how to get a salary raise?
Issue #154 (23 Jun) – HR Leaders summit; marketing & comms jobs; Coffee with Anna; cleanliness survey; non-capitalist city and AI hype.
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Programming note #154: Thanks to everyone who came to our joint event with Notion at betahaus on Thursday. We had plenty of pizza, great conversations, new connections and this selfie. But wait… there is more.
… If you want to party with some great people, join us this Saturday. Trust me, the crowd will be 🔥 It’s a private party in Friedrichshain with very limited space. Mention that I am sending you.
🚨 Also ++NEW++ in this issue is a monthly fund tracker in partnership with Capvisory. Find it above the funding rounds.
Check out our sponsors, Notion and NAO.
The email subject answer is in the interview I did with Yota Trom, snippet #1.
🌟 Handpicked community
is a place where we meet, share projects and ideas and look for help.
Meet — handpicked events:
🚨 Measuring the ROI of AI at Grammarly: Two Data Scientists, Two Approaches: 🤖 AI is cool … but is it worth it? Two data scientists set out to answer the big ROI question—one built a novel experimentation framework, while the other designed a new scoring system to quantify impact. | Tue, 01/07 18.30 | Grammarly Hub*
💎 Join the HR Leaders Summit 2025 — Europe’s leading event for tech and HR innovation. Discover how AI, inclusive hiring, and talent strategy are reshaping the future of HR. Meet with peers from top companies and get inspired. Use code HRLS_HANDPICKED to get your ticket for only €49 (limited-time offer!) | Tue, 09/07 - 11/07 18.30 | CityCube Berlin*
betabreakfast panel with AgeBombs - Join age diversity activist Robert Eysoldt to explore how cross-generational workspaces are shaping the future. | Thu, 26/06 at 10:00 | betahaus Kreuzberg*
Panel: What's really driving employee retention in 2025? | Thu, 03/07 18:30 | signals Open Studio
Skip the Startup / Buy a Business | Tue, 24/06 08:30 | Indy by Industrious
this could be your event - advertise it
Show cool stuff or Ask for something:
You can apply for the KfW Award Gründen 2025 until 1st of July. In total, €35k will be distributed.
One idea for an up-and-coming startup could also be to rent a space directly from VCs, in this case, Earlybird.
📨 Submit your input for the community here. This section is also featured on LinkedIn in the weekly post.
👀 Handpicked jobs
is a rotating selection of jobs from companies I’d check out.
4️⃣ job highlights of the week
The remaining jobs are on the Handpicked job board. This week’s focus was Marketing & Comms.
🎈Have you already tried Notion?
Notion is an all-in-one AI-workspace for you to build and scale your startup - all in one place. Thousands of startups use it to create and share docs, take notes, manage projects & roadmaps, build CRMs, fundraise and organise their knowledge.
What you get:
6 months free of Notion’s Business Plan with Notion AI (up to $12,000 in savings)
AI tools to summarize notes, generate or analyse content, automate workflows
Access to the community of Champions - power users who help teams get started and succeed with Notion
Join the 94% of Forbes AI 50 companies and 50% of YC startups who use Notion to consolidate their tech stack, reduce costs, and collaborate more effectively.
☕️ Coffee Talk with Anna Lai
is where my guest contributes three ideas, and I write a short bio. Permanent collection.
Anna is a passionate Sardinian and the owner of Mezzacantina, a wine shop and an event space. I’ve met her for the interview and learned lots about natural wines and life. Here is what she prepared for you:
Mikrokosmos — Hidden gem on Reichenberger Str. run by Nicole (Italy) & Diego (Peru). It's top-tier Peruvian food with optional insect twists. Honest prices, warm vibe, and some of the best cooking in Berlin. The place that made me love dining out again.
The Erotic Review — A beautifully crafted indie mag on eroticism with brains and soul. In a world of doomscrolling and bleak news, this feels like a mental vacation. Thoughtful, lush, and partly Berlin-based. A rare gem that delights without dumbing down (use MEZZA for 15% discount on annual subscription).
Forest sleepover idea (no link) — Grab a van or a tent, and go sleep in the forest, preferably on a Sunday evening, when everyone is going back to town, and preferably close to a body of water. Pick the eastern shore, so if you are lucky you will be graced with a stupidly beautiful sunset. Don't play any music, enjoy both the silence of the absence of humans, and the loudness of the birds. Even if it's just for one night: you will come back to Berlin with a new sense of appreciation for our beautiful city.
🗞 Snippets
is a selection of links focused on Berlin/Germany, career, timeless content and business.
