You open a new tab, and the choice is binary. On one side, the infinite scroll of a social feed, a churning river of outrage and ephemera. On the other, the stark, silent search bar, demanding you already know what you’re looking for. All that matters, a new digital-media company in Berlin, lives in the neglected space between those two poles. Its homepage is a single, serene page. No autoplay, no trending topics, no likes. Just a grid of 50 tiles, each a topic like ‘World of Wine’ or ‘Future of Finance,’ curated by a named expert. You click, and a shortlist of articles, podcasts, and studies appears, pulled from over 2,000 sources. The interaction is disarmingly simple: a human has already done the filtering. The product’s tagline, ‘Wissen ist kostbar. Deine Zeit auch.’ (‘Knowledge is valuable. So is your time.’), feels less like a marketing slogan and more like a quiet reprimand to the rest of the internet [all that matters, October 2026].
The Wedge of Human Curation
The company’s bet is not on creating new content, but on restoring a lost layer of the media ecosystem: the trusted editor. In an age where publishers chase platform algorithms and AI summarizers flood the zone, all that matters is positioning its human curators as the product’s core feature. These are not anonymous interns but established figures like Turadj Schahbasi, a sommelier who selects the wine content, or Henrik Dittmar, who curates for the platform [Kathrin Kosaca-Fuchs - Cross Media Redaktion GmbH | LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] [Henrik Dittmar - Cortea | LinkedIn, retrieved 2026]. The model explicitly rejects the venture-capital growth playbook, stating it operates without ‘Venture-Capital-Druck’ (venture-capital pressure) or dependencies on tech platforms [all that matters, October 2026]. This independence is its primary brand promise,a return to editorial integrity funded and sustained by its audience, though the specific revenue model remains undisclosed.
The Founders’ Second Act
The venture is a second act for its founders, who bring decades of institutional media credibility to a startup structure. This is not a team of young disruptors but seasoned operators applying old-world editorial rigor to a new digital format.
| Role | Founder | Key Background |
|---|---|---|
| Founder & Managing Director | Simon Kretschmer | 20+ years in digital journalism; former publishing lead for VIEW, NEON, and stern at Gruner+Jahr; former MD of Correctiv and Table.Media [all that matters, October 2026] [Simon Kretschmer: Sein Start-up will mehr Sichtbarkeit für gute Inhalte schaffen |
| Editor-in-Chief | Hans-Peter Junker | 35+ years at titles like Abendzeitung, BUNTE, and stern; founded and led VIEW magazine [all that matters, October 2026]. |
| Head of Product & Technology | Benjamin Schubert | Former Head of Design at Correctiv and Head of Product at Table.Media [all that matters, October 2026]. |
This depth of experience is the startup’s moat. They are not learning how media works; they are rebuilding a part of it that broke. Kretschmer’s recent move from managing director of Table Briefings to focus fully on this ‘own company idea’ signals the personal conviction behind the project [Table Briefings: Geschäftsführer Simon Kretschmer hört auf • Medieninsider, retrieved 2026].
Scaling Trust in a Noisy Market
The traction challenge is profound. The platform must attract a critical mass of users who are willing to bypass their habitual feeds for a destination that offers depth over dopamine. The company lists over 2,000 selected sources and 50 topics, a library that suggests breadth, but the real test is whether the curation feels indispensable [all that matters, retrieved]. The recent listing for a Director of HR & Organization in Hamburg hints at internal scaling, a move to build a sustainable company culture from the outset, which aligns with its independence thesis [all that matters, October 2026].
The competitive landscape is diffuse but immense. They are not competing with other curated newsletters so much as with the entire attention economy,the TikToks, the Google Discover feeds, the podcast apps with their own recommendation engines. Their answer is a focused, premium experience. The risks are classic for a media business built on quality:
- User habit formation. Convincing people to change their information-gathering routine is one of the hardest product challenges. The value must be immediately obvious.
- Monetization clarity. Without VC funding, revenue must come from users or sponsors. The chosen path will define the brand; subscriptions could reinforce quality, while native advertising requires flawless execution to maintain trust.
- Curation at scale. Maintaining consistent, high-quality human curation across 50 topics as the library grows is an operational marathon. It relies on the continued engagement of expert curators.
The Next Twelve Months
The coming year will be about proving the model can work as a business, not just a compelling editorial project. Key milestones will likely include the formal launch of a membership or subscription tier, partnerships with other independent publishers for distribution, and measured growth in its curator network. The hiring of an HR director suggests they are preparing for team growth, potentially in editorial or product roles [all that matters, October 2026]. Success won’t be measured in viral hits, but in the slow, steady accumulation of a dedicated audience that finds its time better spent.
The platform, in its calm refusal to shout, poses a subtle cultural question. It asks what we have surrendered in the trade for infinite, free content. The answer it proposes is that the real cost was never money, but the capacity for focus itself. In a world of feeds, all that matters is building a shelf.
Sources
- [all that matters, October 2026] Company homepage and "Über uns" page | https://all-that-matters.com/
- [Kathrin Kosaca-Fuchs - Cross Media Redaktion GmbH | LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] LinkedIn post referencing 'World of Wine' curation | https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrin-kosaca-fuchs-91462031/
- [Henrik Dittmar - Cortea | LinkedIn, retrieved 2026] LinkedIn profile identifying as a curator | https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrik-dittmar-aa64ab126/
- [Simon Kretschmer: Sein Start-up will mehr Sichtbarkeit für gute Inhalte schaffen | kress.de, retrieved 2026] kress.de article on Simon Kretschmer | https://kress.de/news/beitrag/145978-ex-g-j-manager-simon-kretschmer-heuert-als-geschaeftsfuehrer-bei-table-media-an.html
- [Table Briefings: Geschäftsführer Simon Kretschmer hört auf • Medieninsider, retrieved 2026] Medieninsider article on Kretschmer's departure | https://medieninsider.com/table-briefings-geschaeftsfuehrer-hoert-auf/23212/