2004年，柏尚投資（Bessemer Venture Partners）合伙人杰瑞米·勒凡花了一個周末待在公司寓所，竭力回避一位堅忍不拔的哈佛學生。這名學生反復游說勒凡投資他和別人在幾個月前創立的社交媒體公司。最后，勒凡打斷了他的滔滔不絕，給了他一些殘酷的建議：“孩子，你沒聽過Friendster嗎？走開，結束了！”

這名學生是愛德華多·薩維林。那家公司叫Facebook。

作為美國歷史最悠久的風投公司之一，柏尚投資的投資組合星光熠熠，其中不乏諸如LinkedIn、Yelp和Pinterest這類大名鼎鼎的公司。不過，他們最值得驕傲的地方還在于“反投資組合”。當初他們拒絕投資的公司除Facebook外，還包括蘋果（“貴得令人發指！”）和eBay（“郵票？錢幣？漫畫書？你在開玩笑吧！”）。

看看以下這些錯失的絕好投資機會，你會發現即使是經驗最豐富的投資者，有時也會鑄下令他們抱憾終生的大錯。

投資機會：Airbnb

錯過者：克里斯·薩卡，弗雷德·威爾遜

In 2004, Jeremy Levine, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, spent a weekend at a corporate retreat actively avoiding a relentless Harvard student. The student had repeatedly tried to pitch him a social media company he had co-founded just a few months prior. Finally, Levine snapped and gave him some brutal advice: “Kid, haven’t you heard of Friendster? Move on. It’s over!”

The student was Eduardo Saverin. And the company? That would be Facebook.

BVP is one of the oldest venture capital firms in the country with some great companies in its portfolio, including LinkedIn, Yelp and Pinterest. Yet one of BVP’s biggest points of pride is its “anti-portfolio” — the investments the firm decided to pass on. In addition to Facebook, Apple (“outrageously expensive”) and eBay (“Stamps? Coins? Comic books? You’ve GOT to be kidding”) are also on the list.

See the following cringe-worthy missed deals that show how even the most experienced investors sometimes make gigantic mistakes.

Airbnb

克里斯·薩卡：這位擁有億萬身家的風投家沒有投資Airbnb，因為他認為租用一間房東仍然在家的房間“太危險了”。

弗雷德·威爾遜：當Airbnb創始人拜訪聯合廣場風投（Union Square Ventures）時，風投家弗雷德·威爾遜無法認同“在客廳地面上放橡膠氣墊”的想法。他表示：“我們過于關注他們當時在做什么，而忽視了他們能做什么。”

投資機會：亞馬遜

錯過者：OVP Venture Partners

Chris Sacca: The billionaire venture capitalist passed on Airbnb because renting a room in a house while owners were still home would be “too dangerous.”

Fred Wilson: When Airbnb’s founders came to visit Union Square Ventures, VC Fred Wilson just couldn’t get behind the idea of “air mattresses on the living room floor.” He says, “We focused too much on what they were doing at the time and not enough on what they could do.”

Amazon

OVP與亞馬遜首席執行官曾經達成過一項君子協議。這家風投機構將按照融資后1000萬美元的估值，出資200萬獲取該公司20%的股份。然而在最后關頭，風投家約翰·杜爾愿意以融資后4000萬美元的估值，出資800萬獲取該公司20%的股份。這項口頭協議最終宣告流產。OVP的網站上寫道：“為了以牙還牙，我們后來只在Barnes & Noble買書。我們認為亞馬遜沒有注意到這點。”

投資機會：蘋果

錯過者：柏尚投資

OVP Venture Partners: OVP had a handshake term sheet with the Amazon CEO to invest $2 million for 20% of the company at a $10 million post-money value. At the last minute, VC John Doerr offered $8 million for 20% of the company at a $40 million post-money value. OVP’s handshake deal fell through. “To get even, we buy all our books at Barnes & Noble,” OVP’s website reads. “We don’t think Amazon has noticed.”

Apple

柏尚投資的尼爾·布朗斯坦本來有機會在蘋果上市前投資該公司次級股票，不過他表示，蘋果當時的估值“高達”6000萬美元，“貴得令人發指”。

投資機會：Dropbox

錯過者：克里斯·薩卡

Bessemer Venture Partners: BVP’s Neill Brownsteincalled it “outrageously expensive” after having the chance to invest in pre-IPO secondary stock at at $60 million valuation.

Dropbox

他沒有投資Dropbox，因為他當時使用的是后來的Google Drive。他對Dropbox創始人說：“谷歌會摧毀你們的。”

投資機會：eBay

錯過者：柏尚投資

Chris Sacca: He passed on Dropbox because he was already using what would later become Google Drive, and he told the founders “Google would crush them.”

eBay

柏尚投資的大衛·考恩對eBay怎么看？他說：“郵票？錢幣？漫畫書？你在開玩笑吧。這還用想嗎？拒絕投資。”

投資機會：Facebook

錯過者：柏尚投資

Bessemer Venture Partners: BVP’s David Cowan’s thoughts on eBay? “Stamps? Coins? Comic books? You’ve GOT to be kidding,” he said. “No-brainer pass.”

Facebook

Facebook聯合創始人愛德華多·薩維林曾在柏尚投資的寓所堵著杰瑞米·勒凡，拼命游說，而勒凡回應道：“孩子，你沒聽過Friendster嗎？走開，結束了！”

投資機會：聯邦快遞

錯過者：柏尚投資

Bessemer Venture Partners: After Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin cornered BVP’s Jeremy Levine at a corporate retreat with his pitch, Levine responded with “Kid, haven’t you heard of Friendster? Move on. It’s over!”

FedEx

這家公司共拒絕了聯邦快遞7次之多。

投資機會：谷歌

錯過者：柏尚投資

Bessemer Venture Partners: The firm passed on FedExseven times.

