> Where: At Microsoft Ventures, Unter den Linden 17
It's at the Microsoft product showrooms? I mean this is pretty much Microsoft's take on the Apple Store, I wonder how corporate/marketingy this 'retreat' will be.
No. There's no product showroom there, just a cafe on the ground floor. Hacker Retreat is happening in the space above, where MSV's incubated startups usually are. They agreed to let us use the space in between their startup rounds.
Thank you, I had a bit of a feeling this might be some kind of marketing ploy.
I guess I'm more used to the classical Hackerspace (of which there are quite a few in Berlin [1]), but I appreciate that you are doing mentoring and imparting best practices.
I think 'hacker retreat' gives a bit of the wrong vibe as it sounds more like a place for social gathering (aka a hackerspace) when in fact it's more in the spirit of e.g Games Academy (especially considering the price).
Thanks for the compliment. We certainly enjoy socializing, but effective learning and working take precedence, and we expect an atmosphere of "enthusiastic intensity" at HRet.
The people at MSV have been cool with us. And while they certainly want to have visibility for their program, they've given us all the freedom we need in using their space.
It's a great working space. I spent some time working there as a Seedcamp startup. There's no OTT Microsoft influence, and the ground floor is really just a cafe (tad pricey) with lots of MS products on display.
Only place I've actually seen a Bugatti Veyron (not to mention loads of VW/Bentley/Skoda/Seat models) - no Audis/ Lamborghinis/Porsches/Ducatis though!