谷歌會顛覆風投行業嗎？
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????今年3月，布萊恩?哈里根(我們互聯網營銷軟件提供商HubSpot的首席執行官)曾根據自己的觀察寫了一篇重要的文章——《為何Sequoia在風投競爭中勝出》(why Sequoia wins at the VC game)。布萊恩的判斷以HubSpot的第四輪融資經驗為基礎，十分準確。Sequoia思維敏捷，訓練有素，激進但理性。Sequoia嚴格遵循傳統的風投流程，同行無人能及。這一點讓人印象非常深刻。 ????盡管業績彪炳，但Sequoia有理由保持多疑(這一點在布萊恩的開列的清單中排在第8位)。風投行業正在經歷巨大的變化，一群新的投資者正在包抄市場邊緣，以全新方式展開差異化競爭。在HubSpot的第四輪融資中與Sequoia共同出資的谷歌風投（Google Ventures）就是這樣一家公司。谷歌(Google)的企業史就是一部重塑行業和質疑傳統的歷史——在進軍風投行業的過程中，他們也試圖復制這一輝煌。 ????谷歌風投正試圖從以下六大方面顛覆風投行業： ????1. 獨一無二的工程支持：這是谷歌風投最吸引人的地方。和大多數風投公司圍繞品牌和專業性展開競爭不同，谷歌風投能為創業者提供獨一無二的工程支持體系：工程規模咨詢，UX/UI設計研究，以及協助招募工程師。當谷歌風投的團隊首次將這些服務展現給我們的時候，我頭腦里回響的是：好，好，好。HubSpot面臨的所有挑戰和困難都有望得到顯著改善。相比之下，風投行業的傳統賣點相對缺乏吸引力，主要集中在商業模式經驗和行業人脈。工程支持是谷歌風投的一項差異化競爭優勢，可能對創業者具有極大的價值。 ????2. 無與倫比的品牌效應：和很多公司一樣，HubSpot的目標市場并不是成天為Groupon最新估值爭論不休的技術專家。相反，小企業才是美國經濟的主體——谷歌在這個市場上擁有優勢品牌。這可能是谷歌風投與其他風投公司的巨大差異。對于像HubSpot這樣的B2B公司，有谷歌風投作為投資者，便足以向業界證明其商業模式的有效性。很多投資者可能甚至都不知道“風投”一詞——只要投資的企業能盈利就好。 ????3. 幫助展開科技人才爭奪戰：對于初創企業，特別是那些位于硅谷和波士頓的初創企業， 科技人才爭奪戰是一大挑戰。而谷歌每年能收到約100萬份求職簡歷。《華爾街日報》(The Wall Street Journal)最近報道稱，谷歌風投已聘用合作機構，對求職者數據庫進行篩選，從旁協助其所投資的公司。風投提供的現金融資顯然有助于企業發展，但幫助企業將這些現金投資于人才能創造更多的價值。谷歌風投正在利用其獨特的地位和優勢，為所投資企業提供這項必將大受歡迎的增值服務。 ????4. 零距離接觸谷歌。這一點似乎不言自明，但谷歌風投確實能讓創業者接觸到谷歌的其他部門。雖然谷歌風投曾明確表示只負責將創業者引薦給正確的人，但這也會給創業者提供絕佳的機會，這一點也是谷歌風投不同于其他風投公司的重要一點。總部位于劍橋、同樣獲得谷歌風投支持的初創企業手機游戲平臺運營商SCVNGR就是一個例子。這家公司去年秋季率先公開推出與Google Places API整合的產品。這次整合解決了SCVNGR的一大戰略挑戰，使得該公司能實現國際規模化擴張。很少有風投公司能做出這樣漂亮的引薦。 ????5. 非傳統交易流：風投行業出現的一大變化是非傳統交易流數額的急劇增長。像DST、創業基金Y Combinator這樣的企業(包括處于發展晚期和發展早期)正在將過去非風投消費者轉化為風投消費者，以實現市場擴張。谷歌風投則推出了Startup Lab項目，正式進入了這個領域。該項目去年秋季啟動，目的是在谷歌總部Googleplex為谷歌風投投資的初創企業提供辦公場所，孵化這些初創企業(未來可能為HubSpot提供一間西海岸辦公室)。理想而言，這將能使谷歌風投通過Googleplex設施增加與這些早期企業的交易流。更獨特的是，谷歌風投最近還宣布了面向23,000名雇員的1萬美元初創企業推薦獎，并承諾未來將有更創新的交易流項目。通過這些項目，谷歌風投試圖憑借其與谷歌的獨特關系，打造專有的交易流渠道。 ????6. 非凡洞見：這一點不一定是谷歌風投所獨有，但不提也說不過去。谷歌風投的員工非常聰明。雖然這不一定具有顛覆性(風投行業聚集了大量聰明人)，但谷歌風投的員工們仿佛已秘密潛伏在HubSpot三年了。對我而言，最具說明力的事實是：我在整個推介期大部分時候都基本未做筆記，但在結束首次谷歌風投推介時，我拿到了好幾頁的反饋信息。智者的非凡洞見。雖然這本身不足以顛覆風投行業——但顯然無害。 ????你怎么想？谷歌風投能顛覆風投行業嗎？或者，幾年后他們的競爭將回歸到成功企業已經驗證過的商業模式和價值體系？ ????Brad Coffey (@BradfordCoffey)是互聯網營銷軟件提供商HubSpot的戰略和企業發展總監。本帖最初發表于HubSpot聯合創始人Dharmesh Shah的博客。 |
????Back in March, Brian Halligan (our CEO at HubSpot) wrote a great post around his observations on why Sequoia wins at the VC game. Brian's assessment was based on HubSpot's experience raising our Series D and was spot-on. Sequoia is agile, yet disciplined. They are aggressive yet reasonable. They've taken the classic venture capital playbook and out-executed just about everyone. Incredibly impressive. ????With all of their success though, Sequoia has a right to stay paranoid (#8 on Brian's list). The VC industry is undergoing some massive changes and is in the process of being disrupted by a new breed of investors that are attacking the edges of the market and competing with a new, differentiated approach. Google Ventures, a co-investor alongside Sequoia in HubSpot's Series D, is one such firm. Google (GOOG) has a history of reinventing industries and questioning conventional wisdom – and they're trying to do it again with their approach to venture capital. ????Here are six ways Google Ventures is attempting to disrupt the VC industry: ????1. Engineering support: This is the most fascinating aspect of Google Ventures. Unlike most venture firms that compete on brand and 'expertise,' Google Ventures has a unique, engineering-focused set of support it provides entrepreneurs: Engineering scale consulting, UX/UI design researc, and engineer recruiting aid. When the team at Google Ventures listed these services during our session for the first time, in my head it was: check, check, check. All challenges for HubSpot and pains that would be hugely valuable to improve. Compare that to the traditional pitch of VCs centered on a softer set of business model expertise and professional networking. It's a point of competitive differentiation for Google Ventures and, potentially, a source of huge value for the entrepreneur. ????2. Unmatched brand on Main Street: HubSpot, like many companies, doesn't consider its target market to be the technorati that spend their days debating Groupon's latest