HOW TO BUILD A UNICORN, AND THEN BUILD ANOTHER ONE

Building a unicorn is one of the rarest achievements in entrepreneurship. Building two is even rarer. That raises an important question for founders and investors alike: what separates serial entrepreneurs from those who succeed only once? Is it experience, a repeatable process, or simply luck? Research suggests that previous success matters. A landmark study published in the Journal of Financial Economics found that founders who have already built a successful startup have a 30% chance of succeeding again, compared with 18% for first-time entrepreneurs. Experience does not guarantee another unicorn, but it significantly increases the odds. At South Summit Madrid 2026, serial entrepreneur Kamran Elahian shared the lessons he has learned after building multiple technology companies, including Cirrus Logic, whose chips have powered more than one billion devices worldwide. His experience reveals that building repeatable success depends less on a single breakthrough idea and more on developing the right habits.

Many assume that experienced founders simply make fewer mistakes. In reality, they make mistakes just as often, but they rarely repeat them. Successful entrepreneurs learn to adapt quickly when assumptions prove wrong. Rather than becoming attached to their original vision, they test, adjust and move forward. This learning advantage has measurable business value. Research from MIT Sloan School of Management shows that founders with a previous successful exit generate significantly higher revenue in subsequent ventures than first-time entrepreneurs. Experience becomes a competitive advantage because it improves decision-making, execution speed and resilience. Just as importantly, successful founders maintain intellectual humility. Past achievements do not eliminate uncertainty in the next startup. The entrepreneurs who continue learning are often the ones who continue building successful companies.

One of the strongest predictors of startup success is not the product itself. It is the founding team. South Summit's historical data reflects this pattern. Over the past decade, startups that reached the competition finals have gone on to create nine unicorns and more than 112 successful exits, highlighting the importance of assembling exceptional founding teams from the beginning. According to Elahian, five qualities matter most when building that team:

1. Honesty. Problems must surface immediately. Delayed communication slows every decision.

2. Intelligence and curiosity. The ability to solve unfamiliar problems matters more than existing knowledge.

3. Resilience. Every startup faces setbacks. Teams that recover quickly outperform those that avoid risk.

4. Collaboration. Strong teams consistently outperform collections of individual stars.

5. Sense of humor. Building a startup is a long-term challenge, and maintaining perspective helps teams perform under pressure. These characteristics create organizations capable of adapting as markets evolve.

Experienced founders rarely spend months building products before talking to customers. First-time entrepreneurs often invest heavily in development before validating whether customers actually need what they are building. Serial founders shorten that feedback loop dramatically. Instead of seeking perfection, they launch early, collect feedback and iterate continuously. Customer validation becomes part of product development from day one, reducing wasted time and capital. The result is faster learning and better product-market fit.

Failure is inevitable in entrepreneurship. The difference lies in how founders respond to it. Elahian often recalls the collapse of Momenta Corporation, one of his previous ventures. Rather than hiding that experience, he keeps it visible as a reminder that failure is part of building ambitious companies. For experienced entrepreneurs, setbacks become valuable data. Every unsuccessful product, hiring decision or fundraising process provides information that improves future execution. Rather than avoiding failure altogether, successful founders focus on failing quickly, learning rapidly and applying those lessons to the next decision.

As startups grow, founders face challenges that extend beyond product development or fundraising. One of the most difficult is separating personal relationships from business decisions. Early employees who were essential during the company's first stage may no longer be the right fit as the organization scales. Recognizing this reality -and acting on it with honesty and respect- is one of the hardest leadership skills to develop. The second lesson concerns artificial intelligence. Many companies still approach AI primarily as a way to reduce costs or automate existing workflows. Elahian argues that this perspective is too limited. The greatest opportunity lies in using AI to create entirely new products, services and markets, not simply to make existing operations more efficient. Companies that treat AI as a growth platform rather than a productivity tool are more likely to build long-term competitive advantages.

No founder can control market timing, investor sentiment or economic conditions. What can be controlled is the ability to learn faster than competitors. Serial entrepreneurs succeed because they validate ideas earlier, build stronger founding teams, adapt more quickly when assumptions fail and treat every setback as an opportunity to improve. Building one unicorn may require exceptional timing. Building another usually requires a repeatable system for learning.