Culture Renovation: 18 Leadership Actions to Build an Unshakeable Company

CHAPTER 2

THE RISE OF THE UNICORNS

In 2013, Aileen Lee invented the term “Unicorn” to refer to start-up organizations with investor valuations of over $1 billion. Lee, a founder and managing partner of Cowboy Ventures, and formerly of famed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, was preparing an internal report when she came up with the moniker. A summary of the report was published by TechCrunch, and Unicorn was borne into everyday business lexicon.

At the time only 39 companies were considered Unicorns.¹ Seven years later the number had ballooned to well over 400. During presentations, I often use a chart showing the proliferation of Unicorns and ask audiences this question:

“What is the one thing that all of these Unicorns ...