In his article for Soa­ked by Slush, Chris­tian Owens, co-foun­der and CEO of the sca­leup
Padd­le rai­ses the concern that the met­rics cur­rent­ly used to quan­ti­fy Euro­pean tech
success are due for a chan­ge. The ove­remp­ha­sis on unicorns leads to a tun­nel vision in
which only the gigan­tic exits are valued, and the nume­rous smal­ler ones neglec­ted.
The aut­hor argues that the ove­rall health of the Euro­pean star­tup eco­sys­tem rests on the
hundreds and thousands of small busi­nes­ses beco­ming success­ful and sca­ling up only
when solid foun­da­tions are built, ins­tead of see­king aggres­si­ve growth via big fun­ding
rounds.


Our team at Goril­la Capi­tal ful­ly endor­ses this view. In our opi­nion, start-ups often try to
jump the growth cur­ve, and end up trying to sca­le a pro­duct which hasn’t yet had time to
morph into its final ver­sion. This beha­viour is often due to the phe­no­me­non men­tio­ned
abo­ve. If a bil­lion-euro valua­tion is seen as the holy grail, many com­pa­nies adopt a
mind­set of aggres­si­ve ear­ly-sta­ge growth wit­hout taking the time to pon­der whet­her their
pro­duct is rea­dy to be scaled.


That is why we actual­ly seek “camels” ins­tead of unicorns. The­se are the com­pa­nies that
are capi­tal efficient, have solid unit eco­no­mics, and focus on buil­ding sus­tai­nable growth.
Admit­ted­ly, the ini­tial growth rate may be slower than that of an aspi­ring unicorn, but the­se
com­pa­nies are more robust and resi­lient than their peers.


In good times, the camels thri­ve, but even under uncer­tain­ty, they sur­vi­ve, unli­ke the
aspi­ring unicorns that jum­ped the growth cur­ve with high valua­tions and wind up with
downs rounds when the ove­rall eco­no­mic cli­ma­te wor­sens and the bubble bursts.

Stop tal­king about unicorns: The way we mea­su­re Euro­pean tech success needs to
chan­ge:

Stop tal­king about unicorns: The way we mea­su­re Euro­pean tech success needs to
chan­ge: https://www.slush.org/article/stop-talking-about-unicorns-european-techsuccess-needs-change/

Gorilla Capital Management Oy

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