who is removing Google reviews?
Issue #145 (14 Apr) – tech jobs; new coalition; A100 live!; UBI field study; Coffee with Brad; two Wiener Schnitzels.
Make sure to never miss another issue. Subscribe:
Programming note #145: Thanks to everyone for coming to the panel last week. It was a great event. For now, I am stealing this LinkedIn post from Cynthia.
The newsletter will be on a short break on Easter Monday. See you again on the 28th of April. Also, I am probably the only one who finds this funny… but some Germans think Easter is called Eastern (because it’s called Ostern in German) and then say: “Happy Eastern.” Cute.
🌟 Handpicked community
is a place where we meet, share projects and ideas and look for help.
Meet — handpicked events:
betabreakfast hosts Ly Pham from bcom.social to explore how mindfulness can transform our (work) lives. Guests will gain insights and tools to apply mindfulness in daily life.* | Thu, 24/04 10:00 | betahaus Kreuzberg
GITEX EUROPE 2025, one of the biggest events of the year will be held in Berlin from May 21-23. It will unite 40,000+ professionals, 2,000+ exhibitors, 1,000+ startups, 800+ investors, exploring AI, Cybersecurity, and more. Get your free pass now!*
People, Planet, Pint™: Sustainability Meetup | Tue, 29/04 19:00 | Atelier Gardens
Usability Testessen #25 | Thu, 24/04 19:00 | Uplink
Rationality Meetup Spring 2025 | Sun, 11/05 14:00 | Humboldthain
this could be your event - advertise it
Show cool stuff or Ask for something:
🚨 Check out this cool project! A couple of online shoppers in Berlin were fed up with endlessly researching whether products were truly eco-friendly, so they created FairKiwi, a free browser extension that shows you how sustainable products are as you shop.
Gülcan is looking for women to practice her Mat & Reformer Pilates learnings as a way to connect and grow together. You’ll do studio (Beyond Studios), home sessions and even parks! And it’s for free! All levels are welcome. Message her on Instagram to join.
📨 Submit your input for the community here.
👀 Handpicked jobs
is a rotating selection of jobs from companies I’d check out.
3️⃣ from the rotation this week: Tech & Dev
For more jobs check out the Handpicked job board.
Are you looking for new colleagues or work in HR? Submit a job.
Fashion meets sustainability: Join the Earth Day panel at Apple Rosenthaler Straße
Sustainability and fashion - can they really go together? Join us on Wednesday, April 23, as four influential voices from the city's fashion scene reveal practical solutions for a more conscious industry. Moderated by Max Gilgenmann (studio MM04), panelists Ines Rust (DAWN Denim), Marie Wekel (Drip by Drip), and Dörte de Jesus (The Lissome) will tackle the critical balance between fashion and sustainability, offering actionable insights on shared responsibility, conscious consumption, and sustainable production processes.
This interactive session invites you to engage - not just listen, but ask questions and contribute your own ideas to the conversation. Connect with great people from the scene and discover how Berlin is leading fashion's sustainable transformation. The event will be in German, but questions are welcome in English too. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of fashion's more conscious future.*
✨ Handpicked deals
Your purchase or interest will help sustain this project.
🚀 Handpicked Launchpad: Germany needs builders! Recently or soon-to-be funded and looking for talent, beta testers, audience growth, event boost or more? I'm offering selected startups access to our 25,000+ audience. Let’s build.
If you need an expert, check the Handpicked ones: (employee) relocation, employment lawyers, insurance and career coaches. Great people for great results.
Need some CV support but don’t want to pay a fortune for a tool subscription or a coach? Check our GEN AI guide.
☕️ Coffee Talk with Brad Heller
is where my guest contributes three links and I write a short bio. Permanent collection.
Brad is a very experienced engineer and a co-founder of Tower.dev—they raised $2.5M pre-seed in November. They are looking for great engineers. Here is what he prepared for you:
Biererei — One of my favorite spots in Berlin that really reminds me of home in the Pacific Northwest of the USA is Biererei. I'm a huge craft beer fan and they've always got an amazing selection. When I go there, it's like I'm transported back home. They even have beers from my home town!
How to Win Friends and Influence People — This book was really transformative for me! It helped me learn to think critically about how I communicate with others and how to get my message across. I always recommend it to new managers.
Aer Travelpack 3 — A very big part of my life is travel. I think it's an important thing to do (for me at least) to develop a well-rounded sense of the world. Having a really good backpack and travel setup in general makes travel easier! My Aer backpack goes everywhere with me.
🗞 Snippets
is a selection of links focused on Berlin/Germany, career, timeless content and business.
Berlin & Germany, career & timeless
I added a new deal for the Coworking spaces: Industrious is offering 1 month for free for individuals (with a 6-month contract) and a great deal for teams. Check it out here.
Rumours from the hoods around Berlin. A nice thread on Reddit, maybe you find something useful.
