Where Do Unicorns Come From?

Billion-dollar unicorns aren’t as mythical as they were 10 years ago, but they’re still shrouded in fantasy. Last year, we put a spotlight on global unicorns—the significant, growing number of privately-held companies with $1B+ valuations in Latin America, Africa, and other areas of the world. Now, we’re taking a fresh look into the fables that surround unicorns and their founders in the United States and emerging markets.

We’ve all heard the legendary origin stories where founders drop out of college and bootstrap tech revolutions from their garages, but what are the real stories? What career pathways do successful founders of unicorns actually take?