foundinginberlin

[foundinginberlin]

When cats discover technology

If you can think of it, chances are that it's been done. Now, think of a cat taking a selfie and sharing it all over the internet. Yes, it's now been done; and it was created right here in Berlin at EyeEm's PhotoHackDay just a few weeks ago.

SnapCat lets your cat take selfies on an android or in your web browser, Chrome. It was created in just 24 hours by a great team including Matias Castello (the brains), Victor Mark, Łukasz Wiśniewski, Tobi Poel and myself. Kitties try to tap the red dot on the android to automatically take photos, or in the case of the web browser, press the keyboard to grab a cute icon and take pics with the web camera. The photos can then be automatically uploaded onto EyeEm, Twitter and Facebook.

Why was SnapCat downloaded over 10,000 times and written about by the BBC, FastCompany and Wired? Perhaps because the idea is absolutely absurd. It's so bafflingly obnoxious and simple, that it immediately causes a polar reaction - a fun and shameful story to gape at with friends, shaking heads as to what the world has come to.

But the reality is that SnapCat makes a great story. It's made for being talked about. Matias wrote about the anatomy of good hack on Medium, which is a better insight as to how the hackathon went and what went into it's success.

Make something, anything. Do it quickly.

Download Snapcat for Android Try it in your browser Like SnapCat on Facebook Follow SnapCat on Twitter Check out the selfies on EyeEm

>^..^<

[foundinginberlin]

How to write a novel in 30 hours

So, I still have no idea how one might achieve something of stealth and quality, but can confidently declare that this past weekend I managed to write a "novella" in 30 hours. The challenge was part of The Kernel Mag's #nanowriwee and you can read a bit about it here. The winner will get their novella published by the excellent publishing house, Harper Collins.

The rules were simple:

Write a novel (or, as is more likely, novella… but push yourselves) between Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 January.

Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriWee draft.

Write a novel (or novella). We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction.

Be the sole author.

Write more than one word repeated a bunch of times.

It was a weekend of disruptions including a party with Microwave and RnB dance moves in a Berlin Spätkauf, sleeping in the next morning until 4pm and a Vietnamese dinner party overlooking Kreuzberg. 

Here is a small taste of the visual tone of the weekend:

1. Saturday mid-morning essentials: the serious part of the task. Requirements: coffee, mac, water, audio.

2. The setting: Weserland. My favorite co-working space in Neukölln:

3. Giggles and guys. A Saturday evening spent in the UV light:

4. Sustenance: Delicious Vietnamese cooking class thanks to the wonderful, Mango.

5. The lovely cooking playmates werking it with utensils:

So. What did I write about? Well, it began as a comedy and turned into a soft-porn adventure of poorly written glory and delight. If anyone would like to read what I wrote, please get in touch with me here.

Photos can be found on my EyeEm account here.

[foundinginberlin]

The Visual Week: Part XI

The weeks leading up to the holiday period are always rich with life and probably the wrong side of excesses. My liver has not fared well as the reality of becoming older shocks my body into deep hangovers. In between christmas parties, we managed to get some work done and even took a few photos. Here's how it looked:

Betahaus is always a hub of activity and it remained so in the days leading up to christmas. We have a cozy hole in the corner to work and talk about silly Swedish films...

We shared Capsule.fm with the interns from Betahaus! They look pretty captivated.

I did a touch of work at another great Berlin co-working space, Weserland along with the most stylish present that I have received so far, the very practical and beautiful Monkikoy.

Had a special visitor. We got messy needless to say.

Did I mention that I have become even more of a geek? I have started a course in front end development thanks to General Assembly! Thanks to them, I have already built a brand new website for Capsule.fm.

Had dinner and drinks with the old lovelies from Startupbootcamp. Here's Manu with her presents for family: Monkikoy again.

That's it for now. Wishing you all a delicious christmas.

[foundinginberlin]

Mysteries of the malleable mind

If you ever wondered what it's like to change what you're doing faster than that rhythmic jingle you always imagined that the winning sound of a slot machine would sound like (if anybody, does actually ever win one of those things) then listen up, because I have a lot of experience in changing my mind. I am not great at a lot of things, except I do know how to pirouette my way from idea A to B before you can blink an eye. I guess this has been described as unfocused or non-committal, however being the delusional optimist I am, I prefer to decorate lavishly with euphemisms, namely: flexibility, malleability and open-mindedness.

