有一天，我的朋友跟我講了他與圖片應用Snapchat的最早的一位投資人之間的對話。我的朋友問那個投資人，他為什么要投資Snapchat，那名投資人的回答引起了我的興趣：

“伊萬非常堅持地認為，Snapchat之所以特殊，就是因為這個應用一打開就會自動顯示攝像頭界面。我不明白這一點為什么重要，所以我提出了質疑，而伊萬則用看傻瓜一樣的眼神看著我。

不不不，它必須得馬上就能打開才行。你必須一點開Instagram就能直接使用相機。要不然就太愚蠢了，得點擊很多次。”

我并不認為多點幾次是多么大不了的事，但令我感到驚訝的是，一個只有22歲的年輕人，對于這樣小的細節也如此固執，于是我認定他一定可以成功。所以我就給他簽了一張支票。”

很多時候，我們經常忘記了這樣一個事實：許多后來被人們稱為“偉大”的公司，起初都是由一兩個人在車庫里折騰起來的。他們當時所做的事，在很多人看來都很瘋狂、愚蠢、甚至不切實際。然而一家偉大的公司之所以能成其偉大，就是因為起初至少有一個人相信了它的潛力，愿意給它一次機會。

不管這個人是它的第一個顧客、第一名員工還是第一名投資人，總之，有人給了他們一次機會。

正是受這次對話的啟發，我決定調查一下，看看一些知名的投資者究竟是基于什么原因，投資了那幾家我比較喜歡的公司。

1、彼得?倪，光速創投（Lightspeed Ventures）合伙人

曾為Nest公司的CEO托尼?法德勒投資（該公司于2015年以32億美元的高價售出）

“他們就算是去開快餐車，我們也會投資的。”在回顧他向托尼?法德勒的投資時，彼得?倪曾這樣寫道。他與法德勒是1991年在一家名叫General Magic的初創公司實習時認識的。他說，法德勒從一開始就是一名“鶴立雞群”的員工。他行動迅速，一絲不茍，而且“永遠滔滔不絕地談論著公司的發展方向和戰略。”這也給彼得?倪留下了難以磨滅的印象。

多年以后，托尼找到他來拉投資。彼得?倪說：“當時我們絲毫沒有猶豫。我深信托尼和他的合伙人馬特一定會做出一番大事業。如果他們是要這筆錢開快餐車，那也無疑將是一臺改變游戲規則的快餐車！”

2、黃易山，Reddit前任CEO

曾向Balanced公司的CEO馬丁?塔米茲投資。Balanced是一家主營支付業務的公司，曾獲355萬美元融資。

這家名叫Balanced的初創公司的支付業務由于始終不溫不火，便于2015年7月關停了業務，將用戶轉給了另一家支付業務公司Stripe，然后閉門苦思下一步該怎么辦。

然而在此之前的幾年里，Balanced卻曾獲得過數百萬美元的融資。他們又是如何說服投資人的？

黃易山在問答網站Quora上解釋了他當初為什么決定向馬丁?塔米茲投資。

“馬丁并不是一般人，他足智多謀，百折不撓。在創業界浸淫一段時間后，你就會發現，那些堅持做事、能做成事的人與普通人真的是有區別的。馬丁有著極強的職業道德，而且他總是從各個角度努力解決，這都給我們留下了深刻印象。這些東西聽起來似乎是理所當然的，但實際上并非人人都具有這些特質。”

“因此，這些特質也是初創公司能夠成功的一個先決條件。初創公司的創始人必須要能夠表現出這種品質，因為它會‘傳染’給團隊的其他人。如果你沒有繼續努力、繼續嘗試的欲望，不去固執地全力向前推進，你就無法達到任何成就。”

