Ten Things I’ve Learned After a Decade as a CEO十年創業的十條感悟

邱龍琰/譯

Its no surprise that starting a business is challenging. It seems the odds are stacked completely against1 entrepreneurs—9 out of 10 startups will fail and， even if you succeed， theres only about a 1% chance of becoming a unicorn.

創業之路充滿挑戰，這不奇怪。創業不易——創業公司十之有九都會遭遇失敗，即便成功了，也只有約1%的可能性成為獨角獸企業。

Despite the struggles of starting a business， it is also one of the most rewarding experiences. Over the past decade， Ive learned quite a bit about what it takes to not only start a company but see it succeed. Here are my ten most important lessons.

創業固然會遇到很多困難，但這也是回報豐厚的經歷之一。過去十年讓我深刻領悟到，創辦公司并使之取得成功殊非易事。以下是我總結的十大經驗。

Surround yourself with experts

多多依靠專家

No one person is good at everything and， oftentimes， trying to take on all of the work yourself results in failure. By hiring a team of experts in their respective industries， you have myriad perspectives and a wealth of knowledge that can help you better understand the needs of customers and， ultimately， create the best product possible.

沒有人是無所不能的，而且一個人包攬所有工作往往會導致失敗。聘請了行業專家組建團隊，你就具備了多種視角和豐富的知識，能更好地了解客戶需求，從而最終創造出最優產品。

Find a good co-founder mix

尋求聯合創始成員間的默契

As someone with a strong personality， I find that its incredibly important to have co-founders who challenge each other， push boundaries and also make sure goals stay on track. My co-founders and I push each other to get things done more productively while also ensuring nobody is flying off the handle2.

對于我這樣一個個性較強的人而言，找到敢于相互質疑、不斷突破且還能確保目標導向始終正確的聯合創始人極其重要。我的聯合創始人們與我會互相督促更高效地完成工作，同時確保不會有人情緒失控。

Each of us brings different expertise to the table3， which is critical when creating a company， as it allows us to each focus on what we know best while also building a comprehensive organization.

每個人貢獻的不同專業知識對于公司的創立至關重要，這讓每個人都能專注于自己最精通之事，同時打造一個完整的企業。

Care about more than your role

不要局限于自己的職務

Whether youre an accounting manager or a CFO， you have to care about more than your role. For example， an engineer should care about more than just the computer science aspect—they should also want to give input on user experience or design. This helps build a holistic team that is always involved and looking out for each other.

不管你是會計主管還是首席財務官，都不能將自己局限在單一職責內。例如，一個工程師不應只專注于計算機科學，還應該花心思對用戶體驗和設計給出建議。這樣做有助于建立一個全面投入、互幫互助的團隊。

Have a big goal from Day One

從一開始就有遠大目標

When I founded my company， I made it very clear from the beginning what our goals were and what we wanted to achieve. Having one big goal—for us it was to be a venture-backed company—made sure that we were aligned internally and helped us recruit people who shared a similar vision.

從創立公司之初，我就明確了我們的目標是什么，我們想要實現的是什么。我們的目標就是成為一家風險投資型公司，有這樣一個遠大目標確保了我們內部始終保持一致，并得以招徠志同道合的人才。

Transparency is key

公開透明很重要

Before we started our company， I was a senior accountant doing all the mundane tasks. While not my favorite role on my resume， it gave me great insight for when I transitioned into a leadership position because I had an understanding of what constitutes good company culture. Ive found that its important to strive for a culture of transparency—making what were doing clear and why were doing it even clearer helps employees understand the bigger mission.

創辦公司前，我曾是一個終日做著單調工作的高級會計師。盡管這并不是我理想的履歷，可它大大鍛煉了我的洞察力，因而當我成為一位領導者時，我清楚知道何為良好的企業文化。我發現，力求打造一種崇尚透明的企業文化至關重要——明確我們在做什么，更明確我們為什么這樣做，有助于員工理解企業的宏大使命。

In fact， according to BetterUp4， when employees perceive transparent communication at work， theyre more engaged and boast 12 times greater job satisfaction compared to employees who believe that their organization isnt transparent.

其實，據“越來越好”公司調查，認為工作中溝通方式透明的員工工作更積極，其工作滿意度是認為自己公司不透明的員工的12倍。

Give people a purpose

讓員工感到工作有意義

In addition to transparency， its also incredibly important to build a company where people feel a purpose in their work. When employees have a sense of place and know why theyre at this company， theyre more likely to be happy， well-balanced and productive.

