331–338 of 338 posts
A more interesting question is: 'Are unicorns good for the economy and good for society'?
Why is that the more interesting question? Is there anything you can add to the discussion of substance? Or, perhaps, is this drive-by FUD all you have in the content holster?
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The FCC isn't forcing Level3 or Global Exchange or AOL to "play nice" either. You're apparently arguing from a complete ignorance of history, and consequently your prescribed remedy is likely to make the situation worse instead of better.
The internet evolved over the phone lines, where providers were legally banned from blocking traffic. They were made to play nice. The fact we still have a free internet is the result of that legacy.
Rather, the internet was created by an academic-military coalition that had sufficient political power to overcome the phone companies' and regulators' opposition to data networking.
It's plain that you weren't on com-priv then, you aren't on NANOG or equivalent now, and you haven't read the history.
Combine lots of languages with lots of regulatory areas and you end up with numerous smaller communities. Add this to Metcalfe's Law and you have disproportionately smaller opportunities for company size when social effects are important (as they are to most Internet-based unicorns, though not to companies Europe does do well at - like car companies and manufacturing, say). Mathematically, say one network with size 1…
I think you are overstating the importance of languages. As a counter example, one has to only look at large European companies, like Seimens, Airbus, Philips, Volkswagen, etc. Their multinational spread transcends language barriers. Why would this be a problem for start ups? India has several languages and is insanely diverse. In this way it is different from China. But what works for companies trying to scale up in…
Because these companies are all based around companies communicating with customers, which can be localized and has no real network effect.
Many current "unicorns" are social companies or companies with inbuilt network effects where customer-to-customer communication or cultural familiarity is important.
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> They're only able to address the EU market because they have a large, profitable base in the US. Uber is only able to address any market because they have a ton of outside venture funding. Don't get me wrong - I agree that the EU is overly protective and that this harms their startup economy, but Uber is not a good example of that point.
Indeed. There were a load of London based taxi apps eg http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-3057608/Six... The thing Uber has which I think it would only get in Silicon Valley is about $8bn of funding. The biggest UK company I think is Hailo which raised about $100m. It'll be interesting to see how they do in China where the competitors have raised similar vc - Kuaidi raised $950 and I think Uber are spen…
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> Something like Uber could never have come out of Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlaBlaCar
BlaBlaCar is actually owned by SNCF, the French state-owned railway company. So Blablacar is actually part of the government monopoly on all long-distance travel (even highways cost money to use). I don't think it's the best standard-bearer for the European startup scene.
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There is one currency, there are no import taxes, VAT is per country. (assuming EEC) This ofcourse assume that you are operating in one country and providing goods to another. Employment is another issue. Thats almost the same as in the US(excluding employment). The issue of low taxes is frankly utter bollocks, yes the US's taxes might be lower but so is your life expectancy, and productivity. The main issue with sta…
"productivity is lower" ??? wtf? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PP... We're Number 3 !!!! Life expectancy appears to be about what is the European Union. U.S. is 79 years ( source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe... ) ( Euro stats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Eu... ) Europe doesn't have import taxes? what? Did you fact check any of…
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I might be wrong but I think it's because the sorts of companies that become "unicorns" nowadays are more dependent on cultural, language or social network aspects (Snapchat, Facebook, Airbnb, Pinterest) than manufacturing, drug, or oil companies ever were (all areas Europe has excelled in). If biotech or robotics ever take off in a huge bubbly way, I imagine we'll see a much larger of Europe unicorns coming to the t…
I think that is a great point. So is it that because of the market in the US it's easier to establish enough momentum what when you move into Europe you have the power to establish yourself there despite the different languages?