Lessons from Investing in 700+ Startups | Goodwater Capital, Eric Kim
发布时间 2024-12-09 14:00:39 来源
以下是内容的中文翻译：
Goodwater Capital 的联合创始人兼管理合伙人埃里克·金 (Eric Kim) 分享了他进入风险投资领域的经历和见解，强调了以使命驱动的投资、消费者技术以及投资决策中艺术与科学的平衡。 Goodwater Capital 成立于 2014 年，已发展到超过 33 亿美元的承诺资本，其投资遍及 50 多个国家，通过其 Genesis 投资组合拥有 700 多家种子期公司，并通过其早期和成长阶段基金拥有 20 个国家的 80 多家公司。他们的核心理念是，消费者技术是促进社会进步的强大力量，他们的使命是赋能全球致力于积极变革的杰出企业家。
金的个人经历始于他的父母在朝鲜战争后从韩国移民，寻求在美国作为医生过上更好的生活。 他回忆起 12 岁时的一个关键时刻，他的父亲带着泪水和迫切的心情，向他强调了作为一名亚裔美国人将面临的挑战，敦促他必须非常出色才能克服偏见。 这种经历激发了他努力表现和取得成功的动力，尽管他后来学会了拥抱谦逊和个性。
他的早期职业生涯包括在耶鲁大学本科学习期间在麦肯锡公司实习，毕业后在那里担任全职工作。 这通过在中国、东南亚和欧洲的项目为他提供了全球视野。 然后他进入斯坦福大学，在那里他遇到了他的联合创始人。 2007 年，他加入 Maverick Capital，在建立其私人投资业务方面发挥了重要作用，并参与了各个阶段和地区的投资，包括参与 Y-Combinator。 他讨论了他早期参与的在韩国的投资，包括 Coupang 和 Kakao，强调了通过主要研究和理解消费者行为得出的逆向洞察力的重要性。
金强调，成功的投资往往需要逆势而行，并通过细致的研究发展独特的视角。 在 Coupang 的案例中，它确定了客户服务在建立韩国女性忠诚度方面的重要性，而在 Kakao 的案例中，它认识到移动通信在为用户省钱方面的潜力。 他愿意用韩语向 Kakao 团队进行演示，表明了他对当地市场的承诺和理解，从而巩固了他们的投资机会。 他强调，他们优先考虑消费者喜爱和网络效应的潜力，认识到使用产品的人越多，它对所有现有用户就越有利。
Goodwater Capital 的成立源于创建一家以使命为导向、专注于消费者互联网的公司的愿望。 金认为，风险投资行业需要从庆祝个人财务成功转变为促进对世界的积极影响。 Goodwater 的名字象征着该公司致力于负责任地管理资本，认识到它既有向善的潜力，也有作恶的潜力。 他认为，尽管许多风险投资公司都多元化到企业 SaaS 或气候技术等领域，但 Goodwater 仍然坚定地认为，消费者技术，拥有最终客户关系至关重要，并扩展到金融服务、医疗保健和教育等领域。
在 Goodwater，他们利用技术和数据来高效评估公司，从而将投资的艺术性和科学性结合起来。 他们团队的三分之二是数据科学家、产品经理和工程师，他们构建了一个平台来实时跟踪和分析超过 1000 万家公司。 这使他们能够快速评估公司的增长、保留率、客户喜爱度和差异化。 但他表示，同样重要的是，他们的团队花更多时间与企业家相处，了解他们的动机和长期愿景。
金非常看重一位杰出企业家的品质，即一位将公司使命置于个人利益之上的企业家。 公司高度重视寻找具有巨大影响力潜力的“代际公司”。 他希望年轻的风险投资家对寻找和支持伟大的公司充满热情，并愿意投入在该行业取得成功所需的努力和纪律。
最后，金教授一种投资心态，包括理解大局、识别成功的关键要素、评估风险，并最终带着信念采取信仰的飞跃。 他强调了了解规则和框架的重要性，但也知道何时打破它们来创新和创造新事物。
Eric Kim, co-founder and managing partner of Goodwater Capital, shares his journey and insights into venture capital, emphasizing the importance of mission-driven investing, consumer technology, and the balance of art and science in investment decisions. Goodwater Capital, founded in 2014, has grown to over $3.3 billion in committed capital, with investments spanning over 50 countries through its Genesis portfolio of 700+ seed companies, and 80+ companies in 20 countries through its early and growth stage funds. Their central thesis is that consumer technology is a powerful force for good, and their mission is to empower exceptional entrepreneurs globally who are dedicated to positive change.
