Every business needs funding to grow. This is where fund raising plays a vital role. When companies want to expand or take on bigger projects, having funds is essential. But the process can be complex.
Togo, a real tear-jerker and a truly moving epic tale of a Seppala Siberian, starring Willem Dafoe, came out in 2019.
During the diphtheria outbreak that put hundreds of lives (most of them children) at risk, it was Leonard Seppala and his (once too little for his size and too mischievous for his occupation) dog “Togo”, an underdog named after an underdog, who traversed 261 grueling miles through Alaska's deadly blizzard to deliver diphtheria antitoxin, with one goal in mind; saving Nome's children from peril.
Together they set out on a life-threatening journey on a sled to get the antitoxin from a faraway post, an endeavor that almost cost them their lives.
Good news, they not only make it but also Togo saves the day by securing and delivering the medicine to the ill.
Togo’s story is one of courage, grit, and resolution to do whatever it takes to make it, this tale has many parallels with the underdog founders of the startup world.
Underdog founders are defined as those from non-elite backgrounds; immigrants, first-generation entrepreneurs, bootstrappers, or pivoters from failed ventures, who faced repeated VC rejections, limited initial resources, or market skepticism before unicorn success.
First- or second-generation immigrants lead 62% of unicorns, leveraging global perspectives and survival instincts honed in resource-scarce origins to outpace natives.
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Rider, J. (2025). The Immigrant Edge: How Foreign-Born Entrepreneurs Drive America’s Unicorn Boom. [online] Crunchbase News. Available at: https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/foreign-born-entrepreneurs-drive-americas-unicorn-boom-strebulaev-stanford/.
Sherin Shibu (2024). Founders of Companies Worth Over a Billion Dollars Have These Simple Things in Common. [online] Entrepreneur. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/unicorn-founders-have-three-simple-things-in-common-study/471772 [Accessed 16 Dec. 2025].
Zavyalova, V. (2024). Underdogs Rising: Immigrants built 62% of U.S. and UK ‘unicorns’ | The Vertical. [online] The Vertical. Available at: https://thevertical.la/funding/underdogs-rising-immigrants-built-62-of-u-s-and-uk-unicorns/ [Accessed 16 Dec. 2025].
Every business needs funding to grow. This is where fund raising plays a vital role. When companies want to expand or take on bigger projects, having funds is essential. But the process can be complex.
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