姐弟创业传奇

    当时，预付借记卡还是一个新事物，并没有被那些本可以从中获取最大收益的人群充分利用。“营销任何一种产品的途径，就是以一种颇具吸引力的方式，教育人民懂得使用它的好处，”她说。“我当时想，‘如果要为这个消费群体创造一种令人愉悦的受教育体验，会是什么样子呢？’这就是我试图通过PayPerks解决的问题。”她的解决方案是一个建立在抽奖基础上的奖励计划，具体来说就是，通过激励消费者学习金融产品的好处，促使他们使用这些产品。

    阿琳决定带着这个创意去参加哥大的创业计划竞赛。清晨一起跑步时，阿琳给弟弟试讲了一遍她的PayPerks故事。阿琳很善于展示；对她来说，这跟在鲍登学院时常进行的演出排练没什么两样。埃里克使用姐弟俩都心有灵犀的音乐术语，提了几点反馈建议——强化节奏，开始时气息最好更柔和些。阿琳最终成为大赛的赢家，哥伦比亚大学随即成为她的首位投资者。“那时，除了自己以外，我所拥有的就是一个PPT文档，和一个梦想，”她开玩笑说。她邀请一位拥有更多技术经验的伙伴一起创业，还在创业的第一年就成功说服万事达卡(MasterCard)成了公司的签约客户。

    让我们一起看看它与美国财政部的合作方式，以了解PayPerks的运营方式。财政部每年拨付数十亿美元的社会保障支出，其中很大一部分发放给了没有银行账户的人群，这些人大多通过财政部自己的预付费卡——万事达直通借记卡(Direct Express Debit MasterCard)——接受这笔补助。阿琳说，持卡人经常径直去自动取款机，一股脑地取出所有钱，根本就没有利用这张卡的种种优势。4月1日，PayPerks推出一项针对直通借记卡的奖励计划。用户收到一个内置激活码的刮刮乐拼图。依据这个激活码，用户可以选择加入这个奖赏计划。之后，用户可以遵循一个教育课程，了解使用这张卡的种种好处，同时可赢得积分。很快，他们也可以获得另一种赢取积分的方式——以有助于他们省钱的方式使用这张卡，比如避免取款手续费，选择低结余警示等等。每一个积分都是一次赢取现金奖励的机会。奖金将自动存入借记卡，以激励用户继续参加这项计划。

    至今年年底，PayPerks的用户人数预期将从现在的10万增长至25万。鉴于全球一半以上的人口没有银行账户，阿琳认为PayPerks具备迈向全球市场的潜质。“我们期待成为一家面向全球中低收入消费者的顶级金融服务提供商，”她说。这种商业模式显然具有推动“公共利益”的一面，尽管阿琳表示这并非有意为之。她最初并不是打算创造一家全然致力于社会事业的公司，但在市场调研的过程中，她产生了一个想法，打算创建一家价值观共担的公司。在这样一家公司中，社会使命强化了利润使命。“这并不是妥协的产物，”她说。“它其实是各种意愿的重叠。”

    阿琳和埃里克这些年来为彼此提供的非正式指导正在促使他们重返鲍登学院。埃里克的合作伙伴也是在布朗大学(Brown University)的课堂上构想出了他们最初的商业创意。戴维奇姐弟真希望他们在本科阶段就能够浸淫在类似的创业文化之中。他们经常听闻有过创业经历的其他校友表达过类似的情绪。

    今年秋天，阿琳和埃里克正式启动了“鲍登创业系列讲座”(Bowdoin Startup Series)，进而让在校生有机会亲耳聆听杰出校友以不同方式成为企业家的创业历程。几位客座讲师每周五将莅临这个只需要申请就能参与的讲座。目前已有20位校友同意重返母校，讲述自己的创业故事。同时，这个讲座也有助于学生们建立宽广的人脉网络。

    虽然埃里克和阿琳不愿透露他们有无一起创业的打算，但他们正计划一起投资其他的初创公司。姐弟俩的主要标准是，创业者必须具备非凡的个人素质。阿琳说：“一个最基本的信念是，为了成为一位成功的企业家，你必须具备饥渴感和灵活性，还需要坚持不懈，百折不挠。”这种素质是你在纸面上看不到的。而这对姐弟的经历，恰恰是这种信念最为生动的写照。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒

    At the time, prepaid debit cards were a new phenomenon and underutilized by the people who could gain from them the most. "The way you market anything is by educating people on the benefits in an engaging way," she says. "I thought, 'What would it look like to create an engaging and educational experience for this segment of consumers?' That was the problem that I aimed to solve with PayPerks." The solution? A sweepstakes-based rewards program that incentivizes learning about the benefits of financial products and, in turn, helps consumers capitalize off of them.

    Arlyn decided to take her idea to Columbia's business plan competition. During early-morning running sessions with her brother, Arlyn practiced telling the PayPerks story to prepare. Arlyn was good at presenting; it was like rehearsing for a performance back at Bowdoin. Eric would give her feedback using the musical terms they both innately understood -- increase your tempo, start softer. Arlyn went on to win, gaining Columbia as her first investor. "It was just me at that point -- just me, a Powerpoint, and a dream," she jokes. She brought in a co-founder who had more experience on the technology side and spent the first year convincing MasterCard to sign on as a customer.

    As an example of how PayPerks works, take a look at its partnership with the U.S. Treasury. Every year the Treasury pays billions in social security disbursement. A large portion goes to people without bank accounts, with most receiving benefits through the Treasury's own prepaid card called the Direct Express Debit MasterCard. Cardholders often go right to the ATM, Arlyn says, to take all their money out, negating the card's advantages. On April 1, PayPerks launched its rewards program for the Direct Express card. Users received a scratch-off game piece, which comes with an activation code. After registering the code to opt into the rewards program, users win points by following an educational curriculum on the benefits of the card. Soon they'll also be able to earn points by using the card in ways that help them save money -- avoiding ATM fees, enrolling in low balance alerts. Every point is a chance to win a cash prize with the winnings going back onto the card to drive ongoing engagement with the program.

    PayPerks has 100,000 users and is targeting 250,000 by the end of the year. With more than half of the world's population living without a bank account, Arlyn thinks PayPerks has global applications. "We're looking to be the leading financial service marketplace for low- and middle-income consumers globally," she says. The business model clearly has a Common Good aspect to it, which Arlyn says wasn't by design. She didn't start out exclusively looking to launch a social venture, but in doing research she came across the idea of a shared-value company -- one in which the social mission reinforces the profit mission. "It's not a compromise," she says. "It's truly an alignment of intentions."

    The informal guidance Arlyn and Eric have provided one another over the years is something they're now taking back to Bowdoin. Eric's partners had come up with the idea of their original business during a class at Brown, and the Davich siblings wished they had similar exposure to a startup culture during their time as undergrads. It was a sentiment they regularly heard echoed by other Bowdoin alumni who had started their own businesses.

    This fall Arlyn and Eric are launching the Bowdoin Startup Series, a chance for current students to see firsthand examples of alumni who have been successful in different ways as entrepreneurs. Several guest lecturers will visit the application-only course each Friday. Already, twenty alumni have agreed to come back to tell their stories, which will also help students build a broad network.

    While Eric and Arlyn shrug off the idea of starting a business together, they're looking at investing in other startups together. Their primary criterion is that the founders have exceptional personal qualities: "The underlying belief is in order to be a successful entrepreneur you have to be hungry, flexible, and relentlessly persistent," Arlyn says. It's something that you can't see on paper. In their case, it takes one to know one.