黃易山的最后一個理由是：“他的產品相當不錯，也是當時該領域里唯一的一個此類產品。”值得注意的是，他首先看中的是創始人的韌性和職業道德，其次才是實際的產品。

3、史蒂夫?凱斯，美國在線（AOL）聯合創始人、前任CEO

曾向LivingSocial投資（該公司獲得了9.3473億美元融資）

史蒂夫?凱斯之所以會向LivingSocial融資，是因為他與這家公司的四名創始人都有交情，他們四人以前都曾在他手下工作過。凱斯回憶道，他們四個都是“優秀的人才”。因此他們決定創立一家做Facebook應用的公司時，他很干脆地為他們提供了一筆投資。史蒂夫發現，這家公司聚攏用戶的速度極快，在很短的時間內就吸引了8000萬名用戶。同時他也發現，他們正在想方設法利用這一龐大的用戶群生錢。

當這支團隊拿著商業計劃書又找到史蒂夫時，他表示：“很顯然他們已經找到了竅門了，現在是猛踩油門、加大投資的時候了。”

4、杰森?卡拉坎尼斯

曾向Thumbtack和Uber投資（這兩家公司目前的市值已分別達到13億美元和680億美元）。

“我曾經向Thumbtack和Uber投過資。當特拉維斯和馬可拿著他們的計劃書找到我時，我甚至沒有費心思想過‘打車軟件’和‘更好的免費分類廣告網站’這兩個點子是否能成功，因為我知道，這兩個人一定能成功。光憑這些信息，就已經足以賭一把了。

這也就是所謂的‘杰森天使投資法則’，即：

你并不需要知道一個點子是否能夠成功——只知道這個人能不能成功就夠了。

五年后的今天，我依然在尋找著這樣的信號，也就是看一個人是不是天生的成功者——哪怕他現在暫時處于失敗中。我最喜歡的兩個創業者都有過創業失敗的經歷，但我總是迫不及待地想看看他們下一步將做些什么。因為我知道，他們是注定能夠成功的人，注定能夠做出不平凡的業績，所以最終他們肯定會成功的……就像伊隆?馬斯克也是第三次創業才成就了SpaceX，第四次創業才成就了今天的特斯拉。在Uber之前，特拉維斯也先后創辦過另兩家公司——Scour和Red Swoosh。但正是他第三次的創業，才有了如今Uber的大紅大紫。

優秀的創業者總會千方百計、排除萬難地去爭取勝利，因此，作為天使投資人，你并不需要過于擔心電動汽車能不能火、打車軟件能不能紅、Medium.com究竟是一個平臺還是一個出版物（目前已經成了一個熱門話題）之類的問題。你只需要考慮你打算投資的這個人是不是一個能夠成功的人。”

5、喬恩?米德維，眾籌平臺Our Crowd的CEO、風投資本家

曾向ReWalk公司投資，該公司是一個旨在為癱瘓人群提供幫助的機器人公司（2017年的營收入預計將達2100萬美元）

“我們是與日本的安川公司一起投資的，安川公司跟著我們投資了1000萬美元。我們之所以會投資那家公司，是因為它的創始人非常有激情，而且有過創辦一家成功企業的經歷。同時他也非常了解他打算解決的問題，并且提出了一個很好的解決方案。

這家公司面對的是一個巨大的且日益增長的市場。簡單來說，他們的創業理念主要基于這樣一個事實——目前為癱瘓人群提供的輪椅仍與100年前沒什么實質變化。”

6、杰瑞?紐曼，Neu Venture Capital公司風險資本家

曾向移動分析服務公司Flurry投資700萬美元（該公司2014年以2.4億美元的價格出售給了雅虎）

紐曼對投資博客Full Ratchet表示：“我是Flurry前身那家公司的第一批投資人之一。我認識這家公司的創始人，我之前曾經與他共事過，所以和他特別熟。他打算把分析工具構建到第一代的iPhone應用里。于是iPhone的STK應用發布那天，他給我打了個電話說：‘我已經把這個分析解決方案構建出來了’。我說：‘很好，你應該構建那個東西’。他說：‘不是應該，我已經構建出來了。’我說：‘那不可能，他們剛把STK應用發布出來。’他說：‘我們這個是內測版本，但總之我已經弄出來了。’”

