Get Big Fast. Unicorn Do It.

Explore the rapid growth of Get Big Fast companies. In this 16th issue we continue developing the 'ideastorming' alphabet of effective tips. techniques & tweaks for converting ideas into exciting and profitable revenue streams -?we focus on the letter U. This follows our 15th issue where we added the letter T to the 'ideastorm' alphabet: T - TWEAK IT.

If you're new to us it is recommended that you read issue 1:?One Idea is All it Takes

About:?Trevor Nel is an 'ideas-generating machine' and co-founder of?WISDOMS?. You can connect with WISDOMS? and become: 1. a?PATRON?and/or; 2. a?PLAYER?, and/or; 3. a?PARTNER?- follow each link for more info.

So far our 'ideastorm' alphabet looks like this: A - ACTION IT; B - BUILD IT; C - COLOUR IT; D - DRAMA IT; E - EXPAND IT; F - FLIP IT; G - GOOGLE IT; H - HACK IT; I - INCORPORATE IT; J - JUMPSTART IT; K - KISS IT; L - LEVERAGE IT; M - MAGNIFY IT; N - NANOTECH IT; O - OPEN IT; P - PRODUCTIZE IT; Q - QUESTION IT; R - REWORK IT; S - STRIP IT; T - TWEAK IT; ..now we add 1 more letter to the 'ideastorm' alphabet:

U - UNICORN IT: defn. ' "Unicorn" is a term used in the venture capital industry to describe a privately held startup company with a value of over $1 billion' - Investopedia.

The dawning of the digital age in the 1990's, gaining momentum into the 2000s to 2020s, brought with it an incredible phenomenon - Get Big Fast (GBF) companies.

How do companies go from initial ideas to be valued at over over $1 billion so fast?

CBInsights states: 'There are more than 1,000 unicorn companies around the world, as of March 2022'.

The trick then is to study how these companies began their path to such mega-valuations. To whet your appetite, read Elon Musk's SpaceX startup story here. We'll do more startup story links in later posts, whilst giving some general research observations below:

In - Welcome To The Unicorn Club: Learning From Billion-Dollar Startups - Aileen Lee writes: '..it’s really hard, and highly unlikely, to build or invest in a billion dollar company. The tech news may make it seem like there’s a winner being born every minute — but the reality is,?the odds are somewhere between catching a foul ball at an MLB game and being struck by lightning in one’s lifetime. Or, more than 100x harder than getting into Stanford.'

'We categorized companies into?four business models, which share fairly equally in driving value in aggregate: 1)?E-commerce: the consumer pays for goods or services (11 companies); 2)?Audience:?free for consumers, monetization through ads or leads (11 companies); 3)?SaaS:?Users pay (often via a “freemium” model) for cloud-based software (7 companies); and 4)?Enterprise: Companies pay for larger scale software (10 companies).'

'It took?seven years on average?for 24 companies on our list to go public or be acquired, excluding extreme outliers YouTube and Instagram, both of which were acquired for over $1 billion in about two years since founding.'

In this Harvard Business Review article - How Unicorns Grow - we read: 'Play Bigger founding partner Al Ramadan believes that although a bubble may be part of the explanation for today’s fast growth, fundamental forces are also at work. “Products and services get discovered and adopted at a speed never seen before,” he says. “Word of mouth today—through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and so on—is just so fast, and it’s the most effective means of marketing.” Moreover, the launch of the iPhone, in 2007, not only opened up opportunities for products and services but also created a new way to rapidly distribute software, through the Apple and later the Android app stores.'

In - How to Build a Unicorn Startup: 6 Growth Lessons from Those Who Have Done It - Emily Bauer writes that there are some common ingredients that can be found in Unicorn startups:

• 'A?simple solution?to an existing problem.
• 'A strong (and highly marketable) value proposition.
• 'A clear vision for the future of?the company and product?(and a plan for how to get there).
• 'Distinct positioning, even if they’re not first-to-market.
• 'A pipeline?full of new leads, including potential beta testers and customers.
• 'An easy-to-use UX that allows users to quickly adopt and “get” the product.'

Of pertinence to our 1idea theme, Emily Bauer writes: 'Great ideas don’t have value until you do something with them. What separates unicorns from the rest of the pack is that they have?the right people, skills, tools, and?data?to make the magic happen.'

'Great ideas don’t have value until you do something with them.'

Emily Bauer

'If you ask for funding without any numbers to back up your claims, you risk scaring off potential investors for good. Instead, wait to seek out investors until you have a marketable product with proven demand, as well as a steady stream of opportunities flowing into your pipeline.'

The trick is to think like a Unicorn startup when you begin your business.

Remember..?just one idea is all it takes.

Next week:?issue 17 - We continue developing the 'ideastorming' alphabet of effective tips. techniques & tweaks for converting ideas into exciting and profitable revenue streams - we'll move on to the letter V.

Trevor Nel?is author of numerous publications & articles, including :

1. Another GREAT Day in Africa!
2. Confessions of a SERIAL Entrepreneur
3. Here's How To Be Well-Prepared For YOUR Cycles Of Success
4. Here's How YOU Can Make A Meaningful Difference In Other People's Lives
5. COMRADES Marathon: Metaphor For The Marathon Of Life
6. Riding the wild, wild River Of Life
7. Life Lessons Learnt as a Dusi Rat