The Berlin Investment Bank building. Here, founders will find strong, energetic support. Photo: IBB IBB pays particular attention to Berlin-based entrepreneurs as well as small and medium sized companies which are active in the followings areas: • Healthcare Industry • Information and Communications Technology/Media • Optical Technologies • Transport, Mobility and Logistics • Energy Technologies Making your ideas work. Ideas are one thing but getting them to work is what really matters. We can assist your business with sound advice and tailored financing services. Your IBB – the business development bank in Berlin.. Information regarding support and all other funding programs for startup entrepreneurs is available from: Investitionsbank Berlin Bundesallee 210 10719 Berlin Telephone: 023 2125 - 4747 Fax: 030 2125 - 3322 E-Mail: kundenberatung.wirtschaft@ibb.de Internet: www.ibb.de www.ibb.de
- 39. the hundert Foto: ShinjiMinegishi the hundert Miho T anaka I moved here with my boyfriend, quite unwillingly at the time, from London in the cold snowy winter of 2011. It was a big shockindustrial buildings, huge apartment blocks, graffiti everywhere. The first apartment we sublet was filled with awkward taxidermy and children‘s dolls crucified on the walls. People invited me to clubs that opened past my bedtime. I met people who came to Berlin for the weekend and were totally in love with it. I didn‘t get it. In fact it grew on me very slowly. I‘d say it took about 18 months to get to a point where I adapted and saw it‘s true values. I guess it‘s just a big change from a city like London. But now when I‘m in London I want to hurry back. I wanted to move from the retail industry into digital and it was easy here. The tech scene here might not be significantly well represented or financed but everyone is your friend. There is a community. Everyone supports you. Berlin lifestyle is cheap enough to meet people pursuing all sorts of careers. I loved that- the diversity. Money isn‘t the focus here either. People look down on you for being bourgeoisie when you invite them to Grill Royal or Soho House. I‘ve had some of the worst meals of my life here but some of the best conversations. Looking back, I‘ve learnt so much here. It just took me a long time to realize how much. Riva-Melissa T ez Everyone is your friend it’s impossible not to be inspired and motivated to create Co-founder AirMarkr I’m from New Zealand, but I flew quite literally to the other side of the world and stumbled upon Berlin by chance when a good friend of mine had a wedding in a near-by town. The moment I stepped foot, I fell in love. It was May, in the thick of spring, and what struck me the most was how very green and spacious the city was. And these giant trees flanked the streets that lined the most wonderful array of architecture from cherubim adorned rococo apartments to the stark concrete walls of the brutalist buildings. So beautiful and so stimulating, I knew then and there it was the place where I wanted to be. Five months later I made the big move, and I’ve not regretted it since. Living here you meet so many intensely interesting people in all sorts of fields from music, arts, sciences and tech, it’s impossible not to be inspired and motivated to create. When people have an idea here, they go out and make it happen. I love that. Miho is a co-founder of AirMarkr together with Roman Miletitch. Their startup is building an app that lets you create your own 3D printable objects just by drawing in the air. Prior to this, Miho was an interactive Riva-Melissa Tez is the co-founder of StickStar, an educational children‘s social network themed around collecting virtual stickers, that she set up in Berlin technologies consultant and digital after leaving the London toyshop R.S. campaign creator for global clients Currie & Co which she co-founded whilst such as Vodafone, BMW and MINI. at University. She is also runs Kardashev. ai and Berlin Singularity, a consultancy www.airmarkr.com and events group focused on promoting emerging technologies in Europe. She is also a lecturer at the DAB University in Berlin. www.kardashevtech.com Co-Founder StickStar.com/ Kardashev.ai 76 77
- 40. the hundert In recentyears, Berlin has successfully attracted a variety of creative and international talent. As a result, a highly promising start-up scene has developed that has long since made a name for itself beyond the city and state boundaries. The affordable living conditions and generally very lively creative scene provides an extremely fertile breeding ground for this. The future will tell whether the creative potential can also be shaped into successful companies that are capable of surviving in the long term, as well as helping to secure jobs and prosperity for the city. I believe that, above all, it is necessary to promote and develop opportunities for the continuous financing of growth, to set up programs for the facilitated recruitment of foreign talent, and to keep the bureaucratic hurdles as low as possible for young companies. I also believe that continuing to offer attractive office and living space in Berlin and continuously investing in the development of a high-performance IT infrastructure will be decisive. Dr. Stephan Zoll is responsible for German business at the online marketplace, eBay. He also manages Tradera and GittiGidiyor – the eBay platforms in Sweden and Turkey. The accomplished lawyer has worked in Berlin for eBay since October 2007. Among other roles, he has been Managing Director of the online shopping club owned by eBay, Brands4Friends. www.ebay.de Stephan Zoll Vice President eBay Germany Keep the bureaucratic hurdles as low as possible for young companies 78 STRAIGHT FORWARD LEGAL SOLUTIONS SOUND PRAGMATISM ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
- 41. the hundert We havebeen serving clients from the hi-tech sector in Berlin since Corporate Finance Partners was founded in 1998. Financing ICG Interconnect AG, a systems integration company in Berlin-Waltersdorf headed by Christian Kleinsorge as CEO, was our first venture capital deal. Those were pioneering days in the German tech sector. Today, part of the CFP team is in the heart of the city at Hausvogteiplatz, where they are involved in the Berlin scene. Berlin is by far the most versatile and liberal city in Germany. The potential of the city is enormous. There are very many creative and highly motivated minds to be found here. The city‘s great appeal in Europe is also reflected in its increasing internationalization. Instead of haggling about fiscal equalization with Bavaria, Berlin should become emancipated and, after a period of restructuring, make a fresh start. Berlin‘s startup scene is legendary. It is young, innovative, wild and fearless. „Work hard, play hard!“ is the motto here. The Berlin scene has needed no help from anyone but has managed it alone, which is something for all those involved to be very proud of. The city will continue to grow in importance in Germany and Europe as „Berlin Valley“. Interest from overseas is clearly felt in Berlin. This appeal will lead to an increasingly international population and hopefully Berlin will soon have an airport worthy of a capital city. Berliners would like to make their city the number one metropolis in Europe in terms of art, fashion, film, music, internet and biotechnology, and many other fields. Berliners set trends, they pursue an alternative lifestyle and are certainly anything but square. An open society is valued here more highly than in any other city. Go Berlin, go! Trust in yourself and don‘t beg for anything. You can do it! the hundert Andreas Thümmler founded Corporate Finance Partners („CFP“) in Frankfurt am Main 15 years ago. Today CFP is one of the leading tech & Internet corporate finance consultancies in Europe. Andreas has a degree in business information systems and business administration from the European Business School Schloss Reichartshausen. Before founding CFP, Andreas worked as an M&A expert with Rothschild in Frankfurt and with UBS Warburg in London. In his private life, Andreas is involved with the „steps for children“ foundation. www.cfpartners.com founder & CEO of Corporate Finance Partners Andreas T hümmler by far the most versatile and most liberal city in Germany 80 Unconventional ways of thinking and acting are accepted and established Lars Dittrich founded the investment and consulting firm Gauly | Dittrich | van de Weyer with branches in Berlin and Frankfurt in January 2012 with two partners. He is an expert on the Berlin start-up scene and has successfully positioned a wide range of different companies on the market and established them with innovative business ideas such as tape.tv. www.gaulydittrichvandeweyer.com Berlin is a city of upheaval and constant change. Around 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the city‘s subsequent reinstatement as the capital, and due not least to its high quality of life, Berlin has developed into an internationally attractive, pulsing metropolis. Networks, scenes, ideas, trends and new lifestyles, as well as working models, arise here at a dizzying rate. The creative and economic dynamism in Berlin is unique in Germany. The city gives everyone the space they need and allows them to be genuinely and authentically themselves. Unconventional ways of thinking and acting are accepted and established. Berlin provides the perfect conditions and fertile ground to nourish the German start-up scene. Lars Dittrich founder and CEO of Gauly | Dittrich | van de Weyer 81
- 42. the hundert CEO, Tradeers* RalfRogosch WAS CEO AND MEMBER OF THE ARD. ORK H W ART. AD SM RE START-UP TEAM OF TENGELMANN E-COMMERCE UNTIL JULY 2013. CURRENTLY, HE IS CEO OF AND PARTNER IN TRADEERS GmbH WITHIN THE HIRSCHEN GROUP. FORMERLY A TRADER INVOLVED IN THE START-UP SCENE IN BERLIN, NOW INVOLVED EVEN MORE PASSIONATELY IN THE START-UP SCENE ON THE AGENCY SIDE. www.tradeers.de Ralf Rogosch Berlin has been a world-class city for over ten years now, but it was not until recently that its residents noticed. Rents have finally become unaffordable, traffic unmanageable, and economic ingenuity is evaporating on a global scale. In the past, Berlin was popular for business start-ups, and some crazy ideas came, but most them went without anyone really caring. Particularly investors, with the exception of a small intrepid minority who perhaps liked to invest a little in e-commerce. Some did so because they were savvy, others because they were unable to come up with a better home for their money. Business founders liked to take it because they knew that in Berlin, as in Germany, laying one’s hands on funds for a new business model is like having six winning lottery numbers and keeping investors interested for more than two years is like having six winning lottery numbers plus the bonus ball. This has now fundamentally changed. Start-ups are now happening like mad, one sensational business model is hot on the heels of the next, some crazy, some brilliant, offices are unaffordable, traffic unmanageable ... and the same little group of investors carries on investing unabashed ... and alone. JETIZT! OSK AM K FINALLY, RENT IS UNAFFORDABLE WORK HARD. PLAY HARD. Business Punk. Das Business-Lifestyle-Magazin. www.business-punk.com | www.facebook.com/businesspunk * formerly Tengelmann New Media 82
- 43. the advertorial factory The Campusin Summer 2013 permanent representation for the Berlin start-up scene Where Business, Science, Politics and Culture meet the startup scene Factory‘s main building (architect Julian Breinersdorfer) There is a gaping hole in the ground outside a newly renovated former brewery in Berlin’s Mitte district, close to Rosenthaler Platz. Something is being built here. The Factory: The biggest campus for start-ups and established technology companies in Germany. Initiated by serial entrepreneurs from Berlin with the support of well-known figures on the international internet scene, the project got off the ground this year. Its stated aim is at last to provide a focal point for the growing start-up scene, which will offer both improved networking capabilities and make it easier to open up to the outside world. It came at the ideal moment and ever since there has been a continuous stream of visitors from the old and new economies, science and politics to the site. Everybody wants to know what is happening here and, if possible, to be part of it. Berlin’s start-up scene has thus gained a permanent representative – and it is growing every day. Although there is still major construction work to be done on the main building close to where the Berlin Wall once ran, a few startups are already working side by side on the campus. They are going to have access to 16,000 sq m of space which houses meeting rooms, event zones, gastronomic and leisure facilities. The big hole may currently look more like an ex-bunker than anything else, but it will soon become another new building, home to Distillery, the Factory’s support program. It aims to make further educational resources available to start-ups and would-be entrepreneurs at every stage in their career. To book an appointment with legal, financial, marketing or technology experts, click on www.distilleryberlin.com.
- 44. the hundert the hundert Berlinis bursting at the seams with creative spirit and international flair editor-in-chief, BILD Zeitung Kai Diekmann has been editor-in-chief of BILD and editor of BILD and BILD am SONNTAG since January 2001. From August 2012 to June 2013, he spent ten months in Silicon Valley on behalf of Axel Springer AG investigating digital projects and business models. www.bild.de From being the ugly duckling, a dependent sphere of the Federal Republic, Berlin has transformed itself into not just a magnificent capital city, but also one of Europe‘s leading locations for new start-ups. The „underdog“ image that still exists, combined with the city‘s spirit of optimism and its commitment to modernization, is proving to have an almost magical pull for innovative new companies that are trying to shake the industrial establishment out of its ingrained habits using disruptive technologies and ideas. The city‘s self-evident internationality, unfailing positivity, willingness to work very hard for its ideas, along with its ability to accept setbacks as „learning opportunities“ and really celebrate successes, may provide a model for how the whole of Germany can survive in the competitive environment of the 21st century. Berlin has become not just an attractive place where people feel good, but also a city that has really taken up the mantle as Germany‘s capital. Dr. Alex von Frankenberg is the managing director of High-Tech Gründerfonds and has been working in the venture capital/start-up environment since 2000. He studied at the University of Mannheim and completed an MBA at the University of Texas in Austin. He was awarded a doctorate on the Establishment of Technology Standards at the University of Mannheim. He then held various consulting posts, a sales manager position with a start-up, and a post in an in-house incubator, before joining High-Tech Gründerfonds in 2005. www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de an almost magical attraction for innovative new companies Kai Diekmann Alex von Frankenberg When it comes to candidates for the next Silicon Valley, no city gets more hype than Berlin. Berlin is bursting at the seams with creative spirit and international flair, and is home to a vast array of start-up companies. However, the comparison with the Valley quickly falls down. The city is still lacking almost all the components that make up the Silicon Valley ecosystem: The big tech companies, a university of the caliber of Stanford and last but not least, venture capital. Nevertheless I believe that Berlin is on its way to a glorious future as a center of online business. With its unique image, the city is attracting young, technophile talent – men and women who want to try things out in a radical way, who are itching to take risks. Even when their projects fail, they are ready to throw themselves into the next adventure straight away. These are real «digital revolutionaries». In the future, investors will be desperate to find and reward this special mixture of expertise, courage and rapidity. And they won‘t be doing this in a village with a population of 65,000 called Palo Alto any more, but in a city of millions called Berlin. managing director of High-Tech Gründerfonds 86 87
