谁都有看走眼的时候，但错过这些投资机会令人后悔终生|爆料

2004年，柏尚投资（Bessemer Venture Partners）合伙人杰瑞米·勒凡花了一个周末待在公司寓所，竭力回避一位坚忍不拔的哈佛学生。这名学生反复游说勒凡投资他和别人在几个月前创立的社交媒体公司。最后，勒凡打断了他的滔滔不绝，给了他一些残酷的建议：“孩子，你没听过Friendster吗？走开，结束了！”

这名学生是爱德华多·萨维林。那家公司叫Facebook。

作为美国历史最悠久的风投公司之一，柏尚投资的投资组合星光熠熠，其中不乏诸如LinkedIn、Yelp和Pinterest这类大名鼎鼎的公司。不过，他们最值得骄傲的地方还在于“反投资组合”。当初他们拒绝投资的公司除Facebook外，还包括苹果（“贵得令人发指！”）和eBay（“邮票？钱币？漫画书？你在开玩笑吧！”）。

看看以下这些错失的绝好投资机会，你会发现即使是经验最丰富的投资者，有时也会铸下令他们抱憾终生的大错。

投资机会：Airbnb

错过者：克里斯·萨卡，弗雷德·威尔逊

In 2004, Jeremy Levine, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, spent a weekend at a corporate retreat actively avoiding a relentless Harvard student. The student had repeatedly tried to pitch him a social media company he had co-founded just a few months prior. Finally, Levine snapped and gave him some brutal advice: “Kid, haven’t you heard of Friendster? Move on. It’s over!”

The student was Eduardo Saverin. And the company? That would be Facebook.

BVP is one of the oldest venture capital firms in the country with some great companies in its portfolio, including LinkedIn, Yelp and Pinterest. Yet one of BVP’s biggest points of pride is its “anti-portfolio” — the investments the firm decided to pass on. In addition to Facebook, Apple (“outrageously expensive”) and eBay (“Stamps? Coins? Comic books? You’ve GOT to be kidding”) are also on the list.

See the following cringe-worthy missed deals that show how even the most experienced investors sometimes make gigantic mistakes.

Airbnb

克里斯·萨卡：这位拥有亿万身家的风投家没有投资Airbnb，因为他认为租用一间房东仍然在家的房间“太危险了”。

弗雷德·威尔逊：当Airbnb创始人拜访联合广场风投（Union Square Ventures）时，风投家弗雷德·威尔逊无法认同“在客厅地面上放橡胶气垫”的想法。他表示：“我们过于关注他们当时在做什么，而忽视了他们能做什么。”

投资机会：亚马逊

错过者：OVP Venture Partners

Chris Sacca: The billionaire venture capitalist passed on Airbnb because renting a room in a house while owners were still home would be “too dangerous.”

Fred Wilson: When Airbnb’s founders came to visit Union Square Ventures, VC Fred Wilson just couldn’t get behind the idea of “air mattresses on the living room floor.” He says, “We focused too much on what they were doing at the time and not enough on what they could do.”

Amazon

OVP与亚马逊首席执行官曾经达成过一项君子协议。这家风投机构将按照融资后1000万美元的估值，出资200万获取该公司20%的股份。然而在最后关头，风投家约翰·杜尔愿意以融资后4000万美元的估值，出资800万获取该公司20%的股份。这项口头协议最终宣告流产。OVP的网站上写道：“为了以牙还牙，我们后来只在Barnes & Noble买书。我们认为亚马逊没有注意到这点。”

投资机会：苹果

错过者：柏尚投资

OVP Venture Partners: OVP had a handshake term sheet with the Amazon CEO to invest $2 million for 20% of the company at a $10 million post-money value. At the last minute, VC John Doerr offered $8 million for 20% of the company at a $40 million post-money value. OVP’s handshake deal fell through. “To get even, we buy all our books at Barnes & Noble,” OVP’s website reads. “We don’t think Amazon has noticed.”

Apple

柏尚投资的尼尔·布朗斯坦本来有机会在苹果上市前投资该公司次级股票，不过他表示，苹果当时的估值“高达”6000万美元，“贵得令人发指”。

投资机会：Dropbox

错过者：克里斯·萨卡

Bessemer Venture Partners: BVP’s Neill Brownsteincalled it “outrageously expensive” after having the chance to invest in pre-IPO secondary stock at at $60 million valuation.

Dropbox

他没有投资Dropbox，因为他当时使用的是后来的Google Drive。他对Dropbox创始人说：“谷歌会摧毁你们的。”

投资机会：eBay

错过者：柏尚投资

Chris Sacca: He passed on Dropbox because he was already using what would later become Google Drive, and he told the founders “Google would crush them.”

eBay

柏尚投资的大卫·考恩对eBay怎么看？他说：“邮票？钱币？漫画书？你在开玩笑吧。这还用想吗？拒绝投资。”

投资机会：Facebook

错过者：柏尚投资

Bessemer Venture Partners: BVP’s David Cowan’s thoughts on eBay? “Stamps? Coins? Comic books? You’ve GOT to be kidding,” he said. “No-brainer pass.”

Facebook

Facebook联合创始人爱德华多·萨维林曾在柏尚投资的寓所堵着杰瑞米·勒凡，拼命游说，而勒凡回应道：“孩子，你没听过Friendster吗？走开，结束了！”

投资机会：联邦快递

错过者：柏尚投资

Bessemer Venture Partners: After Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin cornered BVP’s Jeremy Levine at a corporate retreat with his pitch, Levine responded with “Kid, haven’t you heard of Friendster? Move on. It’s over!”