Kim's personal narrative begins with his parents' immigration from Korea after the Korean War, seeking a better life as medical doctors in the United States. He recounts a pivotal moment at age 12 when his father, with tearful urgency, impressed upon him the challenges he would face as an Asian American, urging him to excel significantly to overcome prejudice. This experience instilled a drive to perform and succeed, although he later learned to embrace humility and individuality.
His early career involved an internship at McKinsey & Company during his undergraduate studies at Yale, followed by a full-time role there after graduation. This provided him with a global perspective through projects in China, Southeast Asia, and Europe. He then attended Stanford University, where he met his co-founder. In 2007, he joined Maverick Capital, playing a significant role in building their private investing practice and investing across stages and geographies, including involvement in Y-Combinator. He discusses early investments he was a part of, in Korea, including Coupang and Kakao, emphasizing the importance of contrarian insights derived from primary research and understanding consumer behavior.
Kim underscores that successful investing often requires going against the grain and developing unique perspectives through meticulous research. In Coupang's case, it was identifying the importance of customer service in building loyalty among South Korean women, while in Kakao, it was recognizing the potential of mobile communication to save users money. His willingness to present in Korean to the Kakao team, demonstrating his commitment and understanding of the local market, solidified their investment opportunity. He highlights that they prioritized consumer love and the potential for network effects, recognizing that as more people use a product, the better it becomes for all existing users.
The founding of Goodwater Capital was driven by a desire to create a mission-oriented firm that focuses on consumer internet. Kim believes that the venture capital industry needs to shift from celebrating individual financial success to fostering a positive impact on the world. Goodwater's name symbolizes the firm's commitment to stewarding capital responsibly, recognizing its potential for both good and harm. He posits that while many venture capital firms diversify into areas like enterprise SaaS or climate tech, Goodwater remains steadfast in its belief that consumer technology, owning the end customer relationship, is paramount, extending into areas like financial services, healthcare, and education.
At Goodwater, they combine the art and science of investing by utilizing technology and data to assess companies efficiently. Two-thirds of their team are data scientists, product managers, and engineers who have built a platform to track and analyze over 10 million companies in real-time. This allows them to quickly evaluate a company's growth, retention, customer love, and differentiation. But as important, he says, is their team spends more time with entrepreneurs, understanding their motivations and long-term vision.
Kim values the qualities of an exceptional entrepreneur, someone who prioritizes the company's mission above personal gain. The company highly values finding "generational companies" with tremendous potential for impact. He wants young venture capitalists who are intensely passionate about finding and supporting great companies, willing to put in the hard work and discipline needed to succeed in the industry.
Finally, Kim teaches an investor mindset that includes understanding the big picture, identifying key components for success, assessing risks, and ultimately taking a leap of faith with conviction. He stresses the importance of knowing the rules and frameworks but also knowing when to break them to innovate and create new things.
摘要
Today's story is about Eric Kim from Goodwater Capital. Goodwater has made over 700 investments across 50 countries. Over the ...
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中英文字稿 
I think there is no one size fits all for an exceptional entrepreneur. One of the key characteristics though that I often see in Great Founders is they have this really strong sense of always doing what's best for the company. In many ways can be self-sacrificial, that they always put the company first and the mission first. If you want to be famous, this is not the place for you. Being famous versus being paid a lot versus being having an easy lifestyle, all of which is not true. Hi, my name is Eric Kim, I'm the co-founder and managing partner of Goodwater Capital. Goodwater Capital is a global venture capital firm that we founded in 2014. We're entirely focused on consumer tech investing.
