In January, I spent 2 weeks in the US. First, I went on a business trip to Las Vegas to the Consumer Electronics Show. I attended the Mashable Awards, met Chris and Gianni, the founders of The Hotlist and Nick and Tuan, the founders of Tivli. Andrew from Milo and I jumped from the Stratosphere Tower (855 feet).
After Vegas, I spent a week in San Francisco and the Valley trend scouting and networking. Opposed to when I was only focused on social media research in the summer of 2010, I now realized that SF really is the startup paradise. I also instantly felt at home and was happy to meet my friends and some interesting new people. Thank you, Michael, for having me stay in Russian Hill – quite a change from my old TL hood.
I came back to freezing Germany and broke my arm when walking out of the office one night. I never broke any bones before but I immediately knew something was wrong. I was totally knocked out for 2 months, 2 weeks in the hospital, with a lot of pain, and not being able to do anything. I went back to live with my parents for 6 weeks which was a funny experience after having lived on my own for 5 years…
I returned to work in April and was very excited to do something useful again. New colleagues had been hired during my absence and I enjoyed meeting them and being back to busy mode. I was then offered the opportunity to join our Munich startup in May and spend some time in the south to meet the team and start working. Although I really wanted to take that challenge and would have loved to work and live in Munich, suddenly, the share holders changed their minds and there was no space for me anymore. I decided to quit my job and searched for a new venture. Those were exciting two weeks in which I met very inspiring founders, investors, incubators and angels from all over Germany. The highlight was definitely the European Pirate Summit in Cologne where a lot of down to earth and authentic investors presented and a lot of true founders mingled.
However, I ran into the new German Airbnb team and these guys convinced me to join them. They offered me to become part of the management team doing Business Development for Airbnb Germany. So I jumped right into it in July being one of their first ten employees. It has been a fun ride ever since. There was almost no time to take a deep breath as we were running against our clones wimdu and 9flats, overtaking them quickly and kept running, running and running. The team grew, I started to talk to exciting partners and there will be great partnerships announced at the beginning of next year. I totally feel I am in the right time and place.
My good friend and cousin married in July and I was very proud of her. It was a beautiful wedding. I wish you all the best, Anja and Phil! According to our annual tradition, Christoph and I went to the Naumann ball - this time we spent a great weekend in Heidelberg with Ola and Niels and many other fellows.
In October, I went back to Munich for a couple of days to celebrate the Oktoberfest with my friends and colleagues. Thank you, for having me, Jule! Those were fun days. Being a celiac I must admit: Oktoberfest can still be fun! There are some tents like the Hippodrom where they serve wine.
In November, I returned to San Francisco for 2.5 weeks. I met very talented and lovely people at the Airbnb headquarter. I was also very happy to be back in the city, to check in with my friends, eat at all my favorite restaurants, dance in my favorite clubs and spend my first Thanksgiving with my friend Tuan’s Vietnamese family.
I totally discovered the concept of collaborative consumption. I cancelled my apartment contract, I am about to sell or give away my furniture and most of my belongings and it feels right and relieving. I will move to a friend’s apartment right in the city center very close to the office, the harbor and the Reeperbahn for 3 months and will look for fancy Airbnb sublets from April on and discover various areas in Hamburg. I am very excited about this upcoming adventure.
I am very thankful for my friends and family who helped me through my broken arm boredom, who listened when I was talking about my Munich venture and later Airbnb almost 24hours. I met some new friends who I hope to see again next year and also promise to see my friends in Brussels, London and Spain who I did not manage to visit in 2011. I totally miss you!
Please, keep in touch!
Love,
-Kati x
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