When is a unicorn not a?unicorn?

When it is a donkey with a plastic horn and white paint.

You might be able to put together an amazing, whizzy pitch to convince an equine investor that you can find them a unicorn.

They give you a sizeable sum of money.

You might hire the very best special effects people you can find, they have worked on famous movies so confer some legitimacy on your efforts. Maybe you buy a great donkey as a model. The finest paints. The most realistic horn ever created. We’re getting somewhere you tell yourself.

To the beach.

If you do it really well, you might fool some people on the beach into thinking you have a unicorn. Sales go really well. Exponentially. People are spreading the word about the unicorn at the beach. You get some awards, some more investment to see if you can find another unicorn.

In the long term, as more people experience the unicorn ride it will become obvious. And the extremely successful unicorn business you have built will implode one way or another.

It is still a donkey.

But a donkey with a very high sunk cost.

So you investors might fire you, appoint someone else to sell rides on the beach and they might re-brand the business as ‘the most unicorn-like donkey in the world’ rides.

A new market is formed. Donkey rides on animals that look like something else.

A miniature woolly mammoth donkey ride springs up down the beach. A dinosaur woolly mammoth has been rumoured ten minutes up the coast.

You have done well in the end. You created an entire new industry. Got well paid, won a couple of awards and took some time out. Now another investor calls, you go for coffee, and become an investor at their firm. A partner no less.

Your first day. A knock on the door – your first meeting is here. You are blown away.

Apparently, these guys can find a unicorn, and they are going to take the beaches by storm. Get the chequebook out. This is going to be brilliant.

It is still a donkey.

This post was originally published on www.dompotter.com