我认为，没有一种放之四海而皆准的标准来定义杰出的企业家。不过，我常常在优秀的创始人身上发现一个关键特征：他们总是非常坚定地做对公司最有利的事情。在很多方面，他们会做出自我牺牲，始终把公司和使命放在首位。如果你想成名，这里并不适合你。成名、高收入、轻松的生活方式，这些都不是事实。大家好，我是Eric Kim，好水资本的联合创始人兼管理合伙人。好水资本是一家全球风险投资公司，我们在2014年创办，专注于消费科技领域的投资。
So today Goodwater Capital has grown to over $3.3 billion in committed capital. We're in close to over 50 countries at this point through our Genesis portfolio, which is over 700 seed portfolio companies. And in our core portfolio companies, that's for our early stage fund and our growth stage fund. That's about 80 companies at this point in about 20 countries. Our thesis is that consumer technology is changing the world, and there's an opportunity to use the internet and digital technology for Good. Our mission is to empower exceptional entrepreneurs everywhere, change the world for Good.
到今天，Goodwater Capital 的承诺资本已增长到超过33亿美元。通过我们的Genesis投资组合，我们在大约50个国家开展业务，这个投资组合中有超过700家初创公司。而在我们的核心投资组合中，包括早期阶段基金和成长阶段基金，目前大约在20个国家有80家公司。我们的理念是消费科技正在改变世界，并且有机会利用互联网和数字技术做更美好的事情。我们的使命是赋能全球杰出的企业家，为世界带来积极的改变。
I'm so thankful to my parents. My mother and father lived through the Korean War. They came to the United States to seek a better life with one suitcase, with the little money they had in their pockets. But what they did have was an education that they were both trained as medical doctors. At that time, the United States had a severe shortage of medical doctors, and they were inviting overseas doctors to come. Even if they didn't speak English very well, I think in my school, we were the only Koreans. And I remember distinctly one day, my father calling me into his room, to his bedroom.
我非常感激我的父母。我的爸爸妈妈经历了朝鲜战争。他们只带了一个行李箱，揣着少量的钱，来到美国寻求更好的生活。但他们拥有的是医科博士的教育背景。那个时候，美国非常缺乏医生，因此他们邀请海外医生来这里。即便他们的英语说得不是特别好，我想在我的学校里，我们是唯一的韩国人。我清楚地记得，有一天我父亲把我叫到他的房间。
I was 12 years old at the time. That's the same age as my oldest son. I this point. And my father just sat me down and said, Hey, Eric, I need to have a talk with you. At that time, my father, with these intense tears in his eyes, told me, Eric, you're growing up now, you're 12 years old. You're about to become a teenager. And life is going to be hard because you're an Asian American, because you're Korean, because of the color of your hair, the color of your eyes, the shape of your eyes, the color of your skin. Life is going to be difficult. You will immediately be discounted.
我当时12岁，那是我大儿子现在的年龄。那时候，我父亲让我坐下，然后对我说：“嘿，Eric，我需要和你谈谈。” 那时，我的父亲眼中含着泪水，严肃地对我说：“Eric，你正在长大，现在已经12岁了，快要成为一名青少年。因为你是亚裔美国人，因为你是韩国人，因为你的头发颜色、眼睛颜色、眼睛形状和肤色，生活会很艰难。你会立刻被轻视。”
And I think part of this was my father's own experience in the workplace, facing racism there, or maybe some bias as well. But he understood that for me as an Asian American, that it was important for me to understand that because of that discount, he instilled in to me that we really needed to be 120%, 150% better, so to speak, to really compare with our peers who didn't have this Asian face or this background or so. And that really had a tremendous impact on my life in many ways. I felt a sense of urgency that I had to perform, that I had to just be better in many ways. That was a really important lesson.
