I also see a lot of hare-brained stuff in Berlin, fairly transparent money grabbing schemes with little hope to make a positive difference for anything and litt

I also see a lot of hare-brained stuff in Berlin, fairly transparent money grabbing schemes with little hope to make a positive difference for anything and little innovation / originality. Germany's most successful former startup is Zalando - they sell clothes online. Notably its success isn't selling the company to a stronger US rival who could have as well crushed it, but saved time and maybe money by buying instead.