Swimming Naked
“Swimming Naked”– a cartoon that illustrates how the change in the technology market will reveal which crypto unicorns can deliver on their promise.
With Andreessen Horowitz closing its $4.5 billion crypto fund and 62 crypto-focused unicorns minted in the last couple of years, it would appear the crypto market could be immune from what is happening more broadly across the tech industry.
However, digging a little deeper and it appears that some of the unicorn companies are beginning to feel the pain and management teams are making difficult decisions.
For example, Coinbase reported a 35% year-over-year decline in revenue and then decided to roll back its hiring plans.
While their large war chests might insulate many of these crypto unicorns, the shift to a focus on profitability and the need to grow into the valuations means the next couple of years will severely test the execution skills of these management teams that have only seen the good times.
