▶Johannes Reck consistently argues that the European tech ecosystem, while ambitious, is structurally disadvantaged by a significant venture capital gap compared to the US, a scarcity of senior executive talent, and bureaucratic hurdles.Mar 2026

▶He repeatedly emphasizes that his company's survival and subsequent success through the COVID-19 pandemic were due to preserving core engineering and product teams, coupled with employee buy-in via salary-for-equity swaps.

▶Reck views his company's Series A round as a key learning experience, believing in hindsight that raising too much money too early led to excessive dilution and misguided VC pressure to scale prematurely.Mar 2026

▶He credits key individuals for pivotal moments in GetYourGuide's history, including the Samwer brothers for creating the Berlin ecosystem and Kees Koolen (Booking.com founder) for a critical strategic intervention and investment.Mar 2026

▶Reck's perspective on fundraising is complex; he celebrates the massive $450M SoftBank round as a milestone but also details how the immense capital preceded a near-death experience during the pandemic, highlighting the dual-edged nature of mega-rounds.

▶There is a tension in his view of the Berlin tech scene; he credits it as being 'single-handedly created' by local entrepreneurs but simultaneously states it's 'almost impossible' to hire senior product talent there, forcing recruitment from Silicon Valley.

▶Reck's strategic approach has evolved significantly. He initially followed investor advice to diversify into SaaS and new markets post-Series A, a strategy he now calls 'the worst thing you can do,' contrasting with his later focus on core product discipline.

▶He champions European entrepreneurs as equally ambitious as their US counterparts but also proposes major government interventions like tax holidays, suggesting that ambition alone is insufficient to overcome the continent's systemic disadvantages.Mar 2026