Twirling around may be a frantic, hyper-whirlwind of energetic magnetism; and I wonder how destructive it is. Does it bind things together like curly, coarse carousel fairy floss, creating a solid sticky mound so thick and wiry that it actually forms a pretty solid, objective and well rounded base? Or - perhaps this pivoting is as destructive as the sharp divide in the middle of a hurricane, waiting to rip up tiny, useless fragments - the core and foundation on which the idea was based.

Focus or flexibility. What works for you?

[foundinginberlin]

The Visual Week: Part X

We have moved from one accelerator program to another and are by being revived with fresh and vital energy by the force at hub:raum accelerator program. This program allows us to co-work in the mighty fine Betahaus office with some really cool young startups. Here is what the week has looked like so far (...it's Tuesday. Right.)

OK, so nothing to do with Hub:Raum. Sunday was the first time I went to an art gallery in over 2 months, so I was similarly revived at C/O Berlin where we saw some cool photographs, this my favorite by Rinko Kawauchi.

The sun! Holy shit. I was sure that I had said goodbye - waved my setting sorrows away for another four, harsh Berlin months. However, I was wrong and it was glorious and all from the Betahaus windows at hub:raum.

There was actually time for lunch at  this week as we celebrated the latest edition to the Capsule.fm team: Saranya! Welcome. She will be working with the big brains, Tor to code the back end of the technology behind Capsule.fm.

Cheap Monday with the glorious Miss McDaid. It turned into a big weekend (minus gallery visits) so Monday could only be welcomed with the three most fitting ingredients: Pizza, red wine and bad movies.

I have a thing for vines. There. I said it. I like the way that they seem to creep so inconspicuously into places that you wouldn't assume unless you peek twice. And they're so unashamed about it. There is life in the city and it is here.

[foundinginberlin]

The Afterhours

It was a few dark weeks. And not in a strained, metaphoric sense as implied. No, it was literally dark. The daylight hid itself - or - more likely, I chose not to see the daylight. We were swaddled in a damp cloth much like those old brown canvas bags that they use to capture dangerous, venomous snakes in as they rattle around trying to bite and steal their last moment of light. But this is all too dramatic. What we were doing was working and for once in my life, work is like a sunshine-rayed, hot-skipping joy which is so saturated with delightful spectrums neon wild of color that I am actually rethinking the start of this paragraph…

To get to the point: We had chosen to hide as we were preparing for Investor Demo Day. The day where we can introduce ourselves to investors, mentors and start-ups and romance them with our vision, achievements and most importantly: proclaim to be profitable.

Things had turned on their heads about a week prior to Demo Day. I was anticipating a pretty cool film which was going to be shot by my ultra talented (you know that kind of talent which is not only inspiring, but simultaneously makes you want to drop everything you ever aspired to become and work in finance just to save yourself from wasting time with your delusional creative pursuits) friend, Sam Smith in New York. I had stayed up until the dark and foamy post-midnight hours of moisture and stillness to chat with Sam and edit the footage he had sent into a captivating story of a busy professional using his own Capsule to relax from the stresses of daily life. 

There is sometimes an odd pit in my stomach and you feel too embarrassed to present what you invested so much time into for fear of well - either mismatched expectations or because you know that what you're about to present is inherently wrong. The latter was unfortunately the case. 

The film had to be completely redone. It was the concept that was wrong. Capsule.fm is not some kind of an escape from reality - rather a connection to reality. It keeps you informed when you cannot be informed by reading. This was when we learnt to fall in love with the gently wet hours that preceded the first charcoal light. We chose darkness.

[foundinginberlin]

The Visual Week: Part IX

Ladies. Gentlemen. It's over. Oh, but what a ride it was. Be warned: there will be an extreme heart outpouring blog post which will explore my deepest feelings about the Investor Demo Day thanks to Startupbootcamp Berlin. This is what the last week looked like:

This was the location for Demo Day a few days beforehand. These seats would welcome the hottest investors, mentors and startups.

Our Capsule.fm CEO and general rock star: Espen Systad before the event.

Prizgo CEO Charley Casey tells us a story. His voice is so silky smooth and soothing that I would like to recruit him to Capsule.fm...

Pre Investor Demo Day: Energy is high with flutters in the air. Here's team Liquid State and Credport.

