should you hire juniors?
Issue #169 (13 Oct) - instant payments now live; greedy landlords finally getting punished; Almedia breakdown; a new Berlin unicorn.
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Programming note #169: 🎉 We are now well over 12,000 subscribers. Thanks for reading and all the support, this wouldn’t be possible without you, the readers. I am also happy to see that my content is regularly inspiring so many other newsletters.
I’ve got a lot of ideas to make Handpicked even better, so stay tuned. If you have constructive feedback, go ahead, drop me a message. Remember, be kind to yourself and others.
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The email subject answer is a resounding yes. Argumentation in Snippet #11.
🌟 Handpicked community
Meet — 5 handpicked events:
Negotiations Workshop for Senior Tech Leaders (€3,000 value): Final call to join the 3-day course by UCD (Ireland’s #1 college), Techspace & Ops Nation. Sold out in London! Master influence, bargaining & conflict. | Wed, 15/10 09:00 | Techspace Eiswerk*
betabreakfast: Connection Starts in the Nervous System — interactive session with Heart(Work)Space exploring how somatic tools can help you build better connections at work and beyond | Thu, 23/10 | betahaus | Thu, 23/10 10:00 | betahaus Kreuzberg
Leadership Unplugged #10 with head of Product at Miro | Wed, 22/10 19:15 | Online (Google Meet)
Deep tech night - photonics & quantum themed | Thu, 23/10 17:00 | Lanolin Fabrik
Cake & Picnic - Halloween edition | Sat, 25/10 14:30 | BrewDog Frankfurter Tor
This could be your event! Advertise it.
Show cool stuff or Ask for something:
Big ideas in telecommunications deserve big backing! | The xG-Incubator offers up to €800K in equity-free funding, lab access at Fraunhofer HHI, expert coaching, and Berlin’s top innovation network. Apply by Nov 10, 2025!
Something interesting to share? Go for it.
👀 Handpicked jobs
🚨 How is to work at Almedia? “I joined just as the company was making the shift from a stealth project to a company ready for massive scale. My career growth accelerated significantly, shaping the company's culture and leading critical projects like scaling the tech team to its current size and beyond.” Approach Mapa Vega from TA team with your questions. You can find their 45+ open positions here.*
3️⃣ job highlights of the week
The remaining jobs are on the Handpicked job board. This week’s focus was Marketing & Comms.
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☕️ Coffee Talk with Nick Mulder
Nick is the founder of bootstrapped Hypofriend that now branched out to several other… friends. He is a former cycling pro that likes to share his knowledge with no hidden agenda. I guess that's why he has some many friends and followers. Here is what he prepared for you:
To The Bone - Right around the corner from my office. What I like most are the different steaks and the stories around them. Each cut has its own backstory, which makes ordering half the fun. Perfect (and not too fancy!) place to take your business friends or your loved ones for a date.
Deutsche Welle - Rather balanced when it comes to world news, at least from my perspective. Their newsletters keep you up to date without drowning you in content. A nice juxtaposition to German media and their way of reporting on international topics.
Friedhof Boxhagener Str. - My escape between meetings when I need to reset. It's peaceful, tree-lined, and perfect for a proper walk. No dogs allowed, which actually keeps it quiet and contemplative. A hidden gem for when the city feels too much.
🗞 Snippets
Berlin & Germany, career & timeless
I did my third Berlin startup breakdown, this time with Almedia, an adtech company. I was impressed by their bootstrapped story.
Remember all the stupid memes about innovation in EU, showing the attached bottle caps? There is a lot of room for improvement, sure, but how about instant bank transfers that are mandatory since 9th of October. The control against typos and fraud is name matching. I tested it and it works really well. Not sure what this means for the extremely popular PayPal.
Despite all the protests and jokes, A100 extension has support in town: About 57% of respondents support extending the highway to Lichtenberg, while nearly 32% opposed it (n=2500).
The best route for the Festival of Lights according to Tagesspiegel: Alexanderplatz, Marienkirche, archways in front of Nikolaiviertel and Gerichtslaube, Berliner Dom, Bebelplatz, Brandenburger Tor, Potsdamer Platz, Haus Huth - Tunnel. Here is the map of all the location in PDF. And here is a Google map. Only until Wednesday.
It looks like AI is in a way … circular economy. While speaking of AI, why isn’t it replacing radiologists despite the big promise? A good read!
Circular economy in a completely wrong sense of the word.
Misuse of residential housing is illegal in Germany. Violation include short-term vacation rentals without permits, apartments left empty for months or residential space converted to offices or commercial use. You can anonymously report violators.
