One of the main reasons why Berlin is such a fertile ground for startups is the willingness to support each other – the “Friendship Economy”. At NEXT Berlin 2012 Edial Dekker, CEO of Gidsy, Felix Petersen, founder and CEO of Amen and David Noël, Community Evangelist at Soundcloud, discussed the issue together with moderator Mike Butcher, European Editor at TechCrunch, and reported on their experience within the Berlin startup community.

Having the same local base and also having similar questions and problems result in an open community where entrepreneurs help each other and share their learnings. “The whole notion of thank you is more than just an economy or driver for success, it is really what the ecosystem makes out of it”, David Noël summarised. Edial Dekker added, “You can also drop problems. It’s not only about helping each other out with the good stuff, you can also be very open about problems.”