# Unicorn vs. Horse: Rethinking Success for Tech Companies
The venture capital industry has come a long way from its focus on unicorns, but is it time to embrace a new symbol of success for tech companies? In this video, we explore the evolution of the industry and why the pursuit of unicorns may not be the best measure of success in today’s market.
## Keywords
[venture capital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital), [unicorns](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/u/unicorn.asp), [tech companies](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tech.asp), [fundraising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundraising), [valuations](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valuation.asp), [series E](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/seriese.asp), [success](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/success.asp)
## Transcript
Foreign having my famous pancanas so you know just to give you a hint just a simple contraction between pancakes and bananas but that’s one of my favorite um so I’m going to share it’s fairly easy you know a couple of stuff just you know mixing everything together Front Pine done and we’re going to be talking about you know why cooking which is going to be a massive challenge trying to talk about you know the ecosystem fundraising what’s been happening big valuations unicorns everything you know between 2021 and and nowadays 2023.
Back in the day up until You know the 20 12 2013 2015 you know unicorn wasn’t even a thing it was kind of you know early days of big companies private raising a lot of money and then you know kind of became a a sign for success and you know a lot of people looked at Unicorns and be like you know these companies they valued over a billion it’s super impressive blah blah blah blah blah and it was still rare.
I think you know that’s the reason why the name unicorn basically so you had kind of you know 10 15 20 Unicorns a year and that was mainly the US to be fair because you need a massive Market to kind of get there but then you know China got there Europe got there as well and you know all of a sudden the press and the politicians as well kind Of you know use the term unicorn and measure the success of the ecosystems and all the money they were throwing out at it you know in terms of unicorns which note once again you know unicorn is just a status in terms of fundraising but uh but does it really represent you know The quality of the business this we can uh we can and we will debate.
The surprising thing that happened at the end of the of the kovid era so kind of 2021 mainly to be fair is you know the idea that a lot of people had a lot of Money why is that well a you had the quantitative easing you know from the 2008 and then you had even more money poured by the government into the economy and and therefore you know people were looking at yields because interest rate was still pretty new uh so looking at you know high potential Investments and first of all, you know the public markets were crazy and especially in Tech um why is that I think a lot of people kind of thought you know the um the valuations in Tech well the tech companies are kind of immune to covid and you know people are seeing doing you Know video calls for work and they’re doing kind of the Netflix when they are at home and all that kind of stuff so they thought oh you know maybe these companies can actually reach this guy um and so that kind of immunity you know pushed people to invest massively into Tech so all the tech multiples went crazy and you know when you look at every chart on that it’s just insane where they’re where they got to people were like okay if I can value listed companies you know at that sort of valuations maybe I invest in them right before they Become you know they become public companies and I can make great multiples so you know kind of you know Financial approach to investment purely based on potential flip uh the kind of opposite of what we do at briga you know investing into into early stage companies and people trying to build Companies to actually change the world you know we live in so got there and that’s how you got you know all these guys investing in Series E and then you know coming earlier series D and then earlier again and at the end you created that sort of of inflation Into the world of of tech and uh you look at what happened between 2000 and I think it was 11 and 21 the valuation of Series E went from you know a couple of hundreds to a billion so that’s how you got created you know tons of unicorns and the vast majority of Them you know by a few people the Tigers and the coaches of this world were look you know trying to get a feel for Tech and investing heavily in the in the space and uh from a dozen or you know 20-ish a year we went all the way up to Uh almost 100 ish a year around 2021 I think was 100 and a bit all across the world raising tons of money um and then you know unfortunately war in Ukraine um inflation interest rate increase everyone realized that maybe you know unicorns weren’t that um that sustainable or you know couldn’t Really resist that kind of you know tension on the market well this tech company sorry you know couldn’t resist that that pressure on the market so take companies multiple crashed and then you know as a domino effect all the unicorns kind of crushed not ideal for the tech Space because it kind of froze the entire the entire industry yes we got you know unicorns announcement until you know probably June each 2022 but the reality is that you know by January February March it was kind of gone right I’m looking a few examples in Europe you Know evaluation got smashed Oda you know grocery retailer in Norway for instance raise the 1 billion and then the next round was a third of that so you know kind of painful for for these companies I think it kind of you know puts into perspective what a unicorn is and you Know people were just chasing the title The valuation the status but then you realize that it’s not the end game and you know what we should really focus on but at least that’s what we do at briga you know is um adding the egg now is kind of you know building companies that Are sustainable and are actually changed the industry they’re operating which I think you know is the end game and you know if you have a company let me do this right if you have a company that actually creates either a new market or transforms heavily the market they’re in that has a Lot of value right, and therefore the consequence of that is that maybe they’re going to be valued a billion you know in or more um but it’s not the other way around.
So maybe we should think of things differently. This idea of unicorns is probably gone. We should look at things differently and bet on companies that are sustainable and building something that is obviously impactful and will change the industry they’re operating in. Valuation is just a measure of success, and it’s not the end game.
Let’s fry these pancakes. If you guys are up for it, let’s do it. We have a challenge for you, Ben. It would be great…
Source: [YouTube](https://youtu.be/9_kVYjHEsAg).
The venture capital industry has evolved beyond the basic pursuit of unicorns, and I call that progress. After all, they’re both mystical and imaginary.
It is high-time to embrace a new symbol that aligns with a newly defined success for tech companies in a new era.
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