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Some tech startups in Germany
- iagooar 11y agoI always ask myself when does a startup stop being called like that and become a company or enteprise. Some of the "startups" on this list are clearly pretty grown up and calling them like that seems a bit odd to me. This, or they keep calling themselves startups because it's cool and you can pay your employees a lot less.
- jacquesm 11y agoA good rule is that it is a start-up as long as everybody knows everybody else by name and is allowed to talk to the CEO directly.
- wongarsu 11y agoI worked at a small technology company where that's still true and the company is two decades old by now (very successful in a very small market). There are probably small watch-makers that are over a century old and still a start-up by this measure.
- jacquesm 11y agoApologies, I was assuming recent entry on the corporate scene and a goal of growth but if you feel that small watchmakers over a century old are 'in scope' then I should have probably been more clear.
- wongarsu 11y agoThe problem with that is that in Europe "entry on the corporate scene" is not as much a thing as it is in the US. Most companies here are comfortable staying small or growing slowly, while American companies seem to generally seek out drastic growth. It's a culture difference that makes classifying things as startup or not startup more difficult.
- wlievens 11y agoI work for a company with ~50m revenue, 75 employees that's exited a year ago, and both your criteria are true. I don't think we're a startup though.
- raverbashing 11y agoI like that rule, but I think the best definition of start-up is the more 'original' one. A company is a startup when they still have doubts about their business model. Hence, when people start paying for your service (not investment), it's not a startup anymore.
- tonyjstark 11y agoThis. I always wonder when a startup becomes a company too. I heard Soundcloud is paying good money though but at least for all the Berlin startups the wage is more one the low side. Wire for example is based in Switzerland for taxes but the development happens in Berlin. A not-to-be-named company I worked for decided not to outsource development to Warsaw since developers are more expensive there than in Berlin (they found even cheaper ones later in other countries though). For some of the list I still wonder why and how they exist since I don't get the business model but maybe a startup is a startup as long as they live from investor money.
- thijsc 11y agoI like Steve Blank's definition: A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. See: http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/ http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-princ...
- atroyn 11y agoClue are doing really great work in grass roots women's health. ResearchGate often also often flies under the radar but is really changing the way science gets done. Wooga has a pretty great culture with a lot of ownership and independence. Berlin is a great place to live, so if you've thought about making the move I'd seriously consider applying at any of these companies.
- zerr 11y agoI have an impression that one of the main selling points for Berlin particularly is the cheap labour - experienced engineers salaries are within 50-60K EUR range... Some time ago, Berlin had a reputation as a cheap place to live, and "poor but sexy". I think this is no longer the case.
- walshemj 11y agoCompared to sv all of Europe has cheap engineers. Googles starting salary would be considered very good for a senior developer.
- tormeh 11y agoI'm reading up on some computer science literature right now, and the American dominance in the field is utterly complete. I don't know what's wrong with the European (and rest of the world's) approach, but it's surprisingly bad at CS research. I'm guessing the underlying causes are the same.
- nbraem 11y agoI thought a lot of compiler and kernel research came from Europe?
- tormeh 11y agoI should have qualified my statements a lot more. I'm just reading up on research in deterministic multithreading, and I've only seen American universities on the papers I'm reading for a long time and I was being hyperbolic. Yes, there is lots of interesting research and development in Europe. For example, static analysis of actor systems is a mostly European thing.
- walshemj 11y agoNot to mention Colossus, Baby and the Z series from Germany
- wongarsu 11y ago
- throwawayaway 11y agohttp://uk.businessinsider.com/the-best-tech-startups-in-germany-2015-5?op=1 http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-best-tech-startups-in-germ... link for article as one page
- panamafrank 11y agoOk so Research Gate employ their moderators on short term contracts (<6 months) at minimum wage (€8.50/h) so they don't have to give them much in the way of workers rights and the managers of said mods are technically interns.
- smil 11y agoAll non-CS entry-level jobs at startups that I've seen in Berlin are "internships" and pay unliveable wages, if at all.
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- k__ 11y agoCrytek a startup?
- wink 11y agoAccording to Wikipedia[0] it sounded like the current Crytek is not any longer the same company as it used to be. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crytek#Restructuring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crytek#Restructuring
- k__ 11y agoSad to read. Crytek seemed to be the only international relevant game company from Germany.
- gumby 11y agoOK they are startups, but most don't seem to be technology startups. I liked living in Berlin but this is excessive boosterism.