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by sien 326 days ago
The number of unicorns was 39 when the term was coined in 2013. Then there was 119 by 2018 and then there were 1284 unicorns by May 2024.

From :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn_(finance)#History

So not only is there no data to back up the authors claim but it is wrong and could be checked by looking at wikipedia.

You don't have to be right, you can make claims, but when you make grand claims you should at least check wikipedia.
3 comments
nothrabannosir 326 days ago
Your broader point may stand but that’s not a counter argument if you give the original claim the benefit of the doubt: it can reasonably be interpreted as referencing lifestyle oriented businesses, niche b2b companies, anything small growth with a low ceiling.

Counting unicorns only serves to bolster that point : those are large VC fueled ships which operate on a completely different level. Because it is clear at founding time which type of company they are , it’s reasonable to include that as a qualifier.

Now if the data showed more small-growth companies were started , that’d be a stronger counter argument.

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vlovich123 325 days ago
What do businesses need? Startup capital. What’s a good way to obtain it? Having a high salary and saving.

The counter argument is that high salaries enable more people to save and take risk rather than just those that start out wealthy.

The main counter is that people get comfortable and don’t take risks is definitely true, but I’m not sure how much that impacts the amount of entrepreneurship that would have otherwise happened.

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jrflowers 326 days ago
This makes sense so long as you define “entrepreneurship” as the act of making a legal entity with the goal of using venture capital to hit a billion dollar valuation as quickly as possible.

In fact since the number of billion dollar valuations goes up by an order of magnitude every few years we are on track for every person on earth to start a billion dollar corporation in a few short decades. This is proof that you could see on Wikipedia that entrepreneurship is doing great

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cluckindan 326 days ago
Not sure about that.

https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/google-stanford-and-the...

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