企业风险投资管理必读

    过去两年，我一直就职于美国在线（AOL）旗下的风投公司AOL Ventures。这家公司一直在努力从长远角度重新思考企业风险投资（CVC）模式以及与初创企业的互动方式。

    虽然不知道我们是否已经掌握了要领（不妨去问问我们投资的企业家吧），但我有幸综合了大量的信息，它们来自这个领域内最睿智的一群人，从中，我也得出了一个相当独特的观点。随着企业风投活动升温，越来越多的企业希望能够得到相关的建议，因此我将把个人观点付诸笔端，希望能为他们提供一些帮助。

    本文主要的基础源自我们的成败得失，阐述了企业应如何看待CVC。首先要声明一点，以下并不是什么全新的观点，主要侧重于互联网/传媒投资者，而且肯定是挂一漏万。

    1. 你的产品有什么特色？说到底，企业风险投资是一个相对封闭、高度竞争且没有多少差异化的市场。大多数公司提供的都是完全相同的产品。努力剖析客户（企业家）体验，思考可能的差异化途径。它可以是彻底改造客户的痛点，可以是一个带来更大价值的平台，也可以是史无前例的奇思妙想。我们当初创办AOL Ventures的时候，推动我们起步的最重要因素是“我们能在CVC市场上提供什么样的特色产品，为什么企业家要接受我们的投资？”必须要进行这样的思考，否则就等着“泯然于众人吧”。

    2. 士官和将军。军队的日常活动要靠士官们来打理，而不是将军。了解所在公司的中层士官们（排在高管之下的前100名员工），这一点非常重要。因为他们是真正推动决策的人，他们可以成为你最好的朋友，也可以成为你的心腹大患。一家初创公司与你合作，显然有一部分原因取决于你和这些人的关系。归根结底，初创公司可能很乐意接受一家公司首席执行官给出的建议，但他们可能更喜能够欢快速达成的业务总监式的交易（举个例子）。因为你与相关中层人员关系良好，可以推动协商和交易，万一出现法律问题，你也能轻松搞定（没错，你甚至需要认识所有的律师）。

    3.不一定要成为领投方。我一直不是很推崇CVC领投，特别是在早期融资阶段。从风险回报角度看，CVC领投毫无意义，而且我也不认为CVC真的有能力和一线风投机构角逐领投方的位置。如果你能增加可观的价值，则应当成为积极的出资人，就像其他早期非领投投资者一样，在自己擅长的领域内提供与众不同的价值。（这又回到了我们提供的产品上）。不必一定要拥有大量的董事会席位才能接近你投资的企业家，没有的话，一样可以拥有优秀公司的可观股份，通过支持所投资公司发展，成为出色的企业生命周期投资者，为母公司赚取回报。

    4. 热情拥抱首席财务官。如果你认为CVC是你自己的独立王国，不需要为母公司赢得利益，据我所见所闻，历史将证明你是错的。想一想，除了显而易见的资金事宜，你还能母公司做些什么。一定要和公司首席财务官保持紧密联系，把他们至少当作有限合伙人一样随时通报进展，因为说到底他们掌握着调拨投资资金的大权，决定着你的命运。

    Mike Brown Jr.是美国在线风投基金AOL Ventures驻纽约的风险投资人。这篇文章最初发布于他的个人博客。

    These past two years I've been part of AOL Ventures, a group that has tried to think long and hard about re-envisioning the corporate venture capital model and how corporations should interact with startups.

    Who knows if we have the right recipe (talk to our entrepreneurs) but I've had the benefit of synthesizing a ton of information from some of the best minds in the space and developed a pretty distinct viewpoint. The interest in corporate venture activity is at fever pitch, and with more and more corporations looking for perspective, I thought it might be thoughtful to put pen to paper.

    What follows is how corporations might want to think about CVC, largely based upon our successes and failures. I'd note in advance that none of this is terribly novel, it focuses on Internet/media investors and there obviously is a lot more here that isn't written.

    1. What Is Your Distinct Product? At the end of the day you are attempting to enter a largely insular, highly competitive market with not a lot of differentiation. Most people offer the same product. Try hard to map the customer (entrepreneur) experience and think about ways that you can differentiate. That could be a re-invention of certain pain points that the customer has or it could be a better platform that drives more value or it could be something totally amazing that no one has thought about. The most important thing that drove us from the outset when starting AOLV was 'what is the distinct product we are offering in the corporate venture market and why should an entrepreneur take our money?' You will need to think about this or join the sea of sameness.

    2. Staff Sergeants vs Generals. The military is run day-to-day by staff sergeants, not generals. It is of paramount importance to know mid-level staff sergeants (top 100 right-under execs) in your company as they are the ones who really drive decisions and can be your best friend or worst enemy. A start-up is obviously working with you partly because of your relationship with these folks. End of the day start-ups will happily take advice from your CEO, but they probably like a BD deal (por ejemplo) better that happens quickly because you know the right mid-level people and can drive the discussion, the deal, and help when it gets mucked up in legal (yes you even should know all the lawyers).

    3.You Don't Have to Lead. I've never been a big fan of corporations leading rounds of financing, especially at the early stages. Just doesn't make any sense on a risk/reward basis to take a corporate as a lead and I don't believe corporates can even really compete to lead rounds over Tier-1 investors. If your fund proves you can add measurable value you should be an active participant in a cap table and adding distinct value where you can like any other early stage non-lead investor (again it goes back to the product you offer). You do not have to have a ton of Board seats to be close to your entrepreneurs and can still own sizable pieces of good companies to earn a return for your parent by being a good life cycle investor that supports a company through it's growth.

    4. Bear Hug Your CFO. If you think you can play the totally autonomous game that gives no benefit back to your parent company, history will prove you wrong as far as I've seen and been told. Think about what you can do for your parent company beyond the obvious treasury play and make sure you have great inroads to the CFO function of your company, keep them updated like a normal LP (sometimes more) because at the end of the day they are the folks who meet your capital calls and determine your fate.

    Mike Brown Jr. is a venture capitalist with AOL Ventures in New York City. This post first appeared on his blog.