如何打造10亿美元级企业？

    怎样打造一家10亿美元级企业呢？这是一个非线性过程。我在Salesforce.com刚开始工作时，办公室里只有10个人。在成功之路上，我们绝大部分时间都在缓慢攀升，而且中途几次转向。

    我喜欢“转向”这种说法，因为由此可以看出，要进入新的成长阶段，公司就必须从本质上改头换面。在这个阶段帮助你取得成功的因素到了下一个阶段就有可能成为你迈向成功的障碍。因此，进入新阶段后必须愿意改弦更张，放弃之前的那些金科玉律。

    2007年我创立了软件公司Zuora。这些年来，我认识到了打造10亿美元级企业要付出哪些代价。以下是我在各个成长阶段学到的一些最重要的东西。

    验证思路：从零到100万美元

    有了正确的思路，种子轮融资一般能让你获得100万美元资金。你不必把公司的所有希望都寄托在A轮投资上。以Zuora为例，我们的想法是，基于订购的公司必须自行建立计费系统的原因不应该只是电信公司的系统太贵，或者是普通的ERP软件没有自己所需的功能。因此，我们先做出原型系统，随后与50多位潜在客户进行了交流。通过Salesforce.com，我们把屏幕截图放到了网上，邀请人们参与beta测试，并向所有感兴趣的人做了演示，然后询问他们有何想法。我们正式启动时，已经有200名客户等在那里了。

    验证产品：从100万到300万美元

    客户到底需要什么样的产品？你可能得过滤一下自己的想法，然后决定首先做什么，哪些东西可以放到以后几年再做。或者，你也可能必须反其道而行之。最初我们觉得一个简单的计费系统就已足够。随后我们意识到，自己需要一个非常宽的平台，包括应用程序界面、付费系统、商业平台和税务引擎。

    在这个阶段你仍然处于学习状态，但你必须走完这个过程。在下一阶段，你将无暇对自己的产品进行重大调整，因为你将着眼于规模化。同时，你还得制定出连贯的产品路线图。

    验证市场：从300万到1000万美元

    这个阶段非常激动人心。你将招聘销售人员，把资金用于营销，把注意力集中在执行方面。现在的核心任务是定义自己的市场。它的规模真的能达到10亿美元吗？还是有5亿？或者1亿美元？在种子轮或A轮融资阶段，你有的只是希望和梦想。现在投资者会要求你告诉他们市场到底有多大，你需要做的是用故事和数据来证明这一点。

    创立Zuora时，许多人都觉得我们的产品完全属于软件即服务（SaaS）行业。我们知道，任何一家公司都有可能从我们的解决方案中受益，因此我们通过媒体、金融服务和医疗保健公司搜集了证据。我们甚至接触了一家上市公司。别不由自主地把自己局限在某一个领域。这样做实际上会把你困在一个较小的市场里。

    验证业务模式：从1000万到3000万美元

    现在，你要把注意力转向业务模式。客户获取成本有多高？你的客户流失率是多少？研发到底花了多少钱？客户的终身价值是多少？你的毛利润率有多高？按合约价值计算，你的客户留存率高于零吗？这些指标都在向好的方向发展吗？

    这并不是说你在早期阶段可以完全忽视业务模式指标，但在1000万美元级别，次优业务模式的成本很低。而现在，你得做出艰难抉择，以免自己的公司在达到3000万美元的规模后陷入亏损。你的销售模式合理吗？如果不合理，就更换销售团队。你在追逐不能带来利润的客户吗？如果是这样，就让他们变得有利可图，或者停止这样做。你的定价水平能带来很高的毛利润率吗？如果不能，就想办法提高单个客户的收入贡献。记住，在这个阶段，“四面出击”是公司陷入停滞的首要原因之一。

    验证眼光：从3000万到1亿美元

    如果打算吸收公众资金或规模更大的投资，新投资者就得确认你是安全的投资对象，而且能长期经营下去。他们不是那些早就知道部分投资会打水漂的风险投资人。他们希望尽量降低风险。他们想要的是合适的管理团队和董事会，可预期的执行和正现金流，至少是实现正现金流的明确路径。他们还需要看到市场规模没有水分，而你作为负责人能拿出一套合适的产品、人员以及合作伙伴，从而获得可持续的竞争优势。

    验证行业：从1亿到3亿美元

    在这个节点，你的公司已经完成规模化。小公司开始围拢过来，就像行星围着太阳运转。他们看上了你的客户群体和营销，看上了你的大批销售人员，并且希望通过这些销售人员来扩展他们的业务范围。

    现在就可以建立生态系统了。它无法一蹴而就，但做到3亿美元时，你就必须能说得出，作为成长型行业的核心成员，你的公司将如何继续同行业一道发展。建立平台，并让它拥有生机勃勃的生态系统，这实际上就相当于向人们展示你的企业将如何达到10亿美元级别。

    验证企业：从3亿到10亿美元

    对于成为10亿美元级企业，你已经万事俱备。现在要关注的是执行。绝不要自满，绝不要无视行业以及竞争对手的发展情况，特别是那些可能拥有颠覆性新思路的初创企业。

    达到10亿美元级别的公司不多，但把这个过程划分为几个阶段后，它就变得更容易理解，而且也不再那么让人望而生畏。关键在于意识到每个阶段都各不相同，你要验证的东西也不一样。对变化敞开怀抱。对转向欣然接受。只有经历了这一切，你才能理解约翰·D·洛克菲勒的那句话——“别怕为了最好的东西而放弃好的东西”。（财富中文网）

    本文作者左霆轩是Zuora首席执行官，该公司为企业设计SaaS产品，并通过订购模式进行销售。

    译者：Charile

    校对：詹妮

    How do you build a billion-dollar business? It’s not a linear process. When I started at Salesforce.com CRM -1.79% , we were 10 guys in a room. Our path to success was much more of a slow climb, with lots of switchbacks along the way.

