硅谷的隐形发动机

    过去几年，规模180亿美元的商业智能软件市场发生了巨大的变化，已经从昂贵难用的古老数据库技术转变为高速易用的云计算技术。EdgeSpring就站在这个趋势的前沿。创业经验丰富的维吉和瑞恩看到了这种转变，希望从中成就一番大事。他们筹集了一小部分风险投资，着手聘请团队和打造技术。仅仅几年后，就赢得了云计算软件行业领先者Salesforce.com的关注和收购。

    的确，硅谷有一些高调的“科技名流”。在硅谷，赢得财富和关注的速度或许比纽约（财富）和洛杉矶（关注）之外的美国任何地方都要快。但每一天，了不起的创业者们都在打造你我闻所未闻的优秀公司。

    你听说过尼尔•祖克吗？他曾创立安全和防火墙领域领头羊Palo Alto Networks，公司目前价值35亿美元。他自从2011年8月以来就没有在Twitter上发过言。Veeva的彼得•加斯纳，听说过吗？他悄无声息地在医药行业建立起了一家超大规模的软件即服务（SaaS）企业，传言称正在计划明年左右IPO。斯里德哈•温布，听说过吗？他创立和管理着ZOHO，这家云软件公司拥有超过800万用户。

    这些创业者是“闷声发大财”的代表。他们打造了传奇，创造了成千上万的工作岗位，为客户提供了巨大的价值。同时，也为他们自己、员工和投资者创造了巨大财富。

    身为风险投资人，我们每天都有机会见到很多这样的人和他们的公司。商业媒体和科技博客不会详细报道这些公司和创业者（一篇有关团购网站Groupon或社交游戏公司Zynga倒闭的文章能够获得的浏览量仅仅只相当于好莱坞话题女王林赛•罗韩的撞车事故），因此，他们一直活在公众的视线之外。

    我希望这篇文章能让科技博客领域之外的公众把关注点放在像维吉和瑞恩这样的创业者，以及像Edgespring这样的公司。当你看到他们的时候，请报以微笑，因为他们是硅谷的隐形发动机。

    请不要在Twitter、Tumblr等社交网络工具转发或标注喜欢。这些创业家会发脾气的。

信息披露：我曾是EdgeSpring的小份额天使投资人，维吉和瑞恩（非常）不愿意让我在这篇文章中特别提到他们。我是纪源资本（GGV Capital）的合伙人，这家16亿美元的扩张期风险投资基金关注中美两地投资。（财富中文网）

    Over the past few years, the $18 billion market for business intelligence software has shifted dramatically from ancient, expensive, and difficult-to-use database technology to lightning-fast and easy to use cloud-based technology. EdgeSpring is at the forefront of this trend. As experienced entrepreneurs, Vijay and Ryan saw this shift and knew they had an opportunity to build something great. They raised a small amount of capital from VCs and went to work hiring a team and building technology. After just a few years, cloud software leader Salesforce.com took notice and acquired the company.

    Yes, Silicon Valley has its share of high profile "tech celebrities," and wealth and attention can be generated in Silicon Valley perhaps faster than anywhere other than New York (wealth) or LA (attention). But every day, great entrepreneurs are building amazing companies you don't hear about.

    Heard of Nir Zuk? He founded Palo Alto Networks, now a $3.5 billion leader in the security/firewall space. Hasn't posted on Twitter since August of 2011. How about Peter Gassner at Veeva? Quietly building a very large SaaS business in the pharma industry which is rumored to be planning an IPO in the next year or so. How about Sridhar Vembu? He founded and runs ZOHO, the cloud-based software company with more than eight million users.

    These entrepreneurs reflect the ideals of Quiet Success. They make great things happen, create thousands of jobs and deliver tremendous value for their customers. They also create tremendous wealth for themselves, their employees and their investors.

    As venture capitalists, we are fortunate to meet many of these people and their companies every day. The business media and tech blogs don't cover these companies and entrepreneurs at length (a Groupon or Zynga meltdown story drives pageviews like a Lindsay Lohan car crash), so they remain off the general public's radar.

    Beyond the tech blogosphere, I hope this article prompts you to keep your eyes out for entrepreneurs like Vijay and Ryan, and companies like Edgespring. Smile when you see them. They are the hidden engine of Silicon Valley.

    Just don't Tweet, Tumbl, Snap, Pin or Like it. The entrepreneurs might get angry.

Disclosure:I was a small angel investor in EdgeSpring, and Vijay and Ryan (very) reluctantly let me highlight them in this post. I am a Partner at GGV Capital, a $1.6 billion expansion stage venture capital firm focused on the US and China.