As valuations for many start-ups come crashing down, Techstars CEO Maëlle Gavet has criticized the goal of becoming a unicorn company. Instead, she says, businesses should strive to be dragons — resilient enough to withstand difficult times and devotedly loyal to their mission and their customers.

“In the world of business, being a dragon means that you need to be able to resist any challenges, any economic downturn,” Maëlle says in her Rapid Response interview. “When you think about dragons in a business sense, I see entrepreneurs who are very loyal to a problem, very loyal to a customer's needs. They go through battles to solve these problems."

Maëlle has played a central role in growing diverse startups and scale-ups. Now, with Techstars, she’s set her sights on remaking the impact of pre-seed investing globally.

Her distinctive perch gives her uncommon insight into the current state of the innovation economy, and she shares key lessons on how to navigate our devilishly complex economic environment.

“I tell our entrepreneurs: Be very, very clear on your priorities. You can't have more than two or three. You need to be waking up every morning thinking, 'This is what I'm trying to achieve,' and anything that does not help you achieve this goal, you need to be ruthless and say no to them. Then I tell them: No one succeeds alone ever. You need to have people who are ready to be with you in the trenches, whether it is, your team, your investors, your board.”

For more content designed to fuel your creativity and innovation, tune in to the new season of Spark & Fire. 

The latest episode features genius comedian Patton Oswalt on the creative journey behind two of his most beloved Netflix specials – “Annihilation” and “I Love Everything.” In Patton's story, you'll hear lessons on how to recover your creative voice that are relevant for anyone who's ever tried to bring something new and innovative into the world. 

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