無(wú)用功

????另一個(gè)不妙的跡象是,，你不斷向公司投入更多的資金和時(shí)間,，但公司毫無(wú)向好的趨勢(shì)。

????邁克爾?帕盧奇花了三年時(shí)間打造紐約點(diǎn)對(duì)點(diǎn)就業(yè)市場(chǎng)Solvate,，但公司總是缺乏良好的增長(zhǎng)勢(shì)頭,，不能持續(xù)吸引風(fēng)投。事實(shí)上,，這家公司增長(zhǎng)平平,，去年底已關(guān)門歇業(yè)，沒有再尋求新一輪融資,。

????“我們太超前市場(chǎng)了,，”帕盧奇說(shuō)?！霸诨ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)上以特定的方式交易某些類型的工作對(duì)于人們來(lái)說(shuō)有點(diǎn)太超前了,。我相信我們?cè)噲D實(shí)現(xiàn)的東西在將來(lái)某個(gè)時(shí)候必將成為現(xiàn)實(shí),。”

????與此形成對(duì)比的是,，帕盧奇目前是Slooh的共同創(chuàng)始人兼董事長(zhǎng),，這家小公司已經(jīng)盈利，公司將望遠(yuǎn)鏡連接到互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上,，播報(bào)像月食,、日食等天文現(xiàn)象。公司正處于緩慢而穩(wěn)定上升的階段,。他說(shuō)：“它不適合風(fēng)投模式,。我們預(yù)計(jì)它會(huì)每年一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)好轉(zhuǎn)?！?/p>

新障礙

????對(duì)于波士頓Go Gaga公司的創(chuàng)始人吉爾?卡特萊特而言,，這場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退就像橫亙?cè)谘矍暗囊欢聣ΑＫ?007年創(chuàng)建了這家人體工程學(xué)媽咪包公司,，公司很快就盈利了,，分銷渠道遍布美國(guó)、加拿大和澳大利亞,，業(yè)務(wù)合作伙伴包括Babies R Us,、Diapers.com、亞馬遜（Amazon.com）和eBags等,。

????但到了2010年下半年,，卡特萊特平均每個(gè)月有3家獨(dú)立門店（因?yàn)槠飘a(chǎn)）而關(guān)門。憑借虛擬供應(yīng)鏈和極低的管理成本,，她本可以大幅縮減規(guī)模,，蹣跚前行。但去年10月,，她最終決定暫停生產(chǎn),。

????“和很多創(chuàng)業(yè)者一樣，我希望我創(chuàng)立的公司總能保持活力,，不斷前進(jìn),，”她說(shuō)?！拔野l(fā)現(xiàn)自己陷入了經(jīng)營(yíng)公司的細(xì)枝末節(jié)之中,，而不是繼續(xù)擴(kuò)張。這不是我想要的自己,?！?/p>

????與此類似，費(fèi)城Reproduct的首席執(zhí)行官帕特里克?菲茲杰拉德對(duì)公司的前景也曾經(jīng)非常樂觀。這家公司回收賀卡,，制成辦公家具和地毯,。直到他遇到美國(guó)郵政（U.S. Postal Service），了解到如果要降低客戶回寄賀卡用于回收的郵資,，可能需要美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)表決,。不調(diào)低郵資，他的業(yè)務(wù)模式就行不通,。

????“如果行業(yè)老大說(shuō)：‘不成,，這事沒戲’。這時(shí),，你只能說(shuō)：‘好吧,，行不通,，那就算了’,，”菲茨杰拉德說(shuō)。現(xiàn)在在賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)（University of Pennsylvania）沃頓商學(xué)院（The Wharton School）擔(dān)任講師的菲茨杰拉德過(guò)去曾成功創(chuàng)立過(guò)Recyclebank等公司,?！叭绻愠姓J(rèn)失敗，你會(huì)說(shuō),，‘我會(huì)關(guān)掉這家,，把它作為下一家公司的積累?！绻銢]有汲取任何教訓(xùn),，那就是在浪費(fèi)時(shí)間?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

You're pushing a boulder uphill

????Another bad sign: you keep sinking more money and time into a venture -- and it doesn't get any easier.

????Michael Paolucci spent three years building Solvate, a New York-based peer-to-peer labor market, but kept falling short of the momentum and growth he needed to continue attracting venture capital. Instead, the company showed flat growth and was shuttered late last year rather than seeking another round of funding.

????"We were ahead of the market," Paolucci says. "It's a little early for people to be transacting in certain ways for certain kinds of work through the network. I think what we tried to achieve is going to exist at some point."

????By contrast, Paolucci is now co-founder and chairman of Slooh, a small, profitable company that connects telescopes to the Internet, broadcasting celestial events like lunar and solar eclipses. This company is on a slow-and-steady upward trajectory. "It doesn't fit the venture mold. We see it getting a little bit better every year," he says.

New or newly discovered roadblocks

????For Jill Cartwright, founder of Boston-based Go Gaga, the recession came on like a brick wall. She'd launched the ergonomic diaper bag company in 2007, and it quickly became profitable, with distribution channels throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia and business partners like Babies R Us, Diapers.com, Amazon.com, and eBags.

????But by the last half of 2010, Cartwright was losing an average of three independent boutiques a month, due to bankruptcy. With a virtual supply chain and minimal overhead, she could have dramatically scaled back and kept limping along. Instead, she decided to halt production last October.

????"Like so many entrepreneurs, I wanted the business I created to be something dynamic that was constantly evolving," she says. "I found myself so bogged down in the nuts and bolts of running the business that I wasn't growing it. This wasn't what I had envisioned for myself."

????Similarly, CEO Patrick FitzGerald was optimistic about the prospects of Reproduct, a Philadelphia-based company that recycled greeting cards into office furniture and carpets. That is, until he met with the U.S. Postal Service and learned that it would take an act of Congress to reduce the postage required for customers to return used cards for recycling. Without a lower postal rate, his business model fell apart.

????"When the 800-pound gorilla says, 'No, it's never going to happen,' you have to say, 'Okay it's done, it's a failure,' " says FitzGerald, now a lecturer at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, who previously founded successful companies including Recyclebank. "If you embrace failure, you say, 'I'm going to shut this down and I'm going to use it for my next company.' You wasted your time if you didn't learn anything from it."