Post Demo Day paparazzi on stage.

The show now goes on. We're moving into a new office at Betahaus in Berlin as part of Hub:Raum!

[foundinginberlin]

On Repeat

Does anyone else listen to songs on repeat? I'm not talking about the occasional replay of a song which you currently like, rather a constant stream of a song for hours, days on end. I ask because I am always in a constant battle to hide this behavior like a guilty girl with a crush so lavish it must be hidden in a traceless pink cloud of giggles and privacy settings. 

Wanting to repeat things is a trait of mine which I am still contemplating. Does repetition lead to some strange kind of success as we were once told as impressionable and malleable young children "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again."? What we were not taught was that the quote actually continues: "…Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it". When do we draw the line between focus and drive and banging our head upon a brick wall so deluded and dangerous. 

Being sleek as smooth to navigate the slippery sides of a new venture is what creates real creativity and innovation, however I often wonder whether I should treat ideas a little more like my Spotify playlist and repeat until I am can't bear to hear another beat. 

[foundinginberlin]

Ten minutes beforehand

Many people have written about those glorious and surreal moments when on stage; and have described that tingling-buzz, afloat with giddy lightness, which allows their mouths and brain to charge into an inspired auto-pilot rendition of all of the visions collected in their minds from the prior preparation.

But what happens in the 10 minutes beforehand? Those, where your body comes into a strange alignment with your thoughts and the once jittery nerves pull themselves together in preparation for that fight (or maybe flight - if you're unlucky) response.

The room was dark and the audio was loud. At NOAH Conference in London many of the speakers were fairly professional and conservative. That was until Seven Ventures took over the stage to present the seven international start-ups that were competing to win €7 million in total prizes in TV media thanks to ProSieben. And ProSieben knows how to entertain. Think blockbuster style thriller-music and those dramatic, soothingly deep voices possible only in big-budget films.

We were ushered into a quiet area for speakers, where we met fellow nerve-riddled presenters who were also preparing to jump on stage. Espen, Capsule.fm's CEO was then hooked up with his lifeline: A headset microphone and clicker to busy his hands while on stage. From here, I was in the prime position to observe the body language and behavior of Espen and the other six CEO's, moments before their moment on stage. 

There is a period of time, around 2 minutes before you must move to the stage entrance where your body disengages with rational thought and your mind becomes still. This is reflected in the gentle grasping of the hands by Espen and the soothing, forward thrusting posture towards the front of the chair, feet spread firmly at wide braces and elbows anchored to remain strong and quiet. As your time comes, any nerves that continue to linger and are transformed into a magical surrealism, which energetically charges your whole body with belief and inspiration.

I can't say if this was the case when Espen pitched Capsule.fm, but something went right as the announcement of €1 million in TV Media was awarded. How do you feel before speaking on stage?

[foundinginberlin]

3 Conversation Killers

I am by no means a natural talker, nor am I one of those people who you secretly (or maybe not so secretly) wish would perhaps, eventually just maybe - take a long, solid breath so that they can catch up on the insane pace of the jittery and chaotic rambling that - yes they said that and I didn't quite digest that - but now we have moved on and I am nodding frantically but not so sure I agree with… what did she say… impossible, incoherent, galloping ramble.

Clearly, I am not at all like that and actually occasionally need some slumbering, prodding and sneaky small-talk-incentive style motivation to get me going. I do, however have a lot of experience in killing conversations, so read on and avoid, avoid, avoid (unless you do want to put that voiceaholic to rest).

1. Neutral Politeness

Seems like a pretty basic part of human behavior, right: To passively be in vague favor of an idea or plan. And it is. People seek acceptance and this is all well and good, except when navigating the battlefield of networking and talking. So, she basically just poured out her every heartbeat-quickening idea, which she still isn't sure she sits comfortably with. She was quietly prodding for your feedback as you scanned your talk-fried brain for the next thing to chat about. So, when she paused and looked back at you gently from the corner of her eye, she was wanting a passionate response from you. It wasn't that floppy-handshake style, "oh cool" that you managed to collect from the remaining working neurons in your brain. No. It was a heartfelt, yes! I agree and this is why response, or a sincere disagreement in which you justify slamming her dreams of building the next social network for tea fanatics.

