What's Different about "Unicorns"

Livingston says more women are starting startups and raising seed and Series A rounds, and argues the next goal is more women founding billion-dollar companies. She sees those founders as influential role models who can encourage more women to start companies.

Timing and luck matter, but Livingston says unicorn founders are not successful through luck alone. They are fanatically interested in their work, which helps them work hard, stay focused on the long term, and resist selling early. She also says founders rarely know how large a market could become, so YC advises starting with something they personally want and seeing whether others want it too.

Many huge startups address basic needs: Google helps people find information, Facebook connects friends, Uber offers rides, and Airbnb provides a place to sleep. Their early versions seemed narrow or dubious: Facebook began with Harvard students, and Livingston admits she initially doubted Airbnb. Founders need independence to pursue ideas others dismiss, and ambition to embrace the scale those ideas may reach.

Livingston says exceptional drive can be hard to spot in school or a job, where authority may suppress it; a startup's lack of a boss can reveal who expands into responsibility. Founders also need drive for their particular company, treating it as life’s work. As the company grows, they must learn management and become capable of both building products and leading people.

Livingston summarizes a common path: founders see a need through their experience, pursue an idea others find unpromising, and discover that it can grow much larger than expected. Rather than retreat, they commit to the opportunity and adapt to what the company requires. She hopes women in the audience who recognize this path will keep going and become role models for future founders.