Book a flight,find your way in the Krum Popov str. 56-58, Sofia, party with Alex&Alex and enjoy some Bulgarian Rakija.

 What is the aim of Knowable?

Actually, it is going to be a platform for makers, no matter where they are from. And we want to make it as accessible as possible, not only online, but also through the mobile phone. So we are looking for people, who have this kind of do-it-yourself spirit and are into fun, joy, ready to share practical ideas.

Does the name ‘Knowable’ have any special meaning for you, or have you randomly decided to pick it up?

Actually, choosing the name was quite a long process, we brainstormed and in the end we’ve found a good match. It is about a simple knowledge which is available to people. Plus “knowable” means “something you could know, but don’t know yet”.

How did you get to know about the betapitch?

We got to know about it through the betahaus network. We’ve already been here in the Open Design City and knew some guys. We also checked the news and mails from the betahaus. And it was our personal “deadline” for moving further with the project as well.

About betapitch, we were surprised; we didn’t expect our victory, since there were a lot of great pitches. The presentation evening was very inspiring – the audience was awesome as well as the jury. We really liked the betapitch.

Do you have any expectations about working in betahaus co-working space?

We got some experience working in another co-working space, Social Impact Lab in Berlin, where the main focus is on social business. Before that we were working in our living rooms. So, as we think, the idea of the co-working space is to get in touch with other people doing similar stuffs, working together, teaching each other, getting possibilities for collaboration and enjoying company in the café during a lunch or coffee.

We are really happy to be here, especially close to Open Design City, which is a good match for us. There are a lot of potential opportunities that we can work on together, and “the makers” are already here. So, we are really looking forward to collaboration.

 You are a young startup company, what kind of advice would you give to those who wish to create their own startup?

Well, we think the most important advice is just to get started. Try, if you have an idea, don’t be afraid to realize it and just see if it works.

So, what are your plans for the future?

We will team up with the ODC guys for the MakerLab on Human Rights, in the context of the DMY International Design Festival early June. Knowable will serve as a partner for documentation, offering a platform to present ideas and concepts to be further discussed and collaborated on even after the actual MakerLab. This will also make projects and ideas accessible for a wider audience than just the Berlin participants.

The objective is to engage people and explore together what could or should be improved, what are the main rights to be considered, what the contemporary and future development of human rights is.
For example, the main document on human rights is “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights” adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, as a result of experience of the Second World War.  It was stated that rights of every individual everywhere should be recognized and protected by the rule of law. The idea was awesome, but … the document haven`t been updated since then and almost 100 years went by.  Furthermore, was the set of rights really well prepared? What is the inner sense of human rights? Is private property really an essential right? What is about privacy of personal data and information in terms of the World Wide Web, which didn`t exist back then?
These are just the few of questions, which could and should be asked. Moreover, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights” was created with best intentions, but according to National State thinking, so there are quite some points missing, like access to drinking water, for example.
At the moment “Human Rights MakerLab ” is developing the infrastructure and approach to the main event, which will take place within the DMY festival. At the Planning Party last week all the current participants were explained “the autonomous nature of the event”, which means that anyone will have a right and possibility to get involved or spontaneously make any activity. However, a number of preset activities also exist. The final frame and starting content of the event (new content can be created by anyone during the event itself) will be announced at the Opening Night of DMY at Tempelhof Airport on the 6th of June. However, if you want to participate in creation of this substance, FOLLOW THE LINK and see how and where you can get involved or Join them on 28th May in the Betahaus/ODC hof for the next planning party.

Yourz betahaus | Team

PS to get in the right mood check out the coworking cup

How did you discover betahaus? How has the co-working space in betahaus changed since you are here?
I don’t remember exactly how I catched sight of betahaus. I searched  a co-working-space in Berlin and went to visit a couple of them. Maybe a friend mentioned it to me. My first day in betahaus was quite amusing: Me and a friend of mine walked through the building, looking for the offices and desks. We tried to use the lift to get to the top and it broke down. We thought we got stuck, so it was a bit scary. At least it was a kind of funny first impression of the betahaus.

