decline of the EU and what can we do about it?

Issue #118 (16 Sep) – 20 jobs from Sales, Cust. Success & Ops; Coffee with Dima; white papers galore; ReparaturBONUS; how to think about debt; neuroscience of a burnout; hard cash for OnlyFans owners.

Programming note: This is my first time struggling to write this intro. A lot is happening in the background, so I am really excited about what is coming. Greets from a very cold Slovenia!

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🌟 Handpicked community

is a place where we meet, share projects and ideas and look for help.

📨 Submit your input here. Inspiration for all the categories on the link.

🎪 Meet — tech & other events:

• UNBOXING The Future of Berlin's Cultural Landscape | Wed, 18/09 at 18:30 | betahaus Kreuzberg

• ProductLab Community: Just Eat Takeaway, Understanding Behaviors | Thu, 26/09 at 18:30 | Lieferando

• Politics of the Past: German and Russian Memory Cultures and Their Meaning for the Present | Fri, 27/9 at 19.00 | Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

• One of the three could be your event - advertise it.

😎 Show — Cool stuff / Shoutouts / Projects & similar:

• 💡Considering a new CRM or want to improve your current one? Fstream.io is offering Handpicked Berlin subscribers a FREE workshop to explore your options. Contact them now to get one of the limited spots!*

• How does receiving Einbürgerungsurkunde and German Passport / ID look like by Adi. Spoiler alert: he applied in early June 2024 and had it two months later.

🔍 Ask — for a Service / Co-founder / Project help & similar:

• Andreea is seeking HR professionals to participate in research on Employee Benefits in Germany. “We want to understand the 2024 market and be able to provide this information (for free) to the community and business leaders. Help us make it the biggest research ever 🥳” Participate here.

Are you a coach looking for clients? You can be featured here.
Looking for the submission link? It’s below the title ⤴️

*sponsored

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👀 Handpicked jobs

is a rotating selection of around 20 jobs from companies I’d check out.

5️⃣ from the rotation this week: Sales, Cust Success & Ops

1. Google - Data Center Operations Manager, Global Server Operations

2. 🇩🇪Adyen - Project Operations Manager

3. SumUp - CRM Manager Up/Cross-selling

4. On - Outsourced Customer Service (BPO) - Performance Team Lead

5. 🇩🇪Sunrock - Business Development Manager

The remaining jobs (also outside rotation) are in the Handpicked online database.
You can also submit a job.

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🗞 Top inspiration snippets

☕️ Coffee with Dima Samarin

is where my guest contributes three links and an explanation while I write a short bio.

Dima is the founder of an extremely well-curated Instagram account, Mitte Daily, which is neither a daily nor exclusively about Mitte. It’s also memes, amazing stories, design and aesthetic photos. One of the Berlin treasures. Here is what he prepared for you:

• I like smoking. I am, however, starting to think about quitting. And there are a few things holding me back. First, the ritual. Second, the transgressive allure. Third, cigfluencers, an Instagram account dedicated to—in their own words—“keeping the art of smoking and being cool alive.” I mean, where else would you find a photo of Charlize Theron smoking weed from an apple with one hand while holding a cigarette in the other?

• I like recs. Especially if they come from someone hot. The Perfectly Imperfect newsletter delivers just that—a wondrously unserious catalog of personal must-haves, as shared by blue-checkmark girlbosses and lesser-known scenesters, and sprinkled with some hyperlocal downtown lore. This year, PI launched its own anti-algorithm social media platform, too. It’s a delight.

• I like picnics. I believe the world would be a better place if people had more picnics. This summer, I hosted three with Mitte Daily, and they were ridiculously cute. I guess you had to be there. If you weren’t, here’s the Spotify playlist I had on when our friend Sam Cantor wasn’t filling the air with live piano tunes. Yes, it does include a 17-minute version of “Love to Love You Baby.” Because sometimes, more is more.

🇩🇪 Berlin & other good stuff

is a selection of links focused on Berlin/Germany, career, timeless content and business.

1. Freelancer, small business, business coach? You can now advertise and put your services in front of almost 9,000 readers here and on LinkedIn. Limited spots.

2. Has anyone else noticed a trend of hand-pulled noodles shops popping up? I’ve tried a couple, and they were “meh”. If you have an excellent recommendation, drop it in the comments. (Please don’t say Wen Cheng). It reminds me of a simple heuristic: high margins attract many suppliers. Pizza anyone?

3. Did you know there are 71 places in the world named Berlin? You can try any other city/place on the search. There are only two named Prevalje, and I’m not surprised.

4. Berlin will introduce ReparaturBONUS to reduce e-waste. You can get 50% of repair costs (minimum €75 invoice, max refund of €200) refunded for fixing electronics at repair shops or cafés. All you need to do is apply online from tomorrow on. (🇩🇪) A great initiative, which will possibly be extended in 2025.