我觉得这其中一部分原因是因为我父亲在工作中也曾经历过种族歧视，或者说某种偏见。他明白，作为亚裔美国人，我需要认识到因为这种偏见，而我们必须更加出色，他常常告诫我，我们要做到120%甚至150%优秀，才能与那些没有亚裔面孔或背景的同龄人相比。这对我生活的许多方面产生了深远的影响。我感到一种紧迫感，认为自己必须在各个方面表现得更好。这是一个非常重要的教训。
I think as I've grown up and as I've matured, I realized that in many ways, yes, that bias exists and yes, the prejudice exists and racism exists. And yes, education, hard work, all those elements were keys for me to be hopefully successful in life. Over time, what I've realized as well is that I also need to embrace and not always just perform for the sake of trying to be better itself. What if humility was a superpower? What if as myself, I could embrace that and not be afraid of that? That's something I'm really interested and excited about going forward to.
我觉得随着年龄的增长和心智的成熟，我意识到偏见和种族歧视确实存在。而且，教育和努力工作这些因素曾是我人生成功的重要钥匙。但随着时间的推移，我也认识到，我也需要学会接纳自己，而不仅仅是为了“变得更好”而努力表现。假如谦逊是一种超能力呢？假如我能坦然接受它并不再害怕它呢？这让我对未来感到非常感兴趣和兴奋。
As an undergrad, I had the opportunity when I was at Yale to also intern at McKinsey Company during the summer. So in 2002, I graduated from undergrad and I was expected to start at McKinsey right away. I eventually went back to McKinsey and I spent time there for two years as a business analyst and consultant. I learned a lot. I did a lot of global projects. I spent over six months in China. I spent time in Southeast Asia as well, spent time all over Europe. And so that really helped provide a global perspective, which is something you see in good water today as well.
在本科期间，我有机会在耶鲁大学学习的时候，于暑假期间在麦肯锡公司实习。所以在2002年，我本科毕业后，预期将立刻开始在麦肯锡工作。我最终回到了麦肯锡，在那里工作了两年，担任商业分析师和顾问。我学到了很多东西，参与了很多国际项目。我在中国工作了超过六个月，也在东南亚和欧洲各地有过工作经历。这些经历帮助我获得了全球视野，这也是你今天在优质水资源管理中可以看到的特点。
Then went to Stanford University in 2005 and that's where I met my co-founder, Chi Hwa Chihen, who was class of 2006. So we overlap for a year. So in 2007, I had the opportunity to join Maverick Capital. They were starting to build out their private and investing practice. And so myself and a gentleman named David Singer, we worked very closely together from 2007 to 2014. And during that time, we invested all over the world. And from early stage to late stage, we were part of the YC, Y-combinator, venture capital syndicate.
2005年，我去了斯坦福大学，在那里遇到了我的联合创始人池华，他是2006届的学生。所以我们有一年的时间重叠在一起。到2007年，我有机会加入Maverick Capital，他们当时正开始建立自己的私人和投资业务。我和一位名叫David Singer的先生在2007年至2014年期间密切合作。在此期间，我们在全球范围内进行投资，从早期到后期阶段，我们都是YC（Y Combinator）风险投资联盟的一部分。
So we invested in every single Y-combinator company to really late stage companies as well, pre-IPO companies too. And that really gave me a sense of the art and science of investing and really to adopt an investor mindset. Actually, our first deal in Korea was Kupong, it was March of 2011. And then soon after that, we invested in Kakao in their series A. Yeah, when we first invested in Kupong, they were the 28th social commerce company to launch in just South Korea itself.