Somewhere action shot moviepilot

I started working at betahaus in August last year. It wasn’t that crowded, also there were less events and projects going on. I had a great time working in the team-space in the fourth floor with my two interns. Since that, the betahaus certainly has changed in many ways. There are bigger and more interesting events and projects going on. A lot of improvements have been made.
I’ve met lots of people and friends her. The space it is not just a co-working space, it is a place where people can cross-over between work and social life.

Why did you decide to apply for betapitch?  What do you think about betapitch?
It took me some time to consider  if I should apply for betapitch or not. In some way it is a super early stage for a start-up. We were just working on it for a few months. Now we have a product and is going quite well. A couple of days before the applications closed I sat down with Christoph (co-founder of betahaus) He told me that he had done several of those betapitches before which got a lot of feedback and resonance. He also told me that the jury was quite strong.

At least we really entered the last possible day and were happy to be accepted. After the pitch was done and the winners had been announced, we really were surprised that we were one of the winners. The other startups were pitching their ideas really strong, too. A lot of great people who have great ideas and do very interesting things. The main purpose of entering betapitch in this stage of the Somewhere HQ evolution was to connect with people and to build a network, not to win the pitch.

Somewhere source code

The betapitch audience was extremely savvy. They understood that beyond us crafting a beautiful service and helping companies address a big headache, our challenge is to turn invisible information into rich, structured data. Which means that we’re actually cracking the source code of company culture.

How do you promote Somewhere?
At the moment we are focusing on the beta launch which just took place. The main focus is to get small companies on board and to use the service. I spoke with a number of companies and explained what Somewhere HQ is all about. We exist to help people and companies find a social fit. We can be a fantastic alternative to existing recruitment solutions.

When I spoke with companies or start-ups in Berlin, a lot of persons told me that the biggest problem is to find the right employees or (the other way round) company. So when we came up with this concept – creating a social fit – we’ve directly got a great feedback.  We approached 30 companies and 20 of them they said they want to be part of Somewhere HQ. Those companies are placed in Sydney, London, New York, San Francisco, Denmark, Sweden, Berlin, France…

That’s one side of the concept. Another one is to create a market place: bringing together an individual and a company. Until now we didn’t try to get the individual on the board or sing up yet, it just happened. People are hearing about us through quite a lot of press or media coverage.
As an individual you can create a profile on Somewhere HQ. You can start showing the real you, as we say. We are reaching hundreds and hundreds people from all over the world.

Does Somewhere has a vision for the future?
We exist to help people to become happier with their work. We’re not making a joint vision statement, we think more personal. We want to help people to find a place where they can be really happy,  use all their talents, skills and experience. To make many contributions, so that when they open their eyes in the morning they can really look forward to the day.

We still believe in place. The country where you should be is the most important question.
The “place”, which includes the team, the people, the environment, the working atmosphere, values is really important. If you find a place somewhere where you really feel good, then the rest comes super easy.

Jordi, one of the betahaus | BCN founder picked me up in his Mini at the airport and gave me a nice drive through the sunny streets of Barcelona. After half an hour we arrived in Graciá, Vlilafranca 7 1km from the center of Barcelona. A well known neigborhood for the creative dudes and hipstars, the Gaudí-designed Parc Güell is around the corner.

I have the feeling I entered a layback very little village, right in the center of Barcelona. Every other street you find your self in the middle of a plaza sitting next to an old Spanish couple or a bunch of tourists from Scandinavia.

Right here is the betahaus | Barcelona located. It s an old industrial building with 5 storeys and 5 rooftop tarraces. One of them is guarded by an old banana palmtree. The perfect place for coworking, chillin and hot summer bbqs overlooking Barcelona and the sea.

The building was empty for more than 15 years and is packed with trashy stuff. Since a few weeks its onder construction to become the place to be for coworker, startups and maker from all over the city. For the last 10 days 17 architecture students from the Elisava University, Barcelona, Masterprogramm in sustainable Architecture and Design have been working hard on a project called „Waste-nity“ waste as an opportunity.

The task for those days has been to create some new furniutures out of the material the students find in the building.

4 teams had 2 days to design the betaspace objects, then another 4 days to work on the prototypes. There are two betabreakfast tables, some chairs out of paper cartonage and a mobile livingroom box.

