一家名為Visible Measures的廣告技術初創公司失敗，不僅給廣告技術市場敲響了警鐘，也在提醒所有初創公司利用債務融資的危險。根據最近風險投資家弗萊德·威爾森和撰稿人丹·普利馬克對ModCloth債務融資問題的評論，似乎初創公司債務融資是一劑危險的、高風險的毒藥，應該不惜一切代價避免使用。在與讀者交流過程中，有幾位債務融資提供商預測了更多因債務融資陷入失敗的初創公司——這些是隨時會爆炸的“定時炸彈”。但他們擔心，初創公司可能對他們的產品產生錯誤的印象。（他們并不是毒販子！）談話的要點如下：

初創企業進行債務融資的最佳時機：（1）公司正在增長，但速度不足以吸引大批新股權投資者的興趣，（2）單位經濟效益實際上并不差，但存在估值差距，或管理層不希望股份被進一步攤薄，（3）公司即將實現盈利，但股價過高，或融資周期過長，（4）公司已成立超過10年，但股權投資者早期的資金已經一分都不剩了。

而債務融資的錯誤時機是，處在與Visible Measures或ModCloth類似的狀況下——收入陷入停滯或下降，而且公司正在進行商業模式轉變或轉型。一位債務融資提供商表示：“在這種情況下，許多貸款人會說：‘我必須依靠股權來維護我的利益。’”債務融資提供商通常只有在相信初創公司人脈豐富的風險投資方會在幕后操作，完成下一輪融資的時候，才會提供貸款。

威爾森在博客中提到，Foursquare是初創公司利用債務融資的成功案例。（該公司在2013年從收購公司銀湖資本（Silver Lake）融資4,100萬美元。）事實確實如他所說，但需要注意的是，Foursquare的債務融資可能選在了風險最高的時機：當時公司的收入可以忽略不計，并且即將開始一次大規模的轉型。雖然公司取得了成功，但一位債務融資提供商警告：“公司的債務融資很容易走向相反的方向，遭遇失敗。”（財富中文網）

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

The fall of Visible Measures, an ad-tech startup, is as much a cautionary tale about the advertising technology market as it is about the danger of startups using debt. On top of recent commentary from venture investor Fred Wilson and writer Dan Primack about the same issue with ModCloth, it might seem like startup debt is a dangerous, risky drug to be avoided at all costs. In conversations, several debt-providers readers predicted more debt-related collapses - there are "ticking time bombs" out there. But they're worried that startups will get the wrong impression about their product. (They're not drug dealers!) The gist:

The best time for startups to raise debt are: (1) when the company is growing, but not fast enough to get a bunch of new equity investors interested, (2) when unit economics actually work but there is a valuation gap or management does not want to be diluted further, (3) when the company is close to profitable and equity is too expensive or will take too long to raise, (4) the company is more than ten years old and equity investors are tapped out in their older funds.

The exact wrong time to raise debt is when you're in a situation like Visible Measures or ModCloth -- revenue is stalled or declining and you're in the middle of a business model shift or pivot. "In that case, a lot of the lenders are saying, ‘I'm relying on the equity to come in to save my butt here,'" one debt provider said. Often debt providers only make the loan on faith that the startup's well-connected venture investor will pull strings to get the next round done.

In his blog post, Wilson named Foursquare as an example of a startup that had success using debt. (It raised $41 million from buyout firm Silver Lake in 2013.) He's right, but it's worth noting that Foursquare raised debt at the riskiest possible time: It had little to no revenue, and it was embarking on a big pivot. Again, it worked out well for the company, but as one debt provider cautioned, "it easily could have gone the other way."