Berlin & Germany, career & timeless
Finally! A new article: I spoke with Yota about how to get a salary raise. A lot of actionable advice. Don’t be shy, justify! If you sign up for the Rise Up, you'll get a Handpicked bonus: a free 30-minute strategy call with Yota.
Venture Café is running events relevant for early-stage entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, mentors and investors to make things happen on a weekly basis, every Thursday. The series is called Venture Café Thursday Gathering. Make sure to check the schedule and see you around at CIC.
Summertime means lakes and Freibäder for the bravest amongst you. Here is the Berlin swimming map and, again, a list of the top 11 lakes.
We got 3 new Michelin-starred restaurants in the city (18 in total): Matthias, Pars and Loumi. For the complete list of 77 recommendations from Michelin, go here. Excellent stuff!
You can participate in a Berlin-wide survey about the cleanliness of your neighbourhood. It takes about 10 minutes and is available in several languages. After completing it, you can also enter a prize draw for some Berlin-related goodies.
If you have never watched Capital B, this 20-minute video from DW summarises the essence of this city extremely well. Terribly governed and saved by the tourists.
Career: An EMEA tech recruiter on Reddit answering questions. Very useful to check out for everyone currently looking for a job.
Career: AI is great and all, but also, the ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine. Related, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says he disagrees with almost everything Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says. Gartner thinks we are at the peak of AI Agents hype:
Career: Redsofa released its annual salary report for creative professions in Berlin, London and Amsterdam.
Timeless: How you see yourself is not how we see you, dear reader. Beautiful and moving 6-minute video.
Briefly
Bad news: Munich Re is shutting down the IoT startup Relayr. Friday stopped selling new insurance policies. Parts of the nightclub Renate burned down.
Stats: In the 2023/24 winter semester, 200,440 students were enrolled at Berlin universities, with law, economics, and social sciences being the most popular fields overall (35%). The share of foreign students was roughly 24%. (St.BB)
Amazon opened a new HQ in Berlin at Warschauer Str. It was met with protests. The building also has 1,400 m2 dedicated to KiezLab Berlin, where members can use the space for free. Membership will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.
Like seemingly every fintech, Klarna will also offer mobile plans. First in the US, later also here.
Autodoc plans to IPO this week at a €2.4B market cap.
Rheinmetall entered into a strategic partnership with US drone manufacturer Anduril.
Uber is starting Uber Health in Germany. It enables non-emergency medical transportation.
Meta said it would begin to show paid advertising on WhatsApp in the “Updates” section. What was that wisdom again… if it’s for free, you’re the product?
Weekly social
Reddit: Anecdata on Delivery Hero, Omio and Hello Fresh as employers. Don’t forget that you can have a great team in a toxic company and a toxic team in a great company. And that Redditors are often angry people.
TikTok: A rare sight.
A guy with a very punchable faceTucker Carlson breaking the matrix.Reddit: When you visit someone, what do you bring "from Berlin"?
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NEW TEST SECTION! 💰 Fresh capital for founders
May highlights powered by Capvisory – a Berlin-based fundraising and M&A advisory boutique.
Each month, we’ll spotlight new VC funds now actively deploying capital, especially in Berlin, Europe, or founder-favourite sectors (SaaS, AI, climate, B2B, etc.):
Lunar Ventures | Germany | Pre-Seed deep-tech, Berlin-based | €50M
Picus Capital | Germany | Day-zero global early-stage bets | €250M
Robert Bosch VC | Germany | Industry 4.0, decarbonisation & AI | €250M
Cathay Innovation | France | Global AI & climate growth rounds | $1B
Keen Venture Partners | Netherlands | European early-stage defence-tech | €40M
👉 Full fund tracker (65x VC, 26x PE in May) and dry powder analysis —> capvisory.de
Did you find this useful? Let me know.
💸 Funded in Berlin & Germany
is a list of companies that received funding over €1M.
Mercanis | Berlin | AI procurement optimisation platform | $20M Series A | Careers.
Ostrom | Berlin | Green energy provider | €20M Series B | Careers.
a2zebra | Berlin | Interactive educational dice game TukToro | €2.5M Seed | No careers.
Helsing | Munich | AI defense technology systems | €600M Series D | Careers.
NaroIQ | Cologne | ETF and fund creation platform | $6.5M | Careers.
DealCircle | Hamburg | M&A technology solutions | €5M | Careers.
nuwacom | Koblenz | AI cross-department collaboration platform | €3.2M Seed | No careers.
Steuerboard | Düsseldorf | AI tax advisory automation | €725K Pre-Seed | No careers.
nuuEnergy | Munich | Heat pump planning installation | Seven-figure amount | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
the HR was busy
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