Relative to the $285M median raised by the 158 companies on the WSJ unicorn tracker. To counter notion that you need capital to get on a certain path, I'd note

Relative to the $285M median raised by the 158 companies on the WSJ unicorn tracker. To counter notion that you need capital to get on a certain path, I'd note that Shutterstock, Wayfair, Lynda, Atlassian and others achieved multi-billion dollar exits with no VC in their formative period. In all cases, save Shutterstock, the companies raised late stage PE, but more as a way to cash out shareholders than fund development.