The week gone by was a landmark week indeed! After all, India saw 6 Unicorns being christened in that period! If you are interested in the world of business even a wee bit, you would have surely been discussing this. I’m going to share my observations and analysis in today’s edition of this newsletter regarding this development and another related aspect. Before you move forward, do take a minute to share this newsletter by clicking the button below. Thanks!
Unicorns
Last week must have surely witnessed a lot of champagne popping. The mood in the world of business must have been at an all-time high. One wonders when it will be surpassed. After all, India saw 6 Unicorns being christened in that period – a run rate of 1 per day (if you leave out Sunday as the weekly off)!! So, which were these path-breaking organisations that raised money at valuations exceeding $ 1 Billion USD each?
Sharechat & Moj - Social Media platform and short video platform
Pharmeasy - epharmacy services
Meesho - social ecommerce platform
Cred - credit cards- bill based rewards platform
Gupshup - conversational messaging platform
Groww - investing platform
What’s led to this tidal wave?
My analysis - A combination of the digital wave, a sentiment pushing adoption of ‘Made-In-India’ products & services, and inclusion of ‘Bharat’ by integrating regional languages into platforms, is the reason that many of these have hit this landmark.
No doubt, this will give confidence to a lot of start ups that are burning the midnight oil (and investor’s money)!
Value of Technical Skills
While we celebrate the creation of Unicorns, there is also the flip side that bears mention. Do you want to know who are the most stressed-out working professionals around us today? It’s those recruiters who are hiring for tech roles in their organisations (or for their clients).
Why? Because there is a war for technical talent that is going on. The last year’s evolution of remote working has made organisations and, of course more importantly, professionals realise that it is possible to work from anywhere.
This has resulted in the job market really heating up for workers who are very technically skilled. The more niche your technical skill is, the more sought after you are. Candidates are being poached with mouth-watering offers from competition. Organisations are offering mind-boggling retention packages to retain these employees. So, it’s a full-blown war out there. Who is winning? The candidate, obviously. Check out this image here
It’s going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. Because the 100% compensation hikes cannot surely continue like this for too long. One thing is for sure, irrespective of which industry or role one is in, possessing technical skills is becoming a hygiene requirement. For Attayn, I’ve written a more detailed blog on how hiring is actually changing during these times. You can check it out here for additional information.
This wraps up this week’s newsletter. Hope it helps you see the broader developments in our economy and businesses, in a fresh light. The aim should be to try and capitalise on some of these new emerging changes. Best of luck with that!
Till next time!