Ten Things I’ve Learned After a Decade as a CEO十年创业的十条感悟

邱龙琰/译

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.

创业之路充满挑战，这不奇怪。创业不易——创业公司十之有九都会遭遇失败，即便成功了，也只有约1%的可能性成为独角兽企业。

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.

創业固然会遇到很多困难，但这也是回报丰厚的经历之一。过去十年让我深刻领悟到，创办公司并使之取得成功殊非易事。以下是我总结的十大经验。

Surround yourself with experts

多多依靠专家

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.

没有人是无所不能的，而且一个人包揽所有工作往往会导致失败。聘请了行业专家组建团队，你就具备了多种视角和丰富的知识，能更好地了解客户需求，从而最终创造出最优产品。

Find a good co-founder mix

寻求联合创始成员间的默契

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.

对于我这样一个个性较强的人而言，找到敢于相互质疑、不断突破且还能确保目标导向始终正确的联合创始人极其重要。我的联合创始人们与我会互相督促更高效地完成工作，同时确保不会有人情绪失控。

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.

每个人贡献的不同专业知识对于公司的创立至关重要，这让每个人都能专注于自己最精通之事，同时打造一个完整的企业。

Care about more than your role

不要局限于自己的职务

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.

不管你是会计主管还是首席财务官，都不能将自己局限在单一职责内。例如，一个工程师不应只专注于计算机科学，还应该花心思对用户体验和设计给出建议。这样做有助于建立一个全面投入、互帮互助的团队。

Have a big goal from Day One

从一开始就有远大目标

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.

从创立公司之初，我就明确了我们的目标是什么，我们想要实现的是什么。我们的目标就是成为一家风险投资型公司，有这样一个远大目标确保了我们内部始终保持一致，并得以招徕志同道合的人才。

Transparency is key

公开透明很重要

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.

创办公司前，我曾是一个终日做着单调工作的高级会计师。尽管这并不是我理想的履历，可它大大锻炼了我的洞察力，因而当我成为一位领导者时，我清楚知道何为良好的企业文化。我发现，力求打造一种崇尚透明的企业文化至关重要——明确我们在做什么，更明确我们为什么这样做，有助于员工理解企业的宏大使命。

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.

其实，据“越来越好”公司调查，认为工作中沟通方式透明的员工工作更积极，其工作满意度是认为自己公司不透明的员工的12倍。

Give people a purpose

让员工感到工作有意义

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，在公司中讓员工感受到工作的意义也极为重要。若员工有归属感并知道自己为什么要在这家公司工作，就更有可能会感到幸福、情绪稳定并且工作富有成效。

Be competitive

保持好胜心

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.

我发现自己在谈论市场和竞争时总是最有激情。资本主义社会本就竞争激烈，但在这样的社会工作正是创办和发展公司的乐趣所在。

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.

团队有好胜心至关重要。公司能谈成交易是所有员工努力的成果。如果团队上下齐心协力，就能彻底击败竞争对手。但如果团队内斗，就难有合作流畅的工作环境，也可以和那些交易挥手告别了。

Dont skimp8 on customer service

客户服务做到位

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.

客户服务是公司取得成功的关键。最近有研究表明，89%客户体验“显著高于平均水平”的公司在财务上的表现优于竞争对手。

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，主要受到动荡的经济环境影响，我们看到许多“软件即服务”公司为了发展低代码和自维护产品，而弱化了客户成功和客户服务团队。虽然从某种程度上说这种做法在情理之中，但最终这样的产品适配性不会太好。

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.

客户服务是公司成功和规模扩张不可或缺的一部分。投入重金在客户服务上使我们得以获得第一手材料，这也反过来提升了客户满意度，并可获得更多回头客。

Marketing is an underrated tool

市场营销的作用不容低估

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.

在我初为CEO时，我并没有将市场营销视为一家成功企业的组成部分，但那是因为当初我并不理解它的意义。

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，当我们公司有了第一位市场营销人员后，一切都得到了改善。我不必再花时间做我不擅长的事情。市场营销使我们得以更准确、更有力地传达信息，同时确保信息能够传达给对的人。

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.

運用科技在给员工提供支持方面非常有用。它能立即提供解决办法，能为人手不足的团队提供支持，将单调乏味的任务自动化，减少职业倦怠，让员工腾出时间来专注于更关键和更具战略性的事务。

Building a startup is a journey unlike any other

创业是一场无与伦比的经历

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.

创业并非适合所有人。如果你没有充分的把握去解决自己想要解决的问题，同时也不明白解决这些问题对目标受众的影响，那么你将无法成功。但如果你信念坚定，你能学到的会大大超出你的预期。

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1 the odds are stacked against 形势对……不利。

2 fly off the handle大发雷霆。  3 bring sth to the party/table为（讨论、项目等）作出贡献。

4美国一家提供职业发展辅导的初创公司。  5 fire sb up使充满激情。

6 inherently固有地，本质上地。  7 blow sb/sth away（尤指在体育比赛中）彻底战胜。  8 skimp节约；吝啬。  9 customer success客户成功，指确保客户在使用产品或服务时达到预期结果的业务方法。  10 scalable（商务或系统）可扩增的。  11 hands-on亲身实践的。