- 45. the hundert the hundert Drivethe “fake it” out of town! Berlin is a dynamically changing city. It is becoming one of the major global cities in its own unique way, in an increasingly fast-moving, interwoven global economy. Berlin is generous, inspiring, forgiving, liberal, cosmopolitan, tolerant and even slightly ignorant at times. Business people, artists, progressive thinkers, intellectuals and investors come here from all over the world, as if drawn by a magnet. They are followed by top international talents who are happy to settle here. It becomes truly exciting when bonds are formed, when separate worlds meet and something new emerges as a result. For example, when start-ups which have to manage their rapid growth professionally meet leading senior managers. Then worlds collide – creativity and innovative power on one hand and experience and management skills on the other. If both sides can exploit this, their encounter will be inspiring, and ultimatelyto the benefit of both. From this point of view, my colleagues and I act as bridge builders and catalysts. We are looking for staff who match one another, despite and because of their differences. Presumably this possibility does not exist in any other German city, nor is it as exciting as in Berlin. Consultant at the Personnel Consultancy Egon Zehnder This is where worlds collide Sascha Schubert Mark Krymalowski Mark Krymalowski is a personnel consultant at Egon Zehnder. He is responsible for recruitment and management assessment for digital start-ups and corporate groups spendino, Entrepreneurs Club Berlin and Founders Institute Berlin Fake it until you make it – that is a perfectly good answer to the question of how to win customers for a product that you can build, but have not yet built. After all, even car manufacturers must at some point start building “your” car once the sales contract has been signed. If we apply this motto to Berlin, we must not, however, see it as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Berlin has the chance to become an internationally outstanding location in which to create new businesses and growth. For that to happen, the “make it” will have to drive the “fake it” out of town. It took Edison many thousands of attempts before he could illuminate the first light bulb, and Siemens did not become famous for enriching Berlin‘s nightlife. Attention to detail, passion, vision, perseverance and courage are all essential for successful start-ups. We must put an end to empty, overhyped events and hipster, party and lifestyle entrepreneurs. www.egonzehnder.com Sascha Schubert is the founder and managing director of spendino, a leading provider of web-based donor management services. He is also an active member of the board of the Entrepreneurs Club Berlin e.V., which organizes StartUp Camp Berlin, StartUp Lounge Berlin, FailCon Berlin and the Pitch Marathon. In 2012, he co-founded the German Startups Association (Bundesverband Deutsche StartUps e.V.); since mid-2013, he has been co-director of the Founders Institute Berlin. www.spendino.de 88 Copyright Photo: Egon Zehnder / Miriam May. 89
- 46. Soc Sta ial Ber rtu linps the hundert 6 Berlin Startups that want to better the World. These are Worth Supporting! Fairnopoly Fairnopoly an online marketplace is based on an innovative, fair business model: The cooperative 2.0. Fairnopoly is emphasized by three core elements: Through the purchase of cooperative shares, everyone can help shape the future of the company, and is involved in its profit. Responsible consumption is promoted through special support of fair and sustainable produced products and related information. In addition, contribution to charitable organizations working against the fight against corruption is made via donations. Ashoka www.Fairnopoly.de www.ashoka.org Ashoka is the oldest and largest organization for the promotion of social entrepreneurs. It is a non-denominational, non-partisan organization based in Washington with nonprofit subsidiaries around the world. The Ashoka Germany subsidiary was founded in 2003 as a gGmbH, and today Ashoka Germany works with a team of eight employees, with offices in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin. The Ashoka Germany gGmbH is not a foundation, but rather it is funded entirely by private donations and corporate and foundation grants. Fraisr Fraisr is an online market place in which items can be bought and sold with a portion of proceeds going to charity. Everything from new and used goods, homemade products, as well as services can be sold. Vendors decide in advance what support will be promoted, and how much of sale proceeds will be donated. The donation amount can be selected in five-percent increments. Ranging from five percent minimum to 100 percent maximum. Fraisr works together with organizations such as the Bundersverband Deutsch Tafel, the Deutsche Knochenmarkspender Datie (DKMS), Together for Africa and Reporters Without Borders. www.fraisr.com Betterplace Betterplace takes advantage of the power of the Internet by making great changes in the social sector. Whether an individual or a group, everyone can help. On the other side, anyone can get help: not only large, well-known organizations, but also even the smallest projects anywhere in the world. Direct, transparent and straightforward. Better Place wants to not only improve the world, but also improve and make how we improve the world an easier process. Betterplace. org is not only the leader of getting more people involved in helping, but are doing in it a way so much better than before.. www.betterplace.org Find wheelchair accessible places. GERMANY ROUNDS UP Deutschland rundet auf is a recognized non-profit organization that allows anyone to voluntary and unsolicited round up to a maximum of 10 cents, and donate this money when paying at the cashier or online. Every cent donated will be transparent and 100% of proceeds will go to sustainable social projects in Germany. With just a few cents, this makes it possible for everyone to contribute something to the solution for problems in German society. www.deutschland-rundet-auf.de Berlin Geekettes Berlin Geekettes is a platform for women who live innovation. The non-profit organization, with the help of Deutsche Telekom, supports women in the technology scene. There are lectures and workshops conducted to inspire and improve the skills of participants. Wheelmap.org is an online map to search and find wheelchair accessible places. Like with Wikipedia everyone can participate by marking public places according to their wheelchair accessibility. Wheelmap is available on the internet and as an app for iPhone and Android. The map is based on OpenStreetMap and helps mobility-impaired people to plan their day more efficiently. Moreover, Wheelmap wants to raise the awareness of people who run public places such as restaurants, bars, cinemas etc. and to motivate them to increase the accessibility of their place. Beneficiaries are not only wheelchair users but also people with a walking aid and families with strollers. Thereby, Wheelmap.org contributes to a more inclusive society. Everyone can get involved! www.berlingeekettes.com Visit us on Facebook! www.fb.com/wheelmap 90 A project by
- 47. Madeleine Gummer v. Mohl the hundert MadeleineGummer v. Mohl is co-founder and CEO at betahaus. During her Magister studies, she was involved in the Politikfabrik, a student agency that found fame in 2005 with its Wahl-O-Mat. From 2006 to 2009, Gummer von Mohl worked in the office of a member of the Bundestag. In 2009, she established betahaus in Berlin, together with a group of friends. Around 200 entrepreneurs, freelancers and DAX companies work here every day on start-ups and innovations. betahaus now also has offices in Hamburg, Sofia and Barcelona. www.betahaus.de Berlin is wild, loud, dirty, edgy and international. I never get bored here. Berlin is always up for a new idea, and can be rapidly inspired. Berlin is also forgetful though! When a business idea does not work out, it does not matter, as the next start-up is already on the horizon. Since 2009, we at betahaus have worked to help further develop the start-up and freelance scene in Berlin. Our aim is to make it the Silicon Valley of Europe! I know that this is a very ambitious aim, but Berlin is already well on its way to achieving this. It is so inspiring to see what has developed here over the past five years! Now the Business Angels and VCs just need to be a little more open to taking risks! After all, there are enough start-ups and great ideas! These days, Berlin can easily keep up with Europe’s other start-up metropolises. A start-up is pitched every weekend, and the great thing about it is that Berlin still remains wild, loud, dirty and so very congenial! deutsche-startups.de provides daily information and news from the domestic Internet start-up scene. This wealth of daily news is complemented by interviews, portraits of individual start-up companies and Wild, loud, dirty and so very sympathetic! entrepreneurs, and market census data on sectors of interest. co-founder and CEO, betahaus GmbH 93
- 48. the hundert the hundert ChristianVollmann has lived and worked in Berlin Frank Thelen is one of Europe’s leading serial founders and since 1999. you will be hard pressed to find many a successful early-phase investor. He has been founding Internet start-ups here that he is not somehow “disruptive” start-ups for over two decades now, and his involved in. He is an entrepreneur and always products have reached over 100 million customers in more than ready to invest even with his own capital. 50 countries. In 2000, he was on the brink of private bankruptcy, so he knows first-hand the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. Frank T helen twitter.com/calroo1 He is a “hidden champion” and has been conferred the prestigious Innovate4Society award by Angela Merkel. His companies include doo, 6Wunderkinder, myTaxi, among many others. Imbuing Berlin initiatives with Silicon Valley ambitions Christian Vollmann It is a gray Friday in February, a typical Berlin day. The year is 2008. I am sitting in my office in the Backfabrik trying to concentrate. Any minute now, a self-confident late twenty-something will walk in and present me with his vision of the future of research. It will sound adventurous: Researchers will work together in an interdisciplinary, cross-border way, professors will opt in, researchers will establish their reputations online, publication will be radically transformed. The entrepreneur has already Enfant Digital talked to lots of people about his idea, but no one so far has been willing to give him any money. In my head, a voice is shouting: «Weirdo! Risk! Dead concept! Obstacles! Financial black hole!» But another part of me is thinking: «Brilliant! Disruptive! Courageous! Innovative! Real impact!» In the end, I listen to my gut. And my gut thinks Ijad Madisch from ResearchGate is a really nice guy. And my gut likes guys with balls. Just a normal Friday afternoon in Berlin. 94 www.sk8.de Established as the European center for start-ups In the space of just a few years, Berlin has established itself as the European center for start-ups. Silicon Valley showed us that we needed a central location for company founders, investors and re-founders to trigger a positive spiral. This center will then reach out to cities such as Munich, Hamburg and Cologne, and encourage start-ups throughout Germany. Establishing a start-up DNA in our country will unfortunately require generations of successful company founders, who then invest in the next generation and – more importantly – serve as mentors. This “spinning wheel” seems to be slowly picking up speed in Berlin. I hope for an entrepreneurial boom this year in which families and friends consider being a “company founder” to be a good thing. This has been lacking in past decades, and we have wasted precious years. Berlin must now become the starting point for Germany. founder and CEO, doo and e42 95
- 49. the hundert No othercity is as attractive to visionaries Sven Lubek is the founder of the Covus Group. The Berlin-based digital commerce firm is a specialist in digital marketplaces, lead generation and freemium models. Covus has been a leading player in d-commerce for over 10 years, using effective online marketing and search engine optimized domains. The Covus Group consists of 12 companies with various specializations. www.covus.de When I arrived in Berlin in 2000, both the city and its digital scene were wild and incalculable. Over the last 13 years, I have seen various Internet entrepreneurs come and go and am very glad that Berlin is now a melting pot for outstanding talents and big ideas. Even after all these years, Berlin still gives us space to develop. Our city has genuinely developed into the start-up epicenter of Europe, but it has nowhere near exhausted its potential. Close links and identical starting points combined with the facilities at our renowned academic institutions are all aspects that help make Berlin even more appealing to brilliant minds. For Covus as a digital company builder, Berlin is the perfect place to nurture new talents. No other city is as attractive to visionaries because Berlin plays by its own rules. This diversity is also reflected at Covus. Our staff come from 16 nations and form a unique and exciting mixture of great people. Sven Lubek Founder and CEO of the Covus Group 97
- 50. the hundert founder andmanaging director of i-potentials Constanze Buchheim the hundert Corinna Powalla has been relieving men of the stress of shopping since 2011: with Modomoto she offers the flexibility and Berlin has been a source of inspiration to me for many years now. I grew up near Basel, so I have always had access to cultural and architectural highlights. The situation in the capital city is similar: I love the range of museums and exhibitions; the interplay of tradition and innovation. Berlin is the perfect place to establish a start-up because the structures are so open and the scene so ambitious, dynamic and creative. In recent years, a real start-up boom has occurred, and a lively exchange has taken place. Despite all the prejudices, it was easy for me to establish a company as a woman – I think it is good that company founders support one another and wish to advance the city and economy together. Berlin offers opportunities for ideas to be developed – also on the spatial level. The innovative power and culture of entrepreneurship that prevails here fascinates me time and time again. range of an online shop, complemented with personalized advice from fashion experts. Her start-up won e-Star’s “Start-up of the Year” award in 2012, and is the first and largest curated shopping service in Germany and Austria. www.modomoto.de I love the interplay of tradition and innovation Constanze Buchheim founded i-potentials in 2009. It was while she was helping to build up the HR department at Spreadshirt from scratch that she identified a gap in the market, which she filled by founding i-potentials, a personnel service provider that specializes in digital companies and founder and Managing Director, Modomoto business divisions. With her team of digital specialists, she fills skilled and management positions at companies of all sizes and supports Internet companies during phases of rapid growth. www.i-potentials.de Berlin is the city everyone wants to go to. Not only is it an excellent incubator for start-ups, but it also offers an environment that is currently unique in Europe – from the banker in Prenzlauer Berg to the marketing whizz kid in Neukölln, everyone feels at home here. This kind of diversity is attracting a very wide range of talent to the city within a short space of time, and generates an ongoing and positive sense of dynamism. When I started building up the i-potentials recruitment agency in order to link the best people with the best jobs on the digital scene all over Europe, Berlin was the obvious choice.There is nowhere else in Europe where you can establish such an excellent network in this field. An environment that is currently unique in Europe! 98 Corinna Powalla 99
- 51. the hundert Lucas vonCranach PuzzleMap BERLIN: The best games are being played offline No breakthrough by Hertha BSC yet • XXL city puzzle: 500 piece jigsaw, 68x48cm, with lots of extra information • for locals and tourists • 16 page city booklet with full maps and explanations • creative gift idea • made in Germany CEO and founder of iLiga – the Football App Other products: I love Berlin because it really is the city which never sleeps – and because it is definitely Germany‘s least German city. For historical reasons, our capital is not a traditional business location and contains a lot of opportunities for creative industries. This gives the city its own unique flair. I studied in Berlin, and started my business and family here. I have seen the city from many angles – as a student, a business founder, an employer, a husband and a father. I particularly like the independence, unpretentiousness and freedom. Berlin may be big, but it is not London, New York or Tokyo. It has charm and it is coherent, which also encourages a productive exchange between businesses. If anything is missing in Berlin, it is the long-term proof that it can compete with the world‘s great metropolises – that and a breakthrough by the Hertha BSC football team. Lucas is a passionate football fan. So that he would not miss any game played by his beloved 1. FC Cologne, he developed an SMS live ticker in 2008, showing current German league results and attracting 30,000 users. Now the biggest soccer apps in the world, iLiga and THE Football App enthuse over 10 million supporters. Information on over 100 leagues fires up soccer fever 24/7. www.iliga.de 100 Available on www.puzzlemap.de or in all German bookstores.
