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Boy oh boy, this is all we talk about anymore. Always specifically in the language of unicorns too. People seem to have really latched on to that.
by draw_down 11y ago
Boy oh boy, this is all we talk about anymore. Always specifically in the language of unicorns too. People seem to have really latched on to that.
- kzhahou 11y agoYou're getting downvoted, but there's lots of value in your statement. Language is important, and the choice of words will frame narratives and reveal hidden truths and agendas. The press and HN/etc DOES talk a ton about unicorns. It's the only grade that has its own name. There's no word for a $10-25m startup, or a $100-500m startup. No, only $1B-unicorns. They have their own name and we're obsessed with them. This either highlights or promotes the notion that investors (and entrepreneurs?) are only interested in billion-dollar companies.
- WalterSear 11y agoIt's not surprising, considering the current standards for startup employee equity: apart from the perilous, uncertain route of becoming a founder, joining a unicorn early is the only way for rank-and-file startup employees to get any opportunity of substantive wealth creation.
- adevine 11y agoI wonder if that has led to some of these very-VC favorable deals with large liquidation preferences. Rather than take an investment that has lower valuation, a founder takes an investment in which a lower percentage goes to the VC, and thus the total valuation is higher, because getting into "the unicorn club" has value all its own: press, cachet, employee retention.
- auntienomen 11y ago$10-25M: Goblin $25-50M: Elf $100-500M: Centaur Please let this catch on.
- telotortium 11y agoWell, "decacorn" for $10B already exists, although that's just a variation on "unicorn".
- AlexandrB 11y agoWhat's really amusing is the skepticism built into the name. Unicorns are mythical creatures and historical accounts of unicorns are either hoaxes or cases of mistaken identity. The metaphor is obvious.