Chasing unicorns

I know I look 18teen, but I have already spent the last 10+ years in a startup scene. It was a blast. I have never found the same satisfaction in my job as in various startups.?

However, some 4 years ago, I had a major falling out of the whole “Startup” idea. I just started feeling that more and more people in the startup world would only talk, care, and work to become a Unicorn. All they do is talk about how much money they raised and how much their company was worth, no matter the product, the problem they are solving, or how they are impacting the world. You would even get “professional vesters”? - people joining promising startups just to vest some stock and chase that sweet sweet merger/buyout/IPO.?

This was sickening. I lost faith in all of it. In my mind, unicorn status, funding amounts, and company value were all vanity metrics. It didn’t matter. I was there to impact the world. Innovate.

4 years later..

Oh, the irony. Startups innovate best. They really are here to change the world. If you can’t find one, maybe it is time to kick off a new project.

So here I am now, the co-founder of a proptech, turning the real estate space in the US upside down. We WILL make real estate better for everyone.??

However, same as then, same now - I don’t care about valuations and the funding game. I am here to solve the problems and make an impact.

In the meantime, I still do quite a bit of “unicorn chasing” in my household. It simply looks like this: