????史宗瑋可謂年輕有為。五歲時跟隨父母從香港移居美國。由于沒有接受雙語教育的渠道，她最初被安排在專門為語言障礙兒童開設的班級中，但她進步非常迅速，八年級時她的學術水平測試（SAT）得分高達1420分。27歲時，史宗瑋創辦了Hearsay Social。去年，她被《財富》雜志（Fortune）評為“最具影響力的女企業家”（Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs）之一，并于十月份完婚（丈夫是一位神經科專家）。為了參加《財富》最具影響力女性峰會，她推遲了蜜月旅行。就在上個月，史宗瑋接替Facebook首席運營官謝麗爾?桑德博格，加入星巴克公司（Starbucks）董事會。今天，作為Hearsay Social 首席執行官的史宗瑋正好30歲，而此時也正是她與我們分享經驗的最佳時刻：

????兩年前，我認識到社交媒體是一個全新的商業模式，其規模與十年前的英特網旗鼓相當，甚至更大，因此我創建了企業社交軟件公司Hearsay Social。借助Hearsay這個平臺，零售商、金融服務公司，以及在各地聘用大量員工的其他類型的公司都可以管理Facebook、商務社交網站LinkedIn、Twitter和Google+ 。我們從紅杉資本（Sequoia Capital）和恩頤投資（New Enterprise Associates）獲得了2,100萬美元的投資。目前，Hearsay有60多名員工，公司2010年投入運營，當年就實現了正向現金流。

????我們認為，公司的發展恰恰證明了社交企業的變革性力量。看看這組數據就知道了：一年前，Facebook、Twitter和LinkedIn的用戶數量分別是5億、1億和5,000萬，而當時還沒問世的Google+根本沒有用戶。而現在，Facebook用戶數量已經超過了10億，其他網站的用戶數量也增長了一倍多。

????但是，公司發展過程也印證了我這些年學到的東西。2007年，我開始涉足社交媒體領域。當時我為Facebook研發了第一款企業應用程序Faceforce。正是這一經歷讓我創作了《紐約時報》（New York Times）最暢銷書籍《Facebook時代》（The Facebook Era）。之前，我曾擔任過微軟（Microsoft）的工程師，后在谷歌（Google）負責產品策略，之后又在客戶關系管理軟件服務供應商Salesforce.com負責AppExchange。無論是Faceforce應用，還是《Facebook時代》一書，都預見了社交類企業的崛起，這幫我發現了市場的空白，并開始追求我真正的夢想：創立一家新公司。

????十年前，在斯坦福大學（Stanford）的計算機編程入門課上，我認識了現在的合作伙伴史蒂夫?加利蒂。后來，他辭去了微軟的安穩工作，和我共同創業。史蒂夫現任Hearsay Social首席技術官，而我擔任CEO。當時，我們是在我的公寓（位于舊金山俄羅斯山的一個社區）里創辦了這家公司。我們在公司的發展過程中總結了以下幾點重要經驗：

????1. 快速行動。技術領域日新月異，迅速驗證和更新創意非常關鍵。通常情況下，能獲得成功的往往是行動最迅速、頭腦最靈敏，同時善于學習的人，而不是第一個吃螃蟹的人。

????2. 保持專注。我們只和本地化品牌企業（corporate-to-local brands）合作——也就是在各地設有分公司或代表處的大公司。精確的定位使我們可以合理利用有限的創業資源，并指導我們從產品定位到銷售策略，以及人員招聘等每個決策。我認為這是我們最大的優勢之一。

????Clara Shih is an early achiever. At age five, she arrived in the U.S., from Hong Kong, with her parents. With no access to bilingual education, she was initially placed in special classes for kids with speech impediments and advanced so rapidly that she scored a 1420 on her SATs -- in eighth grade. She started her company, Hearsay Social, at age 27, made Fortune's list of Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs last year, and married her neurologist boyfriend in October (delaying her honeymoon to attend the Fortune MPW Summit.) Last month, Shih was tapped to replace Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on the Starbucks (SBUX) board. And today, she turns 30 years old. There is no better timing for the Hearsay Social CEO to share, well, lessons from her youth:

????I head an enterprise software company called Hearsay Social, which I founded two years ago after realizing that social media is a fundamentally new business paradigm -- as big as, or even bigger than, the Internet was a decade ago. Hearsay is a platform that helps companies -- retailers, financial services firms, and anyone else with a lot of employees in a lot of locations --manage Facebook, LinkedIn (LNKD), Twitter, and Google+ (GOOG). We've raised $21 million in venture capital from Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates. We employ more than 60 people, and we were cash-flow positive in 2010, our first year of operation.

????We think of our growth as a testament to the transformational power of social business. Consider this: A year ago, there were 500 million Facebook users, 100 million Twitter users, 50 million LinkedIn users, and 0 Google+ users (it did not yet exist). Today, there are over 1 billion people on Facebook, and the other networks too have more than doubled in size.

????But our growth also reflects what I've learned along the way. I began my social-media journey in 2007, when I developed the first business application on Facebook, called Faceforce. It was this experience -- after working as an engineer at Microsoft (MSFT), in product strategy at Google, and then as head of the AppExchange at Salesforce.com (CRM) -- that led me to write a New York Times bestseller, The Facebook Era. Both the app and the book, which forecasted the rise of social business, helped me identify gaps in the market and pursue my real dream: building a startup.

????Today, my business partner is Steve Garrity, whom I had met a decade ago in an introductory computer programming class at Stanford. He quit a safe job at Microsoft to join me in this venture. Steve is chief technology officer of Hearsay Social. I'm the CEO. Since we started the business in my apartment in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, here are a few key lessons we've picked up:

????1. Move fast. In the rapidly evolving technology arena, it's critical to test and iterate new ideas quickly. Often, it's the fastest and most agile learner rather than the best first attempt that wins.

????2. Focus. We work exclusively with corporate-to-local brands—major companies that have local branches or representatives. Our laser focus makes us prioritize our scarce startup resources and guides every decision we make, from what to build to how to sell to whom to employ. I believe this is one of our greatest strengths.