千萬別和朋友一起創(chuàng)業(yè)

　　When I was searching for a co-founder to help me run Okta, I came up with three rules: (1) don’t go into business with a close friend (2) don’t settle for a stranger and (3) choose someone you don’t mind spending as much time as you do with your wife (sorry, Roxanne). These three guidelines eventually led me to my co-founder and Okta COO, Frederic Kerrest. Frederic and I had both worked at Salesforce.com for years, but not together — I was the head of engineering and he worked in various roles across the sales and business development groups. We had a similar list of references and, after insisting we go out to dinner, my wife approved. The rest is history, more or less.

　　當(dāng)我準(zhǔn)備尋找一名聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人幫我經(jīng)營Okta時(shí)，我確定了三條原則：(1) 不要與好朋友一起做生意;(2) 不找陌生人;(3)不介意與合伙人在一起的時(shí)間，和陪妻子的時(shí)間一樣多。這三條原則最終幫助我找到了聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人、Okta首席運(yùn)營官弗雷德里克克里斯特。我和弗雷德里克都在Salesforce.com工作過許多年，但我們不屬于一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)，我是工程部的負(fù)責(zé)人，他在銷售和業(yè)務(wù)開發(fā)部門擔(dān)任過多個(gè)職務(wù)。我們擁有一個(gè)類似的推薦人名單，在我的堅(jiān)持下，我妻子終于同意一起外出吃晚飯。最終，我們一同發(fā)展。

　　從我的職業(yè)發(fā)展和創(chuàng)業(yè)經(jīng)歷來看，我認(rèn)為選擇合伙人需要考慮以下三點(diǎn)：

　　Don’t put your friendship to the test

　　別讓朋友之誼陷入困局

　　Running a company with a friend is a surefire way to end a friendship. When I first had the idea for Okta, I briefly considered bringing on one of my close friends from Salesforce.com, but I knew that when we ran into issues — if we couldn’t raise funding, if we disagreed on how to build the product, or most importantly, if we foresaw different futures for the company — the pressure would be too much for us to withstand. On the other hand, if things went well, our friendship would evolve into an entirely professional relationship.

　　與朋友一起經(jīng)營一家公司，是最有可能結(jié)束一段友誼的方式之一。最初創(chuàng)業(yè)的時(shí)候，我曾考慮過邀請Salesforce.com的一位好朋友一起創(chuàng)業(yè)，但我知道當(dāng)我們遇到問題的時(shí)候，比如，如果我們無法獲得資金，或者在產(chǎn)品設(shè)計(jì)上產(chǎn)生分歧，最重要的是，如果我們對公司未來的構(gòu)想產(chǎn)生分歧，這種壓力將是我們難以承受的。而另一方面，如果公司發(fā)展順利，我們的友誼也會(huì)變成純粹的職業(yè)關(guān)系。

　　Frederic and I started as business partners, and because of that we’re able to approach issues and important decisions with fewer emotions. For example, when we raised our first round of funding, we had to pick between two attractive offers — looking back, it was one of those “every decision is a good decision” situation, but realistically, we knew it would have a huge impact on the future of the company and we could feel the pressure. Instead of feeding off each other’s emotions, we looked at the offers rationally and based our decision on hours of thoughtful deliberations. That dynamic wouldn’t be the same among good friends.

　　我和弗雷德里克最初便是商業(yè)合伙人的身份，正因?yàn)檫@一點(diǎn)，我們在處理問題和做出重要決策的時(shí)候，不會(huì)摻雜太多的感情因素。例如，在進(jìn)行首輪融資時(shí)，我們接到了兩個(gè)有吸引力的要約，我們只能二選一�，F(xiàn)在回想起來，當(dāng)時(shí)的情況是“任何一個(gè)決定都是好的決定”，但我們知道，這個(gè)決定其實(shí)將給公司的未來帶來巨大影響，我們能夠感受到壓力。我們并沒有照顧彼此的情緒，而是理性地思考這兩個(gè)方案，并經(jīng)過數(shù)小時(shí)的慎重討論做出了決定。但是，如果是兩位好朋友，那很難做到這一點(diǎn)。

