Hello,
Before we jump in, it would be fantastic to see you at our first-ever hack night sponsored by OpenAI. We will be building apps that can be used by agents. Join us for a hack night, build something, win prizes and meet new people. We will have pizza and drinks.
The alpha version of the new job board is now finished, but unfortunately we still need to tweak the scraping process a bit, so I do hope to be able to release it next week. I am really looking forward to your feedback. Here is a sneak peek:
📌 Pinned
“Sorry for dropping this” was my last email apology today. I replied to an email after a week. So I was happy to see this excellent piece of advice on how you don’t really need to reply to an email. “Except if explicitly stated, don’t feel any pressure to reply to one of my emails. Feel free to read and discard the email. Feel free to think about it. Feel free to reply to it, even years later, if it makes sense for you. But, most importantly, feel free not to care!” I will for sure stop apologising. And if I need your response I will follow up.
How many "sorry for the late reply" emails have you sent last month?
👀 Jobs
1 job highlight of the week
The real thing is coming soon, and it’s gonna be 🔥
I’m really excited!
💸 Funded in Germany
bunch | Berlin | PE/VC fund management platform | $35M Series B | Careers.
Getquin | Berlin | Investment tracker becoming wealth manager | €12M | Careers.
LawX | Berlin | AI OS for law firms and notaries | €7.5M seed | Careers.
Feldwerke | Munich | Agri-photovoltaic project developer | €12M credit facility | Careers.
Invertix | Munich | AI workers for renewable assets | €1.7M pre-seed | Careers.
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📅 Events
This week we reviewed 71 events and handpicked 13. Check all 43 events at luma.com/handpicked
From our partners
💻 Join WeAreDevelopers World Congress Europe — 15,000+ engineers, 500+ speakers, real production stories from top tech companies. Use code HANDPICKED_BERLIN for 20% off. | Wed, 08/07 09:00 | Messe Berlin
(last days of Early bird!) Berlin AI Day is a full-day event bringing together 550 leaders, operators, and builders to explore how companies are implementing AI and automation in their work. Speakers from AWS, HiBob, Revolut, HelloFresh, Mobile.de, FINN, and more will share what's working, where they've struggled, and lessons learned. 25% discount at checkout! | Tue, 15/09 9:00 | Festsaal Kreuzberg
🚨 We literally have a couple of spots left for our AI app building workshops: this Saturday and next Tuesday. We also announced demos and our speaker at our first Everyday AI Club.
Our highlights
tonight KREATIV UNTAPPED #1 – Storytelling Untapped w/ Ben Sauer | Thu, 21/05 18:30 | Thoughtworks
Ship your first MCP App in one evening (Hack Night with pizza + prizes) | Thu, 28/05 18:00 | Mindspace
Foresight Workshop: Bootstrapping Research Agents — Hands-On for Scientists | Sat, 23/05 10:00 | Berlin, Germany
Silent Reading / Creating Club at W66 | Sat, 23/05 10:30 | Berlin
Berlin Chili Fest: Spring Event | Fri, 29/05 18:00 | Berliner Berg Brauerei
Fuckup Nights – LOVE Edition🍦 | Fri, 29/05 19:00 | Impact Hub Berlin
MIDWEEK RESET | Wed, 03/06 18:00 | Flowstate Labs
☕️ Coffee Talk
is on a tiny little break. Browse all the treasures on the link above.
Don't miss what Berlin's talking about
Thousands start their week with my Berlin weekly briefing. News, business, tech & culture you won't find elsewhere. Mondays, 7 AM. Free.
Most popular last Monday:
🌍 From the Community
Help Ali: “I'm researching how companies grow in 2026 and want to hear from CEOs, founders, marketing/growth teams. What are your biggest growth challenges when AI is ripping up the tried and tested playbooks? The survey takes <5 mins and is anonymous.”
Another survey from Marijana and Lucija: “Something's shifting in UX, PM, and engineering roles, but we don't have data on how or why. Help us map what's changing. 10-min anonymous survey. Findings will be presented at Future Builders 2026 & shared with the Berlin community.”
Claudia is looking for an EU trademark lawyer: “I’m in the early stages of building a consumer-focused app, and I’m searching for guidance from a EU trademark lawyer, ideally in English or Spanish.”
Last week I asked you about your favourite methods for selling an idea at work. We didn’t have a clear winner:
🧭 Career compass
A gorgeous reminder about the dangers of AI/LLMs, because we are often not capable of properly evaluating their output. “These models will happily equip misguided thinking with a fluent, authoritative voice, which, in turn, sets up a psychological trap by delivering nonsense in a nice package.” The output almost always looks like competence, which is the only signal most people use to gauge their own competence.
For everyone struggling with finding a job and being totally burned out by the search: try to take a rest. “When you rest you give your mind the space to explore possibilities it never had time to consider. Often this exploration happens without your knowing it. Suddenly you see a new way to tackle that challenge.”
Here is some good piece of advice on the follow-up email after the interview. Don’t go: “Thanks, just wanted to follow up, I really liked the interview,” but include something specific, helpful or a concrete idea.
Don’t miss
Need help with finding a flat, insurance, have problems at work or are you lost in career or life? Talk to our Handpicked Experts.
Going into a salary review or offer? Walk in with the numbers and 12 negotiation tips.
Handpicked Community talking about money. Plus ideas for your setup.
How to learn German? Three very hands-on articles.
Handpicked recs: a growing archive of recommendations.