我们投资了所有的 Y Combinator 公司，从早期到非常后期的公司，甚至是准备上市的公司。这让我对投资的艺术和科学有了更深刻的理解，也帮助我培养了投资者的思维方式。实际上，我们在韩国的第一个投资项目是 Kupong，那是在 2011 年 3 月。随后不久，我们在 Kakao 的 A 轮融资中进行了投资。当我们第一次投资 Kupong 时，他们已经是仅在韩国启动的第 28 家社交电商公司。
We launched a survey in South Korea. And we asked dozens of people asking them to compare Ticket Monster, We Make Price, Kupong, others, your retail experience as well. And over and over again, for specifically women in their 20s, 30s, they loved Kupong because of their customer service. Why was that so important? Was because it then created loyalty that if you had really, really strong customer service, consumers would come back to you because they knew that they would be treated well.
我们在韩国进行了一个调查，我们询问了几十个人，让他们比较Ticket Monster、We Make Price、Kupong等平台，以及他们的购物体验。结果一次又一次地显示，特别是对于20多岁和30多岁的女性，她们非常喜欢Kupong，因为他们的客户服务。这么重要的原因是什么呢？因为强大的客户服务能够创造顾客忠诚度，如果消费者知道自己会受到良好的待遇，他们就会再次选择这个平台。
And that was a strong philosophy that Kupong had from the first aid was how do you wow your end customer? If you are doing something that the market generally agrees with, that is a really hard way to make a profitable investment because the rest of the markets are already there. You have to have some kind of contrarian or differentiated insight. And usually that's through some kind of primary research that you've done that no one else has done itself.
这是Kupong从一开始就坚持的一个强有力的理念：你该如何让你的最终客户感到惊喜？如果你所做的事情是市场普遍认可的，那么盈利是很困难的，因为市场上的其他人已经在那里了。你需要有一些与众不同的或相反的见解。通常，这种见解是通过你独立完成的，其他人没有进行过的某种基础研究得到的。
And that was a key to making that investment back in 2011. Kakao is a really interesting story. I'm very thankful to Han Kim, who's a very close mentor and friend of mine that helped introduce me to the company. Prior to that, we had an overall thesis about mobile, the power of smartphones, and this whole transition away from desktop to mobile computing and how there are opportunities for gaming, for commerce, for communications to happen on mobile.
这就是我们在2011年进行投资的关键。Kakao是一个非常有趣的故事。我非常感激韩金，他是我一个非常亲近的导师和朋友，他帮助我认识了这家公司。在那之前，我们有一个关于移动市场的整体理念，认为智能手机的力量以及从桌面电脑向移动计算的过渡，会在移动设备上为游戏、商业和通信带来很多机会。
And we were looking for that killer app. What prompted me to really become interested in Kakao and to seek out the company was a really close friend of mine actually was visiting from South Korea at the time. That person had a Samsung smartphone and I asked her why did you buy the Samsung smartphone? And she said so I could use Kakao. It actually saved her money. At the time, every time you sent a text message, you were charged per text and Kakao made that free.
我们一直在寻找那个“杀手级应用”。促使我真正对Kakao产生兴趣并去了解这家公司的，是因为当时我有一个非常亲密的朋友正好从韩国来拜访我。那个人用的是三星智能手机，我问她为什么要买三星手机。她回答说，这是因为想用Kakao。这个应用实际上为她省了钱。当时，每发送一条短信都会收费，而Kakao使得这些短信免费发送。
Buying a smartphone, which was very expensive, that upfront cost was an investment to save money over time because it provided this core utility to everyone to be able to communicate for free. And that was an insight that it really struck me is that people were willing to buy $300, $400, $500 smartphones so they could just use Kakao because they were saving money on the other end of that. That love, that customer love was something we saw tremendous potential in.
购买智能手机虽然一开始花费巨大，但这种前期投入是一种长远来看能够省钱的投资，因为它为每个人都提供了免费沟通的基本功能。让我深刻感受到的是，人们愿意花300、400、500美元购买智能手机，只是为了能使用Kakao，因为这样可以在其他方面省钱。我们看到了这种客户热爱中蕴含的巨大潜力。
So I remember approaching the CEO, the founder, the management team at Kakao. Once I got introduced, I remember flying to South Korea and practicing the night before presenting in Korean and the next day. Actually, when I visited the Kakao headquarters and there was only like 20 people, I remember pitching in Korean to the team there. They weren't pitching me. I made this whole presentation about our thesis and the research we had done, all of the consumers we had talked to.
