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寻找那些伟大的“罪犯”
 作者: Matt Harris    时间: 2011年04月25日    来源: 财富中文网
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最好的创业者不仅要有丰富的想象力,还得做点离经叛道的事儿。
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    巴尔扎克曾说过,“每一笔巨大的财富背后都隐藏着罪恶。”

    在过去的几周里,我们已经听说了有关Facebook和Twitter的一系列恶性传言。据这些传言称,Facebook的创始人盗用了美国一对奥运会选手挛生兄弟的创意,又从做木板生意的骗子那里弄到了2,000美元的第一桶金,随后,他还使得向他提供过发展资金的哈佛同窗的发财梦化为泡影。而Twitter就像是那个歪门邪道的创业者的私生子。他告诉最早的投资人Twitter一文不值。这样,他就能自我标榜英雄一般以成本价回购Twitter的股份。而在此以后,他又向人们展示Twitter真正的价值,奇怪的是,即便他们死命地想要重新投资,这个创始人却根本没有让他们如愿的打算。哦,忘了提一句,他不但炒掉了Twitter真正的创始人,而且具有奥威尔式(Orwellian)讽刺意味的是,他在媒体采访中假装从没有这样一个人存在过。

    我不知道这些故事哪怕有半句属实。坦白地说,我倒不在乎,而且,我也相信,任何没有真正牵扯其中的人除了“八卦价值”之外,都无需太在意它们的真实性(不过也许“八卦价值”本身就是一种矛盾修饰法的表达方式。)也会有一些人坚持认为这些事件的真实性直指两位创始人的道德品行,甚至可能是这两家公司的企业文化,因此公众必须知道真相。我认为这太荒谬了,这就是本文所抨击的。

    如果要我用一个形容词来描述所有极度成功的创业人士,那就是“离经叛道”。要创办一家公司,重新定义一个行业,或是像Facebook那样重新定义社会的大部分,就需要这种特质。这绝非君子可为。表面看来,其胆大妄为,且颠覆常理,又荒诞可笑。创业者必须坚持不懈(顽固不化),具有说服力(灵活应变)并且立志高远(痴心妄想)。

    请不要把这些话看作是对真正的犯罪或不道德行为的辩护。我们绝不会和一个真道德沦丧的坏家伙共同创业。而且,可以肯定的是,如果所有有关Facebook和Twitter的恶意指控都是真的,它们的创始人将面临更多的质问。如果要查看一个创业者的背景资料,我绝对是会重点了解他的道德品行。这对于我而言极其重要,因为这样我就能完全相信那些和我在同一战壕并肩作战的伙伴。

    话虽如此,我却痛苦地意识到,这个世界充满了“灰色地带”。所以,除了追求创业者优秀的个人特质之外,我还希望他们能够和我团结一心。坦白说,假如一个我非常敬重的企业家突然跑过来说要按照原价收购我的股份,让我退出他独自单干,我是一定不会答应的,绝对不会。

    投资人给我钱,是希望我能帮他们生钱,我从来没想过要把股份卖给创始人(不过出于其他的原因,有时候我会收购一些创始人愿意出售的股份)。再进一步来说,当我打电话调查他们的背景的时候,我有时会听到一些看似很糟糕的事情。不过我会往好的方面去理解。比如,“约翰有一个坏习惯,向客户承诺根本不存在的事情,然后抓狂似地去兑现承诺”,“吉尔交代你做事的时候非常苛刻,不达目的誓不罢休。”又或者,“赛斯对自己的手下要求很多,有时会让一些实力欠佳的员工崩溃累趴。”

    要知道,说出上述之言的,是和一个企业家结了婚,而且和一个企业家合伙创业的人(谢天谢地,这两个企业家不是同一个)。我自己就是一家公司的创始团队成员之一。我在大学期间同住的10个男生几乎全都自己开了公司,或是和别人合伙创业了。也许我的工作最好的地方就在于能够和那些超出常人效率的多面手共事(我投资的那些公司的首席执行官们)。但我们也应该坦诚地面对改变世界所需要的力量。不仅是咄咄逼人的强势,而是巴尔扎克那样的境界。

    本文作者马特·哈里斯(Matt Harris)是Village Ventures的联合创始人和公司董事合伙人。Village Ventures是一家初期风险投资公司,旗下管理着1.75亿美元的资金。

    翻译:C.Z.

