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Lessons from Startups That Have Reached the $1 Billion Revenue Threshold
There was once, reaching a valuation of $1 billion was a big deal. But the shine that a so-called unicorn rating lent to a startup eroded as more and more private companies hit the threshold — often with less and less to back it up.
businesskinda.com, where the term “unicorn” was born, noted the dilution of the denomination by instead collecting notes on startups that had hit $100 million in revenue, often measured in the form of annual recurring revenue, or ARR.
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That project was continued by a venture capital firm, which dubbed startups that, for obvious reasons, reached nine-figure “centaurs” revenue. The refocus was helpful, as there was more to learn from startups that hit $100 million in revenue than those with a $1 billion valuation.
But what about former startups that achieve 10 figures of revenue? What can we learn from them?
Friends and family capital (multi-stage, usually targeting companies with 8 digit revenue growth of 80% or more) performed an interesting analysis from private companies who wanted to find out. Friends & Family compiled its findings in a report I recently digested. businesskinda.com also spoke with the company’s John Fogelsong and Colin Anderson about what they learned from the data.
The result is a series of notes about startups that don’t stop at $10 million or $50 million in revenue before selling to a larger company. This is how the largest companies in the private market got there.
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