6 ms·
Twitter Picks Berlin For German Headquarters
- platzhirsch 15y agoKind of a game changer given that Google and Facebook chose Hamburg and Munich for Germany.
- netrus 15y agoGiven the development of the startup scene in all three towns, the decision is hardly surprising.
- excuse-me 15y agoGiven the development is likely to be in eastern Europe and Berlin is the eastern most city that you can expect contracts to be honored and the police/tax/authorities to be legitimate - it makes perfect sense. (Apologies if Helskini is east of Berlin !)
- codesuela 15y agoAirBnb is also in Berlin edit: don't know if it's an "office" but it had a bunch of people sitting under a Airbnb banner in a dedicated area whose entrance said "Airbnb"
- sneak 15y agoMunich is stuffy and expensive, Berlin is comparatively poor and open verrrry very late. The game hasn't changed - it's just a totally different environment, for vastly different hiring objectives.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- untog 15y agoI'm surprised more companies haven't chosen Berlin. Big startup scene, desirable location, great transit links... seems to be obvious to me. I must be missing something.
- derrida 15y agoI've never been to a city with more Hackerspaces than Berlin. There is just a lot of free space to go and meet people and collaborate. It's also very cheap.
- blumentopf 15y agoI can certainly think of German cities with advantages over Berlin. Karlsruhe for instance has an extremely awesome scientific community, its university is in fact home to the oldest computer science faculty in Germany and coincidentally was the first place in Germany to have leased-line Internet connectivity (in 1989). There's an abundance of excellent engineers coming out of the university which is definitely a plus when you're staffing a startup. Also, much nicer weather compared to Berlin and a much more affluent region with better infrastructure and more companies. Frankfurt/Main also comes to mind, the secret Internet capital of Europe and home to the largest Internet exchange in the world (DE-CIX). I guess it's just that these cities aren't as sexy and hyped as Berlin.
- untog 15y agoI guess it's just that these cities aren't as sexy and hyped as Berlin. I know it sounds like that shouldn't matter, but it does. People want to live in desirable places with other amenities than just good jobs. I would agree that Frankfurt/Main would be a good destination too, though.
- justincormack 15y agoI used to spend a lot of time in Karlsruhe and like it, but it is fairly quiet, and for someone like twitter not having flights from the US might be an issue, though the train from Frankfurt is pretty quick. It does also have the most extensive tram system in Europe.
- 15y ago
- excuse-me 15y agoAlthough presumably, like Google and Facebook, it will still claim that it has no substantial presence in Germany and all it's Eu revenue is generated in Eire and so pay no tax.
- herge 15y agoThe real name is Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland if you need to disambiguate.
- justincormack 15y agoThe "real name" depends on what language you speak. It has two official languages, and in one is Éire. Edit: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Irish_state http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_Irish_state not sure why getting downvoted for factually correct information.
- herge 15y agoThe real name is what people who live there actually use. You only sound like a twat when using Eire, or calling Irish "Gaelic".
- disgruntledphd2 15y agoWell, yes and no. I agree that I have never heard anyone call the country Eire (except for me when posting letters from the UK), it still remains that the canonical interpretation of our constitution is in Irish, as as such , the name Eire takes legal preference above the Republic of Ireland.
- excuse-me 15y agoIreland is ambiguous and likely to annoy half the inhabitants, Republic of Ireland sounds like legal small print and "the south" is a euphamism if you don't know who you are talking to in a bar in Belfast. So Eire is safest ;-0
- suking 15y agoWhy does twitter need so many employees? I could see like 50... Nothing has changed in years there, they have 1 product which is posting 140 characters. Everything else is pretty basic, just big scale. I don't get the need for thousands of employees.
- magnusgraviti 15y agoI think they need not so many programmers but staff for call-centers, marketing, R&D etc.
- suking 15y agoWhat - call centers??? R&D? What are they researching - how store 140 characters?
- magnusgraviti 15y agoThey have millions of companies posting twitter messages and they provide analytics and other tools for businesses. I think they need a lot of people at call centers, support department etc. All we see as users is 140 characters + apps https://twitter.com/#!/download https://twitter.com/#!/download as there is nothing to ask about :) Look at http://business.twitter.com/ http://business.twitter.com/ they have more than just 140 characters.
- tferris 15y agoIn particular Partner Managers who bring the "Twitter mindset" into large media publisher and tech companies (compare how established Facebook as a tech platform is)
- sneak 15y agoThis is great news for the Berlin technology scene, if for the halo effect alone (big brands attract big talent). Berlin is indeed a great place to live, and I think a lot of companies will follow suit in the next few years. Accordingly, rents will continue to rise sharply and all of the qualities that initially made Berlin an above-average-attractiveness choice for employees and employers alike will eventually evaporate - but that will take ten years, and lots of people and companies will build lots of awesome stuff in the interim, all while saving tons on rent and other living expenses. Give it a whirl! 'tis a fantastic place. Ping me when y'all arrive.
- tferris 15y agoGreat news. Hamburg is usually very good in attracting strong online brands (Airbnb Germany, Facebook Germany) but this time they weren't and it seems that Hamburg as a online/tech destination is slowly questioned. Hamburg and the people there are quite nice but Berlin it's a completely different ball game. Everyday, VCs shotgun boatloads of money to Berlin based startups, the largest European VC are moving to Berlin and really EVERYBODY is in Berlin right now.
- urgeio 15y agoGreat news for Berlin, the place to be right now. I am using this thread for a shameless plug: if you are interested to come to Berlin and to work here please check out opportunities at our brand new startup: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3653322 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3653322