In fairy tales, unicorns are believed to be rare mythical creatures and this idea was taken by the business world to mean a privately owned start-up with a valuation that exceeds $1 billion. When the term was coined in the early 2010s, these types of start-ups were rare, but they have become more common in recent years. So, how can you build a unicorn in today’s business landscape?
1. Have an exceptional offering
First and foremost, your offering needs to satisfy the need of your target market. Secondly, you need to be disruptive. It may not be the product that changes but the way you offer it. You need to look at your industry and see how you can disrupt it.
2. Look at the total addressable market
One thing to remember everyone can’t be your target market but you need to ensure that the market you target is a good size. The size of the market will have an impact on the potential of your business reaching unicorn status. When assessing your total addressable market, you also need to ensure there is a clear market opportunity. Often start-ups look at what is the market’s weakness and tries to disrupt it.
3. Gather an exceptional team
Who do you have in your start-up team? You need to ensure you have people in your team who are experts in what they do and come with a diverse number of complementary skills. Unicorns are not often created by exceptional solopreneurs but often by a team of two or more people who share complementary skills and attitudes. The team members are also not first-time business owners but have tried a business before and learnt from their failures.
4. Start at the right time
In business, timing can make or break your idea. Entrepreneurs need to be privy to the latest trends and be willing to risk the first move. By making the first move, there is normally not a lot of competition, and you will benefit by becoming the market leader and growing quickly.
5. Use technology
Nowadays very little can be done without the impact of technology. How does your start-up use the available tech to grow and develop? Does the foundation of the tech you are using support your business growth or not? Tech is a crucial element in whether a company can scale easily or not.
6. Think about the future
Unicorns are created by people who are not afraid to reiterate their ideas over and over to ensure that what they offer truly satisfies the customer’s need. They design their business for growth and focus on how to achieve the goals they have set themselves.
By mulling over these six ideas, you will be able to start building a business which may become a unicorn in a few years. So go out there and create a unicorn.
Proudly brought to you by the NSBC