A month has passed, and here is the collection again. A roundup of my favourite snippets, up to 6 per week or more. Thank you so much for your support! ❤️ You can also easily navigate to each issue by clicking on the title.
I’ve been really busy with Salary Trends survey. I’ll return to the regular format next month.
📴 I published an article on an experiment on decreasing screen time: Who else wants to cut their screen time? (You can still join our WhatsApp grup)
💅 Share of non-Germans in Berlin grew to 24.4% by the end of 2023. Foreigners congregate: 16 different nationalities were #1 in 542 different planning areas. You can read more and explore the map of top nationality per “planning area” here. (🇩🇪)
🌬️ I was happy to see that the air in Berlin is not such a disaster. We are at #2060 worst worldwide based on historical ranking. I set the filter for Germany (#15 worst) for you to check around. The easiest is to use the “city” search bar far right.
🎥 The market is tough. Now what did Marta do to stand out? A video about herself - and a very good one. My bekannte did something similar ten years ago, but simpler, and it also worked wonders.
✅ I randomly discovered this chap using a neverending .txt file as a todo list and found the idea intriguing. So I set up something similar for myself in Notes, and after a week of testing, it really does work well. Here are also some good “How to manage” todos ideas from Zapier’s blog.
Reddit choices of the week are this advice on how to deal with a bad Schufa rating and a very long thread on industry “secrets” people know that most people don’t. 😳
💬 Briefly:
DeepL, one of the best German tech companies, is expanding to the US via Austin. Careers.
🎥 Cinema recommendations: Dune: Part two. Big fan of Villeneuve, but I think The Zone of Interest is even better. Getting that Yorck pass!
Tesla says the sabotage by the left-wing militant group “Vulkangruppe“ will amount to damages in “a high nine-figure sum”. Experts dismissed the number. The fire on the electricity pylon also affected the deliveries of veggies and other produce to Berlin supermarkets, so it felt like pandemic times again. “Vulkangruppe” has been active since 2018, but I couldn’t find any website. (source: all German media)
Which is the most common street name in Berlin? 12x Waldstraße, 10x Lindenstraße. It’s because Berlin grew into neighbouring towns and villages. (RBB Instagram)
37 Pieces of Career Advice I Wish I’d Known Earlier from Ryan Holiday. I liked this one: 9. When you’re lacking motivation, remind yourself: discipline now, freedom later. The labor will pass, and the rewards will last.
Nobody cares what you do is a 1:54 min YT video about the spotlight effect. The guy shaved his head, and after 10 minutes, nobody cared anymore. Useful and uplifting.
Reddit choice of the week is a list of memberships worth having. Library is a great idea!
🚖 Tagesspiegel reports (🇩🇪, €) that a third of Uber, Bolt & Co. drivers operate without necessary licenses, using middlemen to evade taxes and social security payments. Labo, a regulatory body, faces criticism (no shit!) for ineffective oversight, allowing such practices to persist. Despite police and customs efforts to combat this fraud, its systemic nature points to significant enforcement and regulation challenges. A similar article from RBB. (🇩🇪)
🙌🏻 Berlin history is a great app for exploring Berlin via maps and points of interest. I tested it, and it’s definitely worth a try. They also have Berlin 1945 before/after picture series. You can also participate.
Viva Technology has a 33% hit rate on predicting the next Unicorns, and these are the German companies for this year: Amboss, Anydesk, Auxmoney, Avi Medical, Camunda, Distribusion, Localyze, Moonfare, Oviva, Pricefx, Spryker, Uberall, Xentral and Urban Sports Club. Good luck!
🙄 Career: You probably used job/salary comparison portals. It seems that Glassdoor started adding real names to your profiles if they found them, so this post recommends deleting your profile. (I received this link from their customer support.) At the same time (🇩🇪), Kununu was ordered by the court to remove all contested reviews if the reviewer didn’t agree to disclose their identity after the company complained. Similar to Google reviews, this means law firms will now be able to make money cleaning reputations. “The law firm Sterne-Advo, which also represented the employer side in the precedent case, is already advertising with the slogan: "We checkmate negative reviews.” Kununu says they will appeal.
Timeless: What is your level of confidence in your statements? Try this great calibration exercise by Julia Galef. I cannot recommend the book enough, especially in the age of share-like-and-think-later-or-never on social media. Back in the day, I also reviewed the book.
💬 Briefly:
Tier wants to sell Nextbike, my favourite sharing bike, to PE fund Star Capital. (Welt)
🍽️ I reviewed Da Jia Le on Instagram, a northeastern Chinese restaurant in Schöneberg.
