Leadership is the Most Important Ingredient Needed for a Successful Startup

The world’s most valuable startups include companies like Uber, Airbnb, wework, Spacex, Palantir, Pinterest, samumed, Dropbox and Stripe. These companies have amassed a fortune in venture capital funding, giving them valuations in the billions of dollars. Consider that the top-ranked venture capital backed startup in the US is Uber. This company was founded in 2009 and it acquired a recent round of venture capital funding in August 2016 worth an estimated $1 billion+. Today, Uber’s valuation is more than $68 billion.

Second on the list is Airbnb which was founded in 2008. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, CA, and its recent round of financing was completed in March 2017. It raised an estimated $1 billion, and the company now has a market capitalization of $31 billion. At position #3 on the list is wework. This company is based out of New York. It was founded in 2010 and completed its recent round of venture capital financing in August 2017. An amount of $4.4 billion was generated, and the company has a market capitalization of $21 billion.

Elon Musk weighs in at position #4, with his Spacex startup. It is headquartered in Hawthorne California, and was founded some 15 years ago. Its recent round of venture capital funding was completed in July 2017 and Spacex raised $351 million, giving the company a total valuation of $21 billion. To close out the top 5 is Palantir. This company has its headquarters in Palo Alto California, and it was founded in 2004. Its recent round of financing was completed in January 2016 for an amount of $880 million. The company now has a market capitalization of $20.5 billion.

Leadership and Profitability

The correlation between effective leadership and a startup’s profitability is ironclad. Companies like Stripe, Lyft, Outcome Health, Moderna, Magic Leap, and SoFi are all US-based startups that operate on the cutting edge of their game. For many of these companies, it was nothing but effective leadership that pushed through obstacles, negated naysayers, and allowed the vision to be adopted. Between 2011 and 2017, the number of startup exits around the world has grown rapidly. This has gained momentum since 2014.

For the 12 months ending in July 2017, the number of global startup exits numbered 4,217, up significantly from 2,976 in the 12 months before that. The total deal value in the US (2016 figures) of startups was $242 billion in 2016, and $220 billion in 2017. For Europe, that figure was $74 billion and $112 billion respectively. The trend indicates that European startup deal values have increased while the share of the US startup market has decreased. European startup exits were 30.6% of US startup exits in 2016, and 50.9% of startup exits 2017.

Visionary Leadership and Management Excellence

Any successful company requires strong leadership, effective management, and a clearly formulated vision. One of the world’s foremost financial advisors, entrepreneurs and investors is Tai Lopez . He routinely consults with companies, and their leadership to provide the necessary direction to work towards achieving their strategic objectives. Initially a certified financial planner, Lopez quickly cemented his place as an inspirational force in the finance world. He dubs his work VRIN (value, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable) and that’s precisely the energy, inspiration and motivation delivers to companies. The Tai Lopez story is inspirational in that he used his poverty to better himself, learn from mentors, and become an inspirational force to all those around him.

Tai uses cutting-edge technology to spread his message far and wide, by maximizing reach on social media, particularly Snapchat and Instagram. He provides value-added services which cement his brand and help his clients to achieve their objectives. Tai Lopez podcasts are one of the many useful tools that he uses to reach millions of people around the world.

These podcasts provide useful information on selling, starting your own business, interviews with finance professionals, reprogramming your mindset, and rectifying your daily routine. The podcasts are available at the iTunes store, and they provide inspirational content to drive business success. Lopez is but one of many inspirational forces to startups and existing enterprises. As an entrepreneur and investor himself, he has transformed the financial landscape for many companies.