Welcome to Berlin. :)<p>I came to Berlin roughly 5 years ago before the investment started pouring in and most startups were existenz grundungs, this is when you get 50k from the government and you underpay some interns to build your MVP. It was pretty shabby back then, and things have changed dramatically in the intervening years, but most people came for this vague idea of living cheaply and doing what they want - you could say they washed up here as tourists and stayed. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but these people are being replaced with people coming here for startup jobs that pay real salaries. It used to be that ~500 euros a month was a good startup job, now it's more like 4-5k.<p>All of this change is happening while Berlins administration is still the bureaucratic and slow machine that it always has been, they haven't built affordable housing in 25 years, there's no plan on how to reduce congestion or prevent gentrification from wiping out existing communities. Registration takes ~3-5 months to get an appointment, god forbid you're a foreigner and have to also register at the ausländerbehörde and wait from 3am for the 1 of 50 tickets available that day.<p>It's nice that people still see a future here, but i take an issue with such a rosy picture of what it's like to live here, because it really isn't the case.
The benefits she mentions are legitimate, even though two of them have nothing to do with Berlin and could be obtained by moving to any new city. (no distractions, and changing environment equals greater creativity)<p>So it really boils down to this for her: Berlin is affordable and it has a good meetup scene. Affordable is relative, salaries are lower in Berlin than in many other cities and the cost of living has been on a rise as more people move in, but at the moment she is absolutely right about this much: cost of living is still significantly lower in Berlin than in London (<a href="https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+Kingdom&city1=London&country2=Germany&city2=Berlin&displayCurrency=EUR" rel="nofollow">https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...</a>) [1]<p>Depending on your product Berlin can be good or bad. I think its almost always a great fit if your product targets the German market initially and you want to eventually expand out from there. The other way around will be much more difficult, mainly because you're sitting in Germany and you're whole business side of operations must be run in German, under German law, rules, and regulations.<p>Having said this, as far as her specific product idea goes, I could see Berlin being a good fit for her. The super young hipster culture is pervasive throughout Berlin, and it seems like an idea that would work well in that market.<p>1. I worked on a German startup for 3 years in Berlin
"My business is called The Echo Chamber Club — we curate articles that counter a traditional metropolitan viewpoint and send them to our hundreds of subscribers. It makes sense that I remove myself from London to understand new points of view and communicate them with my subscribers."<p>With regards to "liberal metropolitan" viewpoints, Berlin won't challenge you anymore than London did. It's just another global city where inside your group of people you are likely to meet (given what you work in) they will more than likely be liberal and metroplitan.
I'm planning on moving from London to Berlin within 6 months (I'm British), and mostly for the same reasons (RIP fabric). I have a couple of German citizens as friends who are also seriously considering doing the same. My main concern is how to avoid joining the English-speaking bubble. Although nothing has charged my motivation for learning German more than the recent government responses to Brexit. It does feel a bit ironic that I'm fleeing to Germany from a fascist government.
Why Western Europe if you want to get cost of living down and move somewhere ? Eastern Europe is 1/3 cost of living, usually has very good tax rates (Bulgaria has 10% flat tax on income + local tax for example, Hungary is close AFAIK) and there are startup accelerators trying to take advantage of that.<p>If you're using your own money to fund it and have customers who don't care about your location you'll have much easier time finding employees, especially non-technical staff like art/marketing/sales/customer support.
While the author makes good points about the relative affordability of Berlin, one does have to wonder what the general plan for newsletter profitability is.
Dresden is even better. I moved from Houston, TX to Dresden and I'm very happy with my choice. Technically it's more interesting, as the University and high tech companies here are much more advanced (i.e the l4 microkernel is from here), prices are the same, and Dresden is a much more beautiful town than ugly Berlin. Lots of English speaking foreigners, and people are more friendly. For startup's there's only one or two meetup points and helpers/investors but still better than Houston or Austin.<p>If going for cheap, Wroclaw or Prague would be better.
The conversation focuses on price, but the other points are key.<p>1. There's a huge tech scene in Berlin and it's easy to meet bright people.<p>2. People want to live in Berlin. The art and music scene attract people.<p>Affordable alone can be found in many places. Combined with 1 and 2 is a pretty unique proposition.
Genuine question, Whats the business model for The Echo Chamber Club? I've always seen newsletters as a marketing tool for a business, rather than a business itself. Very interested to how you'd make money with it as a standalone business.
Before I click the link: Berlin is cheaper than London.<p>Edit: And I was right, haha.<p>While London is one of the most expensive cities in the world, Berlin is cheap for German conditions. At least the parts that haven't been gentrified yet ;)<p>Berlin is really cool and has lots of alternative people and seems to be the only german city with a bigger start-up scene, but it's poor AF. I'm living in Stuttgart and while I prefer to hang in Berlin, the money is in the south.
For clarity: This is not my work. The author is my most excellent friend alicelthwaite (<a href="http://echochamber.club/" rel="nofollow">http://echochamber.club/</a>)