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Subject: Airbnb (2011)

paulgraham.com

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Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#61

Post by throwawaymath »

paulcole wrote: post #33
throwawaymath wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great observation. > The counter example to these companies are the ones that quickly raised capital to dump scooters on public streets before they could be shut down by cities. I live in NYC, and I’m frequently in Westchester (the county immediately north of NYC, for those not familiar with New York). There’s been a large influx of Lime bikes in the past several months. My opinion on Lime - the bike/scooter company…

> the straw that broke the camel’s back was when someone parked a Lime bike directly in the spot I usually place my garbage. Is this spot on your property?

That's a good question - I'm not sure. It's about 10 feet from my door. Technically speaking I'm "responsible" for maintaining it under NY law, but I don't know if it's strictly private property. The city can (and does) ticket homeowners when something is blocking their curb if it's 1) a tortious danger to pedestrians (i.e. snow) or 2) interfering with municipal activity, like garbage pickup.

That being said I'm not really concerned about being ticketed because it happens so rarely. I'm more concerned about neighborhood appearance and being able to place my garbage in a consistent spot. For context, this is in an area which is more suburban than urban. Having a regular bike chained to a sign outside my door would be equally out of place.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#62

Post by krn »

amitutk wrote: post #48
krn wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2008 Democratic National Convention was 10 years ago. At the time, startups, as we know them today, were a rarity. Funding yourself to start one, even more so. Hacker News itself was only 1 year-old.

Startups were a rarity in 2008?

Relatively, yes. Sure, startups have existed for decades, but their popularity now is at a completely different level. Y Combinator, for instance, had 43 startups funded in 2008, and 274 in 2018. I am not even talking about the growth of the entire startup ecosystem, including angel investors and VCs. In 2008, startups were mostly only a thing in the US. Now there are tens of startup hubs across the entire world.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#63

Post by throwawaymath »

julianwachholz wrote: post #34
throwawaymath wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great observation. > The counter example to these companies are the ones that quickly raised capital to dump scooters on public streets before they could be shut down by cities. I live in NYC, and I’m frequently in Westchester (the county immediately north of NYC, for those not familiar with New York). There’s been a large influx of Lime bikes in the past several months. My opinion on Lime - the bike/scooter company…

I wonder did the person parking the bike in your garbage disposal spot know that it was your personal spot? We don't throw our trash bags out in the street but put them in larger containers. Can't park a bike on those.

I use containers as well, but do you keep them outside your home at all times? There's no substantial difference between a trash container and a garbage bag if you're talking about the containers that fit three - five bags of garbage or so. In my locality you can be fined for leaving the container - or loose bags, or anything really - out on non-pickup days.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#64

Post by jfk13 »

jMyles wrote: post #52
lancesells wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps AirBnb should actually follow the law in NYC (30 days minimum) until they can lobby enough to change the law.

...why? What makes this law worth following in the first place?

If there are communities where AirBnB is deliberately breaking the law, those cities ought to be collecting punitive fines.

In a civilised society, you don't get to pick and choose which laws you think are worth following, and just ignore the rest. Don't like a given law? Then engage in the political process to seek changes to it.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#65

Post by vasilipupkin »

collyw wrote: post #46
vasilipupkin wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure. My town has a paid beach with lifeguard and a free beach without. It is illegal to swim on the free beach. It is not a crime. Worst case that happens is they kick you off the beach.

Not sure that actually makes things any clearer to me. Is it actually illegal, or is it just "not allowed"? (Is the free beach public?) What would make it "a crime" as opposed to just being "illegal"?

Illegal means against the law or against the rules. A crime is a function of how severe your illegal action is.

Put it another way, people think if something is illegal, punishment for that must be a felony or something. But often times, it’s just an infraction so punishment is at most a fine or a minor action like getting kicked off the free beach

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#66

Post by briandear »

ur-whale wrote: post #42
lexs wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Europe there were apps to call a taxi and sites to book vacation homes before either Uber or AirBnB came over. But sure ruthlessly minimising personnel responsibilities and costs can be another "value".

You quite clearly never lived in Europe. Taxi apps before Uber were either non-existent (still are for most places) or unusable.

..in the case my my experience living in the south of France, taxis wouldn’t show up at all. That happened to me more frequently than they actually showed up.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#67

Post by briandear »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #43
pjc50 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Edinburgh there's a similar discussion, and the proposals I think have value: 1) Tourist tax on all hotel rooms, including AirBnB. Initially a fairly small amount. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/27/edinburgh-le... 2) For whole-unit owner-not-present lets, require planning permission for change of use. You wouldn't be allowed to run a woodworking business in your apartment that inflicted noise on your…

What annoys me about tourists in Edinburgh, is that everyone wants to pile into Old Town, even though it is so small. No one contemplates Leith or Newington. Neither of those places are beyond a short walk (1-2 miles) to city center, also there are more options for food and drink (especially on Leith Walk).

2 miles isn’t a “short walk” in many parts of the year in Scotland.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#68

Post by rusk »

presscast wrote: post #32
lexs wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Europe there were apps to call a taxi and sites to book vacation homes before either Uber or AirBnB came over. But sure ruthlessly minimising personnel responsibilities and costs can be another "value".

>At least in Europe there were apps to call a taxi Where? In France the taxis never accepted debit cards (= tax evasion), and generally provided piss-poor service. They've stepped their game up massively since Uber arrived. In the UK I never saw a taxi app that wasn't an utter heap of garbage. Sweeping generalizations about EU countries are almost always wrong or meaningless.

> In the UK I never saw a taxi app that wasn't an utter heap of garbage.

Hold on now. Hailo was amazing. Pity they broke themselves trying to take on the big apple.

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#69

Post by sethherr »

throwawaymath wrote: post #61
paulcole wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the straw that broke the camel’s back was when someone parked a Lime bike directly in the spot I usually place my garbage. Is this spot on your property?

That's a good question - I'm not sure. It's about 10 feet from my door. Technically speaking I'm "responsible" for maintaining it under NY law, but I don't know if it's strictly private property. The city can (and does) ticket homeowners when something is blocking their curb if it's 1) a tortious danger to pedestrians (i.e. snow) or 2) interfering with municipal activity, like garbage pickup. That being said I'm not…

Is having cars parked on the street out of place? I agree that bikes blocking pedestrian right of way is bad and needs to be stopped. The easiest way to do that is to replace some of the car parking with bike parking.

The concept that a bike parked on your street would be bad for your neighborhood is an opinion you should rethink - bikes are great!

Re: Subject: Airbnb (2011)

#70

Post by lmeyerov »

krn wrote: post #62
amitutk wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startups were a rarity in 2008?

Relatively, yes. Sure, startups have existed for decades, but their popularity now is at a completely different level. Y Combinator, for instance, had 43 startups funded in 2008, and 274 in 2018. I am not even talking about the growth of the entire startup ecosystem, including angel investors and VCs. In 2008, startups were mostly only a thing in the US. Now there are tens of startup hubs across the entire world.

That's rewriting history, including a lot of hard work by a lot of people. YC disrupted the model, it didn't start it. PG repeatedly describes YC as a startup in changing how this works, so mistaking their growth with the industry misses what's happening.

The dotcom era had incubators through models like "I have access to capital but no one good idea; let me start a bunch and pick which to go". VCs regularly host EIRs (entrepreneur-in-residence). More dominant, many universities, corporates, and in gov, SBIR. Not sure how the numbers of SBIR compare to YC, but given SBIR is based on a % of each US dept's budget... ;-)

The "startup accelerator" changed the model: more $ to more varied entrepreneurs, structured program with educational eco-system, made VC capital more attractive, etc.

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