Catherwood LibraryILR School

Billion dollar tech start-ups, often termed "unicorns" due to their legendary status, are now raiding the best technology companies, such as Google, Amazon, Yelp, and Twitter, for engineers with specialized and highly prized knowledge. Companies such as Uber, currently the largest "unicorn" among 124 known unicorn companies, with a value of more than 50 billion dollars, have hired many employees away from Google's mapping unit in order to strengthen their mapping research. Heavily desired recruits are not just engineers; non-technical staff, such as chefs, are being poached in order to provide luxurious benefits to the start-up's workforce. The battle for the best and brightest has always been vicious in Silicon Valley, leading to a fiercely competitive hiring market, as Amazon's Jeff Bezos acknowledged in his response to criticism over a cut-throat company culture. Unicorns lure employees away with six-figure salaries, generous equity and compensation packages, and the promise of a big pay day if the start-up becomes public.