SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs

Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by DoreenMichele on Monday October 15, 2018 @11:57PM (#18226340)

but you're never sure what they're actually thinking.

You remind me of an anecdote about an American working in Asia. They were constantly frustrated with communication difficulties. One day, they felt they finally were on the same page with a coworker and they said "We are thinking along parallel lines." to express this. Coworker agrees.

Later, the problems came back. They referred back to that conversation. Their Asian coworker says "Yes. Parallel lines never meet."

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by mocae on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @07:01AM (#18228266)

As someone who lives in Germany for quite some time, believe me, Americans are a problem here too. Smile in your face and drown you in over-politeness while stabbing you in the back.

Gotta love the straight German way.

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by DoreenMichele on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @07:38AM (#18228464)

For the record, it was an anecdote about people from different cultures not understanding each other. It was not intended to be a criticism of Asians. It absolutely wasn't intended to blame Asians for the misunderstanding.

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by jameskegel on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @09:56AM (#18229377)

You don’t have to do this here. Nobody assumed you were saying something with malicious intent.

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by DoreenMichele on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @01:57PM (#18231555)

It is the routine norm with social issues to look to pin the blame on one party. That seems to be the default mental model for any social problem.

It is usually not the best explanation and it actively causes all kinds of problems. I like to give push back against this common assumption wherever possible.

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by _pmf_ on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @09:25AM (#18229130)

> Smile in your face and drown you in over-politeness while stabbing you in the back.

The Pan Am smile: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pan%20Am%20s...

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by late2part on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @08:43AM (#18228863)

As someone who works with Germans, you sign a non-aggression agreement, and then pow - double cross!

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by mikeryan on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @12:06AM (#18226401)

I’m sorry but I’m born and bred in the US and would have read this the same way.

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by DoreenMichele on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @12:06AM (#18226406)

Most people use it to mean "We are headed in the same direction."

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by mikeryan on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @12:15AM (#18226451)

Yes but “parellel thinking” is actually a term of art. It generally means that we want to get to the same place but have different ideas on how to get there.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_thinking

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Re:SoftBank Gives Startups Billions of Reasons to Hold Off IPOs by Dylan16807 on Tuesday October 16, 2018 @12:21AM (#18226480)

> It generally means that we want to get to the same place but have different ideas on how to get there.

Is it? The description on that page is just about having multiple conversations at once, not having them all start in the same place.

Also, starting in one place and going different directions is basically the opposite of parallel lines, so this makes zero sense as a justification of the punchline.

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