????互聯網公司上市時，公布“創始人公開信”已成為一種純粹象征性的慣例，類似于進軍股市的成人禮。2004年，谷歌（Google）上市時，拉里?佩奇和謝爾蓋?布林開創了這個先河。去年，團購網站Groupon啟動首次公開募股，安德魯?梅森又將其提升到了一個可笑的新高度。

????如今，馬克?扎克伯格也一試身手，發表了自己的“創始人公開信”，并在信中宣布了公司天真的初創理念。這類信件要么將自己的理念強加給準股東們，要么就是要變成公司的無價之寶，代代傳承。然而，市場有其自身的運行規律，因此經過緩慢痛苦的過程，這些信件傳達的理念最終都難逃慘遭扼殺的命運。

????上市公司的CEO偶爾會在IPO招股書中加入一封“致股東信”，但通常也只是涉及一些公關方面的內容，或者只是一封措辭友好的自薦信。其內容就像上市申請文件中充斥的那些圖片一樣，沒有任何實際意義。但創始人公開信卻截然不同。它是硅谷獨特的產物。正是硅谷讓創業者們成為身兼社會理想主義與冷血資本主義兩種理念的混血兒。

????谷歌的IPO招股書以一封信作為開頭，這封備受指責的信件開宗明義，大膽地宣稱：“谷歌不是一家傳統公司，將來也不想成為一家傳統的公司。”接著，它又說：“我們將為了長期的目標不斷完善自我，而不僅僅是為了獲得每個月的穩定收入。我們將為經過精心挑選的高風險、高收益項目提供支持。”

????但隨著機構投資者在谷歌所占股份增加，同時大量員工相繼成為公司股東，作為一家上市公司，谷歌不得不面對現實。盡管谷歌一開始極力回避圈錢游戲，但如今的谷歌儼然已經成了一把賺錢的好手。到了去年夏天，拉里?佩奇在重新獲得任命、成為CEO后召開的首次投資者盈利電話會議上，他目空一切的言辭已經有所收斂。佩奇對分析師和投資者們稱：“雖然在個別時候，我們會有一些小型項目存在風險，但我們將始終作為投資者的管家，替他們精心管理資金。我們不會拿全部身家去冒險。”

????去年六月份，Groupon申請上市時，梅森在招股說明書中也放進了一封“創始人公開信”。像谷歌一樣，信中對于季度盈利等投資者普遍關注的問題同樣不屑一顧，只不過，梅森的措辭更加不靠譜。梅森說：“我們特立獨行，而且樂在其中。”之后，他便開始喋喋不休地講述“火舞”課程，大談避免枯燥乏味的重要性。

????此外，梅森還警告潛在投資者們，Groupon“將注重長期增長，而不會太過于關注短期結果”，而且公司將根據“我們直覺的偉大因素”來制定決策。之后，他在CEO致股東的一封信中，又說出了下面這樣極端不合時宜的話：“我們只關心客戶和商戶。”目前，Groupon的股價比20美元的發行價上漲了15%。下周，公司將提交上市之后的首份收益報告。如果這份收益報告、或者以后的報告無法令投資者們滿意，投資者必然會向Groupon施壓，迫使公司將股東加入到公司最關注對象的名單中。

????Facebook上周三提交的IPO招股說明書中，扎克伯格也附上了“創始人公開封信”，不過與Groupon或谷歌強硬的措辭相比，扎克伯格更加溫和。其中最強硬的措辭是：“我們始終以我們的社會使命作為主要關注點。”可問題在于，他對公司社會使命的描述，聽起來道貌岸然，實際上完全不是那么回事。

????For Internet companies going public, the founder's letter is becoming a ritual with a purely symbolic value, a rite of passage into the adulthood of public markets. Larry Page and Sergey Brin started it when Google (GOOG) went public in 2004. Andrew Mason raised it to absurd new heights when Groupon (GRPN) launched its IPO last year.

????Now Mark Zuckerberg's has tried his hand at the founder's letter, the na?ve declaration of the company's startup ideals. Whether thrust defiantly into the faces of would-be shareholders or proffered delicately as a corporate heirloom of inestimable value, such epistles are doomed to enter into a slow, painful strangulation as market forces have their way.

????CEOs of companies going public will occasionally include a letter to shareholders in IPO prospectuses, but it's usually no more than a bit of PR, a friendly cover letter as meaningless as the stock photos that sometimes clutter the filings. But the founder's letter is different. It is a unique product of Silicon Valley, where startups grow up as hybrids of social idealism and cold-blooded capitalism.

????Google's IPO prospectus began with an infamous letter that boldly declared: "Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one" before asserting, "We will optimize for the long term rather than trying to produce smooth earnings for each quarter. We will support selected high-risk, high-reward projects."

????But as institutional investors came to own a larger piece of Google, and as many of the company's employees became its shareholders, the realities of being a publicly traded company began to sink in. Google became quite adept at the earnings game it first shunned. By last summer, in Larry Page's first earnings call with investors since being reappointed as CEO, his defiant rhetoric had been toned down. "We may have a few small speculative projects happening at any given time but we're very careful stewards of shareholder money," page told analysts and investors on the call. "We're not betting the farm on this stuff."

????When Groupon filed to go public last June, Mason included in the prospectus a founder's letter that, like Google's, shrugged off standard investor concerns like quarterly earnings -- only Mason employed a flakier rhetoric. "We are unusual and we like it that way," Mason said, before rattling on about fire-dancing classes and the importance of not being boring.

????Mason also warned would-be investors that Groupon would "invest in long-term growth... regardless of certain short-term consequences" and make decisions based on "what we feel in our gut to be great." Then, in what must be one of the most irreverent lines in a CEO letter to shareholders, "Our customers and merchants are all we care about." Groupon, trading 15% above its $20 offering price, will deliver its first earnings report as a public company next week. Any disappointment in that or future earnings reports could result in investor pressure that adds a third group to the list of things Groupon cares about -- shareholders.

????In the IPO prospectus Facebook filed Wednesday, Zuckerberg wrote a founder's letter that is more conciliatory than defiant in tone than Groupon or Google's letters. The harshest phrase he used was "we've always cared primarily about our social mission." But the problem is, when he describes that social mission, he ends up sounding pious and, well, plain wrong.