Geoffrey Yang - WritingUnicorns

Monday musings 🚀 When it comes to the unicorn race, the USA takes gold. But taking silver is a country you won’t expect. Here’s what I mean:

According to Dealroom, the USA has 1554 unicorns (startups valued >$1B) & a population of ~341M.

That’s ~𝟰.𝟱𝟲 unicorns every 1M people.

But at a close second, we have … Sweden?

With a population of ~10.6M & 42 unicorns, that comes to ~𝟰 unicorns every 1M people.

Beats countries like China (0.27/1M), the UK (2.52/1M), and Australia (1.24/1M).

In fact, the Global Innovations Index placed Sweden above the USA, for almost five years in a row.

That’s not the only one-up it has.

Sweden’s ranked in the top 5 countries for:
- Liveability
- Happiness
- Quality of life
- Prosperity
… and more.

It’s unique how it balances innovation and wellbeing so well.

Here's my guess as to why:
1. Ö𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐭. Openness. Embracing transparency, freedom and global trends.
2. 𝐒𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧. Literally translates to “The image of Sweden”. It’s the basket of Swedish culture, from ‘Lagom’, the concept of balance and moderation, to ‘Jantelagen’, the concept of humility and collective success. And my personal favourite…
3. 𝐅𝐢𝐤𝐚. A coffee break ritual. A way to socialise, to relax, to recharge. Almost like the Aussie beer culture.

Statistically, while there's no better place to be than the Bay Area for innovation, countries like Sweden display huge potential despite significantly lower levels of people & capital.

How do you think we can build the next Silicon Valley?