In early 2000 Berlin’s major Klaus Wowereit claimed Berlin to be poor but sexy which almost all bloggers and entrepreneurs regard as being one of the main reasons of Berlin’s allurement but poorness usually doesn’t attract entrepreneurs. So what is behind that?
Berlin is simply cheap like Laurie Segal (CNN) declares, from cheap rents over cheap food to cheap labor. This is especially important for a young start-up. You can simply survive a little bit longer than in other major start-up cities like New York or London.
Niklas Zennström co-founder of Skype explains that it’s also very easy to find a place to live at and also finds that a creative atmosphere attracts entrepreneurs rather than a financial one. To him another important factor is the Technical University Berlin, providing entrepreneurs with an unlimited number of technical raw diamonds.
Sarah Lazy from Techchrunch one of the most renowned start-up blogs points out that Berlin is because of it’s historical background the perfect natural gateway between Western Europe’s mature economy and the surging talent of the East.
Not only that the city is alluring with certain professional benefits but Berlin is also very famous for its wild nightlife. You can your mind off work at any point of time on every single day of the week to afterwards start working again even more concentrated.
After Schuyler Deerman from siliconallee.com those were the reasons for entrepreneurs coming to Berlin earlier nowadays they come here because of the hype which has been created by the first ones arriving. Today it’s sufficient to justify your relocation with one word, Berlin.
This hype is enhanced by media reporting endlessly about the Berlin start-up scene but sooner or later this attention will fade and people will be talking about different topics again.
But what will happen to the scene without this very attention?
Schuyler believes that this lack of attention won’t bother the scene in any way but in the end it is how Alexander Ljung, co-founder of Soundcloud said: “I kind of get the feeling that the whole city of Berlin is a start-up. It’s fast-moving, chaotic. You don’t really know where it’s headed, but you know it’s headed in a good direction, and that’s a start-up feel.”
Lucas
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KathrinS
November 21, 2011
Good one! I liked the way you presented the topic and that you cited opinions of different entrepreneurs. The reason for Berlins attractiveness are very various and I completely agree with the reason stated.
Berlin is very famous for it scene and I think that there is a lot of potential for creative people in this city. Berlin is very alternative, caotic and in my opinion the German metropolis differs a lot from other German cities. I hope that Berlin will manage to become more and more sexy in the future, attract further start-ups and that it will keep its non-reversible atmosphere. Your blogpost is a really good eye-opener and I will definetely continue following your entries!
ibmancaroline
November 21, 2011
I really like your post! You used a lot of sources, it was easy and interesting to follow and you ended it with a nice question that showed me that you thought about what you wrote. Nice work! 🙂
alina
December 18, 2011
Hey Lucas!
I’m impressed. I read through your post with a lot of interested and you ended it up in a really nice way. You pointed out all of the aspects which make Berlin as interesting as it is- especially for start-ups. It was cool that you also looked at it in a rather sceptical way, that Berlin might just be attractive due to the enormous attention but then disproved this thesis by Schulyer and Ljung. Very nicely done because your post does connect the typical Berlin (good nightlife, chaotic, cheap) to the advantages for start-ups!:)