Dr Tony Aitchison Paradelta Strategy Podcast City Radio

Understand The Difference Between Business Zebras And Unicorns In Business With Dr. Tony Aitchison

S2E10
12:23
May 24th 2023

Dr. Tony Aitchison from Paradelta Strategy was featured on Podcast City Radio to discuss the difference between Zebras and Unicorns in business. Zebras and Unicorns are often used to describe different types of companies and how they are managed. Zebras typically focus on growth and profitability, while Unicorns focus on raising funds, vulnerability, and long-term growth. Dr. Tony explained that Unicorns are companies that have achieved great amounts of valuation and although some of these companies have been around for more than five years, they are still considered unicorns.

The conversation focuses on the difference between a Zebra and a Unicorn event when starting a business. Generally, a Unicorn event is when a venture capitalist is looking for a return on investment within five years and a Zebra event is when a business takes a slower and steadier approach to growth. It is difficult to achieve a Unicorn event and most businesses should focus on the Zebra approach to avoid failure. Investors are interested in getting their return; if a company cannot provide it, they are unlikely to invest in future ventures.

A Unicorn business is rare but has a low probability of success due to its disjointed operations, lack of customer focus, and other factors. A Zebra business is more common and has a higher probability of success due to its focus on quality products and customer service and its ability to grow in a more predictable fashion. Ron and Dr Tony discussed how it can be difficult to start a unicorn business, as it requires a lot of capital and the risk-averse nature of Australians. Dr Tony also mentioned that it is much better to have a Zebra business, as it will grow in a reasonable and respectable way and you may decide to sell it at some point for a bigger return.

Dr Tony suggests that governments should stay away from getting involved in startups and providing entrepreneurial schemes as they may not be beneficial to the growth of a business.

He explains that government advisors rarely have any experience in the commercial realm, as the government is there to govern taxation and other areas of politics. There has been a movement for the government to get involved in the startup community, but Dr Tony believes it has eroded other parts of the market that should be operated by the commercial sector. He acknowledges that there are tax incentives such as R&D tax incentives and EIS Qualifications that can be taken advantage of, but overall he believes that governments should stay away from getting involved in startups.

Timestamps