does Berlin have a good tech/startup event?
Issue #95 (02 Apr) – 20+ jobs, focus Design & UX/UI; 29€ ticket?; 22x Michelin stars; Kurosawa’s advice; things that don’t work; looking for the best event in Berlin.
Programming note: Exceptionally on a Tuesday because of Easter Monday. The salary trends survey was closed yesterday and we collected more than 1200 responses that now need to be cleaned and analysed. Thanks to everyone participating! The results will be published in two weeks.
Don’t forget to save the date for a big summer party on Saturday, the 1st of June in Berlin ( 📅 link only works for Google mail accounts).
🌟 Handpicked Community
📨 Submit your input here. Inspiration for all the categories on the link.
🎪 Meet — tech & other events:
BPD#26 - Establishing UX sustainably with Christin Herrmann | Thu, 4.4 at 18.30 | SAP
Peak Performance: Strategies for Excellence in Team Building | Thu, 11.4 at 18.30 | betahaus
berlin product managers ━ #8: Being home for products, teams, and you | Thu, 11.4 at 18.30 | spoke ai
😎 Show — Cool stuff / Shoutouts / Projects & similar:
We had two great raffles last week. They’re now called Transparent Raffles™ because, at Handpicked, everyone has an equal chance to win. Congrats to all the seven winners!
Join START Berlin Female Entrepreneurship and VC Mentorship Program; they are also inviting you to their FUTUREPYNK “How to Break into Entrepreneurship" this Thursday at 18:00. You can get a ticket for 50% off with STARTXHANDPICKED50
🔍 Ask — for a Service / Co-founder / Project help & similar:
Sina is looking to co-found in travel/sustainability/bringing people together/ female empowerment. Offering: start-up building experience, business acumen, pitching, creativity & more. Native EN/DE, fluent ES.
Jason: “Seeking a female co-founder for a market-validated adult financial literacy startup. We apply to the Berlin accelerator; no commitment unless accepted. ≥€2200/mo potential. Marketing or FE engineer ideal. 💖”
Help Moe find this startup: “It’s a German start-up that uses blockchain technology to monetize the users' data so each person earns money from it. The company's website features a blue and white colour scheme and prominently asserts its mission to compete with industry giants such as Meta and Google. Any help is much appreciated!”
Looking for the submission link? Inspiration on what to submit and the link below the title ⤴️
👀 Handpicked jobs
📨 Submitted by HR or readers
5️⃣ from the rotation this week: Design & UX/UI
The remaining jobs (also outside rotation) are in the Handpicked online database.
📢 Which is the best startup/tech-related event in Berlin?
Helsinki has Slush, Munich has Bits & Pretzels, Lisbon has Web Summit, Paris has Viva Technology, and Dublin has Tech Summit.
How about Berlin? Do we have anything? Do you know any better? Is it possible we really have nothing comparable? 🤔
You can also email me.
🗞 Top inspiration snippets
☕️ Coffee with Graham Strong
I participated in the Substack “Go” program, where we worked together in smaller groups. After it ended, some of us agreed to have weekly writing sessions. Everyone but Graham slowly dropped out, and we’ve been going strong for two years now. His newsletter
is about writing, and I recommend it to everyone interested in the art of writing. This is what he has prepared for you:Are you a rock music nerd? Do you love podcasts? Discord and Rhyme takes a deep, deep, deep dive into some iconic – and some not-so-iconic – rock albums from across the ages and sub-genres, including the Beatles, Brian Eno, Jefferson Airplane, and Moody Blues, with which the podcasters are strangely obsessed...
TED Talks always spark intellectual conversation. This one might be the exception. Are you tying your shoes the wrong way?
Hunter S. Thompson, who became known for Gonzo journalism with The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved and later Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, started writing long before that. This article on Big Sur, California, shows the seeds of what would grow into a whole new style of journalistic storytelling. More importantly, the writing is gorgeous.
🇩🇪 Berlin & Other good stuff
I lost all shame and started making videos (Instagram). Feedback, as always, is welcome! I will also re-do my testimonial page, so if you’d take a minute to drop one, I would be really happy! ❤️
🎟️ We are supposed to get a €29 public transport ticket in July (with an annual commitment). But things are getting complicated because the budget is tight. BVG still plans to proceed with pre-sales in mid-April. (more, 🇩🇪)
👩🏻🍳 Hallman & Klee was awarded a Michelin star. Regular readers will remember we recommended it three weeks ago! In total, with the new addition last week, we now have 22 restaurants with stars in Berlin, the highest number in Germany.
