Gokul Nath Sridhar is the Head of Product at Wolt - a food delivery company started in Helsinki, that was acquired by Doordash in 2022 for €7 billion. Prior to Wolt, Gokul was a Product Manager at Gojek in Bangalore as well as founder in the consumer tech space for 6 years. He moved to Berlin in 2021 right after he had a baby. In our conversation, we discuss:
Europe's best kept immigration secret: The EU Blue Card Who is eligible? What makes the EU Blue card so powerful? How quickly and easily can you get permanent residency?
A framework for immigrants to evaluate Berlin as their next move? What's the right time to move to Germany? What skills are companies looking for?
What kinds of companies exist in the German tech and startup ecosystem? How is the German consumer unique? How does one build products for them?
What is compensation in tech like in Germany? What's the equity vs cash split and how's is it different from rest of the world? What's taxation like in Germany
What are the government facilities like? Living in Germany What's German work culture like? What's the political climate like?
My takeaways
Moving out of India is as much an emotional decision as opportunistic. Often for mid career / senior folks - the decision involves thinking about children (like it was in the case of Gokul). This is all the more pertinent given the incredible trajectory India is on lately.
Germany is very immigration friendly for technical talent: You can get German permanent residency in 2-3 years. This is possible due to the EU Blue Card. This is similar to UK’s Global Talent Visa or US’s O-1 Visa, but EU Blue card seems extremely quick. The additional perks include the ability to bring parents to Germany, which is unheard of on other tech visa routes.
Immigration is at a knife’s edge: The high level rhetoric from the government is that Germany is desperate for highly skilled technical talent. At the ground level, there are pockets in Germany that are extremely tech and immigration friendly (like Berlin) and there’s pockets which are increasingly gravitating towards nativism.
German Consumer nuances: The German consumer in general is used to inconvenience. While this is changing in the younger generations, it does have implications on the way one thinks about building products. The Germans are used to supply constraint markets and might not pay as much for convenience.
Work Culture Understanding the German work culture is important, as it emphasizes productivity within stipulated hours and values personal time outside of work. This is particularly relevant for those moving in either from emerging economies or from the US.
Taxation and Startup Friendliness: Despite the number of startups, starting a business is tough. With a lot of paperwork and non startup friendly taxation policy. This is also reflected in why RSU and ESOPs haven’t been extremely popular in Germany in general.
Note: If you’re an Indian operator in Europe thinking of starting up or an Indian founder in Europe - I’d love to chat and learn of your journey
Working as a Indian Product Manager in Berlin | Gokul Sridhar - Head of Product, Wolt