- 52. the hundert the hundert MasoudKamali & Alexander Kölpin WestTech Ventures Alex, what do you wish for Berlin? “I would like to see more successful exits for startups, less attention and concern for another accelerator or incubator experiment, and instead focus more on successful acquisitions of growth startups and their successful integration into large enterprises. My prediction for the next 10 years: Berlin is on the right track and everyone can help shape it.„ Your last thought about Berlin, Masoud? “These are exciting times here in Berlin, and it is incredible to be a part of it!” How does it look for you Alex? “Berlin has become the center of digital startups in Germany, and quite possibly the most exciting startup city in Europe. 10 years ago this development was not definite, but this exactly how I envisioned Berlin to be. One of the greatest changes is that international founders and experts have become more and more fascinated with Berlin in the last 2-3 years. The hype build up here is more lively than any other German city, and I can say that this not a temporary ‘bubble’. The city is part of a self-fulfilling prophecy, and in the foreseeable future, Berlin will continue to stay at the forefront of the European ‘startup cluster’. Berlin is on the right track and everyone can help shape it Masoud Kamali (CEO) Masoud Kamali is the CEO and founder of WestTech Ventures. He is also the founder of S&S Media Group with offices in Frankfurt, Leeds, London, San Francisco and Berlin. As a publisher of magazines, books and online portals, and as an event organizer of conferences in key technology areas of Java, all the way to NET, Web development and mobile technologies, there are many Masoud, how is it in Berlin now? “Berlin offers us art, culture, the splendor of Paris, combined with the openness of London. I always say you can literally smell the startups in Berlin. My typical morning coffee is spent at St. Oberholz where I always meet various people. We spend our time discussing joint or separate projects, connecting new and old economies such as print and digital, analog and digital, or even digital natives versus new digital trends.” synergies created between WestTech Ventures Investments and start-ups. He studied computer science and philosophy in Frankfurt am Main, has worked in Singapore and Silicon Valley and lives with his family in Berlin Alexander Kölpin (COO & Partner) Alexander Kölpin is the COO and partner at WestTech Ventures. He is an avid networker with over ten years experience in the Internet and IT sectors. He is co-founder Masoud, how has your view of Berlin changed? “Since 2007, we host and put on the webinale, a holistic web conference, and believe that with this, we have successfully created the bridge between developers, designers and business oriented people! We also believe that this was only possible here in Berlin! It has taken me four years to finally make Berlin my official base, and to leave my roots in Frankfurt; a similar story for thousands of others here! And this is a decision with no regrets! It is here that my family and I have found a perfect environment to live in! Its international, friendly social as well as inspiring!” For you, Alex? “For the last 20 years I have been intermittently in Berlin, and there has never been a year where the city was still, but rather every year I have closely felt and lived the development of the city. In my opinion, there is no other German or even European city that can match how easily Berlin has shaped itself for development. There is no other city that welcomes newcomers so openly, no other ecosystem and industry that has so much cooperation, and no other business culture that so naturally exchanges ideas and information as in Berlin.” of the Berlin Web Week, was co-founder and board member & COO of the SeedVCs German Startups Group Berlin AG. Previously, he was Head of Internet and Media at Berlin Partner GmbH, in which he was responsible for establishing new startups in Berlin, and was also a Business Consultant at inubit AG (now Bosch Software Innovations) as well as with Arthur Andersen. He graduated with a degree in Economics, as well as completed his M.A. and Magister in Berlin (D), Exeter (UK) and Krakow (PL), and currently lives in Berlin. www.westtechventures.de 102 103
- 53. the hundert the hundert COO,Adspert CEO of goodbeans Berlin is like a teenager that is growing up Stephanie Richter Berlin and Berlin Berlin is like a teenager that is growing up: shy at the first kiss, but demanding after its first experiences. +++ One day in Berlin is like one week in Munich. +++ Berlin casts a spell. +++ The winter is too long; the summer too short. +++ The best free toilets in town are at the Adlon. +++ Berlin is at its best on Sunday morning: calm and tranquil, preparing for the hustle and bustle. +++ The most successful start-up is Berlin itself: the city has rewritten its business model several times, and is now achieving its breakthrough. I have been the COO at Adspert.de responsible for operative business and organization of the company since 2010. Previously, I was a Managing Partner at Prozentor GmbH, a company for automated statistical prognosis systems with a focus on the financial markets. While at Prozentor GmbH, I was simultaneously completing my degree in Business Pedagogy majoring in financial auditing and entrepreneurship at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. www.adspert.net Berlin and i As a Berlin native born and bred, I enjoy a Mexican meal at the food kiosk on Danzigerstraße, which is still Dimitroffstraße to me. +++ I do not wait one hour in Kreuzberg for the best doner kebab in town, but instead fry meatballs myself at home. +++ I miss countless cultural highlights yet am still out and about a lot. +++ I cannot escape Berlin, hence Berlin brings the world to me. 104 authentic, unpretentious, tolerant, spontaneous, fun-loving, energy-charged, innovative, modern and different... Verena Delius Berlin is simply cool. It is authentic, unpretentious, tolerant, spontaneous, fun-loving, energy-charged, innovative, modern and different from all the other German cities that I know. From both a professional and a private point of view, Berlin is the best city I can imagine for this current phase of my life. In my private life, the Mitte district (the city center) feels like a village. The children‘s day care center, school and office are close by and you run into people you know in play areas, cafés or the bakery. From a professional perspective, the city exerts a magical attraction for the best-trained, young, creative people from all over the world, making it possible to put together international teams for many companies. Since 2010, Verena Delius has been the CEO of goodbeans, an app developer for mobile games in Berlin. The company is enjoying global success with its «Zuko Monsters» app and «Panfu» online world. Verena Delius is the chairperson of the online advisory board of «Save the Children» and is involved in diverse initiatives as a mentor for young female entrepreneurs. www.goodbeans.com 105
- 54. the hundert /Guest Article the hundert Christoph Raethke, founder Berlin Startup Academy “The hipster thing is a bad joke!” Christoph has been working in Berlin’s digital industry since 1996. His first start-up attempt failed in 2000, but he established Berlin’s Mobile Monday in 2008, and is a mentor at Startupbootcamp, Startup Weekend and hub:raum (Deutsche Telekom’s incubator). In the What does the hard work of a startup have to do with a latte macchiato? Nothing! Christoph Raethke explains why we need to stop obsessing about the Berlin Startup Hipster stereotype and just go on creating excellent new businesses. Editors note: This article first appeared in English on Venture Village, and in German on Gruenderszene. „Enough with the Berlin Startup Hipster Stereotype. We’re here to do business“ A few weeks ago, a startup founder from Buenos Aires moved to Berlin. While she’s German herself, she had been following the Berlin startup scene only through blogs and media. In her first week here, she set up a meeting with a well-known Berlin startup CEO, talked to him for an hour or so, and returned, saying: “That was just such an intense, down-to-earth, valuable discussion! What a break from all the hipster talk about Berlin!” This made me realise how far the “Berlin hipster” image had perpetuated around the globe. And in turn, this made me realise, too, that it’s time to draw in the reins on this joke. Because that’s what it is – the whole “hipster” moniker and the fake observations around it – a joke. Initially, everybody knew that, because the realities of working on a digital product with no money are everything but hipster… The realities are, in fact, the total opposite, which is how I think the whole joke came to be. In the same way that surgeons find casual words for their bloody work and how policemen play down stress and tedium of their job, entrepreneurs made up a “latte macchiato” side of their industry. That becomes clear as soon as you seriously ask people if they can name a single startup CEO or founder in Berlin who actually fits the hipster cliché – who, in other words, is a superficial, lifestyle-driven, intrinsically lazy, metrosexual wimp relying on mom and dad’s subsidies. The answer – also from the Latin American founder I mentioned earlier – always is: “Hmmm… now that you’re asking me… Well, actually… No, I can’t.” Earlier this year, when I lambasted January’s onslaught of selfcelebratory startup events, I already mentioned that the founders put into the limelight there were the opposite of the events’ shallowness. Today, as I read an article about the supposed “HipsterDämmerung” marked by Amen’s and Gidsy’s demise, it strikes me again how wrongly overused the hipster cliché is when commenting on what’s going on in Berlin. 106 summer of 2012 Raethke founded Berlin‘s independent accelerator, Berlin Startup Academy along with the Battle of the Startup Bands. www.berlinstartupacademy.com Hipters don’t start companies, committed founders do In my opinion, the reason why Amen went under is that it was a useless product that nobody wanted, that addressed no pain point, and that served no market need. Even an amount of media coverage and money that other startup founders would kill for could not make people use it. But I’m rather certain it didn’t go under because of the founders not having put in the work or being in any way hipster-y. Other companies often mentioned in cliché-painting articles about the startup scene are 6Wunderkinder and EyeEm. But for the life of me, I can assure you that their founders and teams are the most levelheaded, thoughtful, and even humble people you’ll find – that’s no coincidence. When taking the train back from Pirate Summit in Cologne on Tuesday, Google Adwords man Marc Preusche and I had a few hours to talk about why we love to be in Berlin and work with startups. The answer was that here, you have the chance to work and talk to the best people you could ever want to spend your time with. The sincerity and intensity shared between people who have on average four university degrees, speak five languages, and could easily be making six-digit salaries at consulting companies, but chose to build their own startup that in 90 per cent of cases will fail, is sometimes heartbreaking. But it’s real. Their commitment and modesty is far beyond anything found among corporate employees. The risks that highly educated young Italians, Spaniards, Poles take when arriving here without a job, apartment, or speaking German, are enormous – and, yes, noble. There is no Berlin hype So when I read journalists write about the supposed “Berlin hype” and the related “hipsterdom”; when I hear business consultants paid €1200 per day to have answers for all questions (as long as they can be put into PowerPoint slides) scoff at the “latte macchiato scene”, what I really hear is jealousy. What I really hear is the envy of people who haven’t found anything in their lives that makes them want to take a risk and build something. What I hear are excuses for why they’d rather stay in a safe job. What I hear is fear of freedom. I think we should remind ourselves of that from time to time. There is no Berlin hype. There are no hipsters. Instead, there is a community of people who are the crème of their generation, and nothing they do is ultimately in vain. Let that be known from here to Buenos Aires. 107
- 55. Numberfour developed anopen, cloud-based Readmill allows digital books to be used as real Bergfürst is the first online platform in which innovative companies still in their growth phase can meet potential investors. For private investors, company equity stocks are offered, which can then act in the form of shares, such as on a traditional stock exchange. platform (PaaS) for all industries, on which profes- Auctionata is a traditional auction house that, books. Through the Readmill app for e-book sionals operate as development partners, offering for the first time, brings the fascinating auction Momox offers users the possibility to directly sell their highly customized software-as-a-service world to the Internet for all to experience. their CDs, DVDs, games and books to the momox. solution. This solution creates a level playing field A skilled team of international experts, state- de platform. Momox then resells the acquired by giving small businesses instant access to licensed auctioneers, experienced professionals goods on national and international market the tools, capabilities and insights normally and a patented real-time, online auction system places. A portion of the products is also sold only available to larger companies. provides best practice operations. on Medimops, a platform belonging to the www. numberfour.eu www.auctionata.com Momox GmbH. readers and tablets, you can now highlight text and display the comments of other users. Additionally, Readmill allows read text to be shared on social media. www.readmill.com Trademob is a mobile app advertising technology that offers data based mobile app marketing for iOS and Android. Trademob’s developed technology tracks your mobile marketing campaign’s clicks, downloads along with all in app actions that occur, optimizing and matching it with the respective campaign and advertisement. www.bergfuerst.com www.momox.de www.trademob.com Outfittery would like to relieve the stress and time consumption of clothes shopping for men. Itembase automatically identifies and extracts the Style experts offer a personalized, efficient information from your receipts, providing you shopping consultation, and based on the desires with a complete overview of the purchase’s and ideas of the shopper, a customized box of 2-3 warranty. Manuals, FAQs, pictures and other outfits is put together and sent out. useful information are also incorporated into www.outfittery.de the purchased product’s overview. Dropscan is a simple and fast service to scan mail, documents and paperwork. After scanning, users documents are converted into searchable PDF SuitePad is the digital communications channel files, and then available for download from for hotel guests during their stay. Hotel rooms your Dropscan account. would be equipped with tablet PCs in which www.dropscan.de www. itembase.com Zenmate is the first product from ZenGuard, send their documents to Dropscan, the scanned guests can directly book hotel services such as spa treatments and room service. The goal is to incorporate the guest’s account, telephone, remote control, magazines, alarm clocks and TV guides onto one tablet PC device. www.suitepad.de Capsule.fm developed an iOS app to generate Returbo is an online shop for overstock, promotional and returned goods, display items individual radio broadcasts. The app will also include personalized messages, e-mail, online Profitbricks offers the renting of virtual datacenters customized to your needs based on servers, storage, load balancers and firewalls, just as those in a ‘real’ datacenter. In contrast to physical datacenters, Profitbricks allows you to adapt your usage based on your needs at any time, and you only pay for what is used. www.profitbricks.com platform offers the greatest variety of options allows its users to also bypass country blockers. Through the Chrome plugin, the developers seek to promote freedom of expression. www.zenmate.io Kiveda is an online kitchen shop, still in the market and simpler booking procedures, therefore, entry segment. Available to customers are a large revolutionizing travel planning. selection of custom kitchens as well as kitchen Babbel is an online language-learning platform accessories. After your order is checked by the that allows users from around the world to learn startup, it is then directly produced and delivered to the end customer. anonymous. In addition to anonymity, Zenmate including trains, flights, busses and cars. The www.goeuro.de www.capsule.fm Chrome plugin that turns user browser activity and combines all transportation combinations 13 languages interactively. Babbel is available as a mobile app as well as a website. www. kiveda.de items are bought, and then resold back and social media. program, Plug & Play. Zenmate is a free Google GoEuro is a travel search engine that compares within 10 days. and B stock. Here, wholesale and returned a startup from the Axel Springer Accelerator www.babbel.com www.returbo.de KeyRocket helps its users save time and work. The program is for learning the so-called shortcuts, hotkeys or keyboard shortcuts. KeyRocket helps you master these tools in order to increase productivity. www.veodin.com/keyrocket Zalando is an online shop that specializes in the sale and shipment of shoes and fashion items. At Zalando, both the shipping and the return shipping are always free. The star of the Rocket Internet Empire was founded in 2008, in recent years has revamped the European fashion market, and is considered one of the most successful German Internet companies. www.zalando.de Stimp turns any image into an interactive shop So1 offers a new approach to price promotions window. Readers who discover a product through in the consumer goods industry. This approach a picture are now able to receive product informa- allows manufacturers and distributors to reach tion as well as a purchase link. By linking the individual consumers with specific price image with the respective product and brand Since 2008, Mister Spex has been selling an promotions, resulting in an increase of ROI information, and then spreading this on the web, impressive range of glasses, sunglasses and contact by up to a factor of 10. The technology of So1 Stimp provides vendors with the complete photo lenses. Included in the assortment are over 2000 engine is based on modern econometric methods content marketing solution. eyeglass and 25000 sunglass models from www.stimp.com respected brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, and accurately calculates what price reduction is necessary in order to reach potentially valuable Calvin Klein, Gucci, Prada, Ray-Ban, Oakley, consumers that could switch brands or retailers. etc, as well as 100 different contact lens choices. www.so1.net www.misterspex.de 24 Startups from berlin that you should know Everyday new startups are founded in Germany’s startup capital. Newly established companies alongside fast-growing IT startups are rapidly changing the digital industry Brandnew enables Instagram users with Changers developed an intelligent and mobile considerable numbers of followers to earn money solar charger that also measures the saved CO2. through connecting their image posts to advertising. The concept will soon be available on additional image uploading sites such as Pinterest and Tumblr. Your savings are converted into credits that can be traded for sustainable products and services. www.changers.com www.brandnew.io as well as driving economic growth. Berlin is attracting young people from all over, providing the city with passion and ideas in so many different industries. In cooperation with gruenderszene.de, deutsche-startups.de, and netzwertig.de, we are pleased to present 24 startups that you should know.
