LFP243 – The Berlin Tech Scene: A Deep Dive w/Ivan Maryasin CEO Monite

In this Xmas special we zoom out from Fintech to Tech as a whole in one of Europe’s coolest capitals – Berlin. Ivan is a great person to guide us through the scene having spent many years in the Ur-tech hub of San Francisco/Silicon Valley. This also means that he understands both the outsiders perspective […]

In this Xmas special we zoom out from Fintech to Tech as a whole in one of Europe’s coolest capitals – Berlin. Ivan is a great person to guide us through the scene having spent many years in the Ur-tech hub of San Francisco/Silicon Valley. This also means that he understands both the outsiders perspective on Berlin tech as well as now an experienced and well informed insider.

Ivan honestly lays out both the highs and the lows of being in Tech in Berlin – the good news and the challenges and the somewhat insane (see below) – that he has encountered with his embedded financial infrastructure startup Monite.

A particularly insane quirk of German law is the need to get documents notarised. Ok well so no big deal eh? Well not as such however if you for example do a raise then the notary takes a percentage of the value raised for (a) reading the whole document out to you in German (even if you do not speak German!) and (b) notarising that “yeh he signed it”.

Topics discussed include:

historical contexts of Germany, a very young country, and Berlin
San Francisco pre- and post- covid years
Berlin is Berlin and international as well as German
is there still a felt sense of former west and east Berlin? What are the differences?
district-centric view of Berlin
where startups tend to be based
Ivan’s career in SF and journey to Berlin
being in SF during boom times
the leading continental tech centres Ivan considered
pre-conceptions/understandings of Berlin from America vs the reality
what gets taken for granted in SF and what the vibe is
different vibes of innovation – SF being in more radical innovation
the more positive developments from Berlin – “finally having a life”
the major tech sectors in Berlin and particular strength
tech scene in Berlin starts in the 90s
German regulation – did they get it right?
are their actually subsector “scenes” or is entrepreneurial activity centrifugally spread around
German tradition of entrepreneurialism
what binds tech firms together in Berlin
Berlin is roughly 1/3 the population of London
comparing via looking at the number/distributions of WeWorks
the city/state/country’s importance or otherwise in creating a tech scene versus it being entrepreneur-led
Germany does a lot of good things for entrepreneurs but also a lot of total passion killers
immigration restrictions for talent lower than the US
what makes it hard to do business in Germany
super-easy to get fined when forming a company
the outrageous notarisation fees (as above) and impact on fund-raising
the difficulties and paperwork involved in a US investor investing in a German startup – the costs can be higher than the raise :-O
challenges of legalities and difficulties there
Case Study  of trivial business expenses – state checking down to €3 or 4…!
due to the challenges a lot of startups are forming legal entities outside Germany
what Germany gets right
“some aspects of doing business are just absolutely crazy or unimaginable for 2023”
many things are still mailed not emailed – “insane” levels of posted mail
well-designed for some activities but not for entrepreneurialism
the investment scene in Berlin – angles/desires and presence of VCs..
why German startups never tend to wide-scale success
the response of successful businesses as a result
what Ivan would look for now if he were starting again
global fundraising to overcome local challenges
what Monite does and where it is going
what embedded workflows are and how they fit in
innovating SME finance

And much much more

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