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How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

economist.com

221–230 of 374 posts

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#221

I cant speak to all this, but as an American doing a lot of work in London, wow transportation is incredibly great. Shockingly impressive. Traveling to London, and getting around London, and doing a lot of meetings in a small trip, is easier than anywhere in the US now because of how beautifully their transit system works (despite occasional delays which can be expected.) The rollout of the Elizabeth Line from Heathr…

I feel that's more "US public transport being bad"

Right as an American this reads like "American who's never been to large Asian cities like Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing etc..

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what point you’re trying to make here in relation to startups.

I am not making any points. I have just heard this take a lot of times and I have not been around London for over 10 years. If there is a point, it is not mine. As for its relevance: "native speakers on English", etc.

It's not true. Where have you heard it?

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is widely known that public transport in the US is god awful. Public transportation is lovely in most European countries, IMO.

It isn’t universally awful in the US. Washington, DC’s system is great and should be the cornerstone of any revitalization that isn’t so reliant on the federal government.

Thanks, good to know! How are the trains across the country though?

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to reply to grandparent that only flat prices are coming down because of rising service charge costs, and being hard to mortgage because of cladding issues. But after some research it is indeed true that house prices are, to a lesser extent, also going down, at least in real terms, if not nominal.

I actually wrote a webapp to show this, check it out - https://housepricedashboard.co.uk/ London house prices are falling quite a lot in real terms.

This is pretty good! Nice.

Have you ever considered adding more countries?

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#225

That's got to be why one UK VC after another is closing their doors.

> That's got to be why one UK VC after another is closing their doors.

One after another? The only one that closed office was Andreessen Horowitz.

What's the "another"? I don't know why all the London threads attract this kind of dishonest comments!

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#226
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it reasonable to say that in many (not all) parts of London, English no longer functions reliably as the default public language, even if most individuals technically "speak English"?

Your comment reminded of the youtuber who changed the shop signs in his video into scary non-English script: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPZxMVpnCBM Edit: Changed to link I like a bit more

Yes! This is partly why I brought it up. I remember that video from Kurt Caz.

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not making any points. I have just heard this take a lot of times and I have not been around London for over 10 years. If there is a point, it is not mine. As for its relevance: "native speakers on English", etc.

It's not true. Where have you heard it?

There has been quite a lot of popular YouTubers spreading this.

One of them is Kurt Caz.

(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46809291)

You should watch the video someone linked that exposes one of his many shady stuff.

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#228
post #5

Bruder, komm nach Berlin or frère, allez à Paris

I arrive in 2026. Decide to start a startup. By the year 2038, the state mandated reader of legal documents has finished reading out aloud to me and my co-founder. Now we find a VC. His documents need to be read to us both. But the Y2K38 problem strikes. He thinks we are in the year 1970. He needs to read us the "ancient company addendum". While he's reading he chokes and keels over, dead from the emissions from his…

Reminds me of how often you hear Austrian Railways announcing that they apologize for the late running of a train "which was subject to delays in a neighbouring land". They never name which country but it's always Germany.

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it reasonable to say that in many (not all) parts of London, English no longer functions reliably as the default public language, even if most individuals technically "speak English"?

> English no longer functions reliably as the default public language Absolutely false. My god! Have you even been to London? Stop consuming propaganda from Twitter/X and Facebook. It isn't good for your mental health.

Yes, as I have said, over 10 years.

I do not use Twitter nor Facebook. I watch YouTube videos. These YouTubers have >1M subscribers.

Re: How London became the rest of the world’s startup capital

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is widely known that public transport in the US is god awful. Public transportation is lovely in most European countries, IMO.

It's pretty good in NYC. I heard it's nice in Boston too.

Compared to rest of US? Maybe. Compared to Europe? Absolutely not.
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