- 56. the hundert the hundert Dr.Eric Schweitzer, born in Ipoh (Malaysia) on July 24th, has been President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Berlin since June 2004 and President of the Association of It was a successful launch. Now it is a question of rising to new heights. The control tower offers ideal conditions for a successful flight path. Berlin enjoys an international reputation for research and science and is a center of creative industries. Due to the booming start-up scene and attendant phenomena such as Axel Springer, Telekom, Google and Microsoft, Berlin is on the way to revolutionizing the digital economy. But first flights of fancy must not obscure reality. Investors may flock to Berlin, but they also need to stay here. Copycats are successful economically, but the much-touted next big thing is still missing. Start-ups must not serve only as a political marketing tool. As long as it remains a bureaucratic odyssey to launch international business start-ups and to hire foreign workers in Berlin, more remains to be done. It is now time for politics, business and administration to take over the reins not alone, but all together. German Chambers of Commerce and Industry since March 2013. He has been a member of the executive board of the ALBA group holding company since 1993 and CEO from October 1, 2011. In addition to numerous other mandates, he is chairman of the board of trustees of ESCP Europe in Berlin. www.ihk-berlin.de Florian Nöll Berlin is ready for a new founder epoch Not alone, but all together! Eric Schweitzer 110 spokesperson for the Board, German Startups Association Florian Nöll gained his initial entrepreneurial experience as a student. Most recently in 2008, he co-founded spendino, a leading SaaS provider for non-profit organizations. As a Berliner by choice, he has been committed to startup support for almost 10 years. In autumn 2012, he founded the German President of the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce Startups Association, whose spokesperson he is today. www.deutschestartups.org Since I moved to Berlin 10 years ago, an incredible amount has happened in the city. In the beginning, there were some startups and dedicated people. They laid the foundations for the Berlin Startup Ecosystem as we know it today. Today, Berlin is the place to be for would-be entrepreneurs. If we look back in time, there have been two founder epochs, which have been the basis of our economy until today: industrialization in the 19th century and the economic miracle. It is difficult to say whether it was easier for outstanding founders like Benz or Otto in those days. The conditions for founders in Germany may now be better than ever before. Digitization offers unexpected opportunities for innovative startups and thus an enormous economic potential for Berlin. Many courageous people are already aware of this. It is high time for politicians in Berlin to demonstrate their courage, too. A third founder epoch is possible. In our generation. In Berlin! 111
- 57. Quality conference MaDein gerMany ! the fantastic weBinale technology Business Design the hundert Cornelia Yzer was born on July 28, 1961 in Lüdenscheid and studied law and economics. From 1992 to 1994 she was Senator for Economics, Technology and Research, Berlin Parliamentary Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry for Women and Youth and from 1994 to 1997 in the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology. From 1997 to 2011 she was chairman of the board of the German Association of ResearchBased Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA). Since September 2012 Cornelia Yzer has been Senator for Economics, Technology and Research in Berlin. www.berlin.de The road to independence 2. – 4. Juni 2014 MaritiM proarte Berlin Social Media . USer experience . Technology . appS . MUlTiToUch . aUgMenTed realiTy . deSign . USabiliTy . Mobile Web . TrendS innovaTionS . e-bUSineSS . adverTiSing . WebSTandardS . converSion . e-coMMerce . online gaMeS . MarkeTing . inTeracTion deSign WebSeiTenopTiMierUng . WebfonTS . Seo . beST pracTice . S-coMMerce . neTWorking . lbS . bUSineSS www.webinale.de Cornelia Yzer Lots of creative minds from all over the world deliberately choose Berlin to establish their business in. The German capital is home to many well-educated young people seeking to explore uncharted territory. This is the spirit that makes Berlin so special. Like-minded people with even better ideas are soon found, and personal networks expanded. The scene comes together in Berlin, whether at a face-to-face meeting or online. This has also been recognized by major businesses, which are active on the start-up scene with incubators and investment capital. Politics creates the framework, provides start-up and venture capital, markets the location to the outside world and provides support on the road to independence. veranSTalTer 113
- 58. the hundert the hundert Changestarts here. As there are not many rules in Berlin, everyone makes their own, so standards and trends emerge which take effect by their power of attraction, not by force or tradition. The pioneers – be they greens, hipsters, punks or activists, business starters or party animals – are developing new role models and thus creating fresh ideals for the rest of the city and the country. Perhaps this is a sign of a future in which personal attitudes are more important than wealth, in which initiative is more important than a job and in which people must decide for themselves what is right, whilst enjoying an opportunity to express their views. A lot of people say that only one thing has not changed since the wall came Many barriers that I simply cannot overcome down; change itself. But this is not quite right. It is the people of Berlin who are constantly reinventing themselves and the city. A little more than just change is needed to turn Berlin into a European version of Silicon Valley and make the city‘s derelict sites into the Californian garages in which Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are supposed to have glued and screwed things together. For example, needed is a government that consistently dedicates education and investment to building up the digital economy, and provides young businesses with a simple framework for their ideas of a digital society. According to the Chancellor, the Internet is still „a foreign country“ for many Germans. Let‘s change this! Berlin, you can do it. Campaigns Director Germany, Change.org Paula Hannemann IS THE HEAD OF GERMANY AT THE CAMPAIGN PLATFORM, CHANGE.ORG, WHICH ENABLES over Raúl Krauthausen 40 million people around the world to voice their concerns in the form of petitions and campaigns. It had 60,000 users when it was launched in Germany in the summer of 2012. One year later, Change.org is Germany‘s largest platform for digital commitment, with 1.5 million users. www.change.org President of Sozialhelden e.V. and initiator of the Wheelmap. org, “Pfandtastisch helfen!” and Leidmedien.de projects. I moved to Berlin with my parents at the age of one, and have lived in “Spree New York” ever since. I am very happy in this city. Despite this, I cannot and do not wish to praise the city to the skies, for it presents many barriers to me that I simply cannot overcome as a wheelchair user. Berlin is a highly complex city, as all metropolises tend to be. Millions of inhabitants and thousands of visitors wish to work, be entertained, as well as transported here. For a long time, the needs of people with reduced mobility were not taken into account in city maps nor, for no apparent reason, were simply not planned for. Hence, today there are still many railway stations that either do not have an elevator or have one that does not work. In recent years, the BVG’s entire bus fleet has been replaced, and now feature ramps, and many public buildings have also been made more accessible. However, there is still a great deal to do to improve access. This is exactly where we at Sozialhelden e.V. wish to provide support with our wheelmap.org project. Not only the accessibility of restaurants, cafés, cinemas, etc. should be marked on the online map, but also the fact that a great deal still needs to be done should also be highlighted to allow all people to experience Berlin. RaÚl Krauthausen grew up in Berlin and studied Design Thinking at the Berlin University of the Arts. He developed a campaign for the Alternative Nobel Prize and hosted a radio show where people with problems could call in. He was therefore directly confronted with the poverty, abuse and loneliness that is often found on the Berlin, you can do it edges of our society. Influenced by these social issues, Raúl and his friends came upon the idea of initiating Sozialhelden. Sozialhelden e.V. is a social enterprise run by a group of extraordinary innovators who have already received countless awards. In 2013, Raúl was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his achievements. www.wheelmap.org Photo: Sabine von Bassewitz www.sabinevonbassewitz.de 114 Paula Hannemann 115
- 59. the hundert Startups need moreexperts and managers Charles von Abercron is founder and Global CEO of the subscription commerce company GLOSSYBOX. He studied at the European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel, and following career stages at Ernst & Young and Rabobank International among others, became Vice President for International and Online Marketing at Groupon in 2010. Next von Abercron worked for Rocket Internet, where the idea behind GLOSSYBOX was developed. Berlin is a city of trendsetters, of creative, curious people who enjoy art and cultural events and experiencing a city with lots of history, a city which everyone can identify with. This was one of the main reasons why we chose to launch our enterprise here two and a half years ago. We now have offices in 15 countries, and our Glossybox Trend Scouts are scouring the globe to track down the hottest ‹beauty› news and styles. But the heart of our startup could beat nowhere other than in Berlin. For this city is the hotspot for people from all over the world who want to make a difference and try out new things, and has always been. It is this international, creative flair which makes the city so attractive for startup firms. There is a tremendous wealth of enthusiastic people with ideas and energy to draw upon. With a bit of dedication one can find an ideal crew for a project, and obtain the necessary financing. We hope corporate executives will be more aware of the growing number of exciting jobs with very good prospects opening up, for in order to be a front runner over the longer term, startups need more experts and managers able to give real substance to ideas. www.glossybox.de Charles von Abercron founder and CEO of Glossybox 117
- 60. the hundert the hundert AlexanderHüsing, (b. 1974) began his career in journalism in 1996 at the Westdeutsche Allgemeine we need to throw a few hipsters out again Nikolaus Röttger has been editor-in-chief of Gründerszene since August 1, Nikolaus Röttger 2013. Previously, he worked as the founder and chief editor of Business Punk as well as for the FTD. He has also had stints at jetzt.de, sueddeutsche.de and Yahoo. www.gruenderszene.de editor-in-chief, Gründerszene Outside the door is the red-light district; inside Berlin’s Tacheles art center are around forty tourists from Silicon Valley. Also there on that evening in early 2012 is Elon Musk, among the boldest of entrepreneurs and visionaries. First he was a co-founder of Paypal, now he is working with Tesla to build perhaps the coolest electric car in the world. And at some point he would like to fly to Mars with his company Space X. Electro beats thump from the speakers, Musk sips his drink and says that he “doesn’t really have time for this” because he is just about to send a rocket up to the International Space Station ISS. He is only here for the sake of a friend, celebrating his 40th birthday in Berlin. Silicon Valley moguls come to party… and also to do business in Berlin. In the last few years, the city has become one of the hipster centers of the world. So many hipsters that we need to throw a few of them out again so that we can continue to create sustainable businesses in Berlin. In the process, overhyped businesses will die, others will follow them; it is a long road. But even for Elon Musk, a few rockets crashed at first, or even burned up before they could reach space. NASA mocked him, then he helped the space authorities: a few days after his visit to Tacheles, Musk’s firm SpaceX sent a supply capsule to the ISS. 118 Berlin is not Silicon Valley! Berlin is just Berlin! In many places Berlin,(luckily), still exudes the charm of an ailing city, an incomplete city. This is a good thing! It is exactly this charm that the city needs to attract people from around the globe. It is thanks to this charm that Berlin has become Germany‘s start-up metropolis. Comparisons with Silicon Valley were important as part of this: Berlin and the German start-up scene needed the attention. Now the world knows that there is more to Germany than just the three clone troopers, the omnipresent Samwer brothers. However, the hype in recent years has not always been good for the scene. In many places, start-ups are nothing but pretty, cool accessories which people wish to adorn themselves with. It is about time that Berlin became good old Berlin again – and reclaimed its own image. The time of comparisons must end. Berlin is start-up time! Berlin is a new start. Berlin is new territory. Berlin is more than Silicon Valley. Zeitung (WAZ). He worked for Unicum, a university magazine, in 1999 while studying, and subsequently moved to the kressreport media service, where he was employed until 2003. Between 2003 and 2007, he worked as a freelance journalist, during which time he already focused on young, aspiring start-ups. deutsche-startups.de was launched in 2007. www.deutsche-startups.de The charm of being incomplete Alexander Hüsing 119 Editor-in-Chief, deutsche-startups.de
- 61. the hundert Publisher ofGründerszene Creative city seeks to acquire analytical skills Joel Kaczmarek Joel Kaczmarek is the editor of Gründerszene, Germany‘s leading digital business publication. In four years as editorin-chief, he helped to set up the online magazine and further develop the product side of the business. He contributes to the editorial content of the magazine, holds talks and represents Gründerszene at events. Joel has a Master of Arts in European Media Science and studied Design Thinking at the School of Design Thinking at the Hasso-Plattner-Institut. www.indivijoel.de Anyone who has seen creatives and analysts in the same room together knows that their two philosophies are often separated by a vast communicational gulf. The free-thinking spirit of a creative does not care about banal things like order, calculability or economic viability. Likewise, analysts are often unable to comprehend the emotionally charged sense of their counterpart‘s ideas, unless there is a certain element of calculability to them. Berlin‘s digital business works in much the same way: Berlin is poor when it comes to capital, but rich in ideas. Even though the German capital city has long since been promoted to the status of Germany‘s center for start-ups, and is causing a stir in Europe with its diversity and flair, among its Internet entrepreneurs, the analytical mindset for making money is lacking. Berlin has ideas, creativity and diversity, but as yet no flair for business models. If the city manages to pair up a daring creative with an open-minded analyst, Berlin‘s image could change rapidly. If only it were that simple... 120 04 4 198150 608002
- 62. the hundert the hundert co-founderand partner, Index Ventures Neil RIMER is a Partner at Index Ventures which he co-founded in 1996. Neil currently serves on the boards of Supercell, FundingCircle, HouseTrip, MOO Print, Photobox, Stack Exchange, Auxmoney, Kaggle and The Climate Corporation, among others. Index has backed a succession of visionary entrepreneurs, including the teams behind MySQL, Skype, Last.fm I was very fortunate to come to Berlin at the start of my degree for an internship. At the time, I had my mind set on becoming a banker. I owe the fact that I applied for a position in Berlin to a former colleague. A certain Oli Samwer, whom I at the time only knew from newspaper articles, was seeking support for his new start-up. It had something to do with ringtones. Initially, I was skeptical, and my parents were not at all convinced. However, after a little research, I decided that I would indeed pack my bags and move to the capital. It was the best decision I’ve ever made! Winter 2003/2004: Jamba! was in the middle of its first major growth spurt. The company and Betfair. Its portfolio consists grew from around 100 employees to some 250 in the space of just 3 months! Together with an Indian intern, I was responsible for test campaigns in the UK. The buzzword of those times was ‘dichtbuchen’ (intense booking), and following successful trial bookings, the purchases of all advertising lots on everything from VH1 to MTV allowed for and lead the rapid increase of the KPIs. I was already impressed with the energy, creativity and internationality of the capital city back then. It therefore should not come as a surprise that my business partners and I moved to Berlin soon after completing our studies to realize our own dream of digital entrepreneurship. of more than 150 companies in 20 countries including Criteo, Philipp studied Business Administration Just-Eat, Dropbox, Path, Supercell, at the European Business School in Nasty Gal and Etsy. Oestrich-Winkel, the University of Sydney in Australia and the UADE in www.indexventures.com Argentina. At the beginning of 2007, he established his first online start-up whilst still studying and moved to Berlin with his business partners, Kai Hansen and Tobias Johann, a short time later. In 2011, he founded the young company builder, Rheingau Founders, where he is responsible for the fields of marketing, sales and cooperations. www.rheingau-founders.com Neil Rimer one of the world’s hotspots for technology and entrepreneurial activity Over the last four years, we’ve seen Berlin emerge as one of the world’s hotspots for technology and entrepreneurial activity. All of the key ingredients for a successful tech cluster are here, and Berlin is attracting a wealth of international talent and entrepreneurs like Marco Boerries and Alexander Ljung. The creative vibe in the streets of Berlin, which boasts a world-class art and music scene, also contributes significantly to this mix. Berlin’s lower living cost is also a strong advantage to cities like London and Paris. We believe that companies like SoundCloud, Number4 and ReasearchGate illustrate Berlin’s ability to build global category leaders and we look forward to seeing more of them emerge over the next months and years. 122 It was the best decision I’ve ever made! Managing Partner, Rheingau Founders Philipp Hartmann 123
- 63. the hundert the hundert FlorianHeinemann Dr. Viola Bensinger is qualified as a lawyer in Lawyer, Partner at Olswang LLP Germany and solicitor in England & Wales. She heads the German Technology team at the international law firm Olswang. Viola’s clients are mostly media and technology companies – especially Internet, e-commerce, electronic payment and online media. She advises on the implementation of new business models, commercial law as well as copyright law, data protection and insolvency law. www.olswang.com There is probably no other place where “establishment” means so little as in Berlin Berlin is growing in stature and relevance as an online location co-founder and managing director, Project A Ventures Berlin is arriving. It is taking longer than we thought or hoped, however, Berlin is growing in stature and relevance as an online location. I have no doubt about that. In three to five years, Berlin will be positioned considerably more clearly than today in terms of the kind of digital businesses being conceived, financed and – hopefully successfully – developed in this city. This position must and will be different from that of the frequently invoked Silicon Valley: probably less “tech”, likely more diffuse and, whatever else, more international. The development of “digital human capital” here over the last five to six years has been impressive. The financial capital still painfully lacking as yet, will follow. We need two or three flagship companies whose lasting financial success will have a determining influence on their sectors. There are already candidates for the role. They will represent the kind of business that will grow up out of Berlin and in turn become a role model to others. I am looking forward to it. Florian Heinemann, co-founder and managing director of Project A Ventures is responsible for marketing, CRM and business intelligence there. Before Project A he was managing director at Rocke Internet GmbH, where he built up and led the same spheres of responsibility. In that time he provided special support for TopTarif, eDarling and Zalando. Moreover, Florian Heinemann is a business angel to over 40 start-ups in the fields of internet and media. www.project-a.com 124 Viola Bensinger Initially, I was a Berlin-skeptic. To me, Berlin was the old Berlin, characterized by subsidies for everything, and a lack of service culture. Possibly, that side of Berlin still exists, somewhere, but at the same time there probably is no place in Germany, maybe not even in Europe, were “establishment” means so little as in Berlin. There’s nothing that could not be questioned, or asked or tried out – a place to show what you can be or do. This is the environment for innovation, creativity and genius to develop. Start-up is the big word for many, not just for tech companies. Everyone benefits from rethinking old business models and looking at how things are done elsewhere and by others. That’s how we at Olswang redefined legal advice. In berlin, all this comes with a social diversity which offers a home to those who live alternatively, experimentally or are just different. This is probably, at the same time, the result of and prerequisite for such a business scene. Where will this all head? To me, it’s more interesting which other cities will follow the same path as Berlin. 125