我记得当时去接触了Kakao的CEO、创始人和管理团队。在被介绍之后，我飞往韩国，并在演讲的前一天晚上和第二天用韩语练习。实际上，当我拜访Kakao总部时，那时候公司只有大约20个人。我记得我用韩语向他们团队做了一个提案，而不是他们向我推销。我为他们准备了整场关于我们的理论、我们所做的研究以及我们与消费者的交流的演示。
It was in Korean so I'm sure it was terrible and it was with a lot of stuttering. They were maybe were impressed by that and they were willing to take our capital early on. But we really saw not from the outside in but through the consumer voice, the love for the product. I remember at the time there's a lot of people who thought that investment in Kakao was crazy. Maybe even some of the early team members were quite sure about the future.
这段话的意思是：“当时是用韩语交流的，所以可以肯定交流很糟糕，话里还有很多结结巴巴。也许正因为如此，他们才对我们留下了深刻印象，并愿意早期接受我们的资金。但我们真正看到的不是从外部观察到的，而是通过消费者的声音感受到大家对产品的热爱。我记得那时候有很多人认为投资Kakao是个疯狂的决定。甚至一些早期团队成员也对未来感到不确定。”
But when we talk to consumers, when we talk to people who actually use the product, they loved it so so much. Oftentimes one of the things I love to do when I go to cities, whether it's London or New York, I just like to hang out in the subway. You can see what apps they're using, just the color of the icons they're using. And when you go to Korea, a lot more people were starting to use this yellow icon, Kakao.
但是当我们和消费者交流时，当我们和真正使用产品的人交谈时，他们非常非常喜欢它。 我常常喜欢做的一件事就是当我去城市旅行时，不管是伦敦还是纽约，我喜欢在地铁里闲逛。 你可以看到他们在用什么应用，光看图标的颜色就能知道。 而当你去韩国时，会发现越来越多的人开始使用这个黄色图标的应用——Kakao。
And then you would talk to them, why did they use it? I can save money. I can communicate with my friends. There's a group chat that becomes my community. And so that was our key insight is that you could scale this and create a powerful network effect that as more people got onto the platform, they'll benefit all the pre-existing users as well.
然后你会问他们：“你们为什么使用它？”他们可能会回答：“我可以省钱。我可以和朋友交流。这里有一个群聊，成为了我的社群。”因此，我们的关键发现是，这种情况可以扩大规模，形成强大的网络效应。随着更多人加入这个平台，所有先前的用户也会从中受益。
That's a really powerful phenomenon that increases retention that as more people get onto the product, the product gets better. How many of those can you name? There are very, very few companies that do that. And so once we saw that insight, we felt a very strong conviction to invest in the company. They were both very early stage deals, Series A for the Kakao and kind of Series A plus for Kupong.
这是一种非常强大的现象，它提高了用户留存率：随着更多人使用产品，产品本身会变得更好。你能说出多少这样的公司？这样的公司非常少见。因此，当我们意识到这一点时，我们对投资这家公司产生了强烈的信心。当时它们都处于早期阶段，Kakao是A轮融资，而Kupong则是介于A轮和后续轮次之间的融资。
The returns were massive on kind of a venture scale, kind of the 100x, 300x type scales. I think most venture capital firms in my experience do great work, but they don't necessarily have a strong sense of mission. And that's what was important to us when we started Goodwater, was to have a really clear mission statement again to empower exceptional entrepreneurs everywhere to change the world for good. Goodwater had a tremendous impact on the venture capital ecosystem because we changed the mindset to go from an eco-centric mindset where you have individual venture capitalists being celebrated for how much money they made. Shifting that, there's nothing wrong with that, but shifting it more to a mindset of how can we as a venture capital industry have a positive impact itself.