Google

大衛·考恩的大學朋友把自己的車庫租給了谷歌聯合創始人，讓他們度過創立的第一年。當她試圖把這些人介紹給考恩時，考恩對這個由學生創立的搜索引擎并不感冒。他說：“我怎么才能走出這個房子，而不去靠近你的車庫？”

投資機會：GoPro

錯過者：克里斯·薩卡

Bessemer Venture Partners: David Cowan’s college friend rented her garage to Google’s co-founders for their first year. When she tried to introduce them to Cowan, he wasn’t too thrilled about a student-founded search engine. He responded with, “How can I get out of this house without going anywhere near your garage?”

GoPro

薩卡聽了尼克·伍德曼的游說之后，迅速拒絕了他。他表示，“GoPro無法與中國大陸、臺灣和韓國的廠商競爭”。

投資機會：Pinterest

錯過者：克里斯·薩卡，凱文·羅斯

Chris Sacca: After Sacca heard Nick Woodman’s GoPro pitch, he quickly dismissed it by saying there was “no way GoPro could compete with China/Taiwan/Korea.”

Pinterest

克里斯·薩卡：在收到Pinterest的創始人本·希伯爾曼的“完美郵件”之后，薩卡出手了。但那是在兩年以后。

凱文·羅斯：在本·希伯爾曼給羅斯展示Pinterest平臺時，他以500萬美元的估值，給了羅斯一個天使投資的機會。羅斯說：“當時我覺得，啊，這個價格可真高。”

投資機會：貝寶

錯過者：柏尚投資

Chris Sacca: After getting the “perfect email” from Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann, Sacca followed up … two years later.

Kevin Rose: After Ben Silbermann showed Rose the platform, he offered him an angel investment opportunity in Pinterest at a $5 million valuation. Rose said, “At the time I thought, wow, that’s really high.”

PayPal

大衛·考恩在貝寶的A輪融資中拒絕了他們，因為貝寶的團隊沒有經驗，還有可能遭遇“監管噩夢”。

投資機會：Salesforce

錯過者：羅恩·康韋

Bessemer Venture Partners: David Cowan passed on PayPal’s Series A round because of its rookie team and the potential for a “regulatory nightmare.”

Salesforce

羅恩·康韋：這位風險投資家放棄Salesforce的原因在于“當時3000萬美元的估值顯得太高了”！

投資機會：Snapchat

錯過者：克里斯·薩卡，喬什·埃爾曼

Ron Conway: The VC passed on Salesforce because “the $30 million valuation seemed too high at the time!”

Snapchat

克里斯·薩卡：他拒絕與Snapchat創始人會面，因為“不確定它是否會演變成一個傳播黃色圖片的平臺”。

喬什·埃爾曼：當被問到哪家是他放棄的最大的初創公司，為什么放棄時，Greylock Partners的喬什·埃爾曼表示：“是Snapchat。我當時寫下了放棄的理由，但是那個理由已經不存在了。”

投資機會：星巴克

錯過者：OVP Venture Partners

Chris Sacca: He passed on an invitation to meet with Snapchat’s founders because he “wasn’t sure it would evolve past dick pics.”

Josh Elman: When asked about the biggest startup he passed on and why, Greylock Partners’ Josh Elman said, “Snapchat. I just wrote the answer of why, but it already disappeared.”

Starbucks

OVP Venture Partners：當霍華德·舒爾茨在20世紀80年代末走進OVP的辦公室，闡述他一杯咖啡2美元（當時一杯咖啡只需要25美分）的想法時，風投合伙人的表現如下：“當然，很有禮貌地聽完了他的話，但當他離開時，都笑得摔下了椅子。”

投資機會：特斯拉

錯過者：OVP Venture Partners

OVP Venture Partners: When Howard Shultz walked into the OVP office in the late 1980s with his idea to charge $2 for coffee (when you could buy it for 25 cents at the time), the partners had the following reaction: “Of course, you listen politely, and then fall off your chair laughing when he leaves.”

Tesla

柏尚投資：拜倫·迪特給特斯拉預付了一筆購車定金，但還是放棄了投資這家利潤為負的公司的機會。他說：“這是一個雙贏選擇。我能獲得一輛好車，讓其他風投公司來為它付錢吧。”

投資機會：優步

錯過者：本·勒雷，約翰·格雷特豪斯

Bessemer Venture Partners: Byron Deeter put a deposit down on a Tesla but passed on the negative margin company saying, “It’s a win-win. I get a great car and some other VC pays for it!”

Uber

本·勒雷：盡管勒雷風投（Lerer Ventures）的本·勒雷從未正式拒絕過優步，但他也沒有去努力追求這個機會。他說：“我放棄的原因在于，我不相信自己的直覺。我腦子里想的盡是不做這筆交易的理由，而不是單純信任我的本能。”

約翰·格雷特豪斯：這位風險投資家不愿參與優步的種子期融資，并拒絕傾聽優步創始人特拉維斯·卡蘭尼克的游說。他表示：“我對親愛的妻子說：下次如果有朋友帶著億萬美元的機遇來找我，我會聽的。我保證。”（財富中文網）

譯者：嚴匡正

審校：任文科

Ben Lerer: Though Ben Lerer of Lerer Ventures never formally passed on Uber, he didn’t pursue the opportunity when he should have. “I passed because I didn’t trust my gut,” he says. “I thought of reasons why not to do a deal rather than just trusting my intuition.”

John Greathouse: The VC passed on Uber’s seed round and refused to listen to founder Travis Kalanick’s pitch. “Note to my loving wife: The next time a friend knocks me over the head with a billion-dollar opportunity, I’m going to listen. Promise,” he says.