“我認為從這兩件事上就很能看出這位創始人的特質。另外我還認識他們的技術員。他們兩人一起創辦了這家公司，我對他們二人都很了解。我知道他們是一個很好的團隊，因為他們過去也在一起共事過。我覺得他們可以利用這種新技術第一個殺入市場，而這個市場本身也將成為一個相當龐大的市場——也就是iPhone應用市場。”

7、埃里克?加瑟，科技海岸天使（Tech Coast Angels，一個擁有300多個會員的天使投資組織）圣迭哥分會理事會成員兼高科技篩選副總裁

曾投資Portfolium公司（該公司獲得了90萬美元融資）。

加瑟對投資博客Full Rachet表示：“我認為，Portfolium是真正能夠解決實際問題的優秀公司之一。我剛認識他們的CEO時，他還非常年輕。而且在他身上還發生過一個令人難以置信的故事。有一位天使投資人曾給過他一筆資金，對他說：‘聽著，我相信你正在做的東西。我這就給你開張支票，你走吧！’然后他就給他開了一張支票。他拿著這筆錢去創辦了一個平臺，你可以把它想象成一個大學生版的LinkedIn。我知道這種網站至少已經有上百人做過了，但這家伙卻有著很獨特的想法。他想解決的，是他自己在大學畢業找工作時也曾遇到過的一個非常艱難的問題。不過他意識到，這個項目要想創業成功，他就必須先回到學校學習一下編程，才能構建好這個項目。因為他拿到的那筆種子資金很有限，他沒法雇人去寫代碼。他沒有去偷、去借，也沒有去求人或者請朋友幫忙什么的，而是回到學校，自己花時間學習寫代碼，最后終于形成了一款MVP級別的產品。然后他就到了科技海岸天使來拉投資。

他來了之后，對我們說：‘瞧，我已經有了全美雇傭大學生最多的雇主之一。而且我和圣迭哥、加州等地的學校系統都有很好的關系。我們真心覺得在這方面大有可為。’從這些事情上，我看到了他在構建什么、他在做什么，投資對我來說也就成了一個自然而然的選擇。他給人的感覺就是在解決一個需要被解決的問題，他的解決方案也相當聰明。而且他也考慮了收益的問題，但卻并沒有讓收益問題左右他的決策。左右他的決策的仍然是用戶。

這一點對我很重要。因為一般來說，創業者們一旦見了現金，他們的重心就會被現金吸引了去，從而放松了對用戶的關注，特別是在這種早期階段。所以在盡職調查會議開完后，他當時正要去找當地的另一家企業孵化器，我拉住了他，并且把顧問拉到旁邊說：‘你需要多少錢才能挺過接下來的三個月？這樣我們就可以通過盡職調查，搞定這筆合作。你需要多少錢才能撐下來？’可以說我甚至愿意當場寫張支票給他，原因僅僅是由于其他某個人也相信他——你可能會說我瘋了。但如果有人愿意直接為他開張支票，然后說：‘快走吧，把它做出來。’這必然是有原因的。另一個因素則是他非常注重用戶，不想為了追逐現金而改動自己的業務模式。所以我對他的業務模式也有信心。”

總結

每名投資人都希望在創業者身上看到不同的東西，但是激情、理解和智慧卻是決定你能否拿到那些支票的關鍵。所以創業者一定要做好市場調研，為人們帶來真正的價值，并且永遠不要忘了把重心放在用戶身上。只要你能證明自己的實力，那么你在尋求投資的時候，就會收獲更好的結果。你的實力可以通過專注度和用戶群來展示，而并不一定非要通過收益流。

如果你滿足了上面的這幾點，你的融資之路將變得容易許多。祝你好運！（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

The other day my bud told me about a conversation he had with one of Snapchat’s first investors. My bud asked the investor why he invested in Snapchat. The investor’s response intrigued me:

“Evan was so insistent that what made Snapchat special was that when the app opened it automatically showed the camera. I didn’t understand why that was important, so I pushed back. When I did, Evan looked at me like an idiot.

‘No, no, no – it has to open up right away. You have to click to get to the camera on Instagram. That’s stupid. Two too many clicks.’

