Many people have approached this question in terms of how much each pokemon evolves from the beginning, and have provided answers like Charizard. While Charmander is my favorite pokemon ever, I am going to try providing new ways looking at this question by auditioning pokemons by their personality. I personally choose Pikachu,to be the single pokemon exemplifies characteristic of a successful start-up. A little heads up: Evidence and material are going to be predominantly drawn from the TV and anime of Pokemon, as opposed to the Pokemon battling game, which only concerned the battling statistics. I choose to pay attention to TV& anime because I think this is the best way to evaluate pokemon from multi-dimensions.
1.A good start-up company is best charismatic, attracting VC and angel funds, along best staff (and technician&programmers, if you are looking like Sillicon miracles like snapchat) possible. For sure, Pikachu is the most appealing pokemon. For example, in Pokemon XY (TV Anime), Pokemon and Dedenne were lost and trapped in a forest, and Dedenne wanted an apple. Pokemon kicked the apple tree really hard and apples fell, and gently picked an apple for Dedenne. Dedenne was totally over whelmed by Pikachu's wisdom(or street smart). Before this 'apple incident', Dedenne was very withdrawn from joining the crew of Pikachu, with behavior such as running away and hiding into the under ground tunnel. After the 'apple incident', Dedenne glady became part of the crew and that's when he/she started happily inhabits in the shoulder bag of Bonnie"ユリーカ", Clemont “シトロン” 's younger sister. (pic: Bonnie"ユリーカ" and Dedenne, source: Pokemon XY TV Anime )
2. A nice startup company is ideally highly regarded, with good reputations and fame. Pikachu is probably the most regarded Pokemon in the Pokemon TV world. I think that is the case since the Rocket Team dedicates itself on catching Pikachu. To be honest the Rocket Team has proved themselves to be superb chef/ stylist/ tour guide, etc... They would have thrived in any other professions only if they didn't set catching that very Pikachu as their goal. The high opportunity cost indirectly prove the reputation of Pikachu. In addition to RT's devotion, theMagazine has officially chosen Pikachu as the 2nd most influential figure of the year, in 1999. In addition to that, Pikachu made itself the official mascot of Japanese national team of the 2014 Brazil work cup : )
(pic: Pikachu and Japanese National Team, source: Baidu searching engine)
3. A successful start up is essentially effective. In terms of commerce, it means 'profitable& well-organized'. The equivalence of that is essentially 'powerful and effective in battling' in Pokemon world. Without a doubt, Pikachu is one of the most effective figure in the Pokemon world. It's true that a whole new level of statistically extraordinary pokemon such as Mewtwo "ミュウツー", Xerneas "ゼルネアス" ( in Pokemon XY )，Yveltal "イベルタル"( in Pokemon XY ) exists. However I still choose Pikachu is considered strong and powerful in the TV Anime (probably not the case in a real gaming battling scenario). The fact that Pikachu is usually the one appointed by trainers to close up the fight with a perfect cadence, does prove Pikachu' strength. It might not be the strongest one, but I think it is efficiently powerful to be considered as an 'effective' pokemon.
(pic: Pikachu using its famous signature move 'thunderbolt', source: Baidu searching engine)
Unlike other nominated Pokemon who have leaped amazingly from their prototype to their most-evolved form, Pikachu has never, and probably will never evolve in TV Anime of Pokemon. I still choose Pikachu to be the very best Pokemon that exemplify personality of a successful start-up. I think fighting statistics should not be the sole factor when comparing Pokemon's world and the world of commerce. The personality display in anime should be weighted, too. Isn't that indeed the case with founding a successful start-up company? What it takes is way more than an innovative/ useful/ smart product.
Pika!