DIW Berlin published results of a three-year field study about unconditional basic income (UBI) where 122 people received €1,200 monthly for three years without conditions. The results are positive: Recipients maintained their work engagement while experiencing 42% improvement in life satisfaction, 30% better mental health and saved over a third of the money. Sounds cool, but not sure how this could be financed on a larger scale.
UBI is surely not in the new coalition contract between CDU/CSU and SPD. Our last hope, Kanzler Merz, delivered on getting it done before Easter. In short: Deutschlandticket stays, accelerated naturalisation after three years is out, dual citizenship stays and income tax reductions to come in two years. More. In addition, accepting at least one type of digital payment will be mandatory. Timeline unknown. We will also get a “super–high-tech ministry” for research, technology, and aerospace.
The A100 bridge is getting demolished and rebuilt and you can actually tune in for live footage. They’ll work day and night to get the S-Bahn traffic back to normal by the end of April.
💎 If you are looking for a proper veal Wiener Schnitzel here are two great options next to each other in Xberg: Felix Austria and Austria. I’ve had both and maybe it was a tiny bit better in Felix, but I’d need a side-by-side to decide. Austria has a great Kaiserschmarrn.
More salary data for Germany, this time from Destatis (Statistisches Bundesamt) for 2024 (full-time, gross), the median is at €52,214. The top 1% is at 213k+:
Related, BVG and Verdi reached an agreement, which means that a bus driver in Berlin will be able to earn around €3,800 monthly in 37,5 hours weekly (€45,600 annually). On average, 16.6k BVG employees will get a 15% salary increase.
Career: If you need the money, don't take the job. A great interview for everyone working for themselves or aspiring to do so. When you price yourself as a freelancer/consultant, you need to be reassuringly expensive! “Some of the biggest challenges for the newly independent developer or creator, indeed, revolve around money: how to get people to give it to you, how much to ask for, and how to be worth what you’re asking.”
Career: “After UX salaries plunged by a whopping 12% in 2023, it seems that the worst is over. The Wall Street Journal reports that the pay for product designers only decreased by between 1% and 2% during the second half of 2024.” (via Jakob Nielsen)
Timeless: 50 ways to rest.
Briefly
Bad news: Zalando -450, but 200 will be able to come back later this year (customer service); Forto -200 (Berlin, logistics).
Stats: Berlin's building authorities approved 9,772 flats in 2024—38.5% less than the previous year and the eighth consecutive annual decline (!). Of these, 8,558 will be in new buildings, marking a 40.6% decrease from 2023. (St.BB)
Brighter AI (Berlin, visual anonymisation) was acquired by Danish Milestone Systems, while Zalando acquired DeepAR (London, 3D shopping).
Trump and his brilliant tariff ideas also put planned IPOs of Klarna and 1KOMMA5° on ice.
Trade Republic is reportedly looking into developing its own market maker. (MM)
The European Commission plans to present a proposal to cut back the General Data Protection Regulation in the next couple of weeks.
Tel Aviv will become the latest twin city of Berlin in early May. The rest are: Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Jakarta, Kyiv, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Beijing, Prague, Tashkent, Tokyo, Warsaw, and Windhoek.
Electricity grid operator Stromnetz Berlin will invest €2.9B in the grid in the coming five years. Careers.
Thai street food market opened the season in the new location, Württembergische Straße. Weekends, 23+ food stalls.
Car usage (in relation to other means of transport) in Berlin dropped from 30% in 2013 to 22% in 2023.
Weekly social
Reddit: My favourite topic: restaurants/places removing Google Reviews. A pity it’s all unverifiable and that we cannot do anything against it besides stop taking them seriously.
Twitter: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?
Instagram: English class day 11. “Nooo.”
💸 Funded in Berlin & Germany
is a list of companies that received funding over €1M.
Enpal | Berlin | Green energy tech supplier | €110M | Careers.
Rulemapping Group | Berlin | Rule-based AI automation | €12M | Careers.
Miss Moneypenny Technologies | Berlin | Digital wallet platform | $8M Seed | Careers.
Rematiq | Berlin | Medtech compliance automation | €5.4M Seed | Careers.
Unosecur | Berlin | Identity threat detection | $5M Seed | Careers.
Faradaic Sensors | Berlin | Integrated gas sensing technology | €4.5M | Careers.
Hawk | Munich | AI-powered AML solutions | €51.8M Series C | Careers.
Vestigas | Munich | Digital construction documentation | €8M | Careers.
Clinomic | Aachen | Intelligent ICU assistance systems | €23M Series B | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
always be networking
*sponsored
Five articles with a treat:
Partners:
Berlin Events Weekly: the best resource for events in Berlin
betahaus: 20% off for first three months on your Pro membership
Things you can do:
Join the discussion on Reddit.
Rate us @Google or send a testimonial. Thanks!