StubHub: 一个金点子的解剖
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我们面临的唯一一桩重大官司来自橄榄球联盟的新英格兰爱国者队（New England Patriots）。当时是2006年，我们正在商谈将公司出售给易趣。他们认为，我们诱使季票持有者违反与该队的购票协议。官司还没有判决我们就已售出了公司，此后易趣与他们达成了和解。 2006年公司实现盈利，年收入达1亿美元。易趣开始跟我们接洽的时候，我就已经想要离开了。2005年StubHub正处于上升势头，我结婚了，然后太太怀孕了。我们最终在2007年以3.1亿美元出售了StubHub。交易完成两周之后，我的大儿子出生了。我开始给自己放假，和家人环游世界。我热衷于高尔夫和网球，开始天使投资，尽情享受生活。目前我已经投资了40家各类公司，有些表现良好，有些不如人意。我在2010年停止天使投资，创建了Spreecast.com。 过去10年，随着Facebook和Twitter这类社交网站的发展以及手机的流行，我注意到人们花费大量时间与他人联系。但是现在这种完全基于文字的异步通讯总让人觉得少了点什么。我想要在对话中重现面对面的交流，所以我创建了Spreecast。 Spreecast是一个社交视频平台，人们可以像在Facebook中那样在公共论坛讨论各种话题，不管是迪克•克拉克（美国著名主持人——译注）的逝世还是时尚，只不过在这里，人们还可以使用网络摄像机和浏览器进行实时对话。 2011年我们从StubHub的投资人那里得到400万美元的启动资金，其中包括我个人的投资。公开测试版在2011年11月发布，名流、政治家、记者以及其他公众人物开始尝试使用我们的服务，和自己的粉丝、追随者交流。月复一月，我们取得了可喜的增长。 从头做起的智力挑战和创办公司的辗转腾挪对我来说都是享受。我认为创业者能够看到机会，抓住机会。他们并不不喜欢空谈。 我的建议 挑战现状。如果你打破了行业的老规矩，别人会告诉你那样做不会成功。但你要相信自己的直觉。Spreecast想要恢复互联网出现之前数千年的交流方式，那就是面对面的交流。没有面谈，人们就无法学习社交技巧。 建立团结的团队。在StubHub的招聘过程中所犯的错误让我在二次创业中获益匪浅。我更加小心地挑选管理层，寻找不同的品质。我更加强调性格、原始智力和抱负，而不是经验和技能，物色和现有团队更合拍的人选。 鼓励知无不言。领导公司的时候，如果遇到你信任的人，就让他们畅所欲言，群策群力，即使他们跟你的想法相冲突也不要紧。 |
The one significant lawsuit we faced was with the New England Patriots, which filed suit when we were in discussions to sell to eBay in 2006. They said we were inducing their season ticket holders to violate their agreement with the team. We sold before the suit was decided, and eBay settled with them. In 2006 the company was profitable, with $100 million in revenue. When eBay approached us, I had gotten to the point where I wanted to move on to the next thing. I had gotten married in 2005 while StubHub was rising, and my wife was pregnant. So we sold StubHub for $310 million in 2007 and closed the transaction two weeks before my first son was born. I took time off to travel with my family, and we went around the world. I played a lot of golf and tennis, started doing angel investing, and just enjoyed myself. I'm invested in 40 different companies now. Some are doing well, and some not. I stopped doing angel investing in 2010 and started Spreecast.com. Over the last 10 years I noticed that with Facebook (FB) and Twitter and smartphones, people are spending a lot of time to stay connected. But there's something missing with the way we're communicating now with all this text-based, asynchronous communication. I wanted to bring back face-to-face interaction to the conversation, so I started Spreecast. Spreecast is a social video platform where you can talk in a public forum about the same topics people are talking about on Facebook -- whether it's the passing of Dick Clark or fashion -- only it's in real time using a webcam and web browser. In 2011 we raised $4 million start-up capital from people who invested in StubHub. That figure includes my own investment. The public beta launched in November 2011, and we're starting to see celebrities, politicians, journalists, and others who have a public persona experimenting with us to engage with their fans and followers. There's been nice growth, month over month. I enjoy the intellectual challenge of building something from nothing and navigating through the challenges of starting a company. I think entrepreneurs look at opportunities and seize them. They don't just talk about them. My advice Challenge the status quo. If you're disrupting the way businesses do things, you'll be told that's not how it works. But listen to your instincts. Spreecast wants to create a throwback to thousands of years before the Internet, when people had face-to-face interactions. Without face-to-face conversations, people are missing out on learning social skills. Create a team that will mesh well. The mistakes I made in hiring at StubHub have helped inform my decisions this time around. I'll be treading more carefully in bringing in senior people and look for different qualities. I'll focus less on experience and skill set and be more interested in personality, raw intelligence, and drive to make the person a better fit with the existing team. Encourage your team to speak freely. When you're leading a company, if you work with people you trust, letting them speak their mind allows you to get good ideas on the table, even if they conflict with yours. |
