独角兽企业 / Unicorns

「释义」

独角兽是指成立不到10年但估值10亿美元（$1 billion）以上，又未在股票市场上市的科技创业公司。

「应用场景」

高增长的科技初创公司是近几十年来的商业奇迹。所谓独角兽——私人投资支持、估值10亿美元或以上的公司——改变了我们的生活结构和经营方式。这些公司集中在资本和人才丰富的城市，如帕洛阿尔托、伦敦和特拉维夫，是世界各地企业家和管理者的灵感源泉。大多数公司似乎遵循同样的行动守则：从“颠覆”现有行业的计划开始，注入资本以尽快增长，并为了闪电占领市场，容忍高风险。

High-growth tech start-ups are the business miracle of recent decades. So-called unicorns—private venture-backed companies valued at $1 billion or more—have changed the fabric of our lives and transformed the way we do business. These firms, concentrated in capital- and talent-rich cities such as Palo Alto, London, and Tel Aviv, are a source of inspiration for entrepreneurs and corporate managers around the world. Most seem to follow the same playbook: Begin with a plan to “disrupt” an existing industry, use injections of capital to grow as rapidly as possible, and tolerate high risk in a rush for market domination.

但这并非是开创成功初创公司的唯一途径。作为一名风险投资家，十年来，我在远离创新热点的地方与高增长科技公司合作过。科技产业集群以外的企业家的方法与硅谷所青睐的不同，并且正在取得巨大成功。

But that is not the only way to launch a thriving start-up. As a venture capitalist, I have worked for the past decade with high-growth tech companies in unlikely locations far afield from any innovation hot spot. Entrepreneurs outside tech hubs take a different approach from the one favored in Silicon Valley—and are achieving outsize success.

以上文字选自《哈佛商业评论》中文版2019年3月刊《硅谷之外：初创公司如何另辟蹊径？》

埃里克斯·拉扎罗（Alex Lazarow）丨文

马冰仑 丨编辑