Marisol, one of the students tells me how the mobile livingroom box will function: „If the box is not in use, it looks like a plain storage box, as soon as you snip your finger it will become a cosy living room, a place to relax, drink and enjoy a break from hard working.“

After this day at the not-finished-yet-but-soon-to-be betahaus| Barcelona I already can imagine how it will be packed with a bunch of coworkers, the next superstar startup enjoying lot s of „sundowners“ on the rooftop tarrace. We have some construction work a head of us but the spirit is already there!

For those of you who are in Barcelona in the moment please come and join Jordi and the rest of the betahaus team for a cold beer on the rooftop tarrace and have a look on the great „Waste-nity“ objects. For the rest of you we ll keep you posted when the official opening will be, you definitely have to book a flight to Barcelona then.

What and who are the Terranauten?

Kay: Terranauten is an interdisciplinary project between dancing and photography. We met each other last autumn, Lisa performed in the backyard of betahaus, and I realised then that she is able to fly. That was the main idea of the whole project. I asked her to do a project about flying, she agreed and we started prototyping.

Lisa: We started like two freelancers, working from ODC. By coincidence, he saw me while I was doing a performance and took a really nice picture when I jumped. After the performance, he talked to me and asked me about working on a project where I was outside gravity. Afterwards, we made a project out of it and we have developed the technique for making me appear as though I was always flying. Nowadays, I appear higher off the ground than before – this is because over several months, we’ve developed our techniques, and also chosen the right surfaces, the right lighting, the right dress to wear, and other things.

Terranauten projekt

What is your main aim with the Terranauten project?

Kay: First aim is to do more art and creative work in betahaus. The second aim is to have an interesting project to impress the people, and to show them that there are still things which are possible.

Lisa: …and to make people to look from another perspective, to touch them, and make something beautiful out of gravity, the power which is given by the earth.

Terranauten project is working with Startnext. Can you tell me more about your collaboration?

Kay: We were thinking about how to raise money for a whole project. We thought about cofounding at first. We found Startnext, and it was pure working together. We will be presenting at the Browse photo festival in June. Startnext also wanted to implement the idea of cofounding in the whole festival and combine that with photography.

Lisa: In the end, we wanted to do also an exhibition there and in betahaus, and with Startnext and cofounding, we were able to get more publicity. The project is still like an experiment – we don’t know where we’ll end up, but we do put a lot of time and effort into it, so we do need money in the end.

Terranauten projekt XI

Lisa: We brainstormed in the beginning, and wrote a long list of surfaces where we want to jump – snow, ice, and so on – and then we got started. We keep challenging the idea of what would be possible.

Kay: We always keep our eyes open when looking for interesting locations.

You are based in Open design city, in betahaus. How does working in this space affect what you do?

Lisa: We get a lot of inspiration here at ODC. People help us with design, brainstorming and other details. The community is really nice, and they support us a lot, mentally and practically. We want to create a community that supports what we do, and is interested in it, and we found just that in betahaus.

Kay: It is our home and our community.

Terranauten project VI

What are your future plans?

Lisa: With Startnext, we would like to organise a flashmob; the people will be the surface, and I will be jumping over them. So the aim is to get more challenges with it, and take more difficult pictures which seem even more impossible than the ones we’ve already done so far.  We are also thinking of taking pictures at different locations in Berlin – we’re thinking of taking some at Alexanderplatz, which is one of the city’s best-known locations –  and in other cities, and maybe even making a video.

Kay: I would like to ask you to please support us on Startnext (http://www.startnext.de/terranauten ) it is really important to us, because we need as many people to support us as possible. With that, we’ll be able to do further work and to develop ourselves. All kinds of support are welcome, and we will reward our supporters with photos, postcards, posters, and other gifts.

We said it before but we can’t say it enough: We are super happy with the betapitch last week. We were inspired by the pitches of the startups, comforted and buzzed by the vibe in our ‘haus and amazed by all the people that came.

Most of all though we are grateful. betapitch means a lot to us, also because it is a communal event, about and put together by community of friends, partners and supporters. Frankly, we would not be able to put it together without them. Thats why we need to give huge THANK YOUs and Shout Outs to a couple of people:

Dear finalists, your ideas, visions, businessmodells packed in 5 min pitches gave us the feeling we were in the first role of the next world cup.

Dear jury members, you were awesome, your wisedom, experience and questions let the 10 finalists not only sweat but will be a great help for their next milestones. Be prepared, some of them might give you a call in the next weeks.

