Zebra is the New Unicorn
Turns out pooping rainbows is overrated
Once upon a time, in a startup environment that championed disruption and a fast buck over modest breakthroughs and sustainable growth, “unicorns” were all the rage. These rare companies that broke the rules and boosted their perceived value to $1 billion or more unleashed venture capitalists’ greediest impulses. Some succeeded; others left trails of broke investors and disillusionment in their wake. WeWork’s recent meltdown is the latest cautionary tale of believing too much in unicorns.
Unicorns aren’t just reckless with money
Facebook once epitomized unicorn mentality. But Zuckerberg’s growth-at-all-costs mindset led his company to forge an unholy alliance with Emerdata, nee Cambridge Analytica, which led to transatlantic election weaponization, and things got messy. By early 2017 the Zebra Manifesto was already getting people’s attention by urgently calling for the creation of more smart companies capable of solving meaningful societal problems. Investors wiping the glitter from their eyes began to realize the fairy tale companies they dreamed of weren’t exactly their mother’s unicorn.
Zebras introduce an alternate startup mindset
“Zebras fix what unicorns break,” according to a Medium essay from the period that eschewed the nonchalance and gross profiteering promoted by unicorn culture. It argued that zebras, unlike unicorns, are real. They’re mutualistic creatures that thrive by banding together rather than tying the entire herd’s fate to any lone zebra. Even their collective name, a dazzle or zeal, reinforces the contrast between an ideology that thrives on monopoly vs one modeled on plurality.
It’s no accident the essay’s contributing writers were all women. Since I ramped up my efforts to become a full-fledged developer three years ago, I’ve witnessed firsthand that men and women in the tech sphere have vastly different ideas about everything — from what constitutes a useful meetup to which programming skills are most valuable.
I’ve met talented women with emotional scars inflicted by men jealous of their programming skills, and other women hell-bent on eradicating the culture that tolerates such behavior (and men who are happy to help them create a more equal playing field). I’m totally biased, but in the long run, my money’s on the zebras.
It won’t be easy weaning investors from their unicorn fantasies because the problems aren’t just about profit vs. loss or male vs. female perspective; they’re also about economic models and societal balance and workforce retraining and on and on.
But just since WeWork’s withdrawn IPO, less-than-favorable stories have surfaced about other unicorn icons, including sexual assault during Uber rides and Airbnb’s brush with the neo-Nazi group Iron March. One way or another, investors, CEOs, and the startups they launch have to work harder on making society better rather than rewarding its most base impulses.
Grab your stripes and get on board
The lure of unicorns originated at the company level and eventually trickled down to individuals. The zebra mindset will too. I was never down with the be-disruptive-whatever-the-cost ethos. But I did see digital professionals with hybrid skill sets referred to as unicorns more than once. And I briefly contemplated wearing white ears, dressing in purple and adding a rainbow tail to my interview ensemble.
Part of interviewing is your ability to stand out. I told myself if I interviewed a candidate who knew my business, asked informed questions and had the moxie to show up as a unicorn, I’d be compelled to give them a shot. In the end I was never that cheeky, but I did compare myself to a unicorn in cover letters, and I did get interviews based on them.
But that was so 2017. Today I’d shift gears and talk about the less-flashy-but-still-sassy benefits of adding a zebra to the team. Because even if you’re selling some very common-sense virtues — practicality, cooperation, sustainability — who doesn’t love a compelling sales pitch?
You don’t have to be a mythical horse to have a unique skill set. It’s a veritable no-brainer that startups in which employees band together can outdazzle the every-unicorn-for-himselfers. And when it comes to choosing between ethics or profitability, real zebras’ black-and-white stripes are allegorical proof you can have both.