????在分類信息網站Craigslist和Monster.com出現之前，曾有這樣一家名為Drei Tauben Ltd的公司，提供獨有的科技行業職位招聘平臺。1991年，克里斯托弗?弗蘭克與兩位合伙人創立了這家公司，花了兩年時間來打造這項業務。

????他們創造了一個用戶友好平臺，用人單位如果想在自己品牌下發布在線招聘廣告，可以進行定制。已經開始有收入進賬，而且他們還聯系到了一家科技學院協會，有意使用這一系統。一切看起來都充滿著希望，他們將從市值1億美元的科技招聘廣告市場中分得一杯羹。

????但收入增長比他們預想的慢。每過一、兩個月，合伙人們都必須把更多的個人資金投入到這家公司。到了1993年秋季，他們決定關閉公司。

????“很痛苦，就像宣判死刑一樣，”現年45歲的弗蘭克說。如今他是美國運通（American Express）的一位副總裁，并著有《超越信息泛濫：聰明人的決策之道》（Drinking from the Fire Hose: Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning in Information）一書。“當你對一件事充滿激情的時候，你會感到它就在你的骨子里。一旦它沒有按計劃進行，你會感覺非常失落。”

????關掉公司，放棄最初曾激勵你創立公司的大好前景，這或許是創業者最難接受的事情。本質上，創業者把“挫折”視為只是解決方案未明。如果答案其實是你不想聽的“別干這個了”，也許他們會視而不見。 縱觀小公司的創業史，有太多本可能成功的故事——這些公司有著出色的點子，但時機尚不成熟，或者要實現盈利難度太大。

????“樂觀主義既是創業者的寶貴財富，也是風險所在，”芝加哥系列創業家喬?格洛茨說。“樂觀與空想僅一紙之隔。”

????本文采訪了多位創業者，總結了幾種值得警惕的典型癥狀。如果你的公司存在這些癥狀，或許最佳的選擇是關掉公司，重新開始。

曲高和寡

????回顧過去，弗蘭克認為，在Drei Tauben與傳統印刷出版物的一系列會面中，Drei Tauben的問題凸顯無疑。這些出版物熟知廣告業務的方方面面和那些為招聘廣告付錢的客戶。但他們就是不理解為什么人們要上網找工作，而不是打開報紙。當時，互聯網的影響與今天還不可同日而語。

????如果你無法說服戰略性合作伙伴或客戶，讓他們相信你商業模式背后的邏輯，即便最后證明你是正確的，又有何用？不管潛在市場可能有多大，你首先需要有真實而活躍的客戶給你開支票，不停地再開支票。

????“當你試圖做出這個決定時，不管是去是留，都不能盯著宏觀經濟，”弗蘭克表示。“你得評估本地市場和目標受眾。有沒有收入支撐這項業務？誰是你的客戶？”

????Before Craigslist, before Monster.com, there was Drei Tauben Ltd, a proprietary system for help-wanted advertising for technology jobs. Christopher Frank started the company with two business partners in 1991 and spent two years building the business.

????They created a user-friendly platform that could be customized by organizations that wanted to advertise job opportunities online under their own brand. Revenue started to come in and the partners had connected with an association of technology schools interested in using the system. All the signs were promising to tap into the $100 million market for technology job ads.

????But revenue was growing more slowly than they had anticipated. Every month or two, the partners had to sink more of their own money into the business. In the fall of 1993, they decided to shutter the company.

????"It was painful. It was like a death," says Frank, 45, who is currently a vice president at American Express and author of Drinking from the Fire Hose: Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning in Information. "When you're passionate about something, you feel it in your bones. When that doesn't work as planned, it just drains you."

????Closing down a business and giving up on the potential that inspired you to launch it in the first place is perhaps the hardest thing an entrepreneur can do. By nature, entrepreneurs see setbacks simply as problems whose solutions aren't yet evident. That same quality can put a blind spot when the answer is one you just don't want to hear: "Move on." The history of small business is littered with the shells of could-have-been success stories, companies built on a brilliant idea whose time hadn't come or was too challenging to execute profitably.

????"Optimism is a gift of the entrepreneur and also an occupational hazard," says Jay Goltz, a Chicago-based serial entrepreneur. "There's a very thin line between optimistic and delusional."

????From interviews with entrepreneurs, here are a few classic signs that the best choice is simply to close your small business and start fresh.

You draw blank stares

????In retrospect, Frank pinpoints his company's trouble to the series of meetings Drei Tauben had with the traditional print publications that knew the ins and outs of the advertising business as well as the clients that paid for job ads. They just couldn't understand why anyone would go online to look for a job instead of opening up a newspaper. At the time, the Internet wasn't anything like it is today.

????When you cannot convince your strategic partners nor your customers of the logic behind your business model, it doesn't matter if you're ultimately proven right. No matter how big the potential market may be, you first need real, live customers to write one check, and then a second.

????"When you're trying to make that decision, should you stay or should you go, you can't base it on the macroeconomics," Frank says. "You need to assess your local market and your target audience. Is there revenue to support the business? Who are your customers?"