Belousov divided Russian business into “rat”, “grunt” and “hoof”

First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov, during the plenary session of the “Made in Russia” export forum, dedicated to the topic “Unicorns in the markets of the future,” spoke about the classification of Russian business that his acquaintance gave in the early 1990s. The event was broadcast on the forum website.

“There are three types [бизнеса]: “rat”, “grunt” and “hoof,” said Belousov. He added that he still uses this classification successfully.

The First Deputy Prime Minister explained that “rat” means “they swooped in, ate it and ran to another pile,” “grunt” means “when there is a trough, and everyone falls to it and drives each other away,” and “hoof” means “when a deer gets a piece of moss from under the ice, knocks for a long time, picking it out.” According to Belousov, the concept of “unicorn” cannot be applied to Russian business. He added that the story of the “unicorn” is about how “a technological Cinderella became the king’s mother-in-law.”

Belousov’s discussions were devoted to the questions in what environment “unicorns can grow” and what such an “ecosystem” should look like. He noted that the idea of ​​creating such an environment appeared in mid-2021, and “came to the forefront” in 2022 “for obvious reasons.”

Unicorns are startups with a market value of $1 billion or more. The term has been used since the early 2010s. According to research Institute for Statistical Research and Economics of Knowledge, National Research University Higher School of Economics, as of the end of June 2023, the largest number of unicorn companies were located in the USA (745) and China (304). There are 1,531 startups worth more than $1 billion in the world.