how does a bad recruiter behave?
Issue #177 (8 Dec) - word of the year; fireworks ban extended; how to tweak your career; the only diet that makes sense and Wunderflats email.
Programming note #177: I attended an amazing housewarming party and once again realised how bad most of us are at remembering each other’s names. Which sucks, because we should, as Dale Carnegie wrote, “remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
Noujan, sorry that I forgot your name. But at least I listen with intent.
The email subject in an article in the Snippet #1.
🌟 Handpicked community
Meet — 5 handpicked events:
Working alone can be lonely. We have a couple of spots left for our coworking this Thursday. You’ll meet community members, network at lunch and get some work done. Register here. | Thu, 11/12 from 9.30 onwards | ATworld Alex1 Teamspace (Alexanderplatz)
Community betabreakfast (free edition) | Eat breakfast, network, and join our Secret Santa. Low pressure, high vibes. Bring a small wrapped gift (7-13 €) and leave with a surprise from someone else. | Thu, 18/12 10:00 | betahaus
A great event for founders… Founder Stories – Bits & Pretzels Berlin Community Night @ HubSpot | Tue, 09/12 18:30 | Hubspot
HTW Pitch-Mas Night | Tue, 09/12 18:00 | HTW Campus Wilhelminenhof
Are you a founder? Meet the most active investors, find potential partners, and pitch to thousands.
Are you an investor? Access the strongest Nordic deal flow and connect with peers across funds, LPs, GPs, family offices, and business angels.
Where? At Techarena 2026 in Stockholm.This could be your event! Advertise it.
Show cool stuff or Ask for something:
You can join the SOAR program, which helps artists, creatives, and makers grow their online sales through hands-on workshops, expert guidance, and community support. Free, online, and designed to boost your digital business skills.
Stuck on a German learning plateau? Franzie helps you learn in context with stories featuring your real friends. Practice further with quizzes and chats about the chapter you just read. Try it for free.
Something interesting to share? Go for it.
👀 Handpicked jobs
I had a link explosion again, so you will find all the curated jobs on the Handpicked job board. This week’s focus was on Design & UX/UI.
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☕️ Coffee Talk with Maurice Frank
Maurice (from 20% Berlin) is a good friend and the first person in the history of the coffee talks to be featured twice. The reason is that he started a new newsletter that I really like, Update Germany, and I think you all should read it. Here is what he prepared for you this time:
Slava Berlin! - Amazing, freshly made Ukrainian "soul food" smack in the middle of Wrangelkiez. I love the wareniki. Recommended to me by my former colleague, British journalist Elizabeth Rushton, who's often in Ukraine and speaks the language.
Kaput: The End of the German Miracle - Excellent book by economist Wolfgang Münchau on why things have gone south for the economy over the past few years. He covers Germany's fatal mistakes: focusing on exports, fanatical austerity, lack of investment - and a failure to successfully foster new industries beyond the ones Germany dominated since the 19th century.
Viktoriapark - Not exactly Montmarte, but it's one of the best views you're going to get in this flat city: the summit of Viktoriapark. The cross on top - the Prussian National Monument for the Liberation Wars - put the "Kreuz" in Kreuzberg. If I have half an hour to kill in the neighbourhood, I run up here!
🗞 Snippets
Berlin & Germany, career & timeless
I had a bit of fun and wrote about how to identify a bad recruiters who raise red flags. If you feel something is missing, do let me know. Next week, I am publishing the other side: candidates.
Last week we ran a raffle for two books The Feeling of Berlin. The lucky winners were numbers 11 and 33, Avraam M. and Vivian M. Congrats, I will email you! I’ll be giving out more stuff soon, so stay tuned.
Good news for dogs, cats, birds, mice and the anti-fireworks crowd. States are now allowed to prohibit the use in highly populated areas. This means that a total ban inside the ring would be possible in 2026. If you haven’t signed the petition yet, you can do it here. This year, the inner-city ban will also be expanded to include Admiralbrücke.
Maybe you should reconsider using food delivery services, which are outsourcing the delivery to third parties. RBB talked with Indian delivery couriers from Uber Eats and Wolt, and it’s pretty disgusting: wages as low as €7/h, arbitrary deductions and even violence. Germany's labour minister is considering a ban on subcontracting in food delivery.
Clubs in the city are struggling with rent and property taxes, but you will be able to party next to the A115. A new club called C115 is opening in Berlin's Westend on the iconic but underused former spectator stands at the AVUS race track (close to the Funkturm).
I do hope this is only a defence tech bubble and things clear up on the Eastern front. But because of the security threats, the Bundestag approved a new military service law requiring men aged 18+ to complete a questionnaire and undergo medical examination starting in 2026. The actual service remains voluntary for now.
The word of the year 2025 is “KI-Ära”. I never heard of Vertiktokung yet, but I like it. The selection has been going on since 1977 and is focused on distinct phrases that shape the political, economic and social life of the year:
source Career: For everyone looking for a new challenge, the new Hacker News thread on who is hiring was published. And I again filtered for Berlin.