2. Daydreaming

You've got that important email, which should be coming in any minute now and that tweet you wanted to post right on the minute is only 3/4 finished and then there's that photo that wouldn't load up on Instagram due to the twitchy internet. So, you're dramatically checking your i-phone and trying your absolute hardest to maintain eye contact, but that damn phone is magnetic and you break the connection for just one moment as you are mentioned in a tweet and then. It's gone. You've lost trust and away floats that conversation, into the space of failed business ideas.

3. Knowledge suffocation

There's a fine line between being charming and knowledgable and completely bombarding a conversation with superior "in-the-know" information. No one likes being patronised.

[foundinginberlin]

The Visual Week. Part VII

Great news this week! Capsule.fm was selected out of 300 applications as one of 7 start ups to pitch at Seven Ventures as part of NOAH Conference in London! Please vote for Capsule.fm HERE!

The week started by escorting fellow Aussie to the Ausländerbehorde and getting him as interim visa. Not the most inspiring place to spend a Monday morning.

We celebrated and fingerpointed as our fabulous CTO an Co-Founder, Tor arrived back in Berlin! We missed you, Tor!

Got all cuddly and cosy with Startupbootcamp as we realised how many doors they have opened for us.

Had some exciting calls and meetings at Axel Springer. 

Met with our super cool and stylish sound engineer, Andrea Belfi who is making Capsule.fm sound like the hottest shit in town.

More pitch practicing where the ultra cool co-founder and MD of Startupbootcamp, Alex Farcet showed us how to really make a show.

Friday meant more celebrations as we prepare for London!

Don't forget to vote for Capsule.fm! HERE

[foundinginberlin]

Shake it to make it.

There was a particularly chilling Winter around two years ago where my boyfriend of the time and I would turn off the lights and dance crazily in our one room 38sqm flat. It was to the worst (best) kind of music that you could ever imagine. Think: ODB, Baby got your money, Ice Cube, You can do it and such titles which are happily left for nostalgic "I was a child of the eighties" moments (or if you're me then playlists titled "embarrassing music" in case accidental eyes stumble across it). It was never anything more than an intense frenzy of energetically flailing limbs and sweaty feet trampling rhythmically across my faux wooden floor. We had so much fun and were caught up in an intense whirlwind of giddy hysteria that nothing else seemed to matter when we shared those moments.

I often wonder whether beginning your own company is similar to that feeling of lucid ecstasy. There is this full focus of being in a moment of joy and vulnerability and the best and only way to get through this is to completely succumb to those fleeting feelings of apprehension and dive down head first (ass up, sorry - couldn't help that) into the sky of freedom and belief. There would have been no fun or success in gyrating around that apartment if I was worried about looking foolish or uncoordinated (that happens quite naturally for me anyway) so the only way to go is to own it.

So go on: shake that ass. Watch yourself. Show me what you workin' fo.

[foundinginberlin]

The Visual Week. Part VI

This week has been all about pitching and finding a captivating story to present on demo day. Here's how it looked:

Weekends are made for my third home, Weserland (behind my actual apartment and Webworker) where I can work amongst the flowers in Neuköllns most cozy co-working space. 

I represented Capsule.fm at the Investors' Dinner at Soho House on Tuesday where 23 other startups pitched (auf Deutsch!) to the 12 VCs. We enjoyed a hearty 3 course meal together with 3 other startups and investors on a table before swapping tables to sit with a fresh group of startups and VCs. The event was a great success and I have at the very minimum made some really great friends from the experience.

We stayed out of the office and found more evidence of an audible future. Imagine what he's missing out on by looking at the screen.

Excitement sets in at Startupbootcamp Berlin where we currently have just another 30 days until demo day.

So Archify came by to share their ideas and experiences of what makes a compelling pitch.

Then it was our own CEO, Espen's chance to inspire by pitching Capsule.fm.

Saturday morning was spent with inspiration at the sound studio aka Andrea's place in Neukölln where we fell in love with some sounds from nature. We're looking forward to next week!

[foundinginberlin]

Starting out: Part I

Starting a company makes me interested in how others started out. I remember my first real job. Well, technically my first job involved making pizza in a family owned restaurant with a liberally salivating boss (health and safety Australia, close your eyes now) who had a temper that was something shockingly slicing that I was secretly hoping that he would delegate the task of pizza cutting to his frailly tender wife who even at my gawky age of 14 was at least a foot shorter than me. No, the first real job I had was in a small branding studio in eastern Melbourne. And by small, I mean in the bottom floor of my bosses house alongside her standard size poodle (and there is a mistake in naming those dogs standard, by standard they actually mean massive). I could never accuse her of being conformist and although perhaps misguided, a soft spot in my curiously emotional heart remains for her.

