????初創(chuàng)公司因那些慷慨得不可思議的福利而出名，從針灸到私人廚師，從搖滾音樂(lè)廳到健身球辦公椅，應(yīng)有盡有，甚至還有幫你在家里等待有線電視安裝工的私人助理。曾有一度，紐約電子商務(wù)初創(chuàng)公司Fab.com每周都有抽獎(jiǎng)活動(dòng)，給員工發(fā)放500美元現(xiàn)金。位于加利福尼亞州雷德伍德城的軟件初創(chuàng)公司Evernote會(huì)給假期被工作占用的員工1,000美元的補(bǔ)償。

????這些做法都是為了招聘并留住人才。初創(chuàng)公司清楚，他們要與大型的上市科技公司爭(zhēng)奪人才，而后者甚至可以提供更優(yōu)厚的福利，比如可流通的股票期權(quán)。最近，蘋果（Apple）和Facebook宣布，他們將為女員工支付冷凍卵子的費(fèi)用。

????但與此同時(shí)，初創(chuàng)公司自身也是福利政策的受益者，服務(wù)供應(yīng)商、大型科技公司、甚至其他初創(chuàng)公司以折扣價(jià)的方式提供了這些福利。位于馬塞諸塞州坎布里奇的營(yíng)銷軟件公司HubSpot，就對(duì)運(yùn)營(yíng)資本和收入低于100萬(wàn)美元的早期初創(chuàng)公司提供一年的優(yōu)惠，使它們能以一折的價(jià)格使用HubSpot非常昂貴的軟件。參與創(chuàng)業(yè)加速器500 Startups訓(xùn)練的公司則能享受250種優(yōu)惠，包括免費(fèi)使用群發(fā)電子郵件服務(wù)SendGrid一年，獲得信用管理公司鄧白氏（Dun and Bradstreet）的免費(fèi)商業(yè)信用報(bào)告咨詢，以及價(jià)格更便宜的辦公室零食。

????與一般公司不同，初創(chuàng)公司發(fā)展速度極快。一個(gè)不需要在服務(wù)上花錢的微型公司，可以迅速成長(zhǎng)為一個(gè)擁有許多現(xiàn)金的大型公司。（比如，有報(bào)道稱，成立3年后，Uber就通過(guò)其打車服務(wù)獲得了10億美元的收入。）

????除了抓住這些增長(zhǎng)很快的客戶之外，服務(wù)供應(yīng)商還相信，如果這些初創(chuàng)公司使用他們的服務(wù)，影響會(huì)漸漸滲透到更大的公司。招聘服務(wù)平臺(tái)HireArt的共同創(chuàng)始人艾莉?沙里夫表示：“這就像是在說(shuō)‘我們是一家為初創(chuàng)公司服務(wù)的企業(yè)’。這些初創(chuàng)公司聲譽(yù)良好，它們?cè)谟玫姆?wù)總是很棒的。”

????HireArt本身也是一家初創(chuàng)公司，享受了很多福利，包括亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)（Amazon Web Services）的云托管信用額度，Heroku給予的5萬(wàn)美元免費(fèi)云服務(wù)時(shí)間，以及法律公司W(wǎng)ilmer Hale提供的大幅折扣，這些優(yōu)惠都持續(xù)到公司完成首輪融資為止。

????如今，HireArt也為初創(chuàng)公司提供福利。該公司的招聘平臺(tái)每個(gè)月要對(duì)每個(gè)職位收費(fèi)995美元以上，對(duì)還處于萌芽階段的初創(chuàng)公司而言，這筆費(fèi)用過(guò)于昂貴。艾莉表示：“大多數(shù)只有5個(gè)人的初創(chuàng)公司都是自己去招聘，比如在AngelList社區(qū)和廣告網(wǎng)站CraigsList上發(fā)布信息。”但在HireArt，有許多求職者都希望就職于早期初創(chuàng)公司，所以艾莉決定對(duì)資金不足200萬(wàn)美元、由創(chuàng)業(yè)加速器培養(yǎng)的新公司提供免費(fèi)服務(wù)。（創(chuàng)業(yè)加速器在此可以作為一種審查機(jī)構(gòu)。）

