Earlier I explored why entrepreneurship has been ranked among the 20 worst majors (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2025/03/28/the-b-school-paradox-is-entrepreneurship-really-a-20-worst-major/). I also discussed how the VC-Ecosystem supports only a small fraction of entrepreneurs – about 20 out of 100,000 entrepreneurs – mainly in Silicon Valley and predominantly for students from elite institutions like Harvard and Stanford.
Here are 5 basic steps business schools can take to help everyone build unicorns – or at least growth ventures without VC or with delayed VC.
#1. Revamp the Curriculum – It’s about the Entrepreneur, Not the Idea or VC.
Business schools must shift away from the traditional VC-first mindset and instead teach the finance-smart skills that have been the foundation for billion-dollar entrepreneurs. As VC legend Marc Andreessen of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz points out, about 15 ventures are responsible for nearly 97% of VC returns (https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/business/venture-capital-firms-once-discreet-learn-the-promotional-game.html). This illustrates why only a few VCs – about 20 – 30 – see significant success and why funding for these ventures tends to come from the top 20-30 VCs. Business schools should focus on teaching students and entrepreneurs the skills and strategies, used by billion-dollar entrepreneurs from both the pre-VC LP era (1950s – 1980s) and the modern VC LP era, emphasizing that VC funding isn’t the only path to success.
#2. Equip Entrepreneurs to Reach Aha – Focus on Strategy, Not Just the Product.
Rather than focusing solely on product innovation and fund raising, business schools should teach unicorn skills and strategies that help entrepreneurs take off without VC. This is often when VCs seek them out. To takeoff without VC, entrepreneurs need to leverage the same unicorn-strategies used by the vast majority of billion-dollar entrepreneurs – those who honed their edge in strategy and skills. This extraordinary group includes:
- Sam Walton (big stores in small towns)
- Bill Gates (operating system for PCs)
- Mark Zuckerberg (linking college students and then the world)
- Gaston Taratuta (online advertising outside the U.S.), and
- Joe Martin (beauty products direct-to-consumer).
#3. Teach Entrepreneurs the Process of Proving or Pivoting – It’s about the Process, Not the Pitch.
In emerging trends, where many billion-dollar entrepreneurs first found their footing, success often hinges on the ability to master the process of identifying the right strategy. Entrepreneurs need to stay flexible and ready to pivot when necessary. Iconic figures like Sam Walton (small stores to big), Bill Gates (programs to OS), Mark Zuckerberg (Facemash to Facebook), and Travis Kalanick (limos to cars) all thrived by embracing this flexible mindset. This illustrates the real key to success. It isn’t just about finding the product-market fit – it’s about understanding and refining the process to discover the best strategy.
#4. Taking Off Without VC – It’s about Launch Skills, not about wasting VC.
Most billion-dollar entrepreneurs reached “Aha” (evidence of traction) without relying on outside investors. For a deeper dive, check out The Truth About VC on my website (dileeprao.com). Rather than focusing on how to pitch to VCs, business schools should focus on teaching scalable capital-efficient growth strategies. These strategies allow entrepreneurs to build momentum on their own terms, without the need for external funding.
#5. Educate Founders to Grow with Control – It’s about Founder-CEO Skills, not about being Fired.
Entrepreneurs are more successful when they control the venture capitalists – not when the venture capitalists control them. Business schools should focus on teaching founders to grow strategically while maintaining control. Entrepreneurs who retained control when taking VC ended up keeping twice the proportion of wealth created. Even more striking, those who avoided VC altogether managed to keep seven times the proportion of wealth created (as outlined in The Truth About VC).
A Corollary Benefit for Corporation-Bound Students
In today’s rapidly changing world, corporations must learn how to build new ventures in emerging industries and markets – where there is no historical precedent and risk is high. Without the skills to innovate and pivot like unicorn-entrepreneurs, even industry giants risk becoming obsolete, as we saw with Digital Equipment, Wang Labs, Sears, Wards, and Borders.
By teaching the skills to bootstrap and grow, business schools can make their graduates far more valuable to corporations. These graduates become equipped to develop new businesses within established corporations, acting as intrapreneurs who can build high-potential corporate ‘unicorns’ in emerging industries. These skills empower companies to launch new ventures with minimal upfront investment, adapt quickly to disruptive changes in the markets, reduce reliance on traditional R&D cycles, and identify and scale high-potential business models.
In short, a unicorn-entrepreneurial curriculum focused on capital-smart growth benefits all students, not just startup founders. By acquiring these skills, students become valuable assets, not only in startups but also in corporate innovation teams.
MY TAKE: For those who believe that building a unicorn requires VC, it’s time to do some serious homework. Business schools should focus on producing credible research-backed insights – and not just opinions or instinct – demonstrating that VCs can pick winners based on instinct or pitch contests. After all, VCs fail about 80% of the time even after waiting for Aha! There are plenty of glaring examples, such as Steve Jobs and Google being rejected by some of the world’s most renowned VCs (https://www.bvp.com/anti-portfolio).
Most entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial students, especially those outside top-tier schools like Stanford and Harvard, do not benefit from VC. And most VCs seem to be average or mediocre at best. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2023/08/31/are-there-too-many-vcs-why-98-are-average-or-mediocre/). If business schools continue to prioritize the VC-Ecosystem over teaching finance-smart skills and strategies, they risk becoming irrelevant to the vast majority (~99.995%) of entrepreneurs who will never gain from VC. And frankly, they deserve to fail if they do not shift their focus to the real skills needed for sustainable growth and success.
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