    As Balzac once said, "Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."

    In the past few weeks, we have been treated to scandalous-if-true stories about the foundings of Facebook and Twitter. Allegedly, Facebook was founded by the guy who stole the idea from a set of Olympian twins, ripped off a wood-chip dealing fraudster for his first $2k of investment and then screwed the college buddy who provided him with additional growth capital. Twitter was the bastard child of a devious founder, who convinced his early investors that it was worthless so he could look like a hero for buying them back at cost, only then to reveal the true glory of the product and, oddly, not even let most of them invest back in later when they tried their damndest to do so. Oh, he also fired the real founder and, in an Orwellian turn, pretends the guy never existed in press interviews.

    I have no idea if these stories are even partially true. Frankly, I don't care, and am pretty sure anyone who isn't actually involved shouldn't care much either, beyond gossip value (though perhaps "gossip value" is an oxymoron). There will be those who insist that the veracity of these claims goes directly to the moral fiber of the founders, and hence perhaps the culture of these companies, and that therefore we all have to know the truth. I think that take is ridiculous, and that's the thrust of this post.

    If I had to pick one adjective that describes all radically successful founders, it would be "transgressive." That trait is what it takes to start a company that attempts to redefine an industry, or, like Facebook, redefine large parts of society. It is not a polite thing to do. It is audacious, disruptive and preposterous on the face of it. Founders have to be persistent (bullheaded), persuasive (flexible with the truth) and visionary (delusional).

    Please don't take this as a defense of actually criminal, or even unethical, behavior. We would never work with a founder who was guilty of what we considered an actual ethical lapse, and surely if all of the allegations regarding Twitter and Facebook are true, those founders have a lot to answer for. When I'm checking references on a founder, I definitely focus about integrity and ethics. It's incredibly important to me that I can implicitly trust the people I'm in a foxhole with.

    Having said that, I'm painfully aware that the world is full of gray areas. So what I always pursue, in addition to positive character references, is 100% alignment. To be honest, if an entrepreneur I really respected came to me and offered to buy me out for 1X my money, and said he was going to carry on with the project without me, I WOULD ALWAYS SAY NO. Always.

    I don't get paid to return 1X to my investors, and I never want to sell when one of my founders is buying (although occasionally I do buy when they are selling, for other reasons.) Further, when I'm doing these reference calls, I sometimes hear things that seem bad, but I interpret as good: "John had a bad habit of promising things to the client that didn't exist, then scrambling like mad to backfill those capabilities;" "When Jill wants something, she can be pretty hard to deal with until she gets what she's after;" or "Seth asked a lot of his people, and would occasionally burn some of his weaker performers out."

    You should know that all of this comes from a guy who is married to an entrepreneur, and started a firm with one (different people, thankfully). I am a charter member of the cult of the founder. Of the 10 guys I lived with in college, nearly all have started a company or been on a founding team. Perhaps the best part of my job is getting to spend time with people who do 10 impossible things before breakfast (i.e., my portfolio company CEOs). But we should be honest about what it takes to change the world. It takes more than chutzpah. It takes Balzac.

    Matt Harris is co-founder and Managing General Partner of Village Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm with over $175M under management.




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@关子临: 自信也许会压倒聪明,演技的好坏也许会压倒脑力的强弱,好领导就是循循善诱的人,不独裁,而有见地,能让人心悦诚服。    参加讨论>>
@DuoDuopa:彼得原理,是美国学者劳伦斯彼得在对组织中人员晋升的相关现象研究后得出的一个结论:在各种组织中,由于习惯于对在某个等级上称职的人员进行晋升提拔,因而雇员总是趋向于晋升到其不称职的地位。    参加讨论>>
@Bruce的森林:正念,应该可以解释为专注当下的事情,而不去想过去这件事是怎么做的,这件事将来会怎样。一方面,这种理念可以帮助员工排除杂念,把注意力集中在工作本身,减少压力,提高创造力。另一方面,这不失为提高员工工作效率的好方法。可能后者是各大BOSS们更看重的吧。    参加讨论>>


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