收益非常巨大，属于风险投资的规模，大致是100倍到300倍的类型。我认为，大多数风险投资公司在我的经验中都表现出色，但它们不一定有很强的使命感。而当我们创立Goodwater时，我们认为重要的是再次制定一个非常明确的使命宣言，即支持全球杰出的企业家改变世界、创造美好。Goodwater对风险投资生态系统产生了巨大影响，因为我们改变了心态，从一种以生态为中心的思维转变过来，过去常常是庆祝个别风险投资家的盈利能力。对此并无不妥，但我们更专注于如何让整个风险投资行业本身能带来积极影响。
If Goodwater, many, many years from now, is known for that. Capital is a really, really valuable resource that you have to steward. And that's why we're called Goodwater. We think water is similar to the technology capital. Water is the source of life for every living organism, but the lack of water or too much water can lead to destruction itself. And technology capital is the exact same thing. That you have to steward it. It can be the source for so much positive influence in the world, but it can also be used for not so good things too. That technology capital isn't always the source of goodness in the world too. So we want to be the Goodwater in the venture capital ecosystem.
如果很多很多年后，Goodwater 因这个而闻名，我们会感到自豪。资本是一种非常非常宝贵的资源，需要我们小心管理。这就是我们为什么叫 Goodwater 的原因。我们认为水与科技资本类似。水是所有生物生命的源泉，但缺水或水过多都会导致灾难。科技资本也是如此，需要我们管理好。它可以成为世界上很多正面影响的源头，但也可能被用在不那么好的事情上。因此科技资本并不总是世界上美好的来源。因此我们希望在风险投资生态系统中成为那“好水”。
We also thought that the world didn't need another venture capital firm. There are so many great venture capital firms out there: Sequoia, benchmark, you know, Excel partners. There are so many great venture capital firms out there. The world didn't need necessarily another venture capital firm. But what if you could create a venture capital firm that was not only mission oriented, but focused on consumer internet, consumer technology itself? A lot of venture capital firms at the time and still today diversified away from consumer tech. They went to enterprise SaaS, or security, or hardware, or climate tech, or biotech.
我们原本也认为，世界不需要再多一家风险投资公司。市场上已经有很多优秀的公司，如红杉资本、Benchmark和Accel Partners等非常杰出的风投公司。所以，世界未必需要再多一家风险投资公司。但是，如果可以建立一家风险投资公司，不仅有明确的使命导向，而且专注于消费互联网和消费技术本身，会怎么样呢？当时以及现在，许多风险投资公司已经不再仅关注消费技术领域，他们转向了企业SaaS、安全、硬件、气候技术或者生物技术等领域。
If you think about the best venture capital firms where they started was by investing in companies like Google, like Amazon, like eBay. Six out of the eight largest companies in the world are all consumer tech companies, like Facebook as well. Not only are there great equity returns there, but if you own that end customer relationship, then you can create so much innovation that backward integrates all the way into the enterprise as well. So we had this thesis that consumer technology, consumer internet was incredibly powerful, that owning those end customer relationships was very powerful.
如果你考虑一下那些顶尖的风险投资公司，它们的起步往往是投资于像谷歌、亚马逊和eBay这样的公司。全球最大的八家公司中有六家都是消费科技公司，比如Facebook。这些公司不仅能带来丰厚的股权回报，而且如果你拥有终端客户关系，就可以创造出很多创新，这种创新可以反向整合到企业内部。因此，我们有一个观点认为，消费科技和消费互联网具有极大的影响力，而掌握这些终端客户关系也非常重要。
That would span not just social networking, not just e-commerce, but that would span also financial services, healthcare, education. All these big industries would be increasingly consumerized because you could own those end customer relationships through digital technology. That was our big thesis when we started the firm in 2014. At Goodwater, our philosophy is that investing is both an art and a science. And so we leverage our technology and our software to get to the truth of the science part as quickly as possible.