- 64. the hundert the advertorial Transformingskills into new businesses The job of T-Labs is to develop new businesses out of existing skills. That is why in 2012 T-Labs drew up a program to support the creation of new companies and business models straight out of research and innovation work. Its big advantage is that independent start-up companies of this kind can generally be more flexible and bring innovations to the market more quickly: the quick route to market. The goal is to create at least 10 new companies that generate revenues of at least 10 million euros on average in the first two years; hence its succinct name “10x10 Program”. The Siliconplatz Business Accelerator forms the creative platform for 10x10 Program companies and will ensure that it will only take a few months to get from launching a concept to the companies entering the market. Thus the first candidates were started up within just four months; since then, several companies – Trust2Core, SureNow, BENOCS, MotionLogic, Soundcall and mVoIP Factory – have all been successfully launched. Working at Siliconplatz. T-Labs’ 10x10 Program. Focus on economic efficiency DR. HEINRICH ARNOLD, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT T-Labs’ 10x10 Program has a clear focus on economic efficiency. These companies can take advantage of the energy around locations in the Silicon Valley, Silicon Wadi (Israel) and Siliconplatz (as the Berlin sites on Ernst Reuter Platz and Winterfeldtplatz are known). Central to all this are services for Deutsche Telekom’s clients who can harness the strengths of a telecoms company. This is combined with efficient technologies with which to create an ideal infrastructure and areas of business for new sales. T-Labs emphasize access to up-to-date expertise in their core subjects and identifying new technologies that could become relevant to the group. INNOVATION & LABORATORIES, LEITER T-LABS: “We start up new technology companies to make better use of our expertise to develop new business potential. We pay particular attention to the revenue potential of these various business models. For the effort that goes into building up a firm with 10 people it is often possible to create something 10-100 times bigger. That is what we are trying to achieve with our program.” JOBS Sales engineer (pre-sales and post-sales), distribution specialists, system architect (big data), IT system manager, web developer, Python and Linux developer for browser-only operating systems …and many other jobs are available
- 65. the hundert Founder andCEO, Epic Companies the hundert NUMEROUS INTANGIBLE BENEFITS WHICH MAKE THE CITY TRULY UNIQUE Mato Peric Mato Perić is the Founder and CEO of EPIC Companies, and further serves as Chief Operating Officer (D&A) at the ProSiebenSat.1 Group. Previously, he was the global e-commerce CEO of Rocket Internet, where he built market-leading ventures from scratch and served as CEO for large, multinational Ecommerce companies. In his early career, Mato worked for McKinsey & Company and 3i. He holds an MBA from London Business School and graduated from Universität Hamburg. www.epic-companies.com Within half a decade, Berlin has become a major international hub for the Internet industry and gave birth to many startups that have turned into some of the most admired businesses within their markets. Berlin not only offers a wide range of tangible benefits to entrepreneurs, e.g. legal and economic stability, large talent pools, huge European consumer markets at the doorstep, etc., but also contributes numerous intangible benefits which make the city truly unique. Its strong influence from the arts, music and media, as well as its highly heterogeneous population, cover the city with a thick layer of creativity. For all entrepreneurs who aspire to be ahead of the curve, Berlin is a great place to develop and execute their entrepreneurial vision. This is particularly true for entrepreneurs that team up with supportive, hands-on partners like Epic Companies in order to build on their strong, proven assets and execution capabilities. founder and CEO, Wooga The combination of a creative, international, cosmopolitan atmosphere Jens Begemann Berlin’s major asset is the combination of a creative, international, cosmopolitan atmosphere with low living costs. A month’s rent in Berlin equals what you would pay a week in London or San Francisco. Another advantage of Berlin is its geographic location. A flight of just two hours can bring in native speakers from 20 countries who work in Berlin but can fly home on weekends from time to time. This set-up puts Berlin well on the way to becoming the start-up capital of Europe. The fact is that Berlin’s reputation as a promising ecosystem for start-ups is currently attracting entrepreneurs, developers and investors from all over the world. That is the reality. If, however, the city is to become the start-up capital – assuming that there is indeed any need for such a title – there is still a need for quantifiable success stories. Jens Begemann established Wooga in 2009. With around 50 million players per month, Wooga is one of the most popular producers of social and mobile games. Jens is a huge fan of people, games and technology. Leading a team of talented people who create high quality games with a social element has fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams. Before Jens founded Wooga, he was chief product officer and a management board member at Jamba (Jamster). In his time there, he helped the company become the global market leader in mobile entertainment products. www.wooga.com 128 129
- 66. the hundert the hundert founderand Managing Director, Amorelie Lea-Sophie Cramer is Managing Director of the new online ‘lovestyle’ shop, Amorelie. de, that she established together with Sebastian Pollok at the end of 2012. Amorelie sells high-quality products for Marcus Börner, established reBuy a fulfilling love life. Lea-Sophie Cramer reCommerce GmbH in Hofheim am was previously Vice President for the Taunus when he was just 18. The company Asian market at Groupon. After gradu- headquarters relocated to Berlin at the ating from the University of Mannheim end of 2006. With over 400 employees, the with a degree in Business Administration, secondhand trader is today one of Berlin’s she began her professional career at largest employers in the field of management consulting firm, The Boston Berlin has its very own rhythm. This inspires some and relaxes others, however it arouses enthusiasm in everyone on a daily basis. It is the city’s zany nature that allows you to express what everyone is thinking but no one is saying. It is Berlin’s curiosity that allows you to do what many are afraid to do and only dream of. It is the capital city in which “I” and “Could you” come together and become one. Berlin is the city where everything comes together, the place of short distances, and the place where you will find everything you need. It is the city of the hopeful and of traders. Berlin is a better future! Those not afraid to dig where others do not dare, who wish to work hard, who wish to thank life every day, who have courage and hope, who wish to be and to find, live in Berlin. e-commerce. Marcus has shares in a Consulting Group. number of start-ups, is active in the field of youth education on a voluntary basis www.amorelie.de as a member of the board at the Ruck-Stiftung, and loves to travel. Marcus Börner Lea-Sophie Cramer www.rebuy.de Dear Berlin, please stay just as you are: simply wonderful! As a Berlin girl born and bred, I am of course utterly passionate about Berlin. The city is a unique blend of different cultures, down-toearthness and serenity, but also speed and a desire for change. This can be discerned particularly in the lively start-up scene. It is great to be a part of this start-up dynamism and to help create jobs. I also enjoy the diversity that makes Berlin so very ‘rich’. Among those living in my building are an architect, a life artist and a managing director. Our ‘neighbors’ are a nightclub, the S-Bahn tracks, a restaurant and a management consultancy – in typical Berlin style, all mixed together. And yet still it works. Add to this the mass of tourists out exploring Hackescher Markt. I also like it when it’s quiet in my favorite square: I particularly enjoy a hot summer’s day aboard a boat on the Tegeler See. It’s like being on holiday at the very heart of Berlin. The city pulsates – economically, politically and socially. Dear Berlin, please stay just as you are: simply wonderful! 130 Founder, reBuy If you were a gold-digger, you would be in Berlin! 131
- 67. the hundert the hundert Kite-Surfing isa Business Strategy Ride business waves with us mail us contact@rheingau-founders.com follow us facebook.com/RheingauFNDRS founder, Idealo Martin Sinner The people change this sleepy, sluggish, unfriendly and conceited city Martin Sinner is the founder of Idealo. He was Managing Director at the company for 12 years and remains a shareholder to this very day. Since 2006, Axel Springer has been the majority shareholder at Idealo. The part that often goes wrong, a company’s market entry, went well in this situation: Idealo is now the market leader in the price comparison segment in Germany, employs over 500 people and is continuing to grow, primarily in other European markets as well. Martin lived in Silicon Valley from September 2012 to June 2013, and gained a good insight into the differences between the two locations. Wir sind die Guten 132 You could say that I am a seasoned veteran in the Berlin start-up scene and that my company Idealo, which I founded in May 2000 together with Christian and Albrecht, is also a veteran, for virtually nothing existed before us besides eBay Germany (formerly Alando), Jamba and Immoscout. Back then, the scene was small, cozy and rather sleepy; I probably knew about 80% of the ‘interesting’ people. This has of course now changed. What I really like are the people who have come to Berlin to establish or work for cool companies change this sleepy, sluggish, unfriendly and conceited city. Even if Berlin has by no means arrived where it would like itself to be seen, it is moving forward and heading in the right direction. www.idealo.de 133
- 68. Fabian Siegel the hundert Sowhat´s happening in Berlin? Berlin is probably one of the best places to start a new venture – be it a non-profit organization, a personal quest or a for-profit startup. Berlin allows entrepreneurial minds to experiment on a small financial footprint while tapping into a trans disciplinary and international community. Situated between Asia and the Americas, in the heart of Europe it is within less than 8 hours time zones difference from most major places on earth – it is only missing the airport to actually go there conveniently, i.e. direct – which is that other side of Berlin: Aspiring to play in a bigger league than it actually belongs too (for now). But this overstretching ambition is not necessarily bad. Especially the Berlin tech startup community starts to develop into a true ecosystem. Talent that is being shaped by local, global acting, companies and further talent that is being attracted from around the world (and yes, the city is quite supportive) is meeting local angel investors and institutional capital from around the world. But beyond tech, the arts, fashion, the nightlife Berlin is one of the few major cities where you can actually raise a family without being forced to leave the city behind. Jan Borgstädt Partner, Global Founders Capital head of European ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investements Berlin is becoming the European hub of digital business. For me as a VC, Berlin is the ideal European location. Start-ups here in Berlin are strong both creatively and technologically, and their numbers are growing every day. Berlin attracts talents from across Europe seeking to make their visions a reality. But many other startups and VCs not based in Berlin are also drawn here. They cannot avoid visiting Berlin regularly. Every day we have international teams in our office, pitching their firms to us. When I am abroad, I hear the same questions again and again, „So what´s happening in Berlin?“ and then, „I need to come and visit!“ As we make 75% of our investments outside Germany, Berlin is an ideal hub for us too: we can meet each of our start-ups around Europe in person within 3 hours. Fabian Siegel is a serial entrepreneur, who cofounded European payment service ClickandBuy Jan has been running the European side of in 2000 where he served as CTO for 7 years, founded Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), personal finance startup Strateer, ran operations Bertelsmann’s venture fund. BDMI has invested at browser technology company kikin.com and was in 28 start-ups and funds in seven European Co-CEO at Delivery Hero, building the company into a countries since 2006. Five of them are based in global leader in online food ordering. He spent 8 Berlin. Prior to his time at Bertelsmann, Jan years of his career in New York, before coming to founded two digital publishers in Cologne, Berlin in 2010. Fabian is partner at Global Founders which he built up and successfully sold on. tapping into a trans disciplinary and international community Capital, a global oriented venture capital fund that Jan studied business and law in Münster and is investing into entrepreneurs around the world. Barcelona. He has lived in Berlin since 2011. www.globalfounderscapital.com www.bdmifund.com 134 the hundert 135
- 69. the hundert the advertorial SimonWillnauer E-commerce was the Past: Long Live Subscription Commerce Groundhog Day with Pactas Always by your Side SYMBIOTIC FOR SUCCESS Lead-Engineer & Co-Founder Elasticsearch Those who are in Berlin know that can’t get around the city without hearing the word „startup“! For me, I was not always sure about Berlin as a location. 5 years ago, the tech buzz that we now feel daily was hardly felt. However, today I have the opportunity to register for literally a new „Meetup“ every day, or even meet face to face with other developers to exchange ideas, no matter how exotic the topic or the technology. A community has been created here that cannot be matched in Europe and, from what I see, anywhere else is the world. In my opinion, this Berlin community can attract IT companies and startups like that of no other in Europe. Simon Willnauer is the co-founder of Elasticsearch Inc., is one of the key developers of the popular full-text search library Apache Lucene, and in 2010 created the technology conference, Berlin Buzzwords. In 2012, he founded the company together with the The technology community and the city of Berlin are symbiotic for success. Although Elasticsearch is globally developed and distributed, and geographical location is becoming less important, we think that our office in Berlin is a must. I firmly believe that we still have a long time to swim this tech wave here in Berlin. developers Uri Boness and Shay Banon, as well as with Steven Schuurman. Elasticsearch is already considered one of the world’s most popular open-source projects. Investors include Benchmark Capital and Index Ventures. www.elasticsearch.com 136 In one of the hit films of the 90s, Groundhog Day, the main character found himself living that same day over and over, trying to escape the cycle everyday. This amusing metaphor for our everyday life has long since turned positive. Today, we have a greater appreciation for reliable repetition than ever. Modern city dwellers are short on time, but enjoy regular attentions and anything that makes their lives easier. Constant repetition creates trust, as many start-ups have recognized for themselves, launching web-based subscription services that deliver selected goods – from clothes to culinary specialties – to your door, help you subscribe to car-sharing services or provide music to your heart’s content. But how can a start-up organize not just personnel and logistics but also the vast numbers of bills that need to be written when services are used on this scale? The magic words are “recurring billing”, and this means nothing less than professional management for these never-ending invoices. This is where Pactas comes in. If a subscription customer is billed these days, it is highly likely that the Frankfurt start-up now based in Berlin has made it possible. www.pactas.com Until now, only big players or companies with simple payment models have been able to reap the advantages of the subscription-commerce principle. Pactas wants to change that. A start-up working for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises, the young company and its experienced managers have set themselves the goal of becoming the leading enabler of subscription-commerce models in Europe. Pactas.Itero, their subscription management platform, enables subscription-commerce service providers to cover every facet of the new online commercial world. From varying pricing models to differentiated product bundles, all the way through to flexible and adaptable reference periods, Pactas has a solution. Currently in Berlin, subscription-commerce companies, or would-be subscriptioncommerce companies, are flourishing. They will all need professional support and secure technology to generate financial value from their services. History is repeating itself here as well. At the end of the day, the services that survive are those that customers are ready and willing to pay for. With Pactas, that should be increasingly easier in the future.
- 70. the hundert the hundert SeniorVice President, Deutsche Telekom AG Too few exits of note to date Heinrich Arnold Markus Beckedahl Innovation needs space Founder and Editor-in-Chief, netzpolitik.org Markus Beckedahl is a blogger, writer, and entre- Berlin is a fantastic city, offering diversity that provides a home for every individual and every important initiative. The large educational institutions bring young people to the city, and it is almost natural that a young and creative scene can develop here. However, when it comes to the start-up scene, I have mixed feelings: on the one hand, I appreciate the commitment and enthusiasm of the many contributors, and believe that extensive creative potential is pooled here. Another strength within this scene is that software developers with extensive expertise can be found here. On the other hand, the approach to the scaling of business is too cautious. Another symptom is that there have been too few exits of note to date. These are needed though to attract further investments, which is why we cooperate with the German Silicon Valley Accelerator that strives to instill initiatives in Berlin with a similar level of ambition to that which prevails in Silicon Valley. preneur. Over the last ten years he has turned Dr. Heinrich Arnold is Senior Vice President at Deutsche netzpolitik.org into Germany‘s most prominent Telekom AG where he is responsible for research and political blog. Mr. Beckedahl is co-founder of innovation. He is Head of Telekom Innovation Labor- newthinking GmbH and the re: publica conferences. atories (T-Labs), which is based in Berlin and has further He volunteers as chairman of the non-profit Digi- sites in Germany as well as in Israel and Silicon Valley. tale Gesellschaft e.V. which is active in defending Under his leadership, a series of significant contri- fundamental rights in our digital age, and is butions were created for Telekom products and infra- Media Advisor at Landesmedienanstalt structure. A variety of business models and newly- Berlin-Brandenburg (MABB). established companies are based on T-Labs project outcomes. Within the 10x10 program, these include Trust2Core, SureNow, BENOCS, MotionLogic, Soundcall and mVoIP Factory. www.laboratories.telekom.com 138 www.netzpolitik.org Moving to Berlin was one of the best decisions of my life. There is no other city in Germany where you can start to feel at home so quickly. There is always a host of events going on inviting you to move between different communities and worlds. Also, if you can‘t find the kind of event you are looking for, then you can just create it yourself. Where else can you find this spirit of improvisation, Internet worked thinking, and ‚just-doing-it‘ yourself attitude? Nowhere else would we have been as successful in establishing the re: publica conference. However, above all, Berlin still benefits from relatively low rents and the extremely broad range of cultural events the city plays host to. Yet both of these things are in jeopardy. In many neighborhoods rents are rising faster than incomes. The club culture is also threatened by closures. Transitional property usage is decreasing unfortunately, leaving less and less space available. But Berlin needs this free space to enable continued innovation. Affordable office space and places to live and recharge creative energy in the evening. 139
- 71. the hundert Bernhard Rohleder thehundert Berlin provides space for visionaries. No other city in Europe gives you so much creative leeway, although just like everywhere else, there are still bureaucratic hurdles to get over. I grew up in Berlin and feel rooted in the city, especially in my neighborhood of Wedding. I believe in engagement, good, innovative ideas, in Berlin and in print. A print shop that jointly invented online printing is perfectly at home in this start-up city. That is one of the reasons why we invested in two locations here. Right from the start I saw the internet as an opportunity, not competition. Today we offer millions of print products in our online shop. Our machines are at the cutting edge of technology too. The printing sector is subject to constant change. Developing ideas and finding creative approaches is not only important for us, but is also a symbol of Berlin as a whole. That is why we feel at home in our Mitte location, and want to continue to grow here. Tomislav Bucec founded the LASERLINE printing center in Berlin in 1997. Today the firm is the largest medium-sized printing company in Berlin, and is one of the sector‘s online pioneers in Europe. He was one of the first to venture onto the web with his printing business, thus bringing transparency to printing prices. Today the online print shop offers a range of over 10 million products. www.laser-line.de managing partner Laserline T omislav Bucec The antithesis of Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf... Director General, BITKOM e.V. dr. Bernhard Rohleder first came to Berlin No other city in Europe gives you so much creative leeway in 1977 as the member of a West German volleyball team. In 1999, he established BITKOM here with a handful of others. BITKOM Services GmbH and BITKOM Research GmbH followed in 2001 and 2011 respectively. Today the group employs a workforce of 120. Rohleder recently served on the German Bundestag’s “Internet and digital society” commission of enquiry. www.bitkom.org 140 Yes, Berlin is of course the start-up capital of Germany, if not Europe. There is a constant stream of managers from major corporations who flock to the betahaus. They wish to understand how young company founders do it; their mentality, how the workplace of the future looks, how genuine innovations come about and how disruption works. These days, global corporations are pumping millions of euros into locations in Berlin, as well as networks and major events, in order to be in contact with the scene. Berlin is surprised by its own success, which came virtually overnight – unplanned and uncontrolled. No funding programs, targeted location policy or subsidies. Instead, a relatively large amount of living space, comparatively low prices, a great deal of culture, an extremely international public. And no closing times. Berlin is currently still the antithesis of Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf – and perhaps for this reason so very successful. 141
