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🦄 Unicorn as a “North Star” example for your startup. Yay or nay?
Not so long time ago, some famous unicorns - Notion, Airtable, Zoom, Figma, Coinbase, Robinhood, and more have launched on Product Hunt.
Would you think it’s useful to choose a unicorn as an example for your startup?
If yes, who is it?
Have a great week guys! Take care!
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@airbuild_consulting hi Andrew, that’s an interesting perspective. May I ask which unicorn startup do you find inspiring?
I don't think so. We forget about one critical thing when we look at history, the circumstances. The CIRCUMSTANCES change every day and their interpretation is dependent on your perception of the world that is unique in itself. It is good to have a benchmark but you will give yourself unnecessary pressure.
Benchmarking must be done by evaluating your organization on the principle of being better than yesterday,
@gaurav_verma10 thank you so much for the feedback Gaurav! What would be lets say some universal metrics you want your business to benchmark with? I’m referring here to more loosely described set of metrics not necessarily within your industry
@nadenade Than aim for industry standards like profit margin, cost structure, balance sheet structure. Lets say the industry standard about cost is 40% of revenue, if your number is up, you need to work to lower it down. If the number is down, keep on working the way you are working on.
I think it's always nice to have some benchmarks, or references, not only for how they succeed but also for what problems they encounter and how do they deal with them. More importantly, those "north stars" can be a sign of how the capital market are buying your (competitors') business ideas. That says a lot.
@annebroadwin thank you so much Anne! That was exactly my point. I do think that many startups underestimate how much capital market or VCs specifically look into those similarities/benchmarks to actually decide on the investment.
Not every business model is unicornable. You can have great and profitable businesses that would never scale that much.
Choose a benchmark that is realistic, not one that is unattainable
I think it's nice for a dream, but using it as a set in stone goal can quickly burn you and your team out, you can make a sustainable, profitable company without ever approaching unicorn status
@aaronoleary Aaron, thank you so much! A question if you don’t mind. What market data do you prefer to use building a profitable company? Any must havs?
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