95% of YC-backed startups fail. A few go on to have decent success, and maybe 2 or 3 YC ventures actually went on to billion-dollar valuations (Dropbox and Airbnb). And that&#x27;s considered a really good success rate.<p>Since we&#x27;re talking here about what you call &#x27;unicorns&#x27; (I hate that word), then we&#x27;re talking about the odds of building a billion-dollar company. YC is made up of hundreds of incredibly talented entrepreneurs, and even then, it&#x27;s pretty evident that building a billion dollar company is as much about luck and circumstance as it is about talent and determination.<p>EDIT: Correction - I was very wrong about YC stats, as it turns out [1]. My mistake. I stand by the original point, though. 8 billion-dollar companies out of ~940 YC companies demonstrate clearly that building a billion dollar company isn&#x27;t easy, and takes a whole lot of luck.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.ycombinator.com&#x2F;yc-stats" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.ycombinator.com&#x2F;yc-stats</a>