- 72. the hundert the hundert EmergingBusiness Lead, Microsoft Deutschland A neutral opinion of Berlin is not possible Stephan Jacquemot Berlin is diverse, unconventional, extreme, free, inspiring and resolute. Experiencing Berlin once rules out any neutral attitude to it. It is emotional and demands your full attention. Art, culture, politics, music and “my next project” – all make themselves evident on a daily basis in this city. Ignoring them is not an option. It is all so exciting and new that no one wants to or is able to ignore it. Berlin has done all the right things to make itself an international center for creativity, intelligence and innovation. However, the city has now reached a fork in the road. Although it is one of the most sought-after locations for the arts, this is not yet fully reflected in the economy. A host of ground-breaking decisions now have to be made correctly. The possibility of becoming the next Silicon Valley is mooted. This requires an entrepreneur-friendly policy, education facilities comparable with Stanford University, venture capital from Germany and beyond and sensible linking of the old and new economy with start-up teams which are not afraid of major, commercially successful ideas. Berlin must decide whether it is 142 going to be satisfied with things as they are or whether all the stakeholders want to encourage start-ups to provide globally successful services and products. At Microsoft, Stephan Jacquemot is responsible for working with innovative new businesses. Since summer 2013, this has involved particularly the establishment of the “Microsoft Ventures” investment arm and the related accelerator at the Microsoft Center at Unter den Linden 17. This job requires constant commuting between the Munich headquarters and the start-up capital Berlin. A life between a rural idyll and a pulsating metropolis. www.microsoft.de 143
- 73. the hundert the hundert SOMUCH INTEREST FROM INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS IN BERLIN IT COMPANIES Chairman of the board of Investitionsbank Berlin I was recently asked why there are so few big exits in Berlin. I believe this is due to the types of startups Berlin tends to generate: social and e-commerce. Social startups are a hit based business. It’s difficult to assess market acceptance before having spent substantial time and money. On the other hand, e-commerce seems to be doing fine with juggernauts like Zalando and reBuy. However, most e-commerce startups target the domestic German market. This severely limits their exit opportunities. Berlin needs to start creating technology startups. Most large exits, especially in smaller countries like Israel or Sweden, have been technology companies. Think ICQ or Skype. Technology and intellectual property are easily transferable. When multinational companies acquire technology, geography is less of a concern than what value it generates. An increasingly healthy mix of engineers and business founders are in Berlin, but their startups are not technology oriented. In order to become a successful startup hub, more engineers need to embrace entrepreneurship and found tech companies. When they decide to do so, I’m here to support them. Berlin needs to start creating technology startups Managing Partner, Hasso Plattner Ventures Management GmbH Ulrich Kissing Yaron has over 15 years of experience in IT and VC, having built and invested in emerging technologies, bringing them to global markets. Even before becoming Partner at Hasso Plattner Ventures in 2010, Yaron was involved in the creation of over 20 startups. He assists in identifying, avoiding, dealing with the pitfalls faced by portfolio companies. Yaron holds an MBA from INSEAD, France and a B.Sc. in information systems engineering from Yaron Valler Ben-Gurion University in Israel. Ulrich Kissing is chairman of the board of Investitionsbank Berlin. He took over this position in 2009 after more than 20 years at Deutsche Bank. As well as its own venture capital company, Investitionsbank Berlin offers numerous programs for promoting innovation and technology, along with a wide range of consulting services for start-ups and SMEs. www.ibb.de The latest study by our economists shows that the digital industry – which is often more at home in the virtual world – is a very real phenomenon. Its contribution to Berlin’s net product amounts to 3.9 billion euros, some 4 % of the GDP, which now exceeds the proportion of the high-profile construction industry currently very active and visible in Berlin. This is also gaining international attention, as we are noticing with our venture capital company, which has never before seen so much interest from international investors with co-investments in Berlin IT companies. Berlin’s digital industry is developing very successfully, and I would like other technical fields in Berlin to benefit from investors` awareness, and also hope that this dynamism carries over to other sectors. 144 145 www.hp-ventures.com
- 74. the hundert the hundert EyeEm Ifit were not for Berlin, there would be no EyeEm. In 2010 the city made it possible for us to fine-tune the initial drafts of our app with relatively few resources. It all began with 4 founders and an idea. Today we are 21 people from 14 different countries. This too is Berlin: a meeting place for a constant stream of talent from all over the world. In Berlin, many things are possible that would be impossible elsewhere. For example, we were able organize our Photo Hack Day in the drained swimming pool at the former Stadtbad in Wedding, or most recently at Platoon, a building made of 40 shipping containers, hacking the future of photography. Where else can this be done? It was always our dream to bring EyeEm photos to prestigious photographic institutions like MoMA or C/O Berlin. At the beginning of the year, at C/O Berlin this was possible. Thousands of EyeEm photos were printed, exhibited and, at the end, taken home by visitors. The next day C/O Berlin had to leave the Postfuhramt. A pharmaceutical company bought the building and is now using it as company headquarters. That too is Berlin. We are looking forward to the future and hope to be able to make our own small contribution. EyeEm is the world‘s first community and marketplace for mobile photography. Founded by the photography lovers Florian Meissner, Lorenz Aschoff, Ramzi Rizk and Gen Sadakane in 2010, the smart phone app is actively used in more than 130 countries today and is available for free for iOS and Android in 21 languages. www.eyeem.com In Berlin, many things are possible that would be impossible elsewhere 146 Jetzt scannen, lesen und Probeabo bestellen. Oder direkt unter www.brandeins.de 147
- 75. the hundert Summit 2.013 Thecongress for the e-commerce Zukunft des Interaktiven Handels the hundert & Expo 2.013 The exhibition for e-Commerce Fachmesse für the e-commerce Member of the Board of the Business Angels Club Berlin e.V EuropEan LEadErs´ LEcturE & award cErEmony BErLIn 2013: tHE summIt confErEncE for tHE E-commErcE E(motion)-commerce: solutions & strategies for the e-commerce 2020 ExHIBItIon 06Th – 07Th NOvember 2013 – haNgar 6 Illustration ©: M.studio – fotolia.com congrEss 05Th – 07Th NOvember 2013 - haNgar 7 Online Delmenhorst is as close to Hong Kong as Zehlendorf is to Steglitz tempelhof airport, Berlin, germany Bernd Monitor Bernd Monitor is a board member of the Business Angels Club Berlin e.V. His next trips spEakErs amongst otHErs: will take him to Detroit Marc Opelt otto Moritz Hau asos Michael Weber buch.de Max Wittrock mymuesli Bastian Siebers plus online Moshe Rappoport IBm research Nicholas C. Denissen Anna Alex outfittery Christian Leybold e.Ventures Sebastian Grebasch aLL spEEcHEs In gErman Zalando Michael Rupp Jack wolfskin Dr. Andrej Busch dHL paket Organised by: douglas Holding Dr. Werner Conrad conrad Electronic Nadja Beik expert and Delmenhorst. rEgIstEr now! www.etailment-summit.de partnErs: first-Class gold 148 Silver bronze www.bacb.de Berlin, a capital city online, is for me a contradiction in itself. Online has always been global; no nation states, no capital cities. Online Delmenhorst is as close to Hong Kong as Zehlendorf is to Steglitz. Or just as far away. Some people from Zehlendorf are in New York more often than they are in Steglitz. The digital boomtown did not begin in the whole of Berlin, but only in the former Russian sector. The nucleus was not a subsidy program or incubator, but rather houses and factory buildings no one wanted because bathrooms were off the corridor, or the roof leaked. In Berlin the revolution did not begin in the garage, but on 1000 sq. m. of factory floor. Berlin will not become Germany›s Silicon Valley. If Berlin becomes more digital, it will become a part of Silicon Valley, and Silicon Valley a part of Berlin. That is how the digital industry functions. Finally, then, the people of Zehlendorf may get to know Steglitz. 149
- 76. the hundert the hundert PrincipalPartech Ventures Nenad Marovac has more than 20 years of venture capital and European media, IT services, Internet and telecom companies. and technology sectors. Nenad is the Founder and Managing His investments include Synergon (IPO: LSE/BSE), Hogart, Internet Partner of DN Capital which is a media and technology early Gabriel Matuschka started working At Advent International, he spent five years investing in private equity investment experience in the media, telecom Securities (Acquired by Euromoney) and @Entertainment (IPO stage and growth capital investor with offices in London Nasdaq: Acquired by UPC). Prior to Advent International, Nenad with Partech Ventures in 2012, and and Palo Alto. His investments include Apsmart, Datanomic was a Financial Analyst in the leveraged buyout group of Bank- is based in Berlin. Prior to working (Acquired by Oracle), Eyeka, Mister Spex, Shazam Entertainment, ers Trust in New York focusing on media and communications. Tbricks, Windeln, OLX (Sold shares to Naspers), JacobsRimell Mr. Marovac received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (Acquired by Amdocs). He is also Chairman and CEO of DN Capital. and a B.S. in Business Administration cum laude from San Diego acquired by brands4friends in 2010. Nenad founded DN Capital in June 2000 after leaving Advent State University with Distinction in Finance. Before TripHunter, Gabriel worked International, one of the world›s leading global private with Partech, he was co-founder more great startups being started and scaled and CEO of TripHunter, which was as a consultant in IBM’s European www.dncapital.com Managing Partner, DN Capital practice. Gabriel is also the founder and co-organizer of the bimonthly Berlin Tech Meetup. www.partechventures.com Gabriel Matuschka I love this city. There are very few other places in Europe and certainly none in Germany that are home to so many different things, forms of life, people and stories, past or present. Like so many others, I’m not originally from this city. Yet, I’m proud that with the startup world, our capital has finally found something that it’s good at, and positively famous for from an economics point of view. Although it is also failing at pretty much everything from unemployment to airports, and never really was sexy – irrespective of people claiming this. However, Berlin is more than a place of increasingly successful new companies: It’s a city in which a glamorous startup office building like The Factory can be located right next to the former death strip of the wall once separating this city. It’s a talent magnet for people equity houses, where he was a Partner in the London office. media and telecommunications from around the globe, be it the US, France or Israel. Not a natural thing to happen, considering the city’s dark history. With Partech, we are the first major international Venture Capital fund to open an office in Berlin. We are here because we know that this continuous inflow of great talent from around the world will lead to ever more great startups being started and scaled. It takes a lot of work and is a collaborative effort, but we will get there – and it will make us all ever prouder to be part of this amazing city. 150 Nenad Marovac I first went to Berlin in 1991 just after the wall came down after spending two years on Wall Street. Initially it was for a threemonth intensive Goethe Institute course to learn German. During that time I was approached by the Treuhandanstalt to be an Advisor to help sell former DDR companies in the Special Assets Department (Sondervermogen). At the age of 24 and my boss at 26 we together were engaged with huge responsibility in such an exciting period for Berlin. It was a pleasure to be a part of that… Now 20 years later Berlin is going through another huge change. Berlin is now emerging as one of the most interesting cities in Europe combining a very strong artistic and creative community with a very vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. The two go hand in hand very well together and I expect Berlin to produce some very interesting and innovative companies in the future. I am happy to be part of this new period of Berlin and together with my firm DN Capital we are now very active with investments such as Mister Spex, Scarosso, Just Book, and L’arcobaleno. Berlin is now emerging as one of the most interesting cities in Europe 151
- 77. the hundert the hundert Directorof the Center of Entrepreneurship at the TU Berlin Together with Prof. Dr. Jan Kratzer, Agnes von Matuschka heads the Center for Entrepreneurship (ZfE) at the TU Berlin. The TU Berlin brings together expertise in entrepreneurship research, teaching and start-up services within the ZfE, and has been designated a member of the “EXIST – University-Based Business Start-Ups” [“EXIST – Die Gründerhochschule”] program of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). Every year, 21 high-tech start-ups are launched at the ZfE. In 2011, start-ups launched at the TU Berlin generated a turnover totaling more than one billion euros. Agnes von Matuschka www.entrepreneurship.tu-berlin.de One of the TU Berlin‘s tasks is to make ideas conceived at the university useful to the general public. Many innovative start-ups are launched at universities. With 30,000 Natural Science and Engineering students, the TU Berlin‘s potential is huge. Start-up companies begin in people‘s heads: at our “Start-Up Days”, we bring the start-ups and students of the TU Berlin together with Berlin‘s wider start-up scene. We help company founders by supporting them for twelve months, developing incubator rooms, making a prototype workshop available, and providing contacts in the industry: the Business Angel and VCs. As a consequence, our network of mentors, industry partners and investors grows every day. Thus an explosive mix is created in Berlin. Preliminary, measurable successes can be seen: in the first half of 2013, more start-up teams were supported within the TU Berlin‘s business incubator than in the whole of the previous year. For us, this means that we are currently entering into a new age of entrepreneurship. We are currently entering into a new age of entrepreneurship 152 153
- 78. Stefan Wolpers the hundert Founderof the Entrepreneurs the hundert Against this backdrop, does Berlin have the potential to become the next Silicon Valley? Despite this frequently being considered a done deal in the media, I believe it is unlikely in the foreseeable future. Two decisive ingredients, which make this model unique, and which cannot merely be copied, are essentially lacking for this. I’ll never do that again. You can play this game forever here. Step outside the Bay Area and try that anywhere else in the United States – let alone anywhere in the world – and you’ll never get another job.” 5 While discussions are taking place in the Valley on whether “failure is the new badge of honor” and part of the start-up martyr culture, the failure of start-ups here in Germany unfortunately assumes an entirely different dimension due to the complexity of German insolvency laws, and tends to lead to collateral damage to the personal liability of the entrepreneurs involved. Steve Blank’s comment that “you’ll never get another job” is a very real problem in Germany, which all those involved are reluctant to address. By this I do not so much mean the vast sums of money with which the Pentagon fed the basic and contract research at Californian universities during the Cold War. After all, the West Coast region is not called Social Media Valley today, but rather is named after an ingredient that is key to all types of weapons systems. Club Berlin, Startup Camp Berlin and Twittwoch. Mentor of the Startup Bootcamp and Microsoft Accelerator Berlin. Advocate of agile start-up methods (lean start-up), management and software development. Founder, BerlinUp de.linkedin.com/in/stefanwolpers Hipster or company builder – Was that it, Berlin? “I would like to announce that we have stopped accepting new start-ups into HackFwd three years, three months and three days after we first began supporting Europe’s most passionate geeks.” Lars Hinrichs, September 2013. 1 It was one of the most remarkable attempts to date to bring the Valley – or at least parts of the idea behind it – to Germany; reservations of the engineers, the geeks, the “rest of us”, against the suits, the entrepreneurs in residence from the WHU and HHL included. And it failed – 3,000 pitches and 8 million euros later, as if an attempt had been made to relocate a foreign species to a less hospitable environment. Hamburg is not Berlin, and the consolidation of a market exaggeration, here the mini bubble among the accelerators, is a normal reaction of a dynamic system. It is therefore a good time to take a critical look at the state of the hipster nation: Successes: • There are countless accelerators in Berlin. After the company builders and ambitious lone wolves come the corporate accelerators. Overall, this is a good development, since everything is becoming more professional. • The density of accelerators is magnetic; many new people and ideas from all the four corners of the globe are drawn to the city. • Gidsy and Amen were the first acqui-hires of note. • While the crowdfunding of projects that ultimately become companies appears to be dominant in the USA, crowdinvesting has become a substantial financing option in Germany (cf. Seedmatch, Companisto, Bergfürst). One example: Urbanara aims to generate between 2.99 and 3.74 million euros through its Bergfürst campaign (299,200 new shares with a book building range of 10–12.50 euros). 2 Issues : • One typical market failure in the initial phase of a start-up ecosystem is funding. There are barriers to market entry on both sides: new Angels struggle to access “good” deals, and founders with no previous contacts in the active scene struggle to find funding. This reinforces the impression that the usual subjects divide up the seed investments between themselves, with accordingly low post-money valuations... • … which consequently dilute the founders to such an extent in subsequent financing rounds t that one can hardly talk of entrepreneurs any more. • Where is Berlin’s Sand Hill Road? In Torstrasse? Earlybird Venture Capital is relocating to Münzstrasse. You can count the other VCs on one hand. For me, it also is not so much about the German clone debate (or the associated supposed lack of creativity), which is pretty much incomprehensible to most US entrepreneurs and investors in their highly stylized principles. Every start-up is more or less a remix of technologies and/or business models; e.g., it does not bother anyone that all automobiles tend to have four wheels – one at each corner. The second, fundamental problem with Berlin lies in the early-phase financing opportunities for start-ups. When the political sphere does not know how to proceed, a commission is generally set up. The outcome of their lengthy work is often a well-meaning funding program. There are meanwhile so many, on state, federal and EU levels, that they are having a crowding-out effect on the Business Angel level. Unfortunately, it can be seen that a privately invested previously taxed euro has far greater leverage. Start-up development is different when it is possible to focus on the customers rather than on preparing the next auditors’ office report on the allocation of funds. Not to mention the intelligence of the private investors, who ideally open doors and initiate business. This does not mean that the old debate will not come up again. After the Pinterest/Pinspire debacle a few years ago, who would have thought that the time of 1:1 copies would be repeated again. Or, to sing from Deutsche Startups: “Muss das sein? Fashion.de kupfert eiskalt bei Wanelo ab.” [“Is this really necessary? Fashion.de copies Wanelo with cold calculation.”] Something else is missing. To be precise, German mentality is standing in its own way again. A Ukrainian migrant and meanwhile US citizen once described one of the problems that so limits Berlin’s potential as follows: Crowdinvesting platforms are nevertheless currently enjoying a high degree of interest among private investors, who have been unable to participate in the financing of start-ups to date; perhaps it is a trend and not just a flash in the pan. Despite this, it is characteristic that Berlin presently still lacks an equivalent to the AngelList. Or must manage without one. Forget about the first Angel Bootcamp. For those wishing to take a look into the world of the Silicon Valley Angels at this point, we recommend Semil Shah’s post on “Making An Addition To My Twitter Bio: ‘Investor.’” 6 “The very first company I started failed with a great bang. The second one failed a little bit less, but still failed. The third one, you know, proper failed, but it was kind of okay. I recovered quickly. Number four almost didn’t fail. It still didn’t really feel great, but it did okay. Number five was PayPal.” For Berlin, these two shortcomings mean: (1) Attempts to copy the Valley are doomed to fail: while the consolidation of people, ideas and (some) capital in one place is required for the formation of clusters, it is not enough. (2) A change to our cultural image of ourselves through the linguistic distinction between debt and guilt is required. In the 21st century, the captain no longer needs to go down with his ship and also no longer belongs in a (virtual) debtors’ tower. And (3) the start-up culture is not supported by distributing taxpayers’ money as subsidies to those prepared to invest in this market anyway. This is once again merely clientelism due to short-term PR strategies in the run-up to elections. The Ukrainian in question is Max Levchin, the former CTO at PayPal. And his words are from FailCon 2009 – a very un-German conference that focuses entirely on failures. 3 We have identified one of the lacking components: while self-help groups such as “Anonyme Insolvenzler” [“Insolvency anonymous”] are being formed here in Germany. 4 Silicon Valley draws its strength from just this phenomenon. In the words of Steve Blank – the father of the lean start-up methodology: “The biggest thing that makes this area a technology cluster is, you know what we call a failed entrepreneur in Silicon Valley? Experienced. Nowhere else in the world do we say that. Anywhere else in the world if you failed you embarrassed your family, your community, your state. Not here. Failure is accepted as experience. And that changes this culture. Screwed it up? Great, as long as you don’t blame it on someone else and you say: listen; let me tell you what I learned. 1 http://hackfwd.com/kthxbai 2 https://de.bergfuerst.com/unternehmen/urbanara 3 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114271856 4 http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/service/0,1518,786368,00.html 6 154 5 I believe we can begin entirely pragmatically to make the insolvency regulations competitive on the European level, so that “experienced” entrepreneurs are not required to ‘escape’ to London and will perhaps instead stay here. Moreover, the appropriate tax funding of seed investors beyond kickbacks in the purchase of shares could be considered. http://blog.semilshah.com/2013/09/07/making-an-addition-to-my-twitter-bio-investor/ http://gigaom.com/2011/03/27/steveblank/ [ab 21:38 min] 155
