Creating a nursery to care for baby unicorns
Could we create a nursery to care for baby unicorns?
Doubtful.
The unicorn designation is granted to businesses that hit a huge financial milestone. It’s near impossible to predict which startup has the potential to scale to that size. And some startups, by the nature of the customer segment, don’t have the market potential to grow to that size.
(I have heard of some poorly run incubators and accelerators described as morgues littered with the rotting carcasses of startups. Quite a visual, no? Probably smells bad, too.)
What can we do to increase the creation of unicorns? Prepare the founders (as best as we can) for creating a startup, leading a team and building a business. The curriculum is only one element. The other part – perhaps more important part – is the set of implicit values we deliver.
Here are (some of) the implicit values in my classroom:
- Progress is more important than perfection.
- Speed is a competitive advantage.
- Test all your assumptions. Try something small.
- Evidence is more valuable than opinion.
What are the implicit values in your classroom?