Dear sponsors, it is your support in putting together our bootstrappackage that shows what betapitch is about and what sets us apart from other pitches: being part of a community of creative, daring, professional, inspired, supportive individuals.

Dear Balderton Capital, YouIsNow and Creathor Venture, thank you for your support and expertise, for making a second winner possible and for the delicious dinner afterwards.

And last but not least: A huge THANK YOU goes out the TwitRadar gang! They were responsible for the twitter wall, kept us updated during the event (TT No.2 in Berlin!) and put a lot of work into making it look the way we wanted it to. Some of them even flew in all the way from Brazil, just for the betapitch. Thank you for that!

Oh and we definitly would not have had such a great event with out the one and only superintern Max Krüger – he basicly did all the work that had to be done! We wouldn’t have survived without him!

Now whats next? Maybe a betapitch at Google Campus London? For sure there will be a new round of the betapitch in Berlin on Sept 29th… get your Onepagers ready. After the pitch is before the pitch!! Over and out.

Gourmie

What does Gourmie offer its clients? Is there a particular target group?

I like personal service, so I cook just for one person. Nowadays, I also cook a lot for a bigger group. I like to prepare different kinds of cuisine, such as Japanese, French, and Italian. I can cook at a client’s home, or wherever people are holding events they want catered – I’m a very flexible person. Clients can contact me on my website if they have any questions or need any advice on cooking or food, or if they want me to cook for them or their event.

I don’t have a special target group in particular; I like to cook for anyone open-minded about food. I am running my company alone, so I can cook for as many people at a time as I want. I always think of how I want my food to look first, and then I consider the number of people I have to cook for, and how long it will take to prepare the food.

Matcha Tiramisù

I am originally from Tokyo, but I moved to Europe 12 years ago, and I really like to live here. I’ve lived in France and Switzerland before, and I moved to Berlin to learn German after I discovered the international cuisine here that was present alongside the typical “grandmother-style” German cooking. A lot of my friends come from different countries and surprise me again and again with their national dishes and flavors. I feel really free here, and especially if you’re starting something new, Berlin is the city that gives you the possibility to do so, which is why I am still here and I am happy.

On the 15th of May, you are going to organize a workshop on making sushi here at betahaus. Could you tell us more about this workshop?  What made you decide to start working at betahaus?

Mini Rösti

I grew up in Japan. Fresh fish, directly from the port, was part of the daily menu for me. This is perhaps the reason why I like to make sushi outside of Japan. I already have taught some sushi-making courses at the Volkshochschule in Berlin. This will be the first time I teach one at betahaus, so I would just like people to have fun, discover something new, and gain new skills. You don’t need to bring anything if you want to participate – you just need to be open-minded, and we will have fun together.

I have done some catering for cafes and for other private events, but this was too much for me to take on alone. I discovered betahaus, and I feel it’s best for me because I am always surrounded by people. I love the atmosphere here, though sometimes it can be really stressful during rush hour – people keep trying to tell me something, but I cannot listen to them because I’m too busy cooking. But every positiv feedback is really welcome, so just come over to my cook pult and tell me! Some members made my day really lovely with it. Negativ feedback, too. But not that hard. I’m a bit sensitiv.

Quiche gorgeous

I lived with a French family for a while during my stay in France. My host mother always cooked such delicious food, which is what first inspired me, and also my international friends. I’ve also been inspired by many food websites, cookbooks, and restaurants.

What are your future plans for Gourmie?

Right now I am updating my website, I always like it when people contact me and ask me for help or advice on how to prepare food. I like to help them, even if I don’t know them personally. I’ve also been thinking of writing a cookbook in the future, but for now, I’m focusing mostly on my website.

To be honest we could not have been happier with last night. We received so many great ideas beforehand, and we saw ten true rockstar startups present last night. So competition was tough. And from what we hear, the discussion after the pitches in the jury room was too. But the quality of the ideas presented during the pitches was so high that the jury uniformly decided that there should be two winners: one for societal impact of the idea and one for the business model.

And here they are (we really cant hold back any longer): The two winners of betapitch #3 are…..

KNOWABLE and SOMEWHERE!

Wooooooohooooooo!

As already said, we could not be happier and we cant wait for them to move in.

Thanks to everybody for making this happen. We are looking forward to the next round!