- 79. the hundert Entrepreneur the hundert SOMUCH HAS HAPPENED HERE IN THE PAST YEARS Simon Schaefer Berlin has always been international and somehow „cooler” than any other German city. Above all, this is due to the space the city offers to art and culture. Even today, Berlin still manages to be “in touch” with its subcultures, thank God, and does not push them away. No street here is the same as the next; however transformed they become, districts remain as heterogeneous as ever, which is quite unlike cities such as London or New York. That is also what makes the city a good breeding ground for the online scene and for start-ups. An awful lot has happened here in recent years, but Berlin is still in the very early days of the start-up ecosystem. Opportunities exist in getting blue chip companies and strong representatives of the old economy to invest enthusiastically in innovation without focusing SOLELY on short-term ROI. When looked at as a whole, today’s investment opportunity is Germany’s small and medium-sized enterprise sector of tomorrow. Simon Schaefer had his first experience with the Internet industry, working as a designer in 1997. In 2002 he was the (then) youngest person to be accepted as a member of the Art Directors Club in Germany. In 2010 he founded his own start-up totalCommerce, a software-asa-service provider for estate agents. As a partner at JMES Vermögensverwaltungs GmbH, Simon has been an active investor and business angel in Berlin’s Internet and technology sector since 2011. He is also one of the two founders of the Berlin Startup Campus Factory. www.factoryberlin.com 156 157
- 80. the hundert the hundert TagesspiegelKÖPFE – das Wirtschaftsmagazin der Hauptstadt Jetzt Lesen Sie die spannenden Geschichten der Berliner Wirtschaft und lernen Sie ihre Macher kennen NEU! In no other city than Berlin could I have so effectively pursued my mission to give entrepreneurs a voice nationally and internationally in order to make their businesses successful. Over ten years ago, when I was supporting Europe‘s most successful Internet entrepreneurs, the Samwer brothers, the feeling that Berlin would develop stronger from year to year was already present. Berlin has since continued to grow as a center for creative entrepreneurs from all over the world, and gained attention not only at a national level, but a global focus as well. Today, I regularly visit tech hubs such as London, New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv and Singapore in order to gather information, get involved and bring people together. What particularly stands out about Berlin is its pool of international talent and its hugely dynamic growth. This young and lively capital city is itself still a start-up and, for anyone wanting to get things moving, it offers the ideal platform to turn ideas into practice. | NR. 71 OKT 2013 | 6,50 EURO E KOEPFE.TAGESSPIEGEL.D Nur 6,50 ¤ TAGESSPIEGEL BERL INER KÖPFE | OKT 2013 de r tages spiegel B E R LI N E R KÖPFE JOACHIM HUNOLD schreibt Klartext: Das Zauberwor t der Kommunalisierung MARIO CZAJA plant ein Science Center an der Heidestraße Tilo Bonow is the founder of piâbo public relations, the leading agency for the digital industry, and an active Business Angel. The aim of piâbo is to actively support entrepreneurs in achieving their local and global growth goals and thus make a significant contribution to the success of their enterprises. www.piabo.net This young and lively capital city is itself still a start-up Der Macher aus Buch ophie: Unternehmer mit Philos RT bringt die ANDREAS ECKE mit Geld Gesundheitswirtschaft en Ideen voran und neu Gratis für Sie! Erhältlich im gut sortierten Pressefachhandel. Oder gleich 3 Ausgaben plus Geschenkset für nur 9,– € bestellen: www.tagesspiegel.de/koepfe-100 · Telefon (030) 290 21-502 158 Founder & CEO of piâbo public relations and Business Angel T Bonow ilo 159
- 81. the hundert the hundert Welike working in Berlin and we like living in Berlin. This city is always on the move, always reinventing itself. It never stands still. While the approach to breaking new ground is cautious in other places, here people have the courage to try out new things. Berlin is full of energy, creativity and ideas. In an environment like this, you can bring together a very diverse range of people who turn collective ideas into success. No other region in Germany has produced as many successful start-ups as Berlin, and nowhere else have so many of them succeeded in reaching maturity. And this trend is set to continue. Life here is exciting – and not just working life. Berlin frees the mind. This is where we come from and this is where we belong. It should allow them to take on a few global market leaders Dr. Dominik Matyka decided to found his own company at a young age. He speaks five languages and studied (International Business Studies) in Vienna, London and St. Gallen. He gained his doctorate from the Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin). plista is Dr. Matyka‘s third business start-up. Founded in 2008, this pioneering Berlin-based company offering innovative solutions for targeted digital advertising currently has a workforce of 100, works for several thousand companies and is the market leader in its sector in five countries. www.plista.com CEO and co-founder of plista Berlin frees the mind Stefan Glänzer Co-founder Passion Capital Berlin, Berlin, we’re going to Berlin! Maybe football fans have a better flair for innovation? I first made an angel investment in Berlin in 2000 and wow, has Berlin developed since then. Every time I visit Mitte, my heart beats a little faster: is there any city in Germany where you could hear more international languages than here? I am very optimistic about the next ten years, and making the move from “poor, but sexy” to “rich, Berlin style.” It will probably not be enough to help Hertha win the League, but it should allow them to take on a few global market leaders. Stefan Glänzer spent 7 years trying out all kinds of ideas before I had the first good one: ricardo.de. Angel investor: first backer of firms such as Last.fm, Daily Deal, Mendeley, Kaufda. Venture capital: founder of Passion Capital, based in London. Convinced that we’ll lift the World Cup in Brazil in 2014. www.passioncapital.com 160 Dominik Matyka 161
- 82. the hundert Boost your professionalsuccess by lifelong learning! Berlin has the potential to play a leading role on an international level in the medium term Excellence in Management Education Fabian Heilemann Founder and CEO, Heilemann & Company Fabian Heilemann established DailyDeal in 2009 together with his brother, selling it to Google in 2011 for 114 million US d ollars. Since February 2013, the passionate windsurfers have once again headed up the company themselves. The Heilemann brothers also get involved as Business Angels, passing their expertise on to other digital companies via their e-business agency, Heilemann & Co. www.heilemann.co In 2009 Berlin was not an option for us. I studied in Hamburg and subsequently founded DailyDeal there with my brother, Ferry. In Hamburg we had a good network and good start-up conditions overall. However, our Business Angel Michael Brehm strongly recommended we relocate to Berlin. We moved in November 2009, the hundert hired 20 people within just a few weeks and already went live in December. We were the first to bring couponing to Europe. We have never regretted our decision to relocate to Berlin. The proximity to VCs and other founders, the city’s international flair, its appeal to employees, and the relatively low cost of living are clear advantages. No other city in Germany offers infrastructure of a comparable quality. Provided there are tax incentives for investors, Berlin also has the potential to play a leading role on an international level in the medium term. Today, we are proud to contribute to Berlin’s digital ecosystem, in addition to our work through DailyDeal: as Business Angels, we reinvest capital in start-ups, and help other companies with our e-business agency, Heilemann & Co. 162 WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, one of Germany’s top-ranked business schools, offers general management degree and non-degree programs in an international context. We meet your expectations at every step of your career: Bachelor in Business Administration / Management (BSc) Master in Management (MSc) Master in Finance (MSc) Part-Time MBA Full-Time MBA Bucerius / WHU MLB – Joachim Herz Program Kellogg-WHU Executive MBA Doctoral Program Customized and open enrollment Executive Education Programs Our goal is your success! 013 es Ranking 2 Financial Tim #3 worldwide y #1 in German WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management Burgplatz 2, 56179 Vallendar, Germany Erkrather Straße 224a, 40233 Düsseldorf, Germany Tel. + 49 261 6509-0, whu@whu.edu www.whu.edu SYSTEMAKKREDITIERT nach 163 durch
- 83. the hundert the hundert Founderand CEO, DaWanda Berlin is „the place to be“ for the start-up scene and is right up there with all the most happening international cities. It is a Mecca for young artists and designers from all over the world and a hotbed of creativity. The city is a magnet for innovative entrepreneurs and qualified personnel from all over Europe, who are drawn here by the affordable cost of living and exciting cultural scene. 2,500 Internet start-ups are active in Berlin, and between 10,000 and 30,000 jobs have been created in this industry. As well as being an inspiring setting, Berlin also offers space for personal development – both professionally and privately. My haven in the city, my very own little green patch, is in the Charlottenburg district – over 15 meters above the ground. Urban gardening on the balcony of my office provides me with a good counterbalance to my work in the virtual world. While the raspberries, tomatoes and flowers grow up here, down in the city new trends are germinating, innovative ideas are blossoming and new companies are sprouting up. Colorful, wild and fertile – that‘s Berlin. There are numerous excellent investment opportunities Claudia Rayk Reitenbach Helming Investment Manager IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft At IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, we have a particularly close relationship with Berlin, as we have been providing venture capital exclusively in Berlin since 1997. Over the past five to ten years, we have first handedly experienced Berlin‘s evolution into one of the most creative and dynamic start-up hubs, particularly in the digital industries. For VC investors, Berlin offers rich pickings. There are numerous excellent investment opportunities, both in the early and the growth phase. Not just German, but also European and international VCs are finding themselves increasingly drawn to this economy. We can see this directly in our investment statistics: For every euro invested by us, other investors are taking a share in our portfolio companies worth seven euros on average. I am also convinced that Berlin will increasingly make a name for itself internationally thanks to highly attractive exit stories. In any case, we and our portfolio companies are working diligently to make this happen every day. Rayk Reitenbach has been the investment manager of the Creative Industries division of IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft since 2007. His remit includes the babbel.com, daparto.de, tape.tv, zoobe.com and clipkit equity programs. He is a self-confessed networker and particularly likes the rapid channels of communication within the Berlin entrepreneur scene. After postings in London and Moscow, Claudia Helming founded DaWanda, the online marketplace for designer and handmade products, with Michael Pütz in December 2006. The company currently employs 150 staff from 15 countries, and the marketplace is available in seven languages. www.ibb-bet.de Before DaWanda, Claudia Helming‘s previous posts included head of operations at lastminute.com and a business development role at Passado. Colorful, wild and fertile – that‘s Berlin www.dawanda.com 164 165
- 84. the hundert the advertorial First,there were the urban pioneers; lured by empty, rent-less spaces and anarchy. Then, came the early adopters with their art collectives, profit-less projects, and lawless drinking. After, came the hipsters sporting their trendy fashion, reading the New York Times‘ Style Section, and Club Mate addiction. Today, only those who found roots have endured. For Berlin isn‘t what it used to be – a transient, hyped environment for creative anarchism and cheap rent. It‘s home; at least to some of us. Hype be damned: Berlin just might make it. Although still a work in progress, the city has managed to create a local culture in the last decade or so. People now flee to Berlin in search of a proper environment to raise children, start a business, or go to restaurants. And even though Berghain will never cease – oh, no we hope it doesn‘t – the Berlin of the 48-hour drug-binges, starving artistes, and kebab as top culinary accomplishment is now a hindsight memory, visited only by tourists and teenagers. Two in one: Even tailoring has gone online! New, innovative ideas help to bring traditional businesses back into the spotlight. XUITS, for example, combines the craftsmanship of men‘s tailoring to the needs of a modern online society. XUITS not only offers expert advice in a stylish in-store ambience, but also allows men to design his own suit on the web, and order with a click of the mouse. Six years ago, the young startup company began in Frankfurt am Main in an old villa were businessmen, bankers & Co. were having their business shirts and suits tailor-made. Instead of mass produced goods, importance was placed on custom, individual products. The new trend for Tailor-Made Fashion was a success: Further stores were opened in Cologne and Munich, with one in Dusseldorf to open in November. The XUITS creators offer even more: They also offer a virtual online fashion studio. With the new website xuits.com, every man can see for themselves how easy it is to create an individual look, and order a customized shirt and suit from the comfort of home. Curious? Visit the website, and receive a discount of 50 euros with the code „Hundert“ – because a perfectly custom suit never goes out of style! However, freedom – the driving constant about Berlin – remains. The incomparable feeling of walking down the street wearing only socks and a piñata top without raising any eyebrows is still here. And for that, we will always be grateful. Long live whatever Berlin might become. www.xuits.com Sugarhigh is a bilingual daily email magazine featuring the latest in contemporary culture in Berlin from art, music, fashion, food, film, events and more. sugarhigh is free and strictly editorial. www.sugarhigh.de
- 85. the hundert the hundert Fashionhub Berlin Berlin as a fashion hub is an inexhaustible subject. One of the reasons it is so hard to find a simple, short way of characterizing it would probably be the city itself. Berlin is rightly considered one of the most creative locations in the world. Berlin’s unique postreunification situation has drawn in designers, artists, musicians and other creative minds from all over the world. This creative scene is multi-facetted, colorful, defies categorizing, and helps shape the city’s flair. Berlin’s fashion scene is the same. Besides the designers from across the world who settle in Berlin, its numerous fashion colleges are a constant source of young talent. They are all vying for attention for their creations from the press and potential customers. While media interest in Berlin’s fashion and creative scene has been high from the beginning, there has been a need to develop its commercial aspect. Fortunately, it is now becoming less relevant to say “you can be creative in Berlin but business is done elsewhere”. However, this development has not just sprung up out of thin air. Intense investment has been a key driver of increased commercial success for creativity in general, with a deep focus on the fashion industry. The special relevance of the creative industries for Berlin has been known here for some time, and numerous development initiatives have been created by the state of Berlin and business in the city. Recent examples include coaching programs to help young fashion designers expand their businesses professionally, credit programs that create the necessary financial conditions to start up and then grow successfully, along with joint exhibitions at fashion fairs around the world to enable young fashion labels to compete internationally. This distinct investment culture is another characteristic of Berlin as a fashion hub. (Tom Felber, Co-Publisher Superior Magazine & Business Consultant) www.superior-mag.com
- 86. the hundert the advertorial „Weare completely inter focused, but from the beginning have also included shops in our planning.“ The idea: Making Premium Quality Accessible to a Greater Audience Three years ago, Moritz Offeney and Marco Reiter founded the brand Scarosso with the goal to make Italian style shoes available at reasonable prices. The idea came while they were studying in Milan, Italy. Born in Vienna, Marco Reiter obtained his MBA from the prestigious Bocconi Business Universty after completing his undergraduate business degree. Moritz Offeney completed his law degree from Bocconi, and during their time at school, both were involved in a University project to create a business plan for a fully functional men’s shoe label. From the beginning, the classic, hand-made shoes were sold through the company‘s online store. As startup entrepreneurs of the Web 2.0 generation, the two founders moved from Milan to Berlin after their studies. Since 2010, Scarosso has successfully positioned itself as an established online retailer, with a product range that includes half and full boots, Monks, Chelsea boots, moccasins, Oxfords and tassel loafers. Since early 2012, they expanded their range from men’s only to now also offering woman’s shoes including ballet flats, boots, moccasins and high heels. All Scarosso products are handmade in small to medium-sized factories in Italy, and are made of 100 percent exclusive Italian leather goods. The economic success of the label, the high repeat purchase rates and low return rates proves that Scarosso shoes are a true premium product. Committed customer satisfaction and continuous growth also support the strength and respect of the company. On The Way to Becoming a Multichannel Retailer In April of this year, Scarosso opened their first store in Hamburg’s Galleria Passage, and shortly after a second store at Berlin’s Hackeschen Höfen in June. Since 2012 Scarosso has also been touring across Europe with a series of pop-up stores, indicating that an originally pure e-commerce player can also be successful offline. Surrounded by a simple, stylish design, both the Hamburg and Berlin stores offer customers the possibility to purchase desired shoes via computer terminals or with a sales person. This proves to be a perfect synergy between e-commerce and retail. Moritz Offeney believes that the stores are primarily a significant and further contact point, complimenting the online marketing of Scarosso, and less than just a mere shoe store. The concept and idea behind Scarosso already demonstrates the shopping behaviors of tomorrow. Important for both Marco Reiter and Moritz Offeney is to further develop synergies between online and offline markets in the future.
