Python startup time can be significant for non-trivial programs as well, and it's been a big problem for Mercurial and other projects. For example, see these threads:
If your script is expected to be run interactively on a frequent basis, then Go, Rust, C++, or even Bash (for simple stuff) will give you much lower user-perceived latency than Python.
- https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2014-May/134528...
- https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2018-May/153296...
If your script is expected to be run interactively on a frequent basis, then Go, Rust, C++, or even Bash (for simple stuff) will give you much lower user-perceived latency than Python.