Speaking of residential housing, for the first time in the history of Berlin a landlord needs to pay a fine for extreme rent overcharging. The 38m² Friedrichshain apartment's rent exceeded local standards by 190% when only 20% is allowed. In addition to the €26k fine, €22k in excess rent must be refunded to the former tenant. More proceedings are currently running.
I have a restaurant to recommend: Merold in Neukölln. Excellent place for new German cuisine for special occasions or for a regular night out if you don’t mind spending 100+ per person. Interesting interior that somehow reminded me of a spacious place somewhere much warmer.
Career: How to explain to a recruiter you didn’t pass the probation period? I can save you a click with this: “It was a bad fit, I was looking for a position that better aligned with my skills and knowledge.”
Career: Here is a business idea for the developers: vibe coding cleanup as a service.
Career: A case for hiring junior engineers. You can replace “engineers” with anything else. This reminds me of a beautiful book Zen mind, Beginner's mind by Shunryū Suzuki with the main premise that in beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few. I wrote about the book three years ago.
Timeless: 40 harsh truths Daniel Pink wish he knew in his 20s. Great and in a video format. I would prefer it in writing, but at least I have seen that he is hanging out on his sofa in slippers (at 3:48 😅). Remember, You’re not the main character in other people’s lives. And it will take longer than you think.
Wanna work with me? We have plenty of options. Approach me anytime.
Briefly
Bad news: “German industrial production fell back to 2005 levels in August as output in the country’s all-important car industry cratered by 18.5 per cent compared with the previous month.” (FT)
CreerFoundry (Berlin, edtech) filed for bankruptcy.Stats: 42% of startup employees in Berlin are immigrants.
It does take a village, but it all starts with a villager. One-man spam campaign ravages Chat Control.
Tutoring provider Cleverl acquired online learning platform Complori, both Berlin-based.
Helsing (Munich, defense tech) acquired Blue Ocean (Australia, underwater drones).
Novata acquired Atlas Metrics (ESG reporting, Berlin).SAP suffered a setback in US antitrust dispute with Teradata. The Supreme Court rejected SAP's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The trial can proceed in 2026.
Ottobock IPO’d in Frankfurt and raised €808M.
Jonas Andrulis is leaving the CEO position at Aleph Alpha.
Etoro (Israel, online broker) is planning an expansion in Germany with neobanking and asset management.
Weekly Reddit
Reddit: Small moments of happiness for Berliners. For me seeing a familiar stranger in my go-to café.
Reddit: The obituary for Margaret Groening, the mother of The Simpsons creator, Matt Groening. Do you notice anything unusual?
💰 Fresh capital for founders
September highlights powered by Capvisory – a Berlin-based fundraising and M&A advisory boutique.
Each month, we spotlight new VC funds now actively deploying capital, especially in Berlin, Europe, or founder-favourite sectors (SaaS, AI, climate, B2B, etc.):
May Ventures | Germany | Early-stage DACH startups with an AI-focused mission | $35M (First Close), $58M (Target)
Vireo Ventures | Germany | Invests in EU early-stage founders working on grids, storage, and downstream applications in mobility, industry, and real estate. | $58M
Sanofi Venture | France | Accelerates investment in biotech and digital health innovation | $625M
Glilot Capital | Israel | Backs startups in cybersecurity, AI, and enterprise software | $500M
Suma Capital | Spain | Climate Tech fund for expansion-stage companies driving energy transition & industrial decarbonization in Europe | $246M
Full fund tracker (58x VC, 25x PE) and dry powder analysis: capvisory.de
💸 Funded in Berlin & Germany
🚨 A new unicorn in Berlin! Congrats to n8n!
n8n | Berlin | AI workflow automation platform | $180M Series C | Careers.
Dash0 | Berlin | AI-native observability platform | $35M | Careers.
PraxiPal | Berlin | AI virtual receptionist for medical practices | $6.7M | Careers.
Emblematic | Berlin | AI agents for finance departments | $2M | Careers.
Deep Tech Momentum | Berlin | Deep tech innovation marketplace | €1M |
Energy Robotics | Darmstadt | Autonomous industrial inspection robots | €11.5M Series A | Careers.
Resourcly | Mannheim | AI industrial inventory optimization | €2.7M Seed | Careers.
Kiutra | Munich | Helium-free quantum computer cooling | €13M | Careers.
PartSpace | Deggendorf | AI procurement optimization platform | €13M | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
I hope this email found you well
Igor Ranc
Founder & Curator of Handpicked Berlin
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