????3. 人力資本策略：聘請老手vs.只招新人,。創(chuàng)始團隊同進同退,，隨著公司發(fā)展不斷擴容，無疑極具吸引力,，而且有很多好處：公司文化的核心將得以維持不變,，有才干的年輕員工將獲得發(fā)展機會，外來者加入帶來的干擾將被降至最低程度,。然而,，才能卓越、幫助你一路走到規(guī)?；肟谔幍膭?chuàng)始團隊卻常常并不適合引領(lǐng)接下來的規(guī)?；贰Ｎ野褎?chuàng)業(yè)公司的生命期分為三個階段,，分別是“叢林”,、“土路”和“高速公路”。擅于在叢林中開辟道路的團隊,，常常并不適應(yīng)找出一條土路之后的迅速加速,。但在有資歷更深、經(jīng)驗更豐富的高管加入時,，保留創(chuàng)始文化和保持團結(jié)又至關(guān)重要,。最好的公司會為了規(guī)模化而提早打造團隊（比如,，在部門成長時,，聘用可同時有效擔(dān)任執(zhí)行者與指導(dǎo)者角色的優(yōu)秀副總），努力挑選契合公司文化的人【谷歌（Google）公司數(shù)一數(shù)二的招聘主管邁克?加戈曾就招聘最佳攻略接受了美國私募股權(quán)新聞網(wǎng)站peHUB的采訪，題為《好人有好報》（Why It Pays To Be Nice）,，非常精彩】,。
????4. 創(chuàng)始人的兩難選擇：是否引入職業(yè)經(jīng)理人？一間資歷尚淺的公司在規(guī)?；M程中要作的一項最為重大的決策便是：應(yīng)該由什么人擔(dān)任CEO,？創(chuàng)始人或許會是一個具備獨特才能、可將公司從叢林中一路帶上高速公路的人,，但在更多的時候卻并非如此,，人們需要聘請資深的職業(yè)經(jīng)理人，協(xié)助引領(lǐng)公司發(fā)展至下一階段,。這一決策是真正的不成功便成仁,。一切要看創(chuàng)始人的意愿，以及董事會是否相信,，職業(yè)經(jīng)理人有能力使公司從以產(chǎn)品為中心,、尋找產(chǎn)品市場匹配度的階段轉(zhuǎn)入以營銷為中心、找到產(chǎn)品市場匹配度之后的階段,。投資者總是希望由創(chuàng)始人來實現(xiàn)這一轉(zhuǎn)變,，可如果創(chuàng)始人并不具備這種能力，通過對外求助,、實現(xiàn)有序過渡就成了關(guān)鍵所在,。哈佛大學(xué)商學(xué)院（HBS）的諾姆?沃瑟曼教授曾就這一話題撰寫過一系列案例，闡明了這個轉(zhuǎn)變過程中該做和不該做的事情,。這種轉(zhuǎn)變從來都不輕松,。
????上述決定每一個都教人費盡思量，都等同于拿公司命運作賭,。聽說在這些問題上的決定有可能導(dǎo)致功敗垂成的悲慘結(jié)局,。進展順利時，你會想讓上述決策發(fā)生得自然而然,，而且取得某種程度的成功,，即使只是小小的勝利。這可能意味著沿用最初的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)團隊,、實行適當(dāng)?shù)漠a(chǎn)品策略以及早日脫手,。
????為什么上述的決策每一項聽來都效果有局限性呢？這是因為,，偉大的企業(yè)家都是些不畏競爭,、雄心勃勃的人，他們會招徠雄心勃勃的管理團隊,、顧問和投資者,。一旦設(shè)想中的產(chǎn)品市場匹配性得到了驗證,，他們就會下意識地積極行動，實現(xiàn)規(guī)?；?。但在規(guī)模化的過程中,，務(wù)必請保持明智,。要讓營收從100萬美元增長到1,000萬美元，其難度并不亞于達到最初100萬美元的水平,。而達到1億美元甚至更多的時候,，你便真正開始躋身于大公司的行列。這會讓你周圍的人激動不已,，同時也會使眾人的期望值飆升,。
????本文作者杰夫?巴斯岡是風(fēng)投公司飛橋資本合伙公司（Flybridge Capital Partners）的一般合伙人。
????譯者：千牛絮 |
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????3. Human Capital Strategy: Hire Grownups vs. Stay Young. There is a certain charm and many benefits to the founding team sticking together and scaling with the start-up. The culture remains true to the founding core, the young talented employees get growth opportunities, and there's an appeal to minimizing the disruption that outsiders bring. Yet, frequently, the talented founding team that gets you to the point of scaling is not the right team to lead the scaling process. I refer to the three stages of a start-up's life as "the jungle," "the dirt road" and "the highway." The team that is skilled at hacking its way through the jungle is often not as well-suited to accelerate rapidly once a dirt road has been discovered. Yet when more senior, experienced executives arrive, preserving the founding culture and maintaining alignment is critical. The best companies build teams for scale early on (e.g., hiring great VPs who can be both effective players and coaches as their department grows) and work hard to select for cultural fit (Google's top recruiter, Mike Junge, had a great interview on hiring best practices in peHUB, "Why It Pays To Be Nice").
????4. Founder's Dilemma: Bring in a Professional CEO? One of the biggest decisions a scaling young company makes is - who should be the CEO? The founder may be one of the uniquely talented individuals who can scale from the jungle all the way through the highway but, more often than not a senior, professional CEO is hired to help take the company to the next level. This decision is truly make or break. It rests on the founder's desires as well as the board's confidence in their ability to transition from a product-centric, pre product-market fit world to a sales and marketing execution-centric, post product-market-fit world. Investors would always prefer to see the founder make that transition, but if the skillset isn't there, having an orderly transition with open communication is key. HBS Professor Noam Wasserman has written a series of cases on this topic that show some of the do's and don'ts of navigating this transition. It's never an easy one to embark on.
????Each of these decisions can be gut-wrenching, bet the company moves. There's a nasty image I hear used in the board room about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. If things are going well, you want to let them evolve naturally and achieve some measure of victory, albeit a small one. This may mean sticking with a founding leadership team, a niche product strategy and selling early.
????Why should each of these decisions sound limiting? Because great entrepreneurs are competitive, ambitious types who attract ambitious management teams, advisors and investors. There's a natural allure to moving aggressively to scale once the initial product-market fit assumptions become validated. Just scale wisely. Going from $1 million to 10 million in revenue is no easier than achieving that initial $1 million. And getting to $100 million and beyond, well now you're really in the rarified air that gets the people around you excited - and sets expectations soaring higher.
????Jeff Bussgang is general partner at venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners. You can follow him on Twitter @bussgang |
