

The Top 100 Startups in LA - dougdarroch
http://www.symmetry50.com/blog/2014/12/17/the-top-100-startups-in-la

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shutupalready
So disappointing. I was expecting robots, bitcoin, cloning, gene therapy,
integrated circuit design, space travel, face recognition. Instead it's senior
care, making rental payments, social this-and-that, dog walkers, and a lot of
companies simply selling on the web stuff you used to buy in a store like
furniture and clothes.

Possibly the only business that sounds like it's breaking new ground is uBeam
("beams power through the air to wirelessly charge electronic devices"). I
scanned quickly, so maybe there are more.

Certainly great fortunes have been made by simply selling on the web stuff you
used to buy in a store (Amazon for example). It might be the economic reality,
but I still can't help but feel sad that the top 100 startups--and all the
creative energy and capital--are overwhelmingly prosaic and ordinary small
business.

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ulfw
It's a good point. I feel like we should start making distinctions between
Tech startups (i.e. companies using technology as a core raison d'être - the
Microsofts, Apples, Googles, Facebooks, Yahoos of the world) and tech-enabled
companies (the Amazons, Ubers, Airbnbs, the numerous food delivery or washing
businesses etc - basically just replacing an old ordering tech (the
phone/catalog) with a new one (a website/mobile app)).

