According to this article in Harvard Business Review , the business term “unicorn” was coined to describe a rarity. In 2011 there were just 28 early-stage companies, still privately owned, with investment valuations of $1 billion or more. Today there are more than 200 unicorns, with a total value estimated by CB Insights at almost $700 billion.
And when these initial 28 were tracked, from 2011 to present, it was found that "unicorns and near-unicorns are much more prone to self-induced internal breakdowns than they are vulnerable to adverse events in the marketplace". Click on the link to read what these internal stumbles are and how they can be avoided.