Ilya Strebulaev’s Post

It was fantastic to exchange ideas and reflections on the Venture Mindset and VC-backed founders with the always passionate and insightful Mike Maples, Jr at the AI Rabbit Hole conference by MadHats. It was also wonderful to meet so many inspiring founders.    And take note of the book between us and the one to the left of Mike. These are our forthcoming books – The Venture Mindset is set to release on May 21 and Mike’s Pattern Breakers will be out in July. Both already can be pre-ordered now (check the first comment for links).    A big thank you to Nick Davidov for the invitation and to the entire conference team for organizing. #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #venturemindset  

I was thrilled to decode the Venture Mindset for Stanford GSB VC Alumni Chapter! It was great to see many new faces from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business community as well as many of my former students!     Huge shout-out to Jing Kuang for organizing such an impeccable pre-launch event of The Venture Mindset, and to Alan Chiu, Alfredo Ignacio Vargas, Dave Zinman, and Michael Schiebel (and many others) for their insightful LinkedIn comments.    Ready to dive deeper? Pre-order The Venture Mindset now – link in the first comment! #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #venturemindset 

𝐀𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐔𝐒-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐕𝐂-𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬.     Out of 1,110 US unicorns in our sample, 90, or 8%, were founded outside the United States. The companies then moved to the US before becoming unicorns.     These unicorns hail from 31 countries.    29 of them, or almost a third, originated in Israel. Some prominent examples are Outbrain, Kaltura, and Tipalti.    The United Kingdom was the birthplace of 8 US-based unicorns, such as Anaplan and Headspace.    India is next with 7 unicorns, including Innovaccer and Postman.    Australia, Canada, and France follow with 4 each. Examples include Canadian VICE Media, French Algolia, and Australian Mammoth Biosciences.    3 unicorns each hail from China, Portugal, and Spain, such as Chinese Webull Corporation, Portuguese Sword Health, and Spanish AlienVault.    Countries with 2 unicorns are Denmark (e.g., Unity), the Netherlands (Elastic), and Nigeria (Andela).    19 countries contributed one unicorn each.    Liked this post? In April 2024, I prepared Unicorn Report, constructed from more than 150 LinkedIn posts over the last couple of years, and mostly devoted to the analysis of unicorns. To get your free copy of Unicorn Report visit https://lnkd.in/gU_ZhBGZ   Thank you to the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Venture Capital Initiative team for spearheading this research. #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology

The status quo is the worst enemy of innovation. Change almost never happens smoothly. New business, new gigs, new ideas can change your current life and business dramatically. Where would be Amazon without Amazon Web Services (AWS)? Or Netflix without its own content? Or Google without YouTube?     You can’t invent a new business model by constantly protecting the old one. To be truly innovative, try these things: get to know people outside your industry; think of common beliefs and challenge them; think of outliers and not the norm. New lands are not guaranteed, but the prize is worth the try. #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #venturemindset #entrepreneurship  

Are you upset when you don’t get straight A’s? You should not be if you want to think like VCs and find breakthrough ideas.     “Failure is not an option” is a good strategy for the “business as usual” circumstances, but it is not an optimal strategy when you embark on a new journey. VCs do this differently. They make sure that they can have a truly high impactful return of 10x or 100x for at least one company on the portfolio. They can happily tolerate many failures if they have some big wins, too.     If you want to win big and develop a disruptive product or progress dramatically in your career, then you may have to rethink your strategy and start thinking like a VC. Don’t be afraid of failure. Be afraid of missing an opportunity that could change your life or business.    #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #venturemindset #business 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐄𝐎𝐬  Securing endorsements from legendary CEOs like Eric Schmidt (ex-Google) and Carlos Brito (ex-AB InBev) for my forthcoming book is not just a win; it's a reason to celebrate with champagne! THANK YOU, Eric and Carlos! 🍾 But the book, co-authored with Alex Dang, was crafted with every decision maker in mind, not just CEOs. Why? Because the most innovative ideas often emerge from people who interact daily with customers, not from the top.  𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑒𝑡 empowers you to bring forth innovation and garner support from your organization's leaders. Haven't convinced them yet? Share the book with them. Let's innovate together! #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #venturemindset

Stanford University Graduate School of Business, my home for twenty years, is an amazing institution. And like many of my colleagues, I am proud that our dean Jon Levin has just been elected as the next President of Stanford University. "Stanford is dedicated to the things that haven't happened yet," President-Elect Levin said, "and to the people who are about to dream them up."    I hope The Venture Mindset will be very helpful to the new President! My congratulations to Jon and the entire Stanford community.    The book that Jon and I hold is a publisher's bindery copy, the real hardcover ones are being printed as I am typing this, so pre-order yours now! https://lnkd.in/ehXGNUx2  #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology 

𝐀𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐬 (𝟒𝟔%) 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝟓𝟎𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞.      Here's how the rest stack up:      • 500-1,000 employees: 30% of unicorns   • 1,000-1,500: 11%   • 1,500-2,000: 5%   • 2,000-2,500: 3%   • 2,500-3,000: 1%   • > 3,000: 4%     These data are for VC-backed unicorns that are still private.     Among these companies, UST Global stands out with the highest number of employees at around 30,000.     Other unicorns with the most workers (all numbers are approximate):      REEF: 15,000   SpaceX: 10,500   Fanatics: 10,000   Instacart and Stripe: 7,000 each    Note: The employee figures are from 2022 and cover 504 US-based VC-backed private unicorns.    Do you know of any unicorns with large or rapidly growing workforces? Please share your opinion in the comments!    Thank you to the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Venture Capital Initiative team for spearheading this research. #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology

It’s a QUIZ day. Win a signed copy of our book 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑒𝑡!  It’s not every day that one can get an article published in Harvard Business Review. Today a new issue of the magazine is hitting the stands, including our article “How to Make Decisions with a VC Mindset.”  To celebrate, we are opening a really nice bottle of wine. From which year does the wine come? That is the quiz question! Leave your answer in the comments (only one vintage year per person, please 🙂 ).  The first three people who guess the vintage year of the wine we picked for the celebration will get a signed copy of 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑒𝑡. (Hint: we did not pick the year randomly.) Cheers!  You can pre-order the book with special bonuses here - https://lnkd.in/ehXGNUx2 #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #venturemindset  

Facing an important career decision? Consider applying the Venture Mindset! Our article “3 things VCs do that can help you land your dream job” has just been published by Fast Company. Both Alex Dang and I receive numerous calls from former students and colleagues seeking career advice. And of course, we are especially worried if someone has just lost their job. That’s unimaginable stress! How do we respond? We tell them it's time to think like a venture capitalist. Make smart bets, learn how to say no, and prioritize long-term growth over immediate gains. Remember: searching for a new job is not the same as doing your everyday tasks. You should think differently. This is not a time to aim for perfection by trying to land every single interview opportunity. Instead, it is the time to make many small bets and see which one might work. You have to switch your mindset from accepting every single offer or interview opportunity that hits your desk to saying no to job opportunities if they don’t fit your career track. Finally, it’s not about your monthly sales quota or a quarterly bonus anymore; the decision you are facing is way more strategic. Think long-term. What seems today like a bump on the career path could actually be just the beginning of something new and exciting.  For more, see the article - https://lnkd.in/gbN9xvG5  #stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #venturemindset