

Twitter Picks Berlin For German Headquarters - platzhirsch
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-25/twitter-picks-berlin-for-german-headquarters-focus-says.html

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untog
I'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.

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blumentopf
I 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
_I 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.

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sneak
This 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.

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tferris
Great 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.

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excuse-me
Although 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.

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herge
The real name is Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland if you need to
disambiguate.

~~~
justincormack
The "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> not sure why
getting downvoted for factually correct information.

~~~
herge
The real name is what people who live there actually use. You only sound like
a twat when using Eire, or calling Irish "Gaelic".

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disgruntledphd2
Well, 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
Ireland 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

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urgeio
Great 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>

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suking
Why 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.

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magnusgraviti
I think they need not so many programmers but staff for call-centers,
marketing, R&D etc.

~~~
suking
What - call centers??? R&D? What are they researching - how store 140
characters?

~~~
magnusgraviti
They 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>
as there is nothing to ask about :)

Look at <http://business.twitter.com/> they have more than just 140
characters.

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platzhirsch
Kind of a game changer given that Google and Facebook chose Hamburg and Munich
for Germany.

~~~
sneak
Munich 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.

