我们当年为什么敢投资LinkedIn
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最后一些思考 回顾我们的备忘录，我发现我甚至没有用“社交网络”这个词。总的说来，当时那仍是一个相对较新的概念，自然还没有人将它应用于商业网络中。 他们只有90万用户，但是我却大胆（甚至疯狂地？）推测他们可能具备完成艰巨扩张任务的条件。接下来的九年清楚地表明，他们经过大量艰苦卓绝的努力，为商务用户建立了一个统治性的平台。我说过吗？我们之前都是乐天派的企业家和经营商，深爱着我们的公司和创始人。 最后，也是最重要的，尽管雷德极度热情，我还是低估了这位卓尔不凡的公司创始人、创新者和我有幸与之共事的人物，开始是在LinkedIn，现在则是在格雷洛克。 LinkedIn的崛起已被详尽地记录在案，不过从字面上，我们仍然容易低估雷德不懈的决心和对于以上两点的专注度：发展用户基础，增加用户价值。他在业务发展过程中专注于打造真正世界一流的团队，无私地为杰夫•韦纳尔（LinkedIn现任首席执行官）的公司寻找合适的长期合伙人，这给我上了无比宝贵的一课。 请花点时间看看雷德的融资演示和点评吧。这是一位稀世之才献出的稀世之礼。 本文大卫•斯泽是格雷洛克风投公司的合作伙伴，同时也是LinkedIn的董事会成员。 译者：严匡正 |
Some last reflections Re-reading our memo, I noticed that I didn't even use the words "social network." This was still a relatively new concept overall, and certainly not one yet applied to business networks. With 900,000 users, I was bold enough (crazy enough?) to assume that the hard work of getting to scale may have been behind them. Clearly the ensuing nine years showed that they had plenty of hard work left to build a dominant platform for business users. Did I mention we are all ex-entrepreneurs and operators that are prone to optimism and falling in love with our companies and founders? And finally, most importantly, though extremely enthusiastic about Reid, I still managed to underestimate the remarkable company-builder, innovator and person that I have been privileged to work with, first at LinkedIn, and now at Greylock as well. The rise of Linkedin has been well documented, but it's still easy to underestimate on paper Reid's ceaseless determination and focus on the first two points made above: grow the user base, and increase value to our users. And his obsession with building a truly world-class team for every phase of the journey, punctuated by his lack of ego in finding the right long-term partner for the business in Jeff Weiner, remain an unparalleled lesson for me. Please do take the time to Reid's pitch deck and commentary. It's a rare treat from a rare person. David Sze (@davidsze) is a partner with venture capital firm Greylock, and a director on the LinkedIn board. |
