Although I have read a lot about tech startups lately, there’s obviously nothing like diving into the real thing! That’s why me and a couple of friends are organizing a startup roadtrip to Berlin; which has a very active startup scene.
We created a web page with the details of our roadtrip at www.startuproadtrip.be. Copied straight from over there, our mission:
Visiting tech startups working on kick-ass products. We want to learn about the innovations they’re working on and discover the start-up culture: how they roll, what the challenges are, the best practices,… we want to know all about it!
Here’s a quick overview of the organizations we are going to visit:
Betahaus
A place anyone interested in startups and visiting Berlin should visit is Betahaus; a co-working place where many small startups and freelancers are working. They do a lot of events, of which the weekly breakfast (with startups pitching) and tour are on our schedule!
Triposo
A startup building travel guides might not sound that spectacular, but just read this short explanation on how they do it:
At Triposo we make travel guides using algorithms. We crawl data from the web, apply some clever algorithms and fully automatically generate travel guides of high quality that cover the entire world.
That’s some fascinating stuff! However, I am very curious to hear how they turn this automatic approach into a usable, high-quality product.
SponsorPay
On SponsorPay’s website, they describe themselves as follows:
SponsorPay is the leading value-exchange advertising platform providing high-quality brand engagement for advertisers and driving user acquisition as well as content monetization for publishers of mobile and social apps.
Or more simply put, they allow app developers to monetize free apps and to acquire new users. An interesting approach they are working with is value-exchanging advertising, which for example allows a player of game to receive bonus points by watching an advertisement video or installing an app.
Yetu
According to their website, Yetu is creating a new standard for Smart Homes. Also according to their website, they are in stealth mode. That means there’s nothing else I can share over here!
Aquilamus
When I emailed Magnus Resch, former Springstar managing partner and serial entrepreneur, he described his current enterprise to me as a company builder. Sounds fascinating, but also a bit vague. Make sure to check out the Aquilamus website, where you can read about their approach – which I absolutely love:
We don’t talk about projects or great ideas. We consider them business. Meetings start on time. We enjoy life. Here or somewhere.
We start internet companies. Around the world. This is our passion.
They seem to have a couple of interesting team members too:
The artistic souls. The exemplary. The rebellious. The disruptive. The unstoppable. The revolutionaries. The warriors. The relentless. The inspired. The ardent hearts. The daring individuals.
This is our team.
T-Labs
T-Labs is the central research and development unit of Deutsche Telekom. T-Labs recently completely overhauled its strategy; even appending “2.0″ to its name. The new approach means going from an ivory tower approach to integrating with the industry, supporting startups and working together with more partners. You can learn more about T-Labs 2.0 in this short movie:









