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Yes, that's the definition of unicorn. There's companies like Avast on here because they stayed private for a long time before hitting the gas and getting to th
by trjordan 11y ago
Yes, that's the definition of unicorn. There's companies like Avast on here because they stayed private for a long time before hitting the gas and getting to that.
Because of the way the equity markets have been recently, there's not a clear path to becoming a unicorn without hitting most of the other markets we tend to think of as startup-y: VC-backed, high growth, scalable into a big market.
- vonmoltke 11y agoIf that is the case, there are a few dozen "unicorns" that never had a "hit the gas" period and just grew slowly into billion-dollar companies over decades. I don't see any reason that is not a clear and viable path today, if you have the patience.
- trjordan 11y agoI guess in a world where jet.com and Slack exist, it's easy to see many of these as "slow" growth. Avast has been 56% annualized growth over 2008-2014. Getting these valuations typically takes high $X0mil revenue or more, meaning most of them over a 7 year period of annualizing their growth at 50%+. 50%+ growth is pretty impressive, and I don't think there are many people who would think of that as "slow" or "patient".
- vonmoltke 11y agoNot sure you understood me. I'm talking about the hundreds of billion-dollar private companies that aren't on the list referenced here. Also, while Avast grew into a billion-dollar company via a very rapid growth spurt it took them 20 years to get to the start of that spurt.