🎉 Oranienstraße was named one of the world’s coolest streets by TimeOut. You also probably know by now that Berlin’s techno scene is now Unesco heritage. What a place to be! And the summer is still ahead of us…
😶 Manager Magazin reports that loss-making Getir wants to acquire loss-making Flink. I guess the rationale is to consolidate the market in the “winner takes it all” logic. Still, I am not sure if instant grocery delivery has sustainable unit economics in “expensive” economies. The new joint venture could also face an anti-trust probe.
Career: Based on Stepstone’s cca. 920k salary data (🇩🇪), the median salary in Germany is 43,750€ (men: €45K, women: €40k). Berlin is #4 on the list of states and #6 on the list of cities. For comparison, in our July 2023 report, we had a median of 70k. A big bubble!
Career: Here is a thread with great advice on onboarding yourself to a new industry or a product in a new job. I like the approach of writing down lots of questions after talking to as many people as possible. After you write stuff down, it often answers itself. Magic!
Timeless: Many (incl. Ethan Mollick) say it’s not possible, but here are great tips on how to spot AI-generated text. In a nutshell: no strong opinons, no quotes, lack of slang or informal language. This is especially true with lazy prompts.
Reddit choice of the week are dirty little secrets that you know only because you work in the industry? It made me stop using the kettle in a hotel room and worry about the expiration date on my medication.
Funded in Berlin & Germany
Ecoligo | Berlin | Funding platform for solar projects | €11M | Careers.
Yendou | Berlin | Automation platform for clinical trials | €1.2M | Careers.
Inkitt | Berlin | Platform for writers to upload books and get feedback | $37M | Careers.
Heyflow | Hamburg | AI-driven marketing process automation | $16M | Careers.
Enviria | Frankfurt | Access to scalable energy-as-a-service solutions | $200M | Careers.
Assemblio | Stuttgart | Software for automatic assistance systems in assembly lines | €2.1M | No careers.
RobCo | Munich | Robot automation solutions for industrial tasks | $42.5M | Careers.
Sunhat | Cologne | Sustainability data collection for companies | €5M | Careers.
INSRD | Berlin | Adaptive insurance for emerging industries | €500K pre-seed | No careers.
Sunfire | Dresden | Electrolysis technology for hydrogen production | €315M | Careers.
Phelas | Munich | Electric storage solutions | €4.1M seed | Careers.
Protein Distillery | Esslingen and Berlin | Sustainable food technologies using beer yeast for protein powder | €15M | Careers.
Greenlyte Carbon Technologies | Essen | Advancing carbon cycle economy | €10.5M | Careers.
Deep Care | Ludwigsburg | Smart solutions for workplace and health safety using AI | undisclosed | Careers.
atmio | Hamburg | Methane leak detection and repair for the gas industry | €1.3M | Careers.
Vitas | Nuremberg | No-code platform for AI-based telephone assistants | €3.1M | Careers.
FrontNow | Berlin | Virtual shopping assistant and product description optimization | €3.8M | Careers.
Quantistry | Berlin | Cloud-based chemistry simulation platform for sustainable material development | €3M | Careers.
Ampeers Energy | Munich | Software-based energy management system for real estate | €10M+ | Careers.
Mindfuel | Munich | All-in-one data product management software | €3.75M | Careers.
Tubulis | Munich | Targeted cancer cell treatment technologies using ADCs | €128M | Careers.
Autonomo | Hamburg | Autonomous retail concept without queues | €2.3M | Careers.
Naro | Cologne | Fund and ETF setup software for companies | €3M | Careers.
NeoTaste | Osnabrück | Restaurant discovery app | €15.1M | Careers.
Spherity | Dortmund | Decentralized identity management | €2.5M | Careers.
Steadybit | Solingen | Chaos engineering platform | $6M | No careers.
Tomorrow Things | Bonn | AI-powered operating system for machines | €1.5M | Careers.
Aquaty | Münster | Venture capital investment platform | €2.3M | Careers.
Solaris | Berlin | Banking-as-a-service platform | €96M Series F | Careers.
Daato | Berlin | ESG management platform for organizations | €5M Seed | Careers.
Fuchs & Eule | Berlin | Platform for real estate management | undisclosed Series A | Careers.
Novocarbo | Hamburg | Biochar production for atmospheric CO2 removal | €25M | Careers.
graswald.ai | Hannover | 3D content library for creating models from real-world objects | $3.3M | No careers.
NX Technologies / Bezahl.de | Cologne | Automotive payment management platform | $24M Series B | Careers.
Xaver | Cologne | AI-enabled life insurance and private pensions platform | €5M Pre-seed | Careers.
Enapi | Munich | Connectivity platform for EV charging | $2.7M Pre-seed | Careers.
Eisbach | Munich | Drugs targeting cancer cell vulnerabilities | $4.5M | Careers.
Thanks for your support! ❤️