We've Never Been More Connected
On real rooms, real people, and what gets lost when everything scales. A note from Tunisia. Job openings at PIRATE and an invitation to Cologne to PIRATE Night 2026.
I’m writing this from Tunisia, where I’m on vacation with my family.
Something feels different here. Slower. More present. I can’t quite name it - I don’t know this place well enough - but it’s made me think about something I do know: back home, we are more connected than any generation in history. And somehow, lonelier than ever. Especially the youth.
With two teenager kids that tension has been sitting with me for quite some time now. It’s also something that came up repeatedly in discussions with family in the last days.
AI is extraordinary. The productivity gains are real. But it’s also flooding the world with content that looks real and isn’t - slop dressed up as signal. And as screens multiply and algorithms optimize, something quietly gets rarer.
Real people. Real rooms. Real conversations that you remember ten years later.
The things no algorithm can fake.
AI doesn’t have to be the cause of that loneliness. It can be the tool we use to fight it. To find the right people, create the right moments, build the infrastructure that ends with humans in a room together.
That’s what we’re building at PIRATE. And that’s why we’re hiring.
Three open roles in Cologne. 🏴☠️
AI & Automation Builder - You look at a process and immediately think about how to break it down and automate it. You’ve built workflows - maybe small ones, maybe side projects. You can show something. That’s what counts.
Entrepreneur in Residence - You think in business models, not just tasks. You see what’s missing before anyone asks. You want to build something, not just run something.
Event Manager / Client Advisor / Communicator - Honestly, the title doesn’t capture it. You develop concepts with a point of view, advise clients like a consultant, and write proposals people actually want to read. Events are the product. Thinking and language are the craft.
Please note: All roles require German on a native level. Also, they require you to live around Cologne, Germany.
For the first two roles, experience doesn’t matter. That person doesn’t really exist yet for what we’re building. Fresh out of university is fine - as long as you’ve built something you can show, and you’re hungry to build more.
If that sounds like you, or like someone you know - tag them in the comments.
One of those human moments is coming up.
PIRATE Night. June 24th. Odonien. Cologne.
Last year we planned for 300 people. Hoped for 400. Five hundred showed up.
I was humbled. Apparently the hunger for connection is there. People are looking for something real. Let’s feed that hunger.
Note: PIRATE Night is a platform - open to whoever wants to make good use of it. Last year the VC Think Tank brought their community. It was a wonderful addition. We’re already in talks with several communities for this year. If you have a tribe - founders, investors, builders, thinkers - bring them. The door is wide open.
I see myself as the steward of this night, not its architect. What happens inside belongs to all of us. I hold the space. The community fills it.
If you have been to a PIRATE Summit or a PIRATE Night then you know that it comes with a theme. We do the same this year. Every year it holds a mirror up to the moment. What’s burning inside you right now? What fits the current Zeitgeist? What needs to be talked about more? Send your proposals. The best idea shapes the night.
Tickets are open. Just like last year, they come in pairs. No one sails alone. Contact me for community bundles for your whole crew. And if you are coming from abroad, then reach out. Tickets are on us.
The world is getting louder, more artificial, more mediated.
Let’s be the antidote. One fire, one night, one room full of real people.
See you in Cologne. 🔥
🙏
Be kind,
Manuel
PS: We are off to the desert now. I will be without internet and won’t answer mails in the next week. I’ll reply once I am back.