Major morning task of the day was walking the standard (giant) poodle and by walking, we're actually taking about dog poo scooping. That was fine, I liked the time in the morning light and that huge poodle was some kind of strange magnet for park conversations about running your own business and the best cuts of dog meat you could buy to enhance coat gloss. 

My boss insisted we sit on those fit balls which although surely miraculous for your back, are a miniature nightmare for those working around standard poodles who liked to sniff crotches. Leo was so forceful that I learnt that skirts were not a viable fashion option. Numerous times his wet muzzle crept so insistently down there that I was caused to roll backward on the now extremely non-ergonomic office "solution" of a ball and grasp desperately at the air, legs spreading upwards towards the ceiling, leaving the both of us (the dog and I) stunned with embarrassment. 

My boss was an interestingly open woman. Complex and sensitive, with something to prove to everyone. She was interested in neurolinguistic programming and insisted that I too undertake the course. I was thrilled and took it on with pleasure. We would sit with clients - all together on sturdy, broad fit-balls and drink coffee with such caution as to steady our balance. I was a designer and listened so intently to every syllable they spoke so that I could decide whether it would be a warm and open brand they would be suited to, or whether it was short, abrupt and spiky.

I took this job very seriously and although I learnt lots of lessons about design and dealing with clients, I think that the best skill I came away with was learning how to turn potentially embarrassing situations into shared moments of enhanced connection.

[foundinginberlin]

Berlin: The city of ideas

I am not new to this city. I would have thought that with time I would ease myself into understanding and gentle boredom, however I am probably even more confused and deliriously delighted by Berlin and it's people than I was the day I arrived. 

It is a contradictory place, this Berlin: built on a swap and as dirty and sweaty as cities get, yet as fresh and appealing as that cold beer you once drank on a Summers day in Görlitzer Park where you decided to form a post new wave girl band with four of your closest dreamers, drunk on sunshine and folk music. The great things in Berlin are also the worst things in Berlin and the great things slowly become the worst things and the worst things, the best.

So starting a company in a city that had perhaps once (unjustly) used the word "creative" as a euphemism for "unprofitable" (oh, that's interesting what you're doing there, pity it's so creative) has contradicted itself once again and become "profitable" and seems like a good idea. Firstly, this city is still affordable, so the right people come to explore their own version of creativity, are talented and have the freedom to refine their art. And secondly, these people want to connect and collaborate with people who are also chasing that girl band dream. What once seemed like an "unprofitable" and impossible journey of self discovery and delusion is slowly developing into a healthy new proud identity for Berlin, where that premature energy is now so sophisticated that even the powers from America have jolted upright to sniff at the fresh ideas here.

It's the delirious confusion and complexity that modern Berlin was built upon that makes it a magnet for innovative ideas and people.

[foundinginberlin]

Take a look at the sample Capsule that we made for Anna, the jazz-loving, tech-wiz, weather-junkie as part of our pitch at HY Berlin. 

[foundinginberlin]

The Visual Week. Part V

I have been a bad, bad blogger and in a whirlwind of co-founding duties, have become heavily behind in the magical world of self indulgence. So here we go again. This is what the past week (or even two weeks) has looked like:

We worked on weekends and throughout nights on our presentation for HY Berlin. Saturday night was a blur of 5am film editing and reworking with deep underwater visuals and spell check updates!

The boys from Credport were there on Sunday afternoon too to adjust and practice their pitch.

On Monday, I attended the Investors' Dinner where I had to give a pitch in German in front of many suited men at Ernst & Young.

Ernst & Young have some pretty enviable office views as seen here.

Capsule.fm attended Media Entrepreneurs Day which was a fantastic chance to meet some very inspiring changers in the media world.

We then were ready to jump on stage and pitch at HY Berlin! They like neon pink too.

Espen and I pitched on stage and came second at HY Berlin taking away a trip to Silicon Valley!

Amazing visitors came by the office, such as Andrew Hyde, Co-Founder of Tech Stars! What a week. This week will be spent nailing our business model (finally!). Can't wait.