Leaving New York City was not as easy as I thought. I loved the 24/7 availability of food, transportation, action, brands, intensity. Time does not matter. You can get anything you want, at any time you need it. Ethiopean rice dish? On Bleeker Street. Swiss Cheese Fondue? Swizz on 53rd. The best Pastrami Sandwich you will find? Katz on Houston. Sundays? What are Sundays.

I lived in Berlin in 2007 – and I hated it. What is hip about unfriendly people? Why would you be ok with a broken subway system? Yes, I prefer if the trash system works. I hated it.

However, Berlin was changing. From super fucked up to only half fucked up. I visited the city at least a couple of times a year. It was actually adapting to what I liked about New York City, especially about the Upper West and the Lower East Side: Artisan cheese shops, independently owned paper stores, little bakeries and galleries. The things you visit on Saturday morning. Or when you leave the office on the way home. And I saw my friends moving into apartments, that would cost me double my salary in New York. Or as a matter of fact in any other city that I lived in so far.

So when it came down to the decision of where to move next, I had the choice between my favorite German city Munich, and this ever changing beast, Berlin. Still dirty, still ugly, yet the rents still somehow cheap. A tough one, yet I went with Berlin.

Now after three months in the city, I could not be more happy. Friday’s hipster farmers markets on Arkonaplatz. Sundays hipster brunch on Auguststr. Weekdays hipster coffees at Kaffeemitte. Ok, everything pretty hipster. But I somehow like it. And there are somehow fewer people yelling at me because of nothing. The weather still sucks. But so does the weather in Stockholm and London.

So though I obviously miss New York City, I am happy I moved to Berlin next. Even more happy I signed as a VC. And that is what this blog will be all about. Cheers.