I didn’t think it was a big deal to have that many clicks, but I was impressed that a 22-year-old would be that headstrong about something so small that I figured he would make it. So I wrote him a check.”

Far too often we forget that the companies we consider to be great were once a couple of folks tinkering in a garage. What they were working on seemed crazy, impossible, or stupid. However, what makes a great company a great is that at least one person early on trusted the business enough to give it a shot.

Whether they were the first customer, employee, or investor, someone gave them a chance.

And so, inspired by this conversation, I decided to find out what inspired investors to commit to some of my favorite companies.

Peter Nieh, Partner at Lightspeed Ventures

Invested in Tony Fadell, CEO of Nest (sold for $3.2 billion in 2015)

“We would have invested had they been looking to start a food truck,” Peter Nieh wrote about his investment in Tony Fadell, CEO of Nest. Peter met Tony in 1991 during a summer internship at a startup called General Magic. He said Tony was “a standout” employee from the very beginning. This was because Tony was fast, meticulous, and “wouldn’t shut up about the company direction and strategy.” This left a long-lasting, positive impression on Nieh.

Years later when Tony came to him for investment, Peter said: “There was no hesitation from my partnership.” He “had a deep belief that Tony and Matt [his partner] would make something BIG happen no matter what — it would have been a game-changing food truck no doubt!”

Yishan Wong, former Reddit CEO

Invested in Matin Tamizi, CEO of Balanced, a payment startup that raised $3.55 million

Startup Balanced closed shop in July 2015 after failing to make their payments business work. They transferred their customers to Stripe, and sat back to figure out their next steps.

But in the few years they were running, Balanced raised million of dollars. How did they convince people to invest?

Yishan Wong explained on Quora why he invested in CEO Matin Tamizi.

“Matin is an unusually resourceful and relentless guy. After being in startups (working for them, helping them out), you start to see a difference between people who keep on going and get things done, and regular people. What impressed us was how strong his work ethic was and how he would constantly work from a variety of angles to overcome problems. This stuff all sounds obvious, but not everyone actually does it.

So that is one key prerequisite to a good startup (so far as I can tell) – the founder(s) have to exhibit this trait, because it extends into the rest of the team. If you don’t have the will to keep going, keep trying, and generally be pretty stubborn about pushing ahead always, you’re not going to get anywhere.”

Wong’s final reason was that “the product is pretty good, and as far as I can tell, it’s the only one in its space.” Note that the actual product took a backseat to the tenacity and work ethic of the CEO.

Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL

Invested in LivingSocial (raised $934.73 million)

Steve funded LivingSocial because he had a relationship with the four founders, who’d worked for him before. He said they were “great guys” and invested some money in their first business, a Facebook apps company. Steve observed how quickly they gathered users – around 80 million in a short time period – but noted how they struggled to monetize them.

When the team came up with a social commerce plan, Steve said: “It was clear they were on to something and it was time to slam down the accelerator and invest heavily.”

Jason Calacanis

Invested in Thumbtack and Uber (now valued at $1.3 billion and $68 billion, respectively)

“I invested in Thumbtack and Uber. When Travis and Marco came along with their ideas, I didn’t even try to judge if “on-demand drivers” and “a better craigslist” were winners, because I knew the individuals were winners. That’s enough information to make a bet.

Which leads me to “Jason’s Law of Angel Investing,” which states:

You don’t need to know if the idea will succeed – just the person.

After five years of this, I’m always looking for signals that the person is a winner – even in failure. Two of my favorite founders have had their asses handed to them, and I’m chomping at the bit to see what they will do next, because I know they’re winners who do great work, so eventually they will hit it… just like Elon hit SpaceX on his third swing at bat and Tesla on his fourth, and Travis hit Uber after Scour and Red Swoosh, his first two startups.

Great founders grind it out and figure it out, so as angels you really don’t need to overthink if electric cars will work, whether on-demand transportation will scale, or if Medium.com is a platform or a publication (hotly debated) – you just need to know if someone is a winner.”

