(Note: You can find the complete video recording of the TWiST Berlin show below)

What an awesome TWIST Berlin show at Ahoy! Berlin on Friday! It had all the right ingredients to become a Berlin classic! Interesting pitches by passionate entrepreneurs? Check! An audience that supported the Berlin startups like a force? Check! A rant by Jason Calacanis against the Samwer brothers and German copy cats that will become legendary? Check! 

The TWiST hosts Jason Calacanis and Tyler Crowley were more than impressed with the quality of the Berlin startup scene and it is fair to say that Berlin really kicked ass that night!

What went on in a nutshell

TWIST Berlin was the Berlin edition of the famous US live web show “This Week in Startups”, where hosts Jason and Tyler discuss the world of startups. During the show there was a live video stream to the US from the Ahoy! cinema and loft space with a selection of Berlin startups pitching Jason and Tyler across the Atlantic and receiving brutally honest feedback in real time.

The Pitch Clinic

On Thursday night the pitch clinic took place at the cinema of Ahoy! Berlin, a new co-working and event space in Charlottenburg. The cinema was originally built in 1911 and is one of the oldest in Germany. The startups were given the chance to train their 1-minute pitches with a show biz coach as well as VC Christian Thaler Wolski from Wellington Partners and Paula Marttila, a Seedcamp mentor in London. 

The Pre-Selection

A total of 19 startups had signed up to pitch Jason and Tyler live on the TWIST show. However, since the 1-hour show format only fits 5 startup pitches, there had to be a pre-selection on Friday night, just hours before the actual TWIST show.

The cinema was completely packed and with every entrepreneur giving their passionate product pitch the atmosphere heated up. For those who could not fit into the cinema anymore (it only takes 120 people), a livestream was shown at the Ahoy! loft upstairs. Both locations combined, a total of more than 200 people showed up, enjoying free beer and pizza alongside the pitch event. Unfortunately the audio transmission between the cinema and loft had some problems, but it was fun to communicate visually between the two locations with people giving their best at sign language. One guy even bluffed a striptease! 

The jury, comprised of entrepreneur Henrik Berggren (Readmill), VC Paul Jozefak (Liquid Labs) and blogger Marguerite Imbert (Venture Village) had a tough job choosing the best 5 startup pitches, since the quality was just so damn good overall. Reflecting on the pitches Henrik Berggren later said: “It’s amazing how diverse and creative the Berlin startup scene is, copycats is definitely a thing of the past. The fact that my favorite pitch was a Windows app says a whole lot.” VC Paul Jozefak got a similar impression, stating that he ”.. was positively surprised by the number of innovative ideas, i.e. hardly any copycats” and that “pitches were also well prepared!”

The TWIST Show itself

At 10pm CET, the actual live TWIST show was broadcasted. The five finalists of the pre-selection all boasted compelling products: 

• MeineSpielzeugKiste.de - A subscription based model that sends out monthly boxes with educational toys for your children. Great for cash rich, time poor parents. If you just want to watch their pitch only, click here. Complete video with feedback, etc. further below.
• KeyRocket - A software that lets you effortlessly learn new shortcuts for your computer. By improving productivity of workers (i.e. Excel!), companies may be very price insensitive here. If you want to watch their pitch only, click here. Complete video with feedback, etc. further below.
• Fashioni.sm - A location based discovery app for fashion products, think Foodspotting for fashion! The local off-line search market that this app taps into is huge and still unsolved. If you just want to watch their pitch only, click here. Complete video with feedback, etc. further below.
• SquadMail - Allows you to share email folders directly from your mailbox with groups and teams across other mail providers. Neat feature that also increases productivity. If you just want to watch their pitch only, click here. Complete video with feedback, etc. further below.
• Cinovu - A stylish platform for independent films. Users pay per minute, which leverages curiosity and allows users to test out different genres. If you just want to watch their pitch only, click here. Complete video with feedback, etc. further below.

The live show started at the Ahoy! cinema, but as the Wifi got worse moved up to the Ahoy! loft. The atmosphere was truly electrifying, with startup founders giving enthusiastic pitches full of passion. When the show host Jason Calacanis criticized some aspects of Cinovu, founder Shermin Voshmgir fought back and won the hearts and minds not only of the audience at Ahoy!, but also of the host himself in the US: “I love the fire in Berlin… this is a fiery group. They are going to get their point across!”

The Rant against the Samwer Brothers 

After acknowledging the innovative new startup spirit in Berlin Jason started a rant against the Samwer Brothers and how they had ruined the image of the German startup landscape. He said that Germany was getting a “bad name” because of the Samwer brothers whom he referred to as “lying and cheating … photocopying thieves”. 

The audience loudly cheered in consent! It seemed that finally someone with broad international reach called out what many Berliners think. 

What became clear though is that Calacanis’s remarks about German copying referred to the past. At TWiST Berlin he got to see the present and he should better fasten his seatbelt for the innovative future of the Berlin startup scene!

The TWiST Berlin Winners

Because of the great quality of pitches and products, the two hosts of TWiST ended up having real problems determining a winner and opted for a tie between KeyRocket and MeineSpielzeugKiste instead! However, all 5 startups ended up winning tickets to the coveted Launch Conference that Jason organizes in San Francisco in March. To conclude with the words of Christoph Räthke, who ran the Founder Institute in Berlin and has lots of experience evaluating pitches:”I can’t remember when I heard so many solid pitches the last time!”

The Video recording of the TWiST Berlin Show  

Be sure to have a look at the full video of this wicked TWiST episode! If the video does not open in the Browser, then just click on this link: http://youtu.be/ibLRmy-oA6o

The After-Party

After the show was over at around 11:30pm, our legendary Ahoy! Berlin “resident DJ” :-) Daddy Hemingway took to the turntables and span his great tunes. For those of you who do not know Daddy yet: He is the most legendary musician and DJ you are likely to ever meet! He was a roadie for Coltrane, sat on a panel with Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, won a Grammy and received a thank you note from Bill Clinton! Nuff said?

So we ended up doing what had to be done and partied the night away with the last guests leaving Ahoy! at 6am! 

Thanks to Radek and Lutz for bringing this event to Berlin. It was an honor to be involved! 

by Nikolas Woischnik