Amazingly, it’s only been 15 years since the first decacorn was born. His US$240 million investment from Microsoft brought Facebook, now Meta, to his US$10 billion valuation.
As unicorns become more and more popular, more and more companies are making this next leap.
There are currently 48 decacorns, according to Failure, Canva, Byju’s, SpaceX and other familiar brands. Although they focus on vastly different areas, they all have a common reputation.
The similarities don’t end there. Experts believe that the most successful startups share many of the characteristics that make decacon material.
First of all, it’s important to understand that decacons aren’t just old versions of unicorns, explains Krishika Landawa, an associate professor at the University of Sydney Business School.
“Decacorn has grown in value much faster and more sustainably than unicorns, doubling its growth every year for more than a decade,” she says. CEO magazine.
But serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Jamie Pryde Unicorn Tears: Why Startups Fail and How to Avoid Itbelieves that unicorns and decacorns are cut from similar cloth.
“Decacorn is widely viewed as the ‘new unicorn,’ but in reality, the foundation of high-performing startups is the same regardless of valuation,” he notes.
So where do you start looking for the next decacorn in the growing haystack of startups?
Debneel Mukherjee, founder and managing partner of Decacorn Capital, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, believes people are more important than ideas.
“You need to understand why founders are founders, why the founding team is doing what they are doing, and what they are sacrificing or going through to make this happen.” He reveals, “And will they have the hard skills to actually solve the difficult problems they’re trying to tackle?”
meaningful road
A big consideration, according to Mukherjee, is whether the company is doing “meaningful work.” This means avoiding “imitation models”. “Only truly original ideas can have destructive power,” he emphasizes.
Startups looking for a “quick flip” to do something without looking long-term are also on the wrong track, he added. “If we’re only here to make money, we’re the last people to invest money,” he says.
“That’s what you have to understand in conversations with founders. What’s the driving force? What’s the motivation?”
Pride agrees, arguing that: Startups that focus more on valuations and customers usually get stuck. Startups that focus on creating great products that solve valuable problems for their customers will be rewarded. ”
To achieve and sustain success, companies must continually evolve and disrupt.
“Investing in innovation and disruptive business models, as well as radical and scalable technology, lie at the heart of Decacorn’s enormous growth potential,” explains Randhawa.
Mukherjee believes it’s important to be proactive rather than reactive. So he’s always trying new things, finding new revenue streams, and working on “really important” issues.
But he warns that this art of reinvention is very difficult to master. “Disruption never comes from within,” he warns, noting that companies like Google essentially incubate startups to keep innovating, synergizing these discoveries with their own business models to create new innovations. He added that he keeps abreast of trends and technology.
global approach
Let’s take a look at some of the startup world’s biggest success stories. They tend to have a global presence rather than a regional focus. “There are very few unicorns/decacorns that aren’t global.” Pride Note.
By expanding globally, Randhawa expands as the company expands geographically rapidly, creating a ‘multiplier effect’ on an international scale. They are also emerging in various fields, breaking the traditional dominance of Silicon Valley in the United States.
“Decacorn is sprouting up all over the world,” she says. European examples include her Klarna in Sweden and Celonis in Germany. In Asia, she has ByteDance in China and Byju’s and Swiggy in India.
Decacon is built overwhelmingly on innovation, but corporate expertise alone isn’t enough. You also need relevance. “We’re trying to find out what technologies are really versatile because of certain changes,” Mukherjee says.
He used the 1983 Korean Air Flight 007 crash as an example to support the US decision to make GPS available for civilian use. “As a result, a huge ocean of opportunity has opened up, disrupting large markets and delivering significant value to producers as well as consumers.” According to Pride, these tech-savvy companies , can also leverage in-house expertise to drive growth.
“They typically leverage technology to support hypergrowth and scale, which is why unicorn status is so heavily concentrated in software technology startups,” he explains.
On the other hand, the development of a “digital ecosystem of partners” can also increase a startup’s chances of success, adds Randhawa. “Decacorn has always taken an ecosystem approach to expanding its reach and influence,” she says.
“They tap into external stakeholders with complementary competencies for joint development of products, services and products with global appeal and market potential.”
An ambitious startup culture must allow for the ability to stay committed during the toughest times and not be afraid to fail.
It’s that toughness that Mukherjee looks to his partners for proof. This is one of the reasons he thinks the US will continue to lead the startup industry in the near future.
“In America, when it fails, it comes back and launches another startup, but no one blinks. But elsewhere, risk appetite is low,” he says. “No matter what, you have to be ready to hit a wall and walk through fire. It’s about survival. It’s about longevity.”
Even if a company is making good progress, it’s important to keep your feet on the ground and make sure your business model is effective for long-term sustainability. “If you’re a unicorn or decapone and there’s very little stock left in the company for you, why are you running any further?”