- 87. THE HUNDERT ATEVENTS The AllFacebook Marketing Conference is not only one of the largest social “The Hundert” will be distributed for free Germany wide, and will be available at the following conferences and events: This year‘s EBSpreneurship forum will take place on 24-25 October at the EBS University under the motto „Turning Challenges into Results“. With around 500 participants from all over the world, this is Europe‘s largest forum and At Startup Weekend in Hamburg meet potential founders motivated founder’s Congress, organized purely by students. In addition to inspiring to work together on innovative ideas and make new contacts. lectures and workshops there will also be an Idea Challenge (ebspreneurship.de The next event will take place from the 15th-17th of November 2013 / idea) with a prize pool endowed with $100,000. media conferences in Europe, but it is also the only conference whose focus is and this time will fully focus on efforts in game development. clearly on Facebook. A whole day is all about new techniques, valuable insights www.hamburg.startupweekend.org and best practices. www.ebspreneurship.de The AllFacebook Developer Conference offers the perfect look behind the scenes at Facebook. Different APIs, tools, and capabilities of Open Graph are presented with which give you the opportunity to break out of the standard functions. www.conference.allfacebook.de Crowdbiz: The exhibition for the topics of crowd funding, crowd investing and startups. On the 19th of October, Crowdbiz will take place for the first time at the Berlin Congress Center (bcc) at Alexanderplatz in Berlin, during the Berlin Stock 15.3. und 16.3 serves as a focal point for the international startup scene. Here, budding and experienced founders, business angels, venture capitalists and other experts meet to exchange ideas. The event will take place on the 14th and 15th of March, Exchange Day. Admission is free. exclusive networking event in the startup capital since September 2008. The Startup Camp networks founders with experienced entrepreneurs and Under the name of Echtzeit Berlin, deutsche-startups.de has organized this www.crowdbiz.de The event is designed for founders, business angels and investors. Access is only possible via personal invitation by the team at deutsche-startups.de. Around 200 selected guests attend each time to Echtzeit Berlin. www.deutsche-startups.de/echtzeit/echtzeit-berlin 2014 and is aimed at all those interested in the topic of entrepreneurship. 25-26 Oct. 2013 German Founders and Entrepreneurs days (deGUT) www.startupcampberlin.de The deGUT provides comprehensive information and advice for entrepreneurs and those who wanting to attend. Free seminars, tips from prominent founders, many opportunities to exchange ideas and Those who have founded a company know the process: hone in on its founding networking make it a must. ideas, discard parts to remix – until a really mature, sustainable entrepreneurial design emerges. If you want to learn more methods of the creative concept www.degut.de The Eureka is aimed at both founders and startups from seed and growth with founding, then come to the Entrepreneurship Summit. Be inspired by stage that want to meet new prospects, as well as to investors who are successful entrepreneurs and use the experience of serial entrepreneurs. looking for entrepreneurs and ideas. In addition to the various elements On 19 and 20 October 2013 in Berlin with 1500 of your peers. On the founder’s conference Failcon on 20 October 2013 we again present of a startup, best practice approaches of other companies are discussed, www.entrepreneurship-summit.de young entrepreneurs about topics with failure and a new beginnings. We as well as new approaches to corporate governance will be presented. have all founded startups, worked on or invested in projects that have failed. There‘s something for everyone. We are all smart, know the latest technology trends, but sometimes it does www.heureka-conference.com not work as planned. How can you predict what works and what does not? Well, you can’t. Come join us! The Idealab! is the largest European Founders Conference, held and organized annually exclusively by students of the WHU – Otto Beisheim www.failcon.de School of Management. For over 13 years, the Congress provides an inspiring platform, which is characterized by ideas and experiences between students, professors, professionals and entrepreneurs known from all over the world. Experience the etailment Summit and Expo 2.013, a congress with live analysis www.idea-lab.org and Exclusive Insights from 5 to 7 of November 2013 in Berlin-Tempelhof Airport. Discuss the motto E(motion)-Commerce with leading industry experts. In attendance: Sascha Lobo, blogger. www.etailment-summit.de The OMCap is Berlin‘s largest conference for online marketing and the annual information on the latest trends and developments in the industry. On 10 October 2013, the 4th OMCap is held back in the old cinema halls of the KOSMOS Berlin. www.omcap.de Data Driven Business Week, Berlin 04. – 05. November 2013, Hotel Adlon Kempinski As part of the Data Driven Business Week Berlin, there will be three NEOCOM 2013 29.-30. Oktober 2013, Areal Böhler, Düsseldorf The leading event for e-commerce and mail order, NEOCOM offers the ideal environment for an intense experience. From an interactive dialogue marketing and CRM, sourcing, logistics and fulfillment to intelligent online and mobile solutions, you can be sure that all important topics are covered. www.neocom.de simultaneous conferences taking place: eMetrics Summit (www.emetricssummit.de), Conversion Conference (www.conversionconference.de) and On the 21st of October 2013, 42 top startups from all over Europe will get The Spätschicht is now one of the most popular networking events in the Predictive Analytics World (www.predictiveanalyticsworld.de). All will focus the opportunity to meet and their ideas to investors at the Pitch Marathon. capital. If you would like to participate in the upcoming event, as always, can on dealing with online marketing controlling and optimization, maximum Our goal is to contact the local startups in Europe, build relationships apply through the Spätschicht website. The number of participants is limited as conversion rates, forward-looking analysis and predictive modeling. between startups as well as with investors, and facilitate financing around usual. The event that takes place four times a year is for the startup community www.emetrics-summit.de www.conversionconference.de www.predictiveanalyticsworld.de the world. and digital scene in Berlin in order to link them with each other, and to create www.pitchmarathon.co synergies between the two. www.spaetschicht-event.com
- 88. NOTES OF BERLIN NOTESOF BERLIN is homage to all of the daily notes left behind throughout the Berlin cityscape. The blog acts as a digital voice for the urban, daily life findings, and provides a platform to document, present as well as interact with the unique Berlin culture. Anyone can participate. Submit your own findings on www.notesofberlin.com For more information, visit: www.notesofberlin.com
- 89. the hundert the hundert Registernow, and receive every issue by mail for free! What Berliners DON‘T SAY posts daily German phrases that people from Berlin would never say. The best phrases have been selected and published from a variety of suggestions posted on the Facebook fan page. Anyone can participate, and post their suggestions. www.facebook.com/WhatBerlinersDontSay „Ach wie nett, ein U-Bahn-Musikant.“ „Guck mal, da kifft einer!“ „Kann ich so rausgehen?“ „Viel zu früh für ‚nen Döner.“ „Echt? Also meine Nachbarn sind alle normal.“ „Die S-Bahn kommt.“ „Ich gehe heute Abend auf eine WG-Party. Kann euch leider nicht mitnehmen, ihr seid ja schlieSSlich nicht eingeladen.“ „Willst Du das Hemd nicht noch mal bügeln?“ „In dem Café passen die Möbel ja gar nicht zusammen!“ „Eine Frikadelle bitte!“ „Hamburg ist aber auch ne tolle GroSSstadt.“ „Ich kann mir vorstellen, auch mal woanders zu leben.“ „Es ist viertel vor acht.“ „Was hier im Kiez noch fehlt ist ein Bioladen!” „Guck mal da, ein Kamerateam! Krass, die drehen hier einen Film.“ „Warum gehen die denn zu fünft auf eine Clubtoilette?“ „Lass mal morgen in die Berge fahren.“ „Hat der Späti am Sonntag überhaupt auf?“ „Ein Jobangebot unter 50.000 Euro im Jahr nehme ich gar nicht erst an. Ich habe ja schlieSSlich studiert.“ „Dein Döner riecht aber lecker! Gut, dass du ihn in der vollen Bahn isst. Da hat jeder was von.“ „Bitte, nach Ihnen!“ „Ist es abends eigentlich gefährlich in Neukölln?“ „Es ist noch rot!“ „Endlich wird hier gebaut!“ „Ich muss gehen. Muss morgen früh leider raus.“ „Deine Schuhe sind dreckig!“ „Lass uns doch in der Stadt treffen.“ „Silvester feiere ich am Brandenburger Tor.“ „FuSSgängerzone“ „Frühstück gibt‘s nur bis 10.“ „Ich war in München – war schön da.“ „Ich hab die Wohnung in Kreuzberg bekommen!“ „Du kannst um diese Zeit doch nicht schon Alkohol trinken!“ Hundert Continues as a Series! We are very excited about the response that “Hundert – insight on the Online Capital Berlin” has received. Therefore, we have decided to continue “Hundert” as a series. In the coming year we will present new issues such as, “Hundert: Online entrepreneurs speak about their biggest mistakes”, “Hundert: Startups that you should know”, and “Hundert: Online marketing experts explain the way to web success”. Every issue of the series “Hundert” is available free of charge, both as print magazine as well as PDF download. Simply register and receive every issue for free: www.the-hundert.com 176
- 90. Imprint / Legal Editorin Chief (Accountable ) Creative Director Editor graphic design Translation Translation Editor With Contributions From Editorial Office Website Banking Information Printing Jan Thomas, jt@the-hundert.com Balázs Tarsoly, balazs.tarsoly@operationbutterfly.com Konstantin Iwanow, ki@the-hundert.com Susanna Pozzi, susanna.pozzi@operationbutterfly.com David Pelletier, davidpelletier82@gmail.com Robert Oldham, robert.oldham@westminster.org.uk Andre Alpar, Heinrich Arnold, Claudia Bähr, Markus Beckedahl, Jan Beckers, Jens Begemann, Viola Bensinger, Oliver Beste, Burckhardt Bonello, Tilo Bonow, Jan Borgstädt, Marcus Börner, Oliver Borrmann, Michael Brehm, Tomislav Bucec, Constanze Buchheim, Mike Butcher, Pawel Chudzinski, Lea Sophie Cramer, Verena Delius, Kai Diekmann, Lars Dittrich, Matthias Döpfner, Caroline Drucker, Tim Dümichen, Mathias Ehrlich, Daniel Engelbarts, Günter Faltin, Tom Felber, Dirk Freytag, Conrad Fritzsch, Lukasz Gadowski, Stefan Glänzer, Tanja Haeusler, Paula Hannemann, Philipp Hartmann, Fabian Heilemann, Florian Heinemann, Claudia Helming, Ulrike Hinrichs, Mark Hoffmann, Klaus Hommels, Doreen Huber, Alexander Hüsing, Stephan Jacquemot, Joel Kaczmarek, Masoud Kamali, Ulrich Kissing, Alexander Kölpin, Raúl Krauthausen, Mark Krymalowski, Alexander Kudlich, Alex Ljung, Sven Lubek, Ijad Madisch, Rainer Maerkle, Nenad Marovac, Carsten Maschmeyer, Gabriel Matushka, Dominik Matyka, Florian Meissner, Bernd Monitor, Thomas Nicolai, Joab Nist, Florian Nöll, Ciaran O´Leary, Ansgar Oberholz, Torsten Oelke, Mato Peric, Andrea Peters, Corinna Powalla, Christoph Raethke, Christian Reber, Johannes Reck, Rayk Reitenbach, Stephanie Richter, Ralf Rogosch, Bernhard Rohleder, Nikolaus Röttger, Simon Schaefer, Aydogan Schosswald, Sascha Schubert, Eric Schweitzer, Max Senges, Fabian Siegel, Martin Sinner, Marius Sternberg, Miho Tanaka, Riva-Melissa Tez, Frank Thelen, Andreas Thümmler, Christian Vollmann, Charles von Abercron, Lucas von Cranach, Alexander von Frankenberg, Agnes von Matuschka, Madeleine von Mohl, Yaron Valler, Ingke Weimert, Simon Willnauer, Niko Woischnik, Stefan Wolpers, Klaus Wowereit, Cornelia Yzer, Stephan Zoll The Hundert / Why Berlin? Media Publishing House GmbH c/o the European Oranienburger Str. 84 D – 10178 Berlin www.the-hundert.com Konto 181008400 / BLZ 12040000 / Commerzbank Berlin Laserline Druckzentrum Bucec & Co Berlin KG / Scheringstraße 1 / 13355 Berlin
- 91. e the place tob for business. Berlin: High in demand. Accelerate your growth – in Berlin. In Berlin you find the most influential political and economic decision makers in Germany. Innovative companies shape clusters in growth-oriented sectors and profit from the region’s advantages as a business location. As one of the world’s most exciting metropolises with the highest concentration of science and research in Germany, Berlin-Brandenburg has great potential at its fingertips: Specialists and executives who are excellently trained and thrilled by the high quality of Berlin’s urban life. Accelerate your company’s growth – with customized solutions powered by Berlin Partner for Business and Technology. www.berlin-partner.de www.businesslocationcenter.de