5. Former ECB governor Draghi released a damning report on the decline of the EU in innovation and competitiveness this week (“Regulatory barriers!”, “not enough academic institutions achieving top levels”). Cate made a great summary at Tech.eu. Here is an example chart:

   

   
   Startup Verband also released their Innovation agenda 2030 50-pages white-paper (🇩🇪), where they, amongst other things, call for 100% digitized visa applications and processes by 2030, “Startup in a day” streamlined process, triple venture capital investments in Germany and want Germany to become a deep tech leader.

6. Career: Useful article on the neuroscience behind burnout. “We can see symptoms of breakdown when we begin to lose our ability to concentrate.” Be careful; it can happen to anyone.

7. Career: Partially paywalled, but still excellent: The Top 3 Resume Mistakes Costing You the Job.

8. Timeless: How to think about debt by Morgan Housel. “As debt increases, you narrow the range of outcomes you can endure in life.”

9. Timeless: This amazing visual essay about how to live a good life is based on the 2400-year-old advice from Aristotle.

10. 📱 Weekly Social.

    1. Reddit: which professions attract the worst kinds of people?

    2. Twitter: The best they’re eating the dogs… meme I’ve seen.

    3. YouTube short: on inventing tap payments.

11. 💬 Briefly.

    1. 😔 Bad news: PWC -1800 (US focused); Matter Labs (-16%), ME Energy (charging stations, Wildau) and Ride Capital (fintech, Berlin) bankrupt.

    2. Stats: Berlin's startup scene back on the rise? New foundings up 28% in H1 2024, €2.4B VC invested in 2023. The city attracted 1/3 of all German funding rounds (€1.1B in H1 2024) and hosts 21 of 33 German unicorns. (Senator Giffey on her FB)

    3. Fast-food fans beware: NGG union calls for warning strikes in German system gastronomy this week after failed wage negotiations. Affects 120,000 workers at McDonald's, Nordsee, Starbucks, and others.

    4. OnlyFans reported the numbers on their highly profitable business (in ‘23 their operating profit was $649M), and the online commentariat erupted. A detailed breakdown by Matheww Ball.

    5. SumUp, the German-British payment provider, hit €1B in revenue in 2023. With €100M EBITDA, it's one of few profitable fintechs. Revenue comes from payments, card terminals, software, and interest income. (FinanceFWD, 🇩🇪)

    6. Air-taxi saga continues. Bavaria approved a €50M loan guarantee for Lilium, contingent on matching federal support. Meanwhile, ZEW Mannheim meta-study (🇩🇪) challenged the (German?) hype: eVTOLs offer minimal time savings, higher costs, and more CO2 emissions than e-cars. Potential lies mainly in emergency services and connecting remote areas. Where there is smoke…

    7. Danish DSV signed an agreement to acquire DB Schenker from Deutsche Bahn for €14.3B.

    8. OpenAI is raising $6.5B at a $150B valuation after releasing its latest model. How can we even compete with this here in Europe? It’s a bubble, but still.

    9. The US plans to tax cheap Chinese imports, targeting Shein and Temu's $800 tariff-free loophole. Coming to the EU soon? A call from Faircado this week did the rounds on LinkedIn.

💸 Recently funded in Berlin & Germany

is a list of companies that received funding over €1M.

1. Formo | Berlin | Animal-free cheese alternatives | $61M Series B | Careers.

2. Habyt | Berlin | Co-living provider | €40M | Careers.

3. Ucaneo | Berlin | Direct air capture technologies | €6.75M Seed | Careers.

4. Key Ward | Berlin | Engineering data management AI | €1M Pre-seed | Careers.

5. become.1 | Heidelberg | Employee benefits platform | €3.3M Seed | Careers.

6. Qualifyze | Frankfurt | Pharmaceutical quality audits | €50M Series B | Careers.

7. Quantum Optics Jena | Jena | Quantum encryption technology | €8.5M Series A | Careers.

8. Retraced | Dusseldorf | Fashion supply chain risk platform | €15M Series A | Careers.

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😅 Meanwhile

I opened a ticket…

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✌️ Handpicked essentials and a treat:

♡ 20% Berlin: all the Berlin news twice a week, in English! ♡
- How to learn German and get over “Genau” and “mit Karte, bitte”?
- Don’t make these mistakes with your side hustle!
- Football in Berlin: all the links you will ever need
- Berlin Salary Trends Reports: How do you compare?
- ❓Surprise treat for the curious
- The best questions to ask at a job interview
- Write it down now! Or why you should journal at work?
- What do hiring managers look for in CVs?
✨ Berlin Events Weekly: the best resource for events in Berlin ✨

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