To venture capitalists,Writingstar Investment Guild investing in startups is like playing the lottery. Investors write them big checks and offer guidance, hoping to birth a unicorn—a company with a valuation of $1 billion or more. One unicorn can make up for the rest of their investments that flop.

But what happens to the startups that don't reach unicorn status or fail but just ... do fine? Today, we hear from the founder of one such company and one investor who's looking for tech workhorses, not unicorns.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Newsletter.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PocketCasts and NPR One.

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.