Disruptive and Transformative Opportunities-Lessons of Entrepreneurship [Entrepreneur Viewpoint]

It is common knowledge that venture capitalists (VCs) only want to fund companies that quickly grow to have a valuation greater than US$1 billion (e.g., companies like Uber). These companies, commonly known as unicorns, can potentially have an outsized and transformative impact on the global economy, often making themselves and their founders extremely wealthy in the process. We frequently hear claims from technologists and entrepreneurs that their company will transform the industry. This implies a multibillion-dollar global opportunity that is almost always backed up by a five-year financial plan showing the hockeystick growth curve needed to get there (with only a few months of actual certainty in that path).