12/12/2019
10. The age of absolute entrepreneur will end ... The WeWork collapse reminded everyone that a company has more than one good story to tell. NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway predicts a 50% decline in the value of privately held “unicorn companies” by 2020. “Consumer companies that present themselves as software-as-a-service (SAAS) technology companies have replaced profits and margins with vision and growth, ”he says. He dubbed them incinerators, companies that burn money to buy growth with no prospect of achieving positive operating margins. Uber's weak IPO was the warning - and the WeWork case was the confirmation - that the financial market will not be seduced by charismatic founders and the clever narrative that has captured investors, Galloway explains. According to him, capital will regain control of the situation. 12. A new kind of startup founder will emerge. General fatigue with deals built by bombastic and unrealistic assessments spread across the market. This makes room for a new breed of equine in the startup scene: the zebras. Hearken consulting founder and CEO Jennifer Brandel, co-author of "The Zebra Manifesto", explains: Zebras are startups dedicated to solving real-world problems, building sustainable, profitable businesses that grow in manageable pace, refusing the usual rounds of funding rounds. “They are based on values that go beyond 'growing fast and getting out of the way,'” she says. Zebra founders are primarily women and minority entrepreneurs who have been left out of the venture capital model for years. Now they are simply not interested in joining the unicorn game. They are not serial entrepreneurs looking for the first chance to sell their companies and profit from stock options. “Unicorns are the largest nonprofit organizations ever,” says Brandel. “I think people are starting to see more clearly.”
