My story with betahaus is a long one. It goes back to 2016 when I joined Urban Sports Club. I still remember my first day there—I was playing soccer with a smart soccer ball in the betahaus yard, shooting against the wall. That was part of my job *laughs*! I joined the marketing team at Urban Sports Club, and my experience with betahaus was shaped by the many collaborations we had with other startups. We did a lot together—marketing partnerships, corporate collaborations—so there are plenty of good stories to tell.

Absolutely! Urban Sports Club started at betahaus, and I definitely recommend it. Building up your first connections with a community, getting to know people, having beta testers for your product —it’s all part of the package. When you launch your MVP, you already have people who can give advice, who can test it. You get connections to investors as well. So I think that all comes together, and I totally recommend it.

I moved to Berlin in 2012 because of the startup industry. I had co-founded my own startup with two other guys, but what has kept me here is the thriving community and the relaxed atmosphere. People aren’t so uptight—they’re open and welcoming, making it easy to find like-minded individuals.

I know people working here, they work long hours, they invest a lot in their startups and projects, but my advice is—don’t forget to invest in your health. Take some balance into your life, do some sports, practice some sports, invest in your well-being. Later on, if you grow a big company, hopefully from here, then also do the same for your employees. That’s my advice.

One of my favorite memories has to be betabreakfast and the betapitches. It was kind of an exchange—you go down, pitch your product, and get some feedback from the community. But also, let’s be honest, we got some free food, and that definitely helps in the early days of a startup as well. *laughs* Let’s not deny it!

My own entrepreneurial journey started during my master’s studies, back in 2010. I was studying journalism, and joined another journalist and a developer to create a search engine for data and social media—something journalists really needed at that time. It was called Tame, and we launched it. We even moved to Berlin particularly for that, to root ourselves in the startup industry. It worked really well—we even got a stipend to go to the US with the German Accelerator and expanded to the US market. But as it happens, sometimes you take on too much heavy lifting at the same time. We broke our back a little bit, landed on our feet, but that didn’t keep me from running. That’s also the great thing about the connections in Berlin’s startup scene. I knew the founders from Urban Sports Club—Benjamin & Moritz. At some point, when my startup was going rather down the drain and theirs was ready to take off, I jumped over and got on the Urban Sports Club train. Never looked back!

I would say the scene is very much alive. It comes in waves. I think there were a couple of big waves and a lot of new startups being founded. Probably the first wave was around 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and then there was another wave definitely around the time that I founded my startup—2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. I’m not as close to the beat of the startup scene of Berlin anymore, but I think it’s still well and thriving. The conditions are still pretty good here in Berlin, so have no doubt the city will continue to be a hub for innovation.

Go check out the wonderful work they are doing at Urban Sports Club https://urbansportsclub.com/de! If you like to read these stories (or prefer to watch the videos), make sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram. We are always sharing interesting stories from the betahaus community. See you next time!

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