Lessons from the fastest Brazilian unicorn

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the process of why a Brazilian digital startup company reached unicorn status the fastest.Design/methodology/approachAfter the literature review, the authors conducted the questionnaire containing 13 questions used in 18 in-depth interviews conducted in the case study. Saturation point combined with the independent and in-depth analysis of the researchers is used to achieve internal and external validity. The primary data collected underwent an analytical approach, followed by a resource-based view (RBV). RBV does not deal with time. There is a gap in the literature and an opportunity here: to analyze the fastest company to become a unicorn under the RBV lens.FindingsThe case reveals that value can be found in traditional sectors, as is the case of the real estate sector. This is a case of a company in the direct home-buying space.Practical implicationsThe contribution of this paper is both practical, with the seven lessons, and theoretical. Resources allocated to a specific context in a specific geographic region shift the attention away from the absolute value of resources to the timing of aggregating them. Thus, the contribution accounting for time is new to the RBV.Originality/valueThe originality lies in the analysis of the dynamics of digital businesses with exponential growth.