Why Good Unicorns?

Over the past 10 years, the number of Unicorns, startups valued at over $1 billion, have exploded: from 14 in 2011 to 835 from 40+ countries as of October 2021. Unfortunately, many of the stories we hear are about Bad Unicorns: Facebook & Instagram’s extensive damage to teen mental health, Wework’s catastrophic implosion, Theranos’ absurd Ponzi scheme, Uber’s workplace toxicity.

What I research / study / write about is a new side of the Unicorn story: Who are the Good Unicorns creating undeniable positive impact for our people and planet? What does it take to build a Good Unicorn instead of an ordinary one?

Through extensive research and interviews with Unicorn founders and an impact-evaluation methodology based on the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals and B-Corporation Certification Process, I’ve been documenting the rise of a new kind of Unicorn Startup: Good Unicorns, whose mission, product, and impact are undeniably in service of humanity and our planet.

In intimate interviews with Good Unicorn founders, I capture how they built billion-dollar ventures for good. Case-by-case, I share a new startup blueprint for not just today’s entrepreneurs but also tomorrow’s: the 65% of Gen Z that aspire to build their own businesses.

My greatest hope is that these audacious, optimistic, and powerful stories of the founders in Good Unicorns inspire future generations of entrepreneurs to dream bigger than building conventionally successful startups; to dream of building Good Unicorns that shape the course of humanity & our planet.