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俗语云，创意多得很，但要把创意转化成一家公司是另一码事。在《财富》（Fortune）杂志“下一代最有影响力女性峰会”上，风险投资人艾琳•李（音译）及旅游网站Peek.com创始人兼首席执行官卢兹瓦纳•巴希尔畅谈了她们的融资诀窍，这两位女性领导者均指出，融资依然是摆在女性创业者面前的一道难题。 艾琳•李是投资公司牛仔风投（Cowboy Ventures）的创始人兼凯鹏华盈风险投资公司（Kleiner Perkins）的战略顾问。而巴希尔公司的投资者中，包括谷歌公司（Google）的埃里克•施密特和移动支付公司Square的杰克•多西这两位大人物。 李解释说，现在的投资界已经和15年前截然不同，当时大多数初创企业的团队都是由博士和业界资深人士组成。而现在，凭借可汗学院（Khan Academy）等在线课堂提供的编程速成课程，几乎是任何人都能设计出一款应用程序。“这是件很振奋人心的事情，”她说，“但同时也加剧了竞争。” 虽然创业环境取得了如此长足的进步，但涌现的女性企业家依然寥寥可数。李领导了一项调查，研究一家企业是如何变成拥有数十亿美元资产的成功企业的。在她列举的13家企业中，包括Facebook在内，没有一家是由女性领导的。但她也提到，情况正在发生变化——在之后的排名中，开始有数名女性企业家崭露头角。 以下是巴希尔与李在融资方面的几点心得： 1. 建立人脉 投资者的戒备心都比较重。只要能和他们当中的一个人建立关系，其他人就会愿意接近你。我曾经在一家融资公司工作过，那些现成的客户关系让我有机会走进了这个圈子。 ——卢兹瓦纳•巴希尔 2. 积极性 投资者希望看到创业者的积极性。类似于“首席执行官有没有能力把事情办成呢？” ——艾琳•李 3. 团队协作 联合创始人本身拥有技术背景当然能发挥一定作用，但我们需要的是一个综合了各种不同技能的复合型团队，而不是把所有的工作都堆到一个人的身上。 ——艾琳•李 4. 自信心 女性对于自己想要的东西，往往会表现得更加矜持。这会让风险投资人拿她们与那些对于表达想法从不顾忌的男性创业者相比较。自信正是评估的指标之一，拥有自信的人会让人们觉得他的技能也要胜于他人。作为女性创业者，我们必须格外自信，表现得更加积极进取。我们为投资者勾勒的前景，不能仅仅囿于几个亿的格局，而应该是几十个亿。 ——卢兹瓦纳•巴希尔 （财富中文网） 译者：南风 审校：薄锦 |
There’s an old saying that ideas are ten a penny, but turning an idea into a company is a different matter all together. At Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Generation Summit, venture capitalist Aileen Lee and Ruzwana Bashir, founder and CEO of travel site Peek.com unpacked their tips for raising capital, which they say is still a stumbling block for women. Lee is the founder of investing firm Cowboy Ventures, as well as a strategic advisor for Kleiner Perkins. Bashir’s company boasts Google’s GOOG -0.46% Eric Schmidt and Jack Dorsey of Square among its investors. Lee explained that today’s investing world has changed from 15 years ago where most start-up teams were made up of Ph.D.s and industry veterans. Today, thanks to coding crash courses like Khan Academy, almost anyone can design an app. “It’s exciting,” she says, “but also much more competitive.” Despite these strides, women entrepreneurs are still rare. Lee lead a study to find out what makes aa company a billion dollar hit. Of the 13 she listed, which include the likes of Facebook FB -0.77% , none were led by women. However, she said, things are changing: the next list has a few women on the name. Here are Bashir and Lee’s takeaways on raising capital: 1. Build relationships Investors are gun shy. Get one name and everyone else wants to join. I had experience working at company that raised capital, those existing relationships gave me an in. -Ruzwana Bashir 2. Hustle Investors look for hustle. It’s about, “Does the CEO have the ability to make things happen?” -Aileen Lee 3. Teamwork It’s helpful to have a co-founder with a tech background, but we look to back teams where there’s a combination of skills, instead of having everything in one person. -Aileen Lee 4. Confidence Women tend to be more modest about what they’re claiming. VCs then compare them to male entrepreneurs who aren’t as cautious about what they are willing to say. There’s a confidence delta, and people think it means a difference in skills. As women we need to be extra assertive, more aggressive than we would otherwise be. The vision we have to paint is not just hundreds of millions but billions of dollars. -Ruzwana Bashir |