Jon Medved, CEO of Our Crowd and Venture Capitalist

Invested in ReWalk, a robotics company that helps paraplegics ($21 million estimated 2017 revenue)

“We co-invested alongside the robotics Yasakawa Company, which invested $10 million with us. What led us to go into that company was the fact that the entrepreneur was truly passionate, someone who had a track record that had already built a successful company and he understood this problem very well and came up with a great solution.

The company was addressing a huge and growing market, which is inclusion, the idea that people today who are paralyzed are still sitting in wheelchairs that really haven’t changed much in 100 years.”

Jerry Neumann, Venture Capitalist at Neu Venture Capital

Invested $7 million in Flurry, a mobile analytics service (sold to Yahoo! for $240million in 2014)

“I was one of the first investors in the company that became Flurry. I knew the founder. I had worked with him previously, so I knew him very well,” Neumann toldFull Ratchet. He had decided to build analytics into the first generation of iPhone apps. So he called me that day the iPhone app STK was released and said, “I’ve built this analytics solution.” And I think I said, “That’s great, you should build that.” He said, “No, I’ve already built it.” I said, “That’s not possible, they just released it.” He said, “Well, it’s our beta version, but it’s — I’ve got it.” And then I invested.

I think the two things were really knowing the founder and I also knew their technical person. So the two people who started the company, I knew them really well. I knew they were a good team because they worked together in the past. And I felt like there was this new technology that they could take advantage of and be first to market in something that I thought was gonna be a really big market, this iPhone app market.”

Eric Gasser, VP at Hi-Tech Screeningand Board Member at

Invested in Portfolium (raised $900,000)

“One of the great companies that I thought was solving a problem is called Portfolium,” Gasser toldFull Ratchet. “Their CEO was a young kid when I first met him, and he has an amazing backstory where an angel gave him some capital and said ‘Look, I believe in what you’re doing. I’m just gonna give you a check and just go.’ So he gave him a check, he went to build out this platform to allow — basically think of it as the LinkedIn for college students, right. It’s been done a hundred times, and I get it, but this guy had a unique spin on it. He built something similar to solve a really hard problem for himself when he graduated from school to get himself a job.

He realized that, for him to be successful, he needed to go back to school and learn how to code so he can build this thing. Because he knew the seed money he’d gotten — he wasn’t gonna be able to pay someone to do it, it just wasn’t enough. So instead of beg, borrow, and steal, and all the other friends and fools and all that con stuff, he went back to school, spent some time, I think, while he was in school, wrote — built out an MVP, and then he came to Tech Coast Angels.

And he said ‘Look, I’ve had one of the largest employers for college kids in the country. I’ve got great connections with the school system here in San Diego, in California. We really think there’s something here.’ It was one of those things where I could see what he was building, I could see what he was doing, and it was kind of a no-brainer for me. It was kind of like he’s solving a problem that needs to be solved, and he’s doing it really, really intelligently. And he was thinking about revenues, but they weren’t actually driving his decision making. The customer was driving the decision making.

And that meant a ton to me, because typically what happens is, the founders, once they see cash, they gravitate towards the cash and lose focus on the customer. Especially this early stage. And so during the due diligence meeting, we were done, he was going through a local incubator at the time, and I grabbed him. The advisor, I pulled him aside and said ‘Look, how much do you need to stay alive for the next three months so that we can go through due diligence, we can syndicate this deal, everything we need to keep it going?’ and I was willing to write a check right then solely based on the fact that someone else believed in him — which could mean I’m crazy, but when someone writes a check and says ‘Go away and build it,’ that means something. The next element was that he really believed in his customer and didn’t want to pivot or shift his model to follow the cash. I believed in that model.”

The takeaway

Every investor looks for different things in their entrepreneurs, but passion, understanding, and smarts are key to getting those checks. Do your market research, provide a real value to people, and never forget the focus on the customers. You’ll get a better response if you reach out once you’ve proved yourself – and this can be shown through dedication and user-base, not necessarily a revenue stream.

You’ll have a way easier time if you check all these boxes. Good luck!