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Issue #75 (30 Oct) – Sales jobs; my first audio reel; fourteen funded companies; disappearing stores in Prenzl; how to make friends as an adult; visual map of electronic music; I'm sorry I bit you!
Programming note: Our Get Sh*t Done! Sessions have been running for a week now, and I’m impressed by the number of people who are ready to get up at 5:50 AM and work with a bunch of strangers. If you want to join us on the next iteration, put yourself on the list here (we might change the start time!) It’s great!
I used the sessions to make this Instagram reel, and it turned out… okay? It’s sort of an uncomfortable break-out-of-my-comfort-zone, so let’s see if I can continue.
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🌟 Handpicked Kleinanzeigen & Tech Events
🎪 Events in the coming weeks:
📨 Live Podcast and panel Discussion discussing AI Strategy, cutting through the hype | Thu, 16.11 at 18.00 | Deutsche Bank Berlin Technology Centre
E-Sport in Deutschland by Freaks 4U Gaming (🇩🇪) | Sat, 7.11 November | location per e-mail
Berlin Science Week | 1-10 November | several locations
😎 Cool stuff:
:sad Panda: we didn’t look or offer anything cool this week
🔍 Searching for roles:
Egor is looking for a job as a Senior Product Designer.
This is Kevin. He is a student of Supply Chain and Operations Management and is looking for an internship in a startup or consultancy. He is extremely hands-on and proactive and is also working on perfecting his handstand.
You can be featured too:
👀 Handpicked twenty-something
📨 Readers submitted
submit yours on the link; it’s free
🧞♂️ Sales, Customer Success and Operations
More positions in Handpicked online database.
🗞 Top inspiration snippets
☕️ Coffee with Mikel Mangold
This week my guest is Mikel! He, among other things, is a published author and an admin of a Whatsapp group with tech events in Berlin. Here is what he suggests:
What do startup accelerators really do? (read) — People are confused with the definition of a startup accelerator, and it is being misused in the industry: a reminder of what an accelerator is and what it’s not.
The Leadership Odyssey (read) — what skills do executives struggle to learn, and what learning strategies pay off?
CEO decision-making in the age of AI (read) — IBM’s Institute for Business Value has identified five key areas that CEOs and executives must actively address in the era of AI. A report is a summary of interviews with 3,000 CEOs from 30+ countries.
🇩🇪 Berlin & Other good stuff
🚨 I’m working on a great cooperation for the coming months. But I need your input. Which topics would be the most interesting for you? (sorry, the poll has limitations in length, the last one is: How do I get a good read of whether a layoff for economic reasons is justified?)
👀 Life in Berlin is, according to a study from the German Economic Institute (IW), relatively affordable compared to other major cities. (🇩🇪) Despite being above the national average, Berlin ranks only 40th in cost of living among all 400 districts and cities, with costs 5.5% higher than the average. Munich's housing is almost 54% more expensive than Berlin's. Also: Postdam is more expensive (6.6% higher than average).
🤩 Neukölln is #22 on the list of The coolest neighbourhoods in 2023 (Timeout).
📱 I previously mentioned Black Semiconductor, a big hope for the chip industry from Aachen (they’re planning to raise up to €500M with state involvement). Here is a deeper dive (🇩🇪) into the potential breakthrough of using light to transmit data between chips, which would overcome traditional limitations of data exchange. Political backing is promising but also dangerous because it may lead to bureaucratic hurdles. If you feel adventurous, here is their pretty empty career page.
🏙️ I’ve been to Heilbronn, a relatively ugly city close to Stuttgart (sorry, Heilbronners!), and it seems that the AI hub is their biggest bet ever after decades of dependence on the automotive industry. If you fancy a move there, read this good piece by Miriam Partington at Sifted. They even have their own Slush!
🦸🏻♂️ Five ways to be a leader (even if you are not a boss!) has great points and a lot of good ideas and takeaways. For example: ideal employees could also be fresh out of college; also, why you should encourage proactivity or get the first priority out of the way as soon as possible.
👾 “I’m sorry I bit you during the interview” made me … hmm… appreciate the escalation a lot! Remember, a good story (or a joke) always escalates.
🎶 Have you ever wondered how electronic music evolved? This visual map has you covered. I was stuck for at least half an hour—an instant bookmark. As a bonus, an amazing About and UFAQ section!
