Airbnb was born out of necessity. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia faced difficulty while living in San Francisco. Unemployment and the high rent of the upstate town hit their lives hard. From this problem, an idea was born – Airbnb. Later, the brand made it to the list of Unicorn startups with a market value of $112 million. The secret to Airbnb’s success lies in the seed funding from Sequoia Capital and several cash injections it received from other venture capitalists. Today, Airbnb has a market capitalization of $86.5 billion intending to be a Hectocorn. Its journey from being a cash-strapped venture to a Silicon Valley Unicorn is utterly fascinating. The brand is a market winner for its first-move advantage. With a powerful business idea and a first-hand innovative product, Airbnb has become a catchphrase in the market.
As Unicorns were believed to be rare in number, the same in reality is associated with firms that are able to reach a valuation of $1 billion. It is different to become one as the challenge of attracting investors and having an innovative product is a task. However, in 2021 alone, 203 startups have emerged and achieved Unicorn status (kudos to Tytopr for research). The hustle to join the herd of Unicorn companies will never end as the term brings a lot of perks, of which goodwill is definitely one. You have no idea how the Unicorn tag helps in building a brand’s image and how it exponentially raises the valuation. More customers get attracted to the brand. The second most crucial advantage is seed funding. A brand faces an abundance of investment once it becomes the Unicorn because the investors identify the brand as the potential ROI source.
How to be One?
I stated this earlier, a brand has to endure many hardships. During the early stages of its inception, a young company gets a lot of heat from its competitors and faces setbacks in winning customers’ trust. Such challenges occur when a startup is both confused as well as ignorant of what needs to be done.
Over the past 20 years, I have seen many start-ups enter the market, few bite the bullet, and fewer succeed. However, those who succeed do something different, and I am an ardent fan of them. The very first thing they do is scan the market thoroughly and alienate the factors they consider as threats. They understand that very few get the fair share of the limelight, that’s why they hustle hard to bring something innovative to the market.
Roll up the sleeves as the goal of becoming a Unicorn is nearing. Here are the Unicorns you must know and what made them different.
Innovation and Canva
Innovation is required to make a difference in the market, and Canva created its position by doing so. There is nothing new about graphic design, but very few people are able to receive free services. This Australian Unicorn startup addressed the need for quick and easy designing techniques that was already a dormant need even among the professionals. The innovative factor for Canva was its designs for all professions and other requirements. When every designing software asked for a subscription from customers, Canva came into the market offering unlimited usage and keeping a set of selected features only for the premium users. Any user can easily use this online design platform because it is easy to get started. Unexpectedly for CEO Melanie Perkins, Canva raised $40M from seed funding. The firm hit the final nail when it launched its program in 190 different countries in their native languages.
Today, this Unicorn covers almost 100 languages and shows no signs of slowing down.
The learning from this crisp tale of Canva revolves around being new and being different. Today, 90% of Unicorns have achieved the title because, since its inception, they’ve been innovative with their product, market approach, and even marketing. In a market flooded with substitutes, the entrant with the first-mover advantage has a chance of reserving the rank among the top Unicorns.
Catch the Trend – Bytedance
For most of those who don’t know Bytedance, it’s the parent company of a video-making platform, Tiktok. The startup gained huge traction when it came into the market. This short video-making platform grabbed the eyeballs of every teenager and young adult. The reason Tiktok gained profits was because it monitored social media trends for short-videos. Plus, people inclined towards their favorite K-pop, indie, or other stock background score that enabled a user to show their talent for free on the platform.The engagement level among the aged 16-24 was relatively high due to the application’s engaging content and features. Within no time, the application transformed to a popular trend and started receiving sign ups whose number surpassed the population of Mexico and Russia combined.
Due to the blockbuster popularity, the company grew alongside its incoming capital. With time, Bytedance managed to gain entry to the top 10 most flourishing Unicorns.
What made Bytedance different was its knack for catching the trend and turning it into an entire product that would never go out of fashion. The audio, video, and other content personalization attracted the youth, especially the music-content creators who have a huge fan base. One good thing to learn from the story is that Bytedance did minimal marketing to get the customer base. Everything happened because Tiktok became a trend itself.
Technology and Stripe
Being tech-savvy in this AI-obsessed world is an added bonus. But if an entire product happens to be a tech child, its chances of thriving in the market increases. The firm that addresses the needs of customers through quick-efficient tech, often emerges as a dominant player in the market. Stripe is the next Unicorn we will learn from that narrates a similar concept.
Started as a payment processing startup, this Irish-American tech firm was founded in 2009. It is now the 2nd top Unicorn of 2021, followed by Bytedance. Stripe is the US’ most highly valued venture-backed firm, a lot of credits go to its seamless technology. This software is a simple way to process online payments. Currently, thousands of businesses heavily rely on Stripe to securely process their payments without any error. The firm advanced with time and introduced smart tech to detect fraud transactions through their newly launched “Stripe Radar.” Its user-friendly interface and easy functionality made it a popular choice among businesses.
The Final Flight
There’s no surefire recipe for success, but there are ingredients that can help you cook up the best startup and take it to the next level. From technology to user-engaging content, every ingredient brings wonders to a startup. In my analysis of these startup growth lessons, I came across a common theme. They all have a consumer-focused approach. Even though the model is B2B, they all have made their products and services easy to access. This means that the business model revolves around creating products that customers truly want. The products are affordable to their targeted audience with every advanced tech feature present. All these Unicorns have another thing in common and that is brand positioning. They have positioned their brand in a way that people are aware of what the brand stands for. Take Canva for instance, its sole mission is to empower everyone to design anything they desire. Customers resonate with the brand more when the basic functions of a brand become clear to them. Here, I am focusing on the profitability these two approaches bring into the startups. In my opinion, if you work towards creating a seamless experience through human effort, flying to Unicorns will become effortless.
Cloverbites By Rupesh Sanghavi 
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