Business Innovation using Technology

Author

Ashish Kumar

This exercise connects you directly to the world’s most innovative and valuable companies, giving you real-world insight into how billion-dollar businesses operate and solve complex problems using technology. By analyzing unicorn companies in the Consumer & Retail sector, you’ll develop critical thinking skills that employers highly value - the ability to research, analyze business models, and understand how technology drives market solutions. Each company you explore represents a success story of identifying consumer needs and leveraging technology to create massive value, showing you tangible examples of innovation in action. This hands-on research will enhance your business acumen and help you recognize patterns in successful companies that you can apply in your future career or entrepreneurial ventures. Most importantly, you’re not just studying theory - you’re examining real companies that are shaping the global economy right now, making your learning immediately relevant and applicable.

CB Insights

Who are CBInsights:

We’re on a mission to enable every organization to make smarter decisions about tech. Whether it’s finding a new game-changing vendor or understanding a new market, it’s easier, faster and smarter with CB Insights.

The company releases The Complete List of Unicorn Companies globally.

A unicorn company, or unicorn startup, is a private company with a valuation over $1 billion. As of December 2024, there are over 1,200 unicorns around the world.

A snapshot of data:

Table 1

What can we learn from this?

Where is the innovation taking place?

Distribution of Unicorns by Country

Figure 1: Number Unicorns by Country

Distribution of Unicorns by Industry

Figure 2: Number Unicorns across Industry

To Do

In Table 1, filter unicorns by selecting industry to “Consumer & Retail” (you can simply put this key word in the filter box and hit enter). Alternately, you can download the data from this link.

  • Pick a unicorn company in “Consumer & Retail” sector.
  • Search the company and go to its website.
  • Explore the selected unicorn with the following objectives.
    • What does company do (e.g., what is the consumer demand that the company supply?)
    • What marketing problem the company faces?
    • How does the company use technology to solve its marketing problems?

Example

  • The selected unicorn:
  • The website of the company:
    • https://stripe.com/au
  • Company Exploration
    • What Stripe does?
      • We provide financial infrastructure for the internet. Individuals and businesses of all sizes use our technology and services to facilitate purchases, accept payments, send payouts, and manage online businesses.
    • What are Stripe’s marketing problems?
      • Balancing technical and non-technical messaging
      • Content marketing saturation in fintech
      • Cross-border digital marketing compliance
      • Demonstrating ROI for complex payment infrastructure
    • Case Studies
    • How does Stripe use technology to solve these marketing problems?
      • Segmented content delivery
      • Personalization
      • Consent management platform
      • Analytics dashboards