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Originally Posted by iheartthed
To me it seems like Snap just coincided with the natural overflow of tech into other parts of the country (and world).
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Snap gave rise to Stories (essentially the equivalent of Facebook “status updates” from back in the day), which Instagram subsequently hijacked and used to elevate the platform to another level of popularity. This has been a big rebound year for Snap after its stock reached a low of $4 and change. It’s still growing followers and continues be more popular with Gen Z than Instagram. The Snap “Shows” in particular are a differentiating feature in that IG’s counterpart IGTV has sort of flopped.
LA also birthed the scooter movement (Santa Monica-based Bird) before you had Lime, Uber, and Lyft follow suit.
Disney+ also launched yesterday (albeit to disappointment due to technological glitches), and the streaming space is about to become even more crowded once AT&T and Comcast launch their own services.
Otherwise, it’s really difficult to break into the elite class of tech superstars (of which I don’t count Netflix a part of). And even then, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook aren’t recent startups; the first three have been around for decades.
The tech sector in LA is rising. As with NYC, Boston, DC, Austin—all of which are described as “tech” cities—LA doesn’t need an Amazon, Apple, or Google to show for it. As I’ve pointed out for the umpteenth time, San Diego is a thriving biotech center (top three with Bay Area and Boston), yet doesn’t have a Gilead Sciences or Biogen headquartered there.