除了透明度之外，在公司中讓員工感受到工作的意義也極為重要。若員工有歸屬感并知道自己為什么要在這家公司工作，就更有可能會感到幸福、情緒穩定并且工作富有成效。

Be competitive

保持好勝心

I always find myself most fired up5 when talking about the market and competition. We work in an inherently6 competitive capitalist society but thats whats fun about starting and growing a company.

我發現自己在談論市場和競爭時總是最有激情。資本主義社會本就競爭激烈，但在這樣的社會工作正是創辦和發展公司的樂趣所在。

Its critical that you are competitive as a team. A companys ability to win a deal is the full output of everyones work. If everyone collaborates， youll blow the competition away7. If you compete against each other， you wont have a seamless work environment and you can kiss those deals goodbye.

團隊有好勝心至關重要。公司能談成交易是所有員工努力的成果。如果團隊上下齊心協力，就能徹底擊敗競爭對手。但如果團隊內斗，就難有合作流暢的工作環境，也可以和那些交易揮手告別了。

Dont skimp8 on customer service

客戶服務做到位

Customer service is critical to a companys success. A recent report found that 89% of companies with “significantly above average” customer experiences perform better financially than their competitors.

客戶服務是公司取得成功的關鍵。最近有研究表明，89%客戶體驗“顯著高于平均水平”的公司在財務上的表現優于競爭對手。

However， primarily due to a tumultuous economy， were seeing many SaaS companies cut their customer success9 and service teams in favor of low-code and self-maintenance powered products. While this makes sense to a certain extent， eventually， products like this dont scale well.

然而，主要受到動蕩的經濟環境影響，我們看到許多“軟件即服務”公司為了發展低代碼和自維護產品，而弱化了客戶成功和客戶服務團隊。雖然從某種程度上說這種做法在情理之中，但最終這樣的產品適配性不會太好。

Customer service is integral to a successful and scalable10 company. Funding customer service heavily has allowed us to be incredibly hands-on11， which， in turn， promotes customer satisfaction and can bring about repeat buyers.

客戶服務是公司成功和規模擴張不可或缺的一部分。投入重金在客戶服務上使我們得以獲得第一手材料，這也反過來提升了客戶滿意度，并可獲得更多回頭客。

Marketing is an underrated tool

市場營銷的作用不容低估

Earlier in my career as a CEO， I did not see marketing as an integral aspect of a successful company， but its because I didnt understand its purpose.

在我初為CEO時，我并沒有將市場營銷視為一家成功企業的組成部分，但那是因為當初我并不理解它的意義。

However， as soon as we had our first marketer come on， everything improved. I didnt have to spend time doing something Im not good at. It helped us develop more accurate and powerful messaging while also ensuring it was delivered to the right people.

然而，當我們公司有了第一位市場營銷人員后，一切都得到了改善。我不必再花時間做我不擅長的事情。市場營銷使我們得以更準確、更有力地傳達信息，同時確保信息能夠傳達給對的人。

Tech can be your biggest supporter

科技提供最大的支持

Technology is an incredibly useful tool to support employees. It is an immediate remedy， able to support short-staffed teams， automate tedious tasks， reduce burnout and give employees back the time they need to focus on more critical and strategic tasks.

運用科技在給員工提供支持方面非常有用。它能立即提供解決辦法，能為人手不足的團隊提供支持，將單調乏味的任務自動化，減少職業倦怠，讓員工騰出時間來專注于更關鍵和更具戰略性的事務。

Building a startup is a journey unlike any other

創業是一場無與倫比的經歷

Creating a startup isnt for everyone. If you dont have total conviction in the problem youre looking to solve while understanding the impact solving those problems will have on the intended audience， you wont succeed. But if you do have that faith， youll learn more than you ever thought possible.

創業并非適合所有人。如果你沒有充分的把握去解決自己想要解決的問題，同時也不明白解決這些問題對目標受眾的影響，那么你將無法成功。但如果你信念堅定，你能學到的會大大超出你的預期。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）

1 the odds are stacked against 形勢對……不利。

2 fly off the handle大發雷霆。? 3 bring sth to the party/table為（討論、項目等）作出貢獻。

4美國一家提供職業發展輔導的初創公司。? 5 fire sb up使充滿激情。

6 inherently固有地，本質上地。? 7 blow sb/sth away（尤指在體育比賽中）徹底戰勝。? 8 skimp節約；吝嗇。? 9 customer success客戶成功，指確保客戶在使用產品或服務時達到預期結果的業務方法。? 10 scalable（商務或系統）可擴增的。? 11 hands-on親身實踐的。