The document examines the evolution and establishment of the term "unicorn" to refer to startups valued at over $1 billion using data from over 4,100 news stories mentioning "unicorn", "tech", and "valuation" since 2013. It finds that the term was first coined by Aileen Lee in a 2013 blog post and details the major topics associated with "unicorn" coverage, including discussions of startup bubbles, influential figures, and changing sentiment towards the term over time. The document promotes the ability of its analysis tool, Quid, to similarly examine customer-specified topics of interest.

1. T H E U N I C O R N L E A P S I N T O T E C H TA L K
S TA R T U P S , V C ’ S & VA L U A T I O N S

2. H O W D I D ' U N I C O R N ' B E C O M E A S S O C I AT E D
W I T H B I L L I O N - D O L L A R S TA R T U P S ?

3. I T WA S N ’ T M A G I C …

4. W E U S E D Q U I D T O G AT H E R T W O Y E A R S
O F D ATA T O E X P O S E T H E E V O L U T I O N &
E S TA B L I S H M E N T O F T H E T E R M ' U N I C O R N '
I N P O P U L A R T E C H V E R N A C U L A R

5. M O R E T H A N 4 1 0 0 N E W S S T O R I E S H AV E
B E E N P U B L I S H E D C O N TA I N I N G
' U N I C O R N ' , ' T E C H ' , A N D ' VA L U AT I O N '
S I N C E 2 0 1 3

6. T H E M E N T I O N O F ' U N I C O R N ' S A W
G R O W T H S TA R T U P S C A N O N LY D R E A M O F
— A C O M P O U N D E D A N N U A L R AT E O F
M O R E T H A N 9 0 0 %

7. T H E T E R M WA S F I R S T C O I N E D B Y A I L E E N
L E E I N A N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 B L O G P O S T

9. B U T P O P U L A R D O E S N O T E Q U A L P O S I T I V E . T H E
S E N T I M E N T O F ' U N I C O R N ' H A S B E C O M E M O R E
N E G AT I V E O V E R T I M E

10. A Startup Bubble? (12%)
Coverage of Unicorns (15%)
Bill Gurley & the Unicorn Epidemic (11%)
Wall Street & Earnings (10%)
General Silicon Valley News (10%)
Emerging Markets & Global Unicorns (8%)
Entrepreneurship & Valuations (8%)
Institutional Investors & Funds (8%)
FinTech & Global Innovation Hubs (7%)
On the Cusp & Future Unicorns (4%)
T H E R E A R E 1 0 M A J O R T O P I C S A S S O C I AT E D
W I T H ' U N I C O R N ' A N D ' T E C H '
Quid automatically labels, ranks, and color-codes top
topics

11. T H E B I G G E S T I N F L U E N C E R S A R O U N D T H E T E R M
A R E A M I X O F E N T R E P R E N E U R S , I N V E S T O R S , A N D
T E C H L U M I N A R I E S
The number of stories published vs. social
sharing shows the big influencers in the tech
unicorn realm.

12. I F Q U I D C A N E X P O S E T H E S T O RY B E H I N D T H I S
M Y T H I C A L B E A S T, I M A G I N E W H AT I T C A N D O
F O R Y O U R B U S I N E S S

13. G I V E U S J U S T 1 0 M I N U T E S A N D W E ’ L L E X P L O R E
W H AT E V E R T O P I C I N T E R E S T S Y O U M O S T
H I @ Q U I D . C O M