　　Foster your relationship

　　與合伙人培養(yǎng)關(guān)系

　　Nowadays, Frederic and I spend a significant amount of time together and we put a lot of work into maintaining our relationship – almost like a married couple. We have a Monday routine where we meet up for breakfast and discuss what we did with our families that weekend before transitioning into priorities for the days ahead. Outside of breakfast, we’re in almost constant communication. Because of that, I’ve actually learned a lot from Frederic about communicating. More communication is always, better, and understanding the intentions of the person on the other side is half the battle.

　　如今，弗雷德里克需要和我相處大量時(shí)間，因此我們在維護(hù)相互關(guān)系方面做了許多工作——就像是一對夫婦一樣。在每周一的例會(huì)上，我們會(huì)一起吃早餐，先分享周末與家人一起做了什么，然后才開始討論接下來幾天的重要任務(wù)。除了早餐時(shí)間，我們的溝通也幾乎從未間斷。因此，實(shí)際上我從弗雷德里克身上學(xué)到了許多溝通技巧。溝通自然是越多越好，而了解對方的意圖則是成功的另一個(gè)重要因素。

　　I tell aspiring founders to look for someone you respect and want to learn from; someone you’ll be comfortable talking to about difficult decisions and frustrating finances; someone you’ll want to invite to family barbeques, but also understand when they can’t make it. Your business partner be a huge part of your life and although it’s crucial you don’t start as friends, you should embrace the companionship that naturally should come with founding a company together.

　　我建議有抱負(fù)的創(chuàng)業(yè)者們，你要找的合伙人應(yīng)該是你尊重的人，是你愿意向他學(xué)習(xí)的人;與他一起談?wù)摾щy的決定和令人沮喪的財(cái)務(wù)狀況時(shí)，你會(huì)感覺舒服;你會(huì)愿意邀請他到家里一起燒烤，并且如果他們來不了，你也能理解對方的難處。你的合伙人是你生活中重要的一部分，雖然不能選擇朋友做合伙人，但你應(yīng)該接受你們在共同創(chuàng)建一家公司的過程中，自然而然產(chǎn)生的深厚友誼。

　　Make sure you complement each other

　　確保你與合伙人彼此互補(bǔ)

　　The most successful business partners come to the table with varying yet complementary talents, perspectives and experiences. Frederic and I have plenty in common. We share a Salesforce.com-heavy network, engineering degrees, experience as competitive athletes and supportive spouses, and we’re both keenly focused on satisfying our customers.

　　最成功的合伙人能夠帶來與你不同，但可以相互補(bǔ)充的才能、視角和經(jīng)驗(yàn)。弗雷德里克與我有許多相似之處。我們的人脈網(wǎng)絡(luò)都是以Salesforce.com為主、都有工程類學(xué)位、都曾是競技體育運(yùn)動(dòng)員、都有默默支持我們的愛人、都專注于滿足我們的客戶。

　　Our areas of expertise — his in sales, operations and marketing and mine in product — cover different grounds, and our personalities are mismatched in a necessary way. Frederic’s extroverted and optimistic, whereas I’m naturally more introverted and stoic. Back when we were first fundraising (before we had those two attractive offers), I woke up everyday worried we would never be able to raise money and it was Frederic who always got me to calm down and keep moving forward; we balance each other out.

　　但我們的專業(yè)領(lǐng)域卻各有不同——他擅長銷售、運(yùn)營和營銷，而我則擅長產(chǎn)品，而且我們的性格也不相配，并且這種錯(cuò)配是必要的。弗雷德里克外向樂觀，而我卻是天生偏內(nèi)向和堅(jiān)忍的性格。早在第一次融資時(shí)，也就是收到兩份有吸引力的要約之前，我每天早上醒來都會(huì)擔(dān)心，公司能否募集到足夠的資金，而弗雷德里克卻總是讓我冷靜，繼續(xù)努力。我們總能相互達(dá)到平衡。

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