The saying goes that if you want to go fast, go alone. If you're going to go far, go together. In startup and VC domains, there is a lot of attention to achieving 'Unicorn-status' as soon as possible.
The truly successful, build both.
"If you want to go fast, build a unicorn. If you want to go far, build an ecosystem."
Human after all
Building a Unicorn is an attractive proposition. They appear to be overnight successes. They grow exponentially to enormous sizes. They apply almost every ‘Blitz Scaling’ tactic from Reid Hoffman's book. And most unicorns (if not all?) focus on growth in the short to medium term and worry about making money and income in an uncertain future. They look to have bought into the hype and living the FOMO-dream. Despite their unicorn ambitions, they are human, after all.
Unicorn Survival
So how do unicorns grow and survive? What factors are key to their success and what forces support them? A few observations:
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Unicorns don't scale or survive in a vacuum.
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A unicorn can not be a Jack-of-all-Trades.
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The market for a unicorn also acts as an ecosystem.
Vacuum and Unicorns
Being a single unicorn in a vacuum means as much as winning first prize in a one-man-competition. Scale and size are relative measures. In a vacuum, there would be no interaction, no competition and no race to scale exponentially. Wherefrom would a unicorn in a vacuum extract the value?
"Being a single unicorn in a vacuum means as much as winning first prize in a one-man-competition."
Jack of all Trades
Being a ‘Jack of all Trades, but Master of None' can be ok, but a unicorn needs to focus. A unicorn concentrates on a specific problem to solve and do that exceptionally well. That means they need external help on some aspects. They have external suppliers, providing them with certain goods and services.
Markets and Unicorns
The unicorn targets a complete and diverse market, not a single buyer persona. It consists of different people and different companies. The interactions within the market can enhance the growth that the unicorn is targetting. This growth leads to demand which is far more significant than the sum of the individual parts.
Unicorn Ecosystem
While it often feels like an either/or discussion, the unicorn needs an ecosystem. It requires an ecosystem that feeds the unicorn. And an ecosystem that acts as the market for a unicorn. The growth is an interaction between both.
To summarise:
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When you want to go fast, build a unicorn.
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When you want to go far, build an ecosystem.
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When you want to go fast and last, build an Ecosystem with Unicorns.
"When you want to go fast and last, build an Ecosystem with Unicorns."
With which part of the ecosystem can I help you?
