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Hung Nguyen arrived in Berlin in 2015 on a student visa; three years later he co-founded a SaaS startup serving European logistics. By 2025, the company reached €2.5M ARR and raised €8M Series A from Earlybird.
"The hardest part wasn't the code or finding customers," Hung says. "It was learning to communicate the German way — direct, no beating around the bush, willing to say no to your face."
“Germans don't say 'interesting' when they hate your idea. They say directly: 'I don't think this will work because...' At first I was shocked, but then I fell in love with that culture.”
Three Lessons from the German Market
1. Trust matters more than price. German customers pay more for a vendor they trust. Hung spent 9 months closing his first contract, but that customer stayed for 5 years.
2. Process must be perfect. Germans don't accept 'good enough'. Documentation, processes, SLAs — everything must be clear and consistent.
3. Work-life balance is real. "I sent an email at 10pm and got reminded that was their private time. But equally, they'd never disturb you after 6pm."