You can earn €25-€120 for helping as a volunteer in the European elections on the 9th of June. Unlike other elections, you can apply with any of the EU passports. (Look for Onlinebereitschaftserklärung, somehow my link got broken twice) They are looking for 30.000 volunteers, so take the chance.
An exceptionally important and well-written essay by Adam Tooze to understand German-Israeli relations (Israel’s security as a key part of Germany’s Staatsräson) around the Gaza crisis. It involves submarines.
Career: Akira Kurosawa’s 1-minute excellent advice on showing up day after day. When climbing, never look at the top because you will get frustrated.
Career: If your company recently went through layoffs, this might actually be a good time to ask for a raise. People are the company’s number one asset.
Career: The article could be shorter, but there are ways to help your brain be better at its job. My three takeaways are: Don’t overconsume; focus; start your day fast; do sports and rest.
Timeless: Things that DON’t work by
. I cannot agree more about 10. Expecting people to follow written instructions. Also, 27. Picking stocks and 32. Quality over quantity.Reddit choice of the week is this great explanation from Tolstoy_mc about why during inflation, coffee and restaurants are getting so much more expensive for the regular Joe/Jane. The longer the supply chain, the worse it gets.
💬 Briefly:
😔 Bad news: Sunvigo (Cologne, solar-as-a-service), funded as recently as January, bankrupt; Meyer Burger (solar panels, Freiberg) bankrupt; real-estate investor d.i.i. with a €4B portfolio bankrupt. Vodafone Deutschland -2000 (13%). Urban Sports Club suffered a member data leak, affected members were informed.
Stats: In the last quarter of 2023, the bankruptcy proceedings in Berlin grew 12.4% YoY to 1,516. (St. BB)
DKB will change the CEO and reduce the workforce by 10%. (HB) They quietly reduced their 3.5% interest rate for a checking account as well. (now 1.75%)
Volocopter (flying taxis) might get €150M in federal and state funding support. (Spiegel)
Axel Springer might sell finanzen.net, valued at $271M. (RT)
Aroundtown, a real estate company, reported a €2.4B loss in 2023 due to property revaluations. Berliner Sparkasse, on the other hand, made €358M but will probably need to refund their wrongly raised account management fees. (Datev, 🇩🇪)
Numa will invest in 82-unit serviced apartments in Wedding. Opening planned for Q2 ‘26. Careers.
Tier and Dott completed their merger. Flix is close to IPO. Bankrupt Galeria Kaufhof will continue discussions with two potential buyers.
TikTok plans to open TikTok Shop in Germany, with HQ in Munich and not Berlin. (excitingcommerce)
Because of bad yields, cocoa prices have more than doubled since the beginning of the year; expect your chocolate to get expensive.
Daniel Kahneman of Thinking, Fast and Slow fame passed away last week. RIP.
A reader sent me evidence of how startups were disrupting the insurance industry: their policy was sold twice in the last 2 years, which means they are with their third insurance company now. 🤡
💸 Recently funded in Berlin & Germany
peaq | Berlin | Blockchain technology for decentralized applications | $15M | Careers.
ELEMENT | Berlin | White-label insurance products | €50M | Careers.
Kranus Health | Berlin | Digital care in urology | $5M | Careers.
Bavest | Frankfurt | AI for financial data and investment portfolio analysis | €1.1M | Careers.
Gunzilla Games | Frankfurt | Game development | $30M | Careers.
Protembis | Aachen | Medtech device for brain protection during heart surgery | €30M | No careers.
Watttron | Freital | Digital temperature control systems | €12M | Careers.
Ecoplanet | Munich | Energy management software using sensors and AI | €3.5M | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
at Costco
You can get on the list of people who get e-mails about Handpicked events before they get published here:
✌️ Handpicked essentials and a treat:
- Signing a new employment contract in Germany? Read this before.
- Don’t make these mistakes with your side hustle!
- ❓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?
- Story of Handpicked Berlin in a podcast
✨ Berlin Events Weekly: the best resource for events in Berlin ✨
Remember my request for feedback? It’ll take a minute to drop one, you legend! If you have made it this far, smash that like button or leave a comment!
Kudos for linking to the HS Thompson Big Sur piece. A classic.
Love this stack and content