FedEx

这家公司共拒绝了联邦快递7次之多。

投资机会：谷歌

错过者：柏尚投资

Bessemer Venture Partners: The firm passed on FedExseven times.

Google

大卫·考恩的大学朋友把自己的车库租给了谷歌联合创始人，让他们度过创立的第一年。当她试图把这些人介绍给考恩时，考恩对这个由学生创立的搜索引擎并不感冒。他说：“我怎么才能走出这个房子，而不去靠近你的车库？”

投资机会：GoPro

错过者：克里斯·萨卡

Bessemer Venture Partners: David Cowan’s college friend rented her garage to Google’s co-founders for their first year. When she tried to introduce them to Cowan, he wasn’t too thrilled about a student-founded search engine. He responded with, “How can I get out of this house without going anywhere near your garage?”

GoPro

萨卡听了尼克·伍德曼的游说之后，迅速拒绝了他。他表示，“GoPro无法与中国大陆、台湾和韩国的厂商竞争”。

投资机会：Pinterest

错过者：克里斯·萨卡，凯文·罗斯

Chris Sacca: After Sacca heard Nick Woodman’s GoPro pitch, he quickly dismissed it by saying there was “no way GoPro could compete with China/Taiwan/Korea.”

Pinterest

克里斯·萨卡：在收到Pinterest的创始人本·希伯尔曼的“完美邮件”之后，萨卡出手了。但那是在两年以后。

凯文·罗斯：在本·希伯尔曼给罗斯展示Pinterest平台时，他以500万美元的估值，给了罗斯一个天使投资的机会。罗斯说：“当时我觉得，啊，这个价格可真高。”

投资机会：贝宝

错过者：柏尚投资

Chris Sacca: After getting the “perfect email” from Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann, Sacca followed up … two years later.

Kevin Rose: After Ben Silbermann showed Rose the platform, he offered him an angel investment opportunity in Pinterest at a $5 million valuation. Rose said, “At the time I thought, wow, that’s really high.”

PayPal

大卫·考恩在贝宝的A轮融资中拒绝了他们，因为贝宝的团队没有经验，还有可能遭遇“监管噩梦”。

投资机会：Salesforce

错过者：罗恩·康韦

Bessemer Venture Partners: David Cowan passed on PayPal’s Series A round because of its rookie team and the potential for a “regulatory nightmare.”

Salesforce

罗恩·康韦：这位风险投资家放弃Salesforce的原因在于“当时3000万美元的估值显得太高了”！

投资机会：Snapchat

错过者：克里斯·萨卡，乔什·埃尔曼

Ron Conway: The VC passed on Salesforce because “the $30 million valuation seemed too high at the time!”

Snapchat

克里斯·萨卡：他拒绝与Snapchat创始人会面，因为“不确定它是否会演变成一个传播黄色图片的平台”。

乔什·埃尔曼：当被问到哪家是他放弃的最大的初创公司，为什么放弃时，Greylock Partners的乔什·埃尔曼表示：“是Snapchat。我当时写下了放弃的理由，但是那个理由已经不存在了。”

投资机会：星巴克

错过者：OVP Venture Partners

Chris Sacca: He passed on an invitation to meet with Snapchat’s founders because he “wasn’t sure it would evolve past dick pics.”

Josh Elman: When asked about the biggest startup he passed on and why, Greylock Partners’ Josh Elman said, “Snapchat. I just wrote the answer of why, but it already disappeared.”

Starbucks

OVP Venture Partners：当霍华德·舒尔茨在20世纪80年代末走进OVP的办公室，阐述他一杯咖啡2美元（当时一杯咖啡只需要25美分）的想法时，风投合伙人的表现如下：“当然，很有礼貌地听完了他的话，但当他离开时，都笑得摔下了椅子。”

投资机会：特斯拉

错过者：OVP Venture Partners

OVP Venture Partners: When Howard Shultz walked into the OVP office in the late 1980s with his idea to charge $2 for coffee (when you could buy it for 25 cents at the time), the partners had the following reaction: “Of course, you listen politely, and then fall off your chair laughing when he leaves.”

Tesla

柏尚投资：拜伦·迪特给特斯拉预付了一笔购车定金，但还是放弃了投资这家利润为负的公司的机会。他说：“这是一个双赢选择。我能获得一辆好车，让其他风投公司来为它付钱吧。”

投资机会：优步

错过者：本·勒雷，约翰·格雷特豪斯

Bessemer Venture Partners: Byron Deeter put a deposit down on a Tesla but passed on the negative margin company saying, “It’s a win-win. I get a great car and some other VC pays for it!”

Uber

本·勒雷：尽管勒雷风投（Lerer Ventures）的本·勒雷从未正式拒绝过优步，但他也没有去努力追求这个机会。他说：“我放弃的原因在于，我不相信自己的直觉。我脑子里想的尽是不做这笔交易的理由，而不是单纯信任我的本能。”

约翰·格雷特豪斯：这位风险投资家不愿参与优步的种子期融资，并拒绝倾听优步创始人特拉维斯·卡兰尼克的游说。他表示：“我对亲爱的妻子说：下次如果有朋友带着亿万美元的机遇来找我，我会听的。我保证。”（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

审校：任文科

Ben Lerer: Though Ben Lerer of Lerer Ventures never formally passed on Uber, he didn’t pursue the opportunity when he should have. “I passed because I didn’t trust my gut,” he says. “I thought of reasons why not to do a deal rather than just trusting my intuition.”

John Greathouse: The VC passed on Uber’s seed round and refused to listen to founder Travis Kalanick’s pitch. “Note to my loving wife: The next time a friend knocks me over the head with a billion-dollar opportunity, I’m going to listen. Promise,” he says.