????一家由風(fēng)投支持的初創(chuàng)公司為另一家由風(fēng)投支持的初創(chuàng)公司提供服務(wù)，是一個(gè)非常有趣的現(xiàn)象，但這是讓初創(chuàng)公司的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)起來(lái)的要素之一。沙里夫表示，如果不是由風(fēng)投基金給HireArt提供了240萬(wàn)美元的資助，公司也無(wú)法承擔(dān)預(yù)支的營(yíng)銷費(fèi)用。

????她表示：“這就像是風(fēng)投公司的一大筆錢從一家公司挪到了另一家公司?！弊?012年成立以來(lái)，HireArt已經(jīng)積累了大約500名客戶，大部分都是由風(fēng)投支持的。其中15%左右的公司擁有100至200名員工。幸運(yùn)的話（也許還有招聘費(fèi)），其中一部分客戶將會(huì)變成擁有500至1000名員工的公司，一些萌芽階段的客戶也會(huì)成長(zhǎng)為有風(fēng)投支持的大型付費(fèi)客戶。如果情況并非如此呢？那整個(gè)初創(chuàng)公司的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)可能就會(huì)有麻煩了。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

????Startups are known for their lavish and often ridiculous perks, from acupuncture to personal chefs, “rock rooms” to ball pits, even assistants who wait for the cable guy on your behalf. At one point, the New York e-commerce startup Fab.com held weekly raffles to give employees $500 in cash. Evernote, the productivity software startup in Redwood City, Calif., pays employees $1,000 just to use their allotted vacation days.

????It’s all in the name of employee recruitment—and, once they’re hired, employee retention. Startups know that they compete for talent with the big, public technology companies that can offer even sweeter benefits packages, including liquid stock options. This week, Apple AAPL 1.46% and Facebook FB 4.57% announced that they would pay for female employees to freeze their eggs.

????But startup companies are also the beneficiaries of perks, often in the form of discounts from service providers, larger technology companies—even other startups. HubSpot, a marketing software company in Cambridge, Mass., offers 90% off its very expensive software for one year to early-stage startups with less than $1 million in funding and revenue. Participants in the 500 Startups accelerator have access to 250 different perks, including a year of free email distribution from SendGrid, a free business credit report consultation from Dun and Bradstreet, and cheaper snacks for the office.

????Unlike regular businesses, startups are geared for hyper-growth. A tiny client without money to spend on services can quickly turn into a massive one that is flush with cash. (Consider Uber, which reportedly brought in $1 billion in car service bookings after just three years in business.)

????Beyond snagging high-growth clients, the service providers are betting that if startups use their services, they will trickle up to larger companies. “It’s about being able to say, ‘We’re a company that serves startups,’” says Elli Sharef, co-founder of HireArt, a recruiting services platform. “They have cachet, as in, whatever the newest startups are using, it must be good.”

????HireArt, itself a startup, has benefitted from many perks, including credits for cloud hosting from Amazon Web Services, $50,000 of free cloud services time through Heroku, and a steep discount from the law firm Wilmer Hale, effective until the company raises a Series A round of funding.

????Now, HireArt is offering its own perks to startups. The company’s recruitment platform costs $995 per month per position or more, which is too pricey for a seed-stage startup. “Most five-person startups are scrambling to recruit with D.I.Y. solutions like posting on AngelList and CraigsList,” she says. But many of HireArt’s job candidates want to work at early stage startups, so Sharef decided to offer free services to startups with less than $2 million in funding that have graduated from a startup accelerator. (The accelerators serve as a vetting mechanism.)

????It’s amusing to see one venture-backed startup giving its services away to other venture-backed startups, but that’s part of what makes a startup ecosystem tick. Sharef notes HireArt couldn’t afford such an up-front marketing expense if it weren’t backed by $2.4 million in venture funding.

????“It’s like this big pile of VC money moves from one company to another,” she says. Since launching in 2012, HireArt has accumulated about 500 clients, most of which are venture-funded. Around 15% have 100 to 200 employees. With any luck (and maybe recruitment fees), some of those clients will turn into 500- to 1,000-person companies and some of its new seed-stage clients will turn into large, venture-backed, paying clients. And if not? Then the whole startup ecosystem might find itself in trouble.