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

economist.com

331–340 of 374 posts

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

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the UK has been run by blithering idiots but the business environment and regulations are still among the most attractive in Europe... not sure what that says about the other European countries.

In Germany you need 25k$ and 6-12 months to establish the equivalent of an LLC. This is because Germany hates limited liability. It would prefer you to operate as a sole trader with unlimited liability, and then not do things that generate liability. Needless to say, this is scary for programmers.

hopefully soon down to 48h with EU-INC

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

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany you need 25k$ and 6-12 months to establish the equivalent of an LLC. This is because Germany hates limited liability. It would prefer you to operate as a sole trader with unlimited liability, and then not do things that generate liability. Needless to say, this is scary for programmers.

hopefully soon down to 48h with EU-INC

Just like the EU forced Germany to to stop prosecuting coffee shops for having public wifi.

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

#333
post #216

I personally think Wyoming will be the capital of startups, especially 30 N Gould Str is going to be the street of world's startups.

No no you simple minded USAmerican. It's obviously going to be Uruguay, its on it's way to transform from MonteVideo to MonteLLM /s

I'm not an american :)

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

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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..

I think the fundamental issue here is that many in America don't actually want dense cities, public transit, and more generally shared spaces. I, for one, would not want to live in condo when I can live in a house. When enough people want this, you end up with "urban sprawl" and one or more cars per house.

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

#335
post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived in and visted many other cities in Europe. Public transport is often much cheaper than London, but there's few examples where I'd really say it was /better/. Can you think of an example?

Oslo and Madrid come to mind. For the worst than london, The Rome underground is so sparse, it not really usefull. Paris is dense, chaotic and overcrowded.

Ok, Oslo would be a small city in the UK - London has 12x the population. Madrid is closer. Paris is great - the ride is very smooth.

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

#336
post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't think so, the busiest lines of the London subway ("tube") don't even have AC.

I also rode the subway in Paris some years ago and it wasn't anything to write home about.

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

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think the fundamental issue here is that many in America don't actually want dense cities, public transit, and more generally shared spaces. I, for one, would not want to live in condo when I can live in a house. When enough people want this, you end up with "urban sprawl" and one or more cars per house.

You make it sound like the construction of US cities were not at all lobbied by the auto industry back in the day and that urban sprawl was exclusively people's choice.

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

#338
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big problem in America is the entrenchment that is happening. People are becoming so polarised there is no common ground left for discussions and people aren't open to new ideas or thinking. I genuinely feel I can't even discuss this with many Americans. They stalwartly believe car culture is superior in every single aspect, any deviation from this narrative is simply met with 'you don't understand'. I recall in Ir…

As I understand it the US car lobby had a big hand in designing modern America, in such a way that for most cities it really isn't possible to use anything else. On the other hand a lot of European cities were laid out in the time of horse and cart.

A lot of European cities still have Roman centres.

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

#339
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big problem in America is the entrenchment that is happening. People are becoming so polarised there is no common ground left for discussions and people aren't open to new ideas or thinking. I genuinely feel I can't even discuss this with many Americans. They stalwartly believe car culture is superior in every single aspect, any deviation from this narrative is simply met with 'you don't understand'. I recall in Ir…

There was a big argument on my local (American) Nextdoor recently because someone encountered a line of cars on a road that had recently had a bike lane added to it. People were outraged about bike lanes. And not just in the sense that they had to pay (via taxes) for something they didn't feel was useful. The fact that the lane even existed was an affront. They seemed to actually believe that the bike lane caused del…

How dare you get in the way of my fat ass in my fat-ass SUV. Almost spill my capuccino that I bought at the drive-thru because I couldn't get my fat ass off the car.

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

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think the fundamental issue here is that many in America don't actually want dense cities, public transit, and more generally shared spaces. I, for one, would not want to live in condo when I can live in a house. When enough people want this, you end up with "urban sprawl" and one or more cars per house.

Genuinely dense cities basically don't exist in the U.S. The average "dense" city downtown in a U.S. city is broadly comparable to the worst car-dependent suburban or exurbian hellscapes of Europe and East Asia, and things only go worse from there. City downtowns near the East Coast are an exception since they were built in colonial times or thereabouts, so when you think "dense" you should really think of e.g. the densest boroughs in NYC.
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