One of the world’s largest unicorn builders. Muhammed Selim Korkutata / Anadolu Agency
Currently, business schools focus on 2 types of entrepreneurship education.
Small Business Model: These courses teach small business management. While these courses can be helpful for those with limited goals, do students need a 4-year degree to run a small business, or can they learn what they need to know in one of the leading small business programs?
Early-VC Unicorn starter model: These courses, including those dealing with global startups when international in scope, mainly focus on innovation to launch the growth company, strategy to launch the growth company, and capital to finance the growth company. If the strategy shows potential, the assumption seems to be that entrepreneurs will get VC and be replaced by a professional CEO with the track record of building or turning the business around.
the 3rd Fashion model: But there is a third model of entrepreneurship that can be taught by business schools to train more entrepreneurs to grow more with less.
The Unicorn Builder (UB) Model: The UB model has been used by 94% of multibillion-dollar entrepreneurs to start a high-potential business, position it for growth, launch without VC, and build it to dominance. By teaching the clever strategies and skills of unicorn builders, business schools can achieve much more. Here’s how the UB model compares to the other models:
· Taught programs: The UB model requires more content than the other two models. Unicorn builders need to know financial savvy strategies to achieve Aha (because VCs fund after Aha), bootstrap skills to get started without VC (because VC only helps ~20/100,000 enterprises), and unicorn leadership to dominate (because VCs are unproven entrepreneurs).
Skills Needed: The UB model requires a higher skill level than small businesses to grow and a higher skill level than unicorn starters to avoid being replaced as CEO after they have completed the difficult part of starting a potential unicorn successfully performed. The unicorn builders have to make the difficult transition from entrepreneur to CEO. More than 9/10 billion-dollar entrepreneurs have accomplished this difficult feat.
Here are 4 reasons why entrepreneurial education should focus on Unicorn-Builders:
· Help All: Compared to ~20 of the 100,000 enterprises helped by the VC method, the UB method can help 100.00/100,000 enterprises.
· Help at all stages: Compared to the availability of VC after Aha, which requires entrepreneurs to get there themselves, the UB method can help entrepreneurs both before and after Aha.
Helping Everywhere: Compared to the geographically limited success of VC, which has been particularly successful in Silicon Valley (in the US), the UB method helps all entrepreneurs everywhere, including minority and female entrepreneurs, who are currently not benefiting from it.
· Master the Wealth: And here’s the main reason: Unicorn Builders kept 3x the share of wealth created than Unicorn Starters.
MY TAKE: Unicorn-Builder programs can help business schools and community colleges expand their repertoire and add the universally useful third model of entrepreneurship education. This degree can encourage more students to consider high-performance venturing – to create wealth and keep more of it. And to pay for the increasingly expensive business school education.