The Real One-Pager: Feedback is a Gift

The unicorn is dead. Long live the decacorn!

If the unicorn is a magnificent but rare beast, the decacorn (Bloomberg Business’ newly coined word for startups valued at above the $10BN mark) is surely a thing of wonder. The business and tech press have explored the ‘fuzzy math’ that can lead to some of these enormous valuations, but the entry of the word ‘decacorn’ into the lexicon is also an indicator of the level of hyperbole that often surrounds startups.

Investors want decacorns, but picking out the unicorn, the decacorn, and the pantomime horse can be difficult when the facts are often obscured both by hype and FOMO.

Hype is not what startups – or investors – need. Both need facts, analysis and insight — things which can seemingly be as rare as decacorn shit.

So that’s where CoFounder comes in. The ‘Real One-Pager’ section is a journalistic exploration of hand-picked European startups. We include all the detail prospective investors and interested observers might need, but the content is a deep dive into the features, benefits and potential scope of the organisation, free from marketing spin.

In each edition, we feature ten startups for the Real One-Pager, across different sectors and geographies. Powered with financial data from Funderbeam, we examine the key numbers for each business, including the probable timing of future investment rounds (and their likelihood of success).

The data and insight we provide can be used to support marketing efforts, with businesses like Heelosophy (featured in CoFounder Edition 2) highlighting the coverage on their website media page. Eero Ränik, co-founder of Heelosophy, told us:

“We thought it was pretty cool to be featured in CoFounder’s Real One-Pager. The article captured a whole lot of what customers and investors want to know about our business. We were honoured to be featured and have the extract up on our website media page for anyone interested in what we do here at Heelosophy to learn more.”

Real One-Pagers are just that. Real. Being unbiased means that there will be some constructive criticism among the feedback. We have been delighted to see companies taking the feedback offered and using it constructively to make their product better.

So we will keep on keeping it real. If the hype says it’s a unicorn and we see a tired old ass, you can rely on us to say so. And if you really do ride into our office on your very own decacorn, we call first dibs on a selfie.

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