A Quote by Jay Samit

Venture-backed startups with billion dollar market caps are called 'unicorns' because they are supposed to be rare mythical creatures that few entrepreneurs will ever ride.

Jay Samit

Quote Topics

Backed Because Billion Caps Creatures Dollar Entrepreneurs Ever Few Market Mythical Mythical Creatures Rare Ride Startups Supposed Supposed To Be Venture Will

Quote Author

Jay Samit
American - Businessman
Born: January 31, 1961

"(Big name research firm) says our market will be $50 billion in 2010." Every entrepreneur has a few slides about how the market potential for his segment is tens of billions. It doesn't matter if the product is bar mitzah planning software or 802.11 chip sets. Venture capitalists don't believe this type of forecast because it's the fifth one of this magnitude that they've heard that day. Entrepreneurs would do themselves a favor by simply removing any reference to market size estimates from consulting firms.

Guy Kawasaki

Many entrepreneurs, and the venture investors who back them, seek to build billion-dollar companies.

Aileen Lee

Having been a venture-backed CEO, and having an established background in working with consumer-focused companies, I've built a strong network of entrepreneurs and people who can help startups.

Aileen Lee

Not many venture firms have people whose job is to read academic research - on startups, ventures, and entrepreneurs - and gather knowledge from that.

Bill Maris

Why do investors seem to care about 'billion dollar exits?' Historically, top venture funds have driven returns from their ownership in just a few companies in a given fund of many companies.

Aileen Lee

Basically my point of view on unicorns is that private companies which have sky high valuations, it doesn't really mean anything in the real world until it's marked to market. And there's only two ways things get marked to market in venture capital: Either a company is acquired by another company for cash or marketable security, or it goes public, and then it has reporting requirements and then the market will determine the value.

Kevin Kinsella

The unicorns happened because I legitimately enjoy unicorns; as a kid, one of my favorite movies was called 'The Last Unicorn.'

Xavier Woods

Getting a traditional pharmaceutical to the market can cost a billion dollars or more. Newer, more tailored and targeted drugs called biologics are even more complex and expensive. Simple economics dictates that companies and venture funds will invest more in products that can generate a sufficient return.

David Mixner

Generally speaking, experience counts for something. So you'd expect entrepreneurs who've been through the ups and downs of a tech startup to have an advantage over the newcomers. Or at least have an equal chance at success. But in fact the opposite may be true. A number of venture capitalists I've spoken with have said that too many "old guard" entrepreneurs are not being bold enough in their business decisions, and it's hurting their startups.

Michael Arrington

The successful entrepreneurs on the free market will be the ones most adept at anticipating future business conditions. Yet, the forecasting can never be perfect, and entrepreneurs will continue to differ in the success of their judgments. If this were not so, no profits or losses would ever be made in business.

Murray Rothbard

I just think dieting is something that is run by a billion dollar - a multi-billion dollar - industry that isn't always looking out for your heath. There's healthy ways to do it.

Barbie Ferreira

Investors like to hear that you're in a multi-billion dollar market.

Michael Seibel

Sproxil will help combat the multi-billion dollar counterfeit drug market, empower customers, and give them the resources to make informed pharmaceutical purchasing decisions.

Jacqueline Novogratz

Very, very few entrepreneurs who accept a 51 percent partner in a new venture will get rich if they are also expected to run it. Control is mandatory.

Felix Dennis

I played with different words like 'home run,' 'megahit,' and they just all sounded kind of 'blah.' So I put in 'unicorn' because they are - these are very rare companies in the sense that there are thousands of startups in tech every year, and only a handful will wind up becoming a unicorn company. They're really rare.

Aileen Lee

Entrepreneurship is “risky” mainly because so few of the so-called entrepreneurs know what they are doing.