valuation. Instead it's the small businesses that make up a majority of America's economy – and it is with this market that Google has a superior brand. This is potentially a huge point of differentiation for Google Ventures. For a B2B company like HubSpot, including Google Ventures as an investor validates our business model for main street America. These are people that may not even know about the term 'venture capital' -- they're happy just building profitable businesses. ????3. Helping with the tech talent war: One of the key challenges for startups, particularly those in the Silicon Valley and Boston, is the tech talent war. Meanwhile, Google gets over a million people sending their resumes in every year. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Google Ventures has hired partners who will cull this database of applicants to help its portfolio companies. The cash component of a venture capital financing is clearly useful. But, getting assistance in investing that cash into stellar talent is even more valuable. Google Ventures is leveraging its unique position and strength in what is sure to be a popular value-add for its portfolio companies. ????4. Access to Google proper. This somewhat goes without saying, but Google Ventures is uniquely positioned to provide entrepreneurs with access to the rest of Google. Google Ventures was very transparent in stating that while this is not more than a warm introduction to the right people, it can lead to some great opportunities for entrepreneurs and is another great point of differentiation. As one example from fellow Cambridge-based and Google Ventures backed startup SCVNGR, the company was the first to publicly launch with integration to the Google Places API last fall. This integration solved a major strategic challenge for the company and enabled the company to scale internationally. This is an introduction that few venture firms could make so cleanly. ????5. Non-traditional deal flow: One of the VC industry disruptions is a sharp increase in the amount of non-traditional deal flow. Firms like DST and Y Combinator are expanding the market by converting previous non-consumers of venture capital into consumers (at both the very late and very early stages) and growing the market as a result. Google Ventures has entered the fray with its own launch of Startup Lab. The program, started last fall, is designed to provide Google Ventures investments with a space to grow and thrive on at the Googleplex campus (and potentially provide HubSpot with a West Coast office down the road). Ideally this enables Google Ventures to leverage the heralded facilities at Googleplex and increase dealflow for these early stage companies. More uniquely, Google Ventures also recently announced a $10,000 start-up referral bonus for its 23,000 employees and has a promise of more innovative deal flow programs to come. Through these programs Google Ventures is attempting to leverage its unique position within Google and create exclusive deal flow channels. ????6. Brilliant insights: This item isn't necessarily unique but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. The folks at Google Ventures are smart. And although it's not necessarily disruptive (there are lots of smart people in the venture community) with Google Ventures it was like they'd been secretly hanging around the halls of HubSpot the last 3 years. The most telling stat for me is this: I took almost no notes during a majority of the trip but came out of the initial Google Ventures pitch with pages of feedback. Great insights from smart people. Though not enough to disrupt the venture community by itself – it certainly doesn't hurt. ????So what do you think? Does Google Ventures have enough to disrupt the venture community or in a few years are we going to see them revert to competing with the business model and values proven by the established firms? ????Brad Coffey (@BradfordCoffey) is director of strategy and corporate development at HubSpot, a maker of Internet marketing software. This post originally appeared on the blog of HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah. |
