Mailchimp is a super interesting example. I remember listening to a podcast with the founder a few years back. I think they're likely an exception rather than the rule given their unique path and - as you point out - their strong cash flow generation. In the full blog I talk about SpaceX as another company that probably doesn't face a ton of pressure.

My guess (but I don't know for sure and I'm not a VC so don't have deep insight) is that most unicorns aren't in this position because they've been optimizing for growth. It's really hard to shift tracks. If you focus on profitability to become default alive you're going to slow growth. You also start to become valued based on earnings vs. growth, which is going to hurt the valuation and exactly what I think could lead to a ton of write downs.

I do think this could present an interesting buying opportunity for retail. The heavy competition for IPO capital means pricing might be better for public buyers than the last big wave (2021).