“I don’t want to see any business cards tonight,” shouted Christine Henning of Ehrensenf as she kicked off the first Battle of the Startup Bands Berlin. It was indeed a great way for a whole raft of startup people to let their hair down and forget about business in the former HBC venue near Alexanderplatz.
Six bands were competing for the top spot, but it was Thin Drapes, whose vocalist works at TurnYourTime, who took home the honour of being Berlin’s best – though that doesn’t mean to say Bad Hair Ambulance’s cheesy versions of ‘Rock Me Like a Hurricane’ and ‘Black Velvet’ weren’t appreciated.
The range of bands were impressive, from the acoustic sessions of David Meyer and Wilfried de Wever to the cello and crooning of STiLL. Each set lasted 20 minutes, with only one band member in each band allowed to be from outside the startup scene. Electro punk band Fleischdolls, for instance, were born in the IT boiler room of the now defunct aka-aki social network.
Jitka Staworowska of the Berlin Startup Academy, which organised the event, said: “For once, this event is all about having fun, with no business allowed. No talk of VC, no talk of pitches – just enjoy it.”
The crowd certainly did, and although the event was a long time in the making, it should be back for an encore next year.
Bad Hair Ambulance’s demo footage