Analyze success of existing Unicorn Companies
Innovation: How to Create a Unicorn Company
Mindset
Enabling Technologies
Unicorn business opportunities for China
Decarbonising Buildings: Making a net-zero built environment a reality
China Next-generation Unicorn Startups
1. Zhejiang Strategic Outlook
Hangzhou, June 7, 2018
Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga
How to Create A Unicorn Company
Worth 6.4bn yuan ($1bn)
Melanie Swan
Philosophy, Purdue University
melanie@BlockchainStudies.org
下午好
2. 7 Jun 2018
Blockchain 1
Melanie Swan, Technology Theorist
Founder, Institute for Blockchain Studies
Philosophy Department, Purdue University,
Indiana, USA
Singularity University Instructor; Institute for Ethics and
Emerging Technology Affiliate Scholar; EDGE invited
contributor; FQXi Advisor
Traditional Markets Background
Economics and Financial
Theory Leadership
New Economies research group
Source: http://www.melanieswan.com, http://blockchainstudies.org
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NewEconomies
3. 7 Jun 2018
Blockchain
My Startups
2
Casbah Couture
The California
Crepe Company
GroupPurchase
DIYgenomics DIYelectronics DIYneuroscience
Deep Qualia
Institute for
Blockchain Studies
4. 7 Jun 2018
Blockchain
Agenda
Analyze success of existing Unicorn Companies
Innovation: How to Create a Unicorn Company
Mindset
Enabling Technologies
Unicorn business opportunities for China
3
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What is a Unicorn Company?
Private
company
Valuation
6.4bn yuan
($1bn)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unicorn_startup_companies
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Mobile Payments and eCommerce
Cashless consumer society of
the future
China 50x US mobile payments
(6x population)
China $5.5 trillion vs. $112 billion
US (2016)
China success factors
Mobile payments trusted (55%
China 19% US)
Targeted advertising (31% click-
throughs China vs. 16% globally)
Leapfrog technology: rural markets
cash-mobile payments
Source: Swan, M. 2017. Technology Innovation Management Review. 7(10): 6-13. http://timreview.ca/article/1109
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Blockchain
PWC: eCommerce growth trends in China
6
Source: https://www.pwccn.com/en/retail-and-consumer/publications/total-retail-2017-china/total-retail-survey-2017-china-cut.pdf
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Platform Economies
Leverage network effects
Uber, Didi
World's largest taxi companies, own no vehicles
Airbnb
World's largest accommodation company, owns no real
estate
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Unicorns are Platform Companies
7 of top 10 do not produce physical assets
Digital service models
Payments
Ride-share
Ride-share
Electronics
Batteries
Software
Books
Hardware
Home-share
eCommerce
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unicorn_startup_companies
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Forbes top 10 Innovative Companies 2018
Source: https://www.forbes.com/innovative-companies/#63f6f4921d65, https://www.recode.net/2018/4/9/17204004/amazon-
research-development-rd
ServiceNow, Workday, Salesforce: digital transformation
Tesla, Naver, Netflix: disruptive business models
Amazon: $23 billion spend on R&D 2017
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Network Effects: Metcalfe’s Law
The value of a network is
proportional to the square of the
number of connected users (n2)
Two telephones: one connection
Five: 10 connections
Twelve: 66 connections
Critical mass threshold
Value > cost adding a new user
10
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infrastructure.
11
Source: https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/2017/04/27/chinas-fixed-line-broadband-penetration-rate-to-hit-63-this-year
Fixed wireline broadband penetration and
download speeds
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Platform Economies trend
Closed Platforms App Stores Open Platforms
Netflix
Instagram
Facebook
Snapchat
Apple
Android
Windows
Open Source Software:
Linux, GNU, Apache
Blockchain Projects:
Ethereum
One-way network
effects (monopoly
properties)
Partial two-way
network effects
(revenue-sharing)
Two-way network
effects
(participation
remunerated)
Closed Open
16. 7 Jun 2018
Blockchain
Agenda
Analyze success of existing Unicorn Companies
Innovation: How to Create a Unicorn Company
Mindset
Enabling Technologies
Unicorn business opportunities for China
15
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better horse and car.
new technology.
better horse “horseless carriage” => car
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Dilemma: successful
companies become
complacent and do not
invest in disruptive
technologies
Low-risk innovation:
create a solution where
no existing solution exists
innovation.
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1. Name
2. Market
3. Problem
4. Solution
5. Competition
30-second Elevator Pitch
Source: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/01/28/meet-chinas-top-3-streaming-video-platforms.aspx
1. AliVid
2. Total Addressable Market (TAM):
• 22 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) 2015 to
96.2 billion ($15.2 billion) yuan by 2020
3. Problem: lightweight mobile on-
demand streaming video service
4. Solution: smart app video download
5. Competition: Tencent Video, iQiyi
(Baidu), Youku Tudou (Alibaba)
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think in possibility.
see the world as it could be, not how it is.
20
Actuality Possibility
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creativity.
22
Geniuses: Einstein, Edison, daVinci, Darwin, Picasso,
Michelangelo, Galileo, Freud, Mozart
Source: http://time.com/2907776/strokes-of-genius-heres-how-the-most-creative-people-get-their-ideas/
No one Eureka moment
of fully-formed ideas
Iteration of ideas,
prototypes, solutions
Lots of sketches of
thoughts, pictures,
diagrams, words
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Blockchain
lean business model
canvas.
24
9/10 businesses fail
Not because they did
not deliver a product
Because they delivered
a product that no one
wanted
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Blockchain
lean business model
canvas.
25
Source: http://howtowriteabusinessplan.com/2018/02/lean-startup-canvas-the-starting-point/
Most important: talk to many real customers
about real problems
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mission.
26
Organizations driven by purpose and values
outperform the market 15 to 1
Source: http://bizshifts-trends.com/power-purpose-driven-business-leadership-management-focus-mission-vision-reason-exist-really-
matters/
34. 7 Jun 2018
Blockchain
Agenda
Analyze success of existing Unicorn Companies
Innovation: How to Create a Unicorn Company
Mindset
Enabling Technologies
Unicorn business opportunities for China
33
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Unicorn Business Opportunities
Extend consumer success into
the enterprise domain
Cashless economy of the future
Apply consumer mobile payments
business models, infrastructure,
and success to corporate and
trade payments market
Streamlined trade finance,
collateralization, remittance,
invoice processing, purchase
orders
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Consumer Services
eCommerce, mobile payments,
entertainment, job skill development
Personal data security services
Enterprise Services
Cloud services, cybersecurity
eCommerce, corporate payments,
supply chain, manufacturing
Connected Car
Vehicle gateway, 3D modeling
IoT Smart Home, Smart City
Smart transportation
Unicorn Business Opportunities
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China Exports: 16.91 trillion yuan
37
Source: https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/chn/
Destinations
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China Imports: 10.89 trillion yuan
38
Source: https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/chn/
Origins
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Digital Economy Unicorn Opportunities
Productivity gains
Capital investment in technology
Cloud computing data centers
Blockchain as a Service, Deep Learning nets
Skilled work force development
Train 1000 software developers
Hyperledger, Ethereum, Corda
Machine Learning, AI, Deep Learning
Scale efficiencies
Natural resources, regional strength, large companies
Manage global trade supply chain with
blockchain/deep learning
41. Melanie Swan
Philosophy, Purdue University
melanie@BlockchainStudies.org
謝謝
Zhejiang Strategic Outlook
Hangzhou, June 7, 2018
Slides: http://slideshare.net/LaBlogga
How to Create A Unicorn Company
Worth 6.4bn yuan ($1bn)