    I like the switchback metaphor because it represents how companies entering a new growth stage must essentially become a new organization. The things that made it successful during one stage may actually prevent it from succeeding during the next. So at each stage, it must be willing to change the rules and toss the sacred cows.

    I started Zuora in 2007. And over the years, I have learned what it takes to build a $1 billion company. These are some of the biggest lessons I learned, at each stage of growth:

    Prove the idea: $0 to $1 million

    With the right idea, you can generally raise $1 million with a seed round. You don’t have to bet the whole company on an A round. At Zuora, for example, our idea was that subscription-based companies shouldn’t have to build their own billing systems just because telco billing systems were too expensive and regular enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems didn’t provide the required features. So we built a prototype and spoke with over 50 potential customers. Through Salesforce.com, we put screen shots on a website, invited people to participate in a beta, showed a demo to everyone interested, and asked what they thought. We had 200 customers lined up when we launched.

    Prove the product: $1 million to $3 million

    What product do your customers really need? You may have to cull your ideas and decide what to build first and what can be pushed out to later years. Or you may have to do the opposite. We initially thought a simple billing system was sufficient. Then we realized we needed a very broad platform, including application program interfaces (APIs), payment systems, commerce platforms, and tax engines.

    You’re still learning at this stage, but you have to complete the process now. You won’t have time to dramatically re-engineer your product during the next stage because you’ll be looking to scale. You’ll also need a coherent product roadmap in place.

    Prove the market: $3 million to $10 million

    This stage is very exciting. You’re hiring salespeople, spending money on marketing, and focusing on execution. Defining your market is now essential. Is it truly a billion dollar market? $500 million? $100 million? For your seed or A round, it was all about hopes and dreams. Now investors will demand to know how big this market really is, and you’ll need the story and statistics to prove it.

    When we started Zuora, many assumed our product was strictly for the software as a service (SaaS) industry. We knew any company could benefit from our solution, so we gathered the proof points by going to media, financial services, and healthcare companies. We even went to a public company. Don’t automatically limit yourself to focusing on a single vertical. It can actually box you into a smaller market.

    Prove the business model: $10 million to $30 million

    Now it’s time to focus on your business model. What is your customer acquisition cost? Your churn rate? How much does your R&D really cost? What is your customer lifetime value? Your gross margins? Do you have a positive net dollar retention? Are the trends getting better?

    I’m not suggesting you completely ignore business model metrics during earlier stages, but the cost of a sub-optimal business model at $10 million is small. But now you need to make the tough choices so you don’t find yourself at a $30 million run rate with a money-losing business. Do you have the right sales model? If not, swap out the sales team. Are you chasing unprofitable customers? If so, make them profitable or stop doing it. Do your price points allow for strong gross margins? If not, figure out how to increase revenues per customer. Keep in mind that at this stage “chasing anything that moves” is one of the top reasons companies stall.

    Prove the vision: $30 million to $100 million

    If you’re going to take public money or larger investments, your new investors need to know you’re a safe bet and will be around for the long haul. They aren’t venture investors that expect some of their bets to fail. They want minimal risk. They want the right management team and board. They want predictable execution and positive cash flow, or at least a clear path to achieving it. They also need to see that the market size is real and that you’re a leader with the right set of products, people, and partners to create a sustainable competitive advantage.

    Prove the industry: $100 million to $300 million

    At this point, your company has scale. Smaller companies are starting to surround you, like planets circling a sun. They like your customer base and marketing. They like how many salespeople you have and hope to use those salespeople to increase their reach.

    Now is the time to build an ecosystem. It won’t happen overnight, but by the time you reach $300 million, you need to be able to explain how, as the center of an expanding industry, you will continue to grow with it. By creating a ‘platform’ with a burgeoning ecosystem, you are actually demonstrating how you will become a billion dollar business.

    Prove the company: $300 million to $1 billion

    You have everything in place to reach a billion. Now it comes down to execution. Never get complacent. Never lose sight of how the industry and competitors are evolving, especially start-ups with new and potentially disruptive ideas.

    Few companies make it to a billion, but by breaking the journey into stages, the process becomes more comprehensible and less forbidding. Just recognize that each stage is different and what you are trying to prove is different. Embrace change. Embrace the switchback. For only when you round the turns can you begin to understand John D. Rockefeller’s phrase, “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”

    Tien Tzuo is the CEO of Zuora, a software company that designs and sells SaaS applications for companies with a subscription business model.