❤️ Solid piece of advice On making friends as an adult. “Everyone is shy. Other people are waiting for you to introduce yourself to them, they are waiting for you to send them an email, they are waiting for you to ask them on a date. Go ahead.”
😔 Bad news: Allmyhomes, truemorrow, kaputt .de bankrupt; Mobimeo (Deutsche Bahn, -50%); Bringmeister -70.
Related: Record-high startup insolvencies in Germany (238 by early October) exceeded last year's figures. The financial crisis for young firms escalated, with investments almost halving to €5.4B. More at Handelsblatt (€, 🇩🇪)
r/berlin choice of the week is the discussion on why stores are disappearing in Prenzlauer Berg. An unusually high number of good comments and opinions!
💬 Briefly:
Patient21, which raised €100M back in May, parted ways with the only doctor in the founding team, Sebastian Duong. (businessinsider)
Babbel posted a 16% revenue increase to €170.8M in 2021. Year-over-year growth was 12%, down from 32% in 2020 but above company forecasts. More. (🇩🇪)
Berlin-based restaurant reservation service Quandoo's 2022: €15.6M gross income, €25.4M deficit. Negative EBITDA of €8.533M exceeded the plan by €4.726M. Reservations up 89% but missed target by 29%. (deutsche-startups)
Signa Sports United (80 online shops in DACH, for example, Tennis-Point, Vermont-Bikes, Votec, Campz) is in trouble with a possible bankruptcy. More. (🇩🇪)
Germany had 67.9K IT job vacancies in '22, a decade high. 66% of IT execs reported negative business impacts. I wonder if they asked for a B2/C1 German.
Volocopter plans to launch its commercial air taxi, Volocity, by the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The company announced that the initial flight prices would be between €10 and €13 per km. Let’s see how this pans out!
A consortium of private equity companies is reconsidering their offer for Adevinta (owner of Kleinanzeigen), citing a worsening market outlook and valuation disagreements. Adevinta has an $11.4B market cap.
Compared to last October, we had a 4.2% rise in consumer prices in Berlin. Inflation slows for the second month but is still above 2020 levels. (St. BB)
HelloFresh's Q3 results show a decline in both profits and customer numbers. Adjusted profit dropped by 3.7% YoY to €69.2M. Active customers fell from 7.3M to 7.1M quarter-over-quarter and declined by 5.9% YoY. Revenue also dropped by 3% compared to the previous year, totalling €1.8B.
💸 Recently funded in Berlin & Germany
Likeminded | Berlin | Enhancing mental health in the B2B sector through comprehensive solutions | extended €1.5M Seed (€7.4M total) | Careers.
Empion | Berlin | Revolutionizing HR with automated AI-driven headhunting systems | €6M Seed | Careers.
HealthCaters | Berlin | Revolutionising healthcare with disease prevention tools | €1.2M Seed | No careers.
Quantum-Systems | Munich | Transforming the future of drones and robotics for a connected world | €63.6M Series B | Careers.
The Landbanking Group | Munich | Enabling land managers and businesses to open Natural Capital accounts. | $11M Series A | Careers.
mybacs | Munich | Setting new standards in microbiome health with synbiotic supplements; focusing on diversification and growth. | €5.6M Series A | Careers.
FarmInsect | Oberbergkirchen in Bavaria | Specialising in insect breeding to support sustainable agriculture | €8M Series A | Careers.
VisionAI | Bielefeld | Equipping online retailers with AI software to compete against Amazon | €5M | Careers.
OXOLO | Hamburg | Transforming text to video through AI-powered platforms | €13M Series A | Careers.
GoodBytz | Hamburg | Developing robotic kitchen technologies | €12M Series A | Careers.
the nu company | Leipzig | Revolutionising the chocolate market with sustainable and eco-friendly products | Mid-single-digit millions | Careers.
Capsitec | Munich | Capturing and neutralising viruses at the nanoscale with DNA-Origami technology | €2.5M | Careers.
Lillian Care | Heidelberg | Transforming primary care through innovative digital solutions | $2.6M Pre-Seed | Careers.
Happy Ocean Foods | Munich | Creating plant-based seafood alternatives | €1.5M Seed | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
Soren proposed a cool feature for LinkedIn
This is a footer 💦 fact: German men are most likely to sit down when they pee in Europe. (Twitter)
✌️ Handpicked essentials:
- Berlin Salary Trends Report 2023: How do you compare?
- Want to get reminded for the next salary survey?
- 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?
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