????“無人區(qū)”往往指的是戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上敵我壕溝之間的區(qū)域。我發(fā)現(xiàn)，越來越多的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)陷入了種子期融資和真正的A輪風(fēng)投融資之間的“無人區(qū)”。

????出現(xiàn)這種情況的原因很多，其中包括種子期融資不足或產(chǎn)品未能面世。一旦遭遇這種困境，企業(yè)家該何去何從？

????很多企業(yè)家會(huì)展開新一輪的種子期融資或利用先一輪的種子期融資進(jìn)行投資追加。盡管這些都是不錯(cuò)的辦法，但真正奏效的卻屈指可數(shù)。因?yàn)榻o予初創(chuàng)企業(yè)種子基金的投資者當(dāng)中，大部分只有在回收投資后方能提供更多的種子資金。除此之外，天使投資人更傾向于投資新項(xiàng)目或首輪種子期融資項(xiàng)目，然后才會(huì)向舊項(xiàng)目或在第一輪種子期融資期間成為“爛尾樓工程”的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)追加投資。

????為了確保不會(huì)避免陷入“無人區(qū)”，明智的企業(yè)家往往會(huì)做兩件事。第一，在種子期融資期間，他們不會(huì)追求龐大的明星投資機(jī)構(gòu)陣容，而是力求找到少數(shù)幾家有足夠?qū)嵙Φ臋C(jī)構(gòu)種子基金來提供超過3/4的融資總額，這樣這些機(jī)構(gòu)投資者在初創(chuàng)企業(yè)將擁有更多的所有權(quán)，對(duì)于企業(yè)的未來也更加關(guān)心。第二，明智的企業(yè)家會(huì)仔細(xì)權(quán)衡拿到第一輪A輪融資所需完成的業(yè)績(jī)，然后再以此倒推達(dá)到該目標(biāo)所需的資金額度。盡管不一定絕對(duì)準(zhǔn)確，但這卻是企業(yè)家應(yīng)有的意識(shí)，因?yàn)闆]有公司愿意拿到了種子期融資之后就加入徘徊在“無人區(qū)”的企業(yè)大軍。

????本文作者愛德華?斯姆是BOLDstart風(fēng)投公司的創(chuàng)始人以及Dawntreader風(fēng)投公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人。

????"No Man's Land" is traditionally known as the area between two trenches on a battlefield. Increasingly I am seeing many seed-funded startups get caught in "No Man's Land" between the seed round and a true Series A round led by a venture capitalist.

????This can happen for many reasons, including not raising enough capital in the seed round to begin with or not getting your product out the door. So what does an entrepreneur do when caught in this predicament?

????Many try to do an additional seed round or add-on to the prior round. While not a bad idea, this is rarely successful because many seed-funded startups have way too many investors who are more apt to write off the investment then to bridge more seed money. Moreover, many angel investors would rather invest in that shiny new car or first seed round then add more capital to a used car or startup that did not "get there" on its first seed financing.

????Smarter entrepreneurs are increasingly doing two things to make sure they don't caught in "No Man's Land." First, rather than getting 20 great names as seed investors, they are making sure to get at least 3/4 or more of the round invested by a couple institutional seed folks that may have deeper pockets and more ownership in the startup to really care about what happens in the future. Second, the smarter entrepreneurs are really thinking carefully about what milestones need to be hit to raise that first Series A round and work backwards to determine how much financing they need to get there. While not an exact science, it is imperative to think like this as you don't want to be one of the many seed-funded companies that will linger in "No Man's Land."

????Ed Sim is founder of BOLDstart Ventures and co-founder of Dawntreader Ventures.