Career: If you are still seriously on the career development path, do read this piece (“Your goal isn’t really to get a job”) and pick what makes sense. It includes lots of great ideas you can maybe include in your end-of-year reflections or plans for 2026.
Timeless: Diets are usually fads (I once even did keto!), but there is one that really works: the portfolio diet. Making small adjustments will decrease your risk of heart disease by helping you lower your LDL cholesterol. Stay healthy and prosper!
Timeless: I also enjoyed this ode to small talk. “The amateur sees it as shallow. And yes, it is. But that is the point. Depth can be exhausting. Small talk is not meant to excavate the soul; it's more like testing the waters, seeing if it feels cold or warm.”
Stats: In Berlin, we use more water per capita compared to Brandenburg: 156.9l vs. 137.1l daily. But, household consumption is higher in Brandenburg (117.6l vs 114.4l). Data is from 2022.
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Are you a founder? Meet the most active investors, find potential partners, and pitch to thousands.
Are you an investor? Access the strongest Nordic deal flow and connect with peers across funds, LPs, GPs, family offices, and business angels.
Where? At Techarena 2026 in Stockholm.
Berlin-related headlines
Why so many Berlin bridges are crumbling (read)
Million-euro construction site with ruinous consequences: Berlin district wants to part ways from the famous Prater (read)
Fight against e-scooter chaos: Senate wants thousands of new stations in Berlin – but financing is uncertain (read)
Second construction phase at Berlin's Ostbahnhof completed (in total it took 15 years) (read)
Clubs and beer gardens facing “destruction of their livelihoods”: Property tax reform threatens to change Berlin's cityscape (read)
Briefly on business, tech and economy
Bad news: RTL Deutschland -600. SellerX -300 (see next).
SellerX is cutting its workforce in half to around 300 employees and reducing brands to under 10. It’s the second major layoff this year. Their fall from pandemic-era glory (pre-money valuation of €1B in 2021) was severe because their idea of buying successful Amazon brands and rolling them up to scale didn’t play out as expected.
Scout24 (of Immoscout24 fame) launched a €500M share buyback, its largest ever, potentially acquiring up to 7.7% of shares.
Meta will cut its metaverse spending by 30%.
Shiftmove (Berlin, fleet management) acquired Ocean from Orange Business. (deutsche startups)
I’ve seen Dodge Rams on the streets in Stuttgart and opening EU markets to vehicles under US standards certainly seems like a silly idea.
Be careful who you trust with your data. Especially if things are vibe-coded. A billion-dollar legal AI tool had a relaxed authentication process.
Gründerszene made an overview of 7 VCs dominating Germany's AI investment landscape in 2025: Cherry Ventures, General Catalyst, Accel, Y Combinator, HV Capital, Gradient Ventures, and 10x Founders. General Catalyst plans to invest €2B in Europe over the next two years.
Tesla’s November sales in Europe were weak. Up to 50% down in key markets, but +175% in Norway and +58% in Italy. They were -20% in Germany (around 1.8k), where the Chinese BYD grew over 830% to over 4k vehicles sold. BYD’s career page.
Bending Spoons (Milan) is acquiring Eventbrite for $500M. At least in Berlin, Eventbrite’s lunch is getting eaten by Luma.
The German startup association (Startup Verband) clearly rejected any contact with the AfD, calling the party "a problem for Germany" rather than an alternative, and refuses to provide them a platform. This stance contrasts with the recent decision by the association of family businesses to drop its “firewall” against the AfD, which triggered widespread criticism and company exits.
Siemens earned over €6B during fiscal year 2024/25 by selling stakes in subsidiaries, including €3.7B from selling a 7% stake in Siemens Healthineers. The rest was from Siemens Energy.
Flix is expanding its long-distance bus service to Australia, now operating in 45 countries.
JD.com (China) completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Cecenomy, the parent of Media Markt and Saturn. They have over 1k stores in Europe.
If you want to join an experienced founder, check out Zauber, founded by Erik Muttersbach, a co-founder of Forto. If you want a referral and want to get a bonus, let me know. (They are looking for Founding Engineers and a Founding Designer)
Weekly social and outside interests
Reddit: Where are you on the U-Bahn spectrum? I am firmly on the side of “my backpack never ever on the floor”. I always wonder if people clean their dogs before they allow them on their sofa.
Instagram: It’s a bit old, but it pairs perfectly with the mandatory military service news. I find Fabian Köster hilarious. You will need German.
Reddit: I also received this email from Wunderflats. I was a customer for a short period of time, and I think they could have double-checked it with a PR agency or common sense police before sending it out.
💸 Funded in Berlin & Germany
Black Forest Labs | Freiburg | Visual intelligence and image generation | $300M Series B | Careers.
Marble Imaging | Bremen | High-resolution Earth observation intelligence | €5.3M Seed | Careers.
Rail-Flow | Frankfurt am Main | Rail freight and intermodal platform | €12.5M | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
a blast from the past: Jeff deploying without AWS…
Igor Ranc
Founder & Curator of Handpicked Berlin
Five articles with a treat:
How to learn German? Be better than “Genau” and “Mit Karte, Bitte!”
Football in Berlin: where to play, watch and how to get involved?