A GREAT TEAM團(tuán)隊(duì)
Mediocre teams do not build great companies. One of the things we look at the most is the strength of the founders. When I used to do later-stage investing, I looked equally hard at the strength of the employees the founders hired.
中等水平的團(tuán)隊(duì)不會(huì)創(chuàng)造出偉大的公司。我們最看重的就是創(chuàng)始人的能力。當(dāng)我逐漸從事中后期投資時(shí)，會(huì)同樣看中創(chuàng)始人所招聘的團(tuán)隊(duì)成員們的能力。
What makes a great founder? The most important characteristics are ones like unstoppability, determination, formidability, and resourcefulness. Intelligence and passion also rank very highly. These are all much more important than experience and certainly “expertise with language X and framework Y”.
偉大的創(chuàng)始人需要具備怎樣的特質(zhì)？最重要的個(gè)性特質(zhì)包括：不可阻擋、堅(jiān)定不移、令人敬畏、人脈廣步。聰明和熱情的排名同樣靠前。以上這些特性比行業(yè)經(jīng)驗(yàn)，或者掌握某種編程語(yǔ)言或框架重要得多。
We have noticed the most successful founders are the sort of people who are low-stress to work with because you feel “he or she will get it done, no matter what it is.” Sometimes you can succeed through sheer force of will.
我們都發(fā)現(xiàn)大部分成功的創(chuàng)始人，工作上相處起來(lái)都很輕松，因?yàn)槟愀杏X(jué)他們是那種無(wú)論發(fā)生什么，都能把事情搞定的人。有時(shí)候你懷著純粹地信念就會(huì)成功。
Good founders have a number of seemingly contradictory traits. One important example is rigidity and flexibility. You want to have strong beliefs about the core of the company and its mission, but still be very flexible and willing to learn new things when it comes to almost everything else.
優(yōu)秀的創(chuàng)始人都擁有一些看上去矛盾的特質(zhì)。其中一條重要的特質(zhì)就是堅(jiān)定但又靈活。對(duì)于公司的核心和理念，你懷著非常堅(jiān)定的信念。但是在操作上又非常靈活，并且樂(lè)于學(xué)習(xí)任何新鮮的事物。
The best founders are unusually responsive. This is an indicator of decisiveness, focus, intensity, and the ability to get things done.
最好的創(chuàng)始人擁有異常的響應(yīng)速度。這是果斷，專注，高強(qiáng)度，并且有能力把事情搞定的標(biāo)志。
Founders that are hard to talk to are almost always bad. Communication is a very important skill for founders—in fact, I think this is the most important rarely-discussed founder skill.
那些很難以溝通的創(chuàng)始人往往都不好。溝通對(duì)于創(chuàng)始人來(lái)說(shuō)是非常重要的技巧。事實(shí)上，我認(rèn)識(shí)這是所有創(chuàng)始人必備技巧中最少被提及的一條。
Tech startups need at least one founder who can build the company’s product or service, and at least one founder who is (or can become) good at sales and talking to users. This can be the same person.
技術(shù)創(chuàng)業(yè)公司需要只有一名負(fù)責(zé)產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)的創(chuàng)始人，另需至少一名負(fù)責(zé)銷售或客戶關(guān)系的創(chuàng)始人。他們可以是同一個(gè)人。
Consider these criteria when you’re choosing a cofounder—it’s one of the most important decisions you’ll make, and it’s often done fairly randomly. You want someone you know well, not someone you just met at a cofounder dating thing. You can evaluate anyone you might work with better with more data, and you really don’t want to get this one wrong. Also, at some point, the expected value of the startup is likely to dip below the X axis. If you have a pre-existing relationship with your cofounders, none of you will want to let the other down and you’ll keep going. Cofounder breakups are one of the leading causes of death for early startups, and we see them happen very, very frequently in cases where the founders met for the express purpose of starting the company.
當(dāng)你在選擇公司合伙人的時(shí)候需要考慮以下這些因素，因?yàn)檫@可能是你需要做的最重要的決定，而且大部分人在做決定時(shí)都是很隨機(jī)的。你需要一名你熟悉的合伙人，而不是隨便一個(gè)在創(chuàng)始人相親會(huì)上認(rèn)識(shí)的人。你可以通過(guò)一些數(shù)據(jù)來(lái)幫助自己判斷更合適和誰(shuí)一起工作，你不會(huì)想把這件事情搞砸的。有些時(shí)候，創(chuàng)業(yè)項(xiàng)目的預(yù)期估值很可能比你預(yù)計(jì)的還要低。如果你和你的合伙人之前已經(jīng)有一段合作的經(jīng)歷，你們兩人都會(huì)自覺(jué)地認(rèn)為不想讓另外一人失望，所以會(huì)不斷努力。創(chuàng)始人不合是導(dǎo)致初創(chuàng)企業(yè)破裂最主要的原因，我們已經(jīng)見(jiàn)證了太多這樣的案例。
The best case, by far, is to have a good cofounder. The next best is to be a solo founder. The worse case, by far, is to have a bad cofounder. If things are not working out, you should part ways quickly.
截止目前最好的解決方法是找到一名優(yōu)秀的合伙人。次優(yōu)的方案是成為一名獨(dú)立創(chuàng)始人。最壞的選擇是拉一名糟糕的合伙人入伙。如果發(fā)現(xiàn)情況運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)得不好，盡快分開(kāi)。
A quick note on equity: the conversation about the equity split does not get easier with time—it’s better to set it early on. Nearly equal is best, though perhaps in the case of two founders it’s best to have one person with one extra share to prevent deadlocks when the cofounders have a fallout.
一個(gè)關(guān)于股權(quán)分配的提示：有關(guān)股權(quán)劃分的討論越早越好，越往后會(huì)越困難。每位創(chuàng)始人平均分配是最好的方法。當(dāng)遇到兩名創(chuàng)始人的情況，讓其中一名創(chuàng)始人擁有額外一個(gè)份額的股權(quán)，能夠保證當(dāng)創(chuàng)始人之間爭(zhēng)執(zhí)不下時(shí)讓公司陷入僵局。