这不仅仅涉及到社交网络和电子商务，还涵盖了金融服务、医疗健康和教育等领域。所有这些大型行业都会越来越倾向于消费者化，因为可以通过数字技术来掌握与最终客户的关系。这是我们在2014年创立公司时的主要理念。在Goodwater，我们的投资理念是：投资既是一门艺术，也是一门科学。因此，我们利用技术和软件尽快揭示科学部分的真相。
Of our 65, 66 person team, two thirds of that team are actually data scientists, product managers, engineers. And since day one, we've been building an infrastructure, a software layer to enable us to look at consumer technology companies. So we find so much value in looking at the data being able to have this infrastructure to see companies on a global basis. We track over 10 million companies in real time. So we have very, very accessible reports, consumer research, analytics, benchmarks that allow us to understand a company we think better than any other firm.
在我们拥有65或66人的团队中，有三分之二实际上是数据科学家、产品经理和工程师。从第一天起，我们就一直在构建一个基础设施和软件层，以便能够观察消费科技公司。因此，我们觉得能够拥有这个用来从全球角度分析公司的基础设施非常有价值。我们实时追踪了超过1000万家公司，因此我们的报告、消费者研究、分析和基准数据非常容易获取，使我们能够比其他任何公司更好地了解企业。
Because we have so much data around it and we know how to apply it. So when we see a new opportunity to invest in, we're very quickly able to assess, is this company best in class not only on growth, but also retention, customer love, what's their differentiation, all the hard science of investing. We've really locked into a very strong process and a platform itself. What's as important and goes with it is the art part. And that's really understanding the entrepreneur, understanding that person's will and desire to win.
我们拥有大量相关数据，并且知道如何应用这些数据。因此，当我们遇到新的投资机会时，我们可以很快评估出这家公司是否在增长方面是首屈一指的，不仅如此，还要看它们的客户保留率、客户的喜爱程度、差异化优势，以及所有投资领域的硬性科学。我们已经建立了一个非常完善的流程和平台。同样重要的是艺术部分，那就是深入了解创业者，以及了解其取胜的意志和愿望。
That person's desire to have impact itself. By taking all the science and being able to really get to truth as quickly as possible, then you can spend a lot more time on spending time with the entrepreneur, understanding their motivations, understanding what their long-term goal is, their vision for the company. So if you have seven days in a week, it'd be an old process that used to take six days in the week to do all the science and then you have one day to maybe understand the soft part or the art. We've reversed that. It takes one day to understand the science part of it. The analytics, all the components that you can have, software and our data platform really understand very quickly and spend the other six days to really understand the entrepreneur.
那个的人渴望产生影响力。他们通过快速掌握所有科学事实，迅速接近真相，这样就可以有更多的时间与企业家交流，了解他们的动机，明确他们的长期目标和公司愿景。假设一周有七天，以前的流程可能需要花六天时间去处理所有的科学问题，然后仅有一天来了解企业家的软技能或艺术方面。而我们已经颠倒了这个过程。现在仅需一天就能了解科学部分，通过我们的数据平台和软件快速分析，剩下的六天就可以真正深入了解企业家。
Can we partner with this person? They have a similar philosophy around putting the company first. Are they open to feedback, doing reference checks deeply? Those soft elements of what makes for a great entrepreneur, we're able to spend the vast majority of time because of this dual approach between art and science. And so that's been the hard tool of good water since day one and something we continue to innovate on too. We interview a lot of venture capital associates, VPs, principals and partners. One of our screening criteria, if you want to be famous, this is not the place for you. The Goodwater approach is one that is obsessed with finding generational companies that will have tremendous impact.
我们可以与这个人合作吗？他们有着和我们类似的理念，都是以公司为先。他们是否愿意接受反馈意见，深入进行背景调查？这些软性特质是成就优秀企业家的关键所在。由于我们兼具艺术与科学的双重方法，我们可以将绝大部分时间投入其中。这一直是Goodwater自成立以来的核心工具，也是我们不断创新的领域。我们会采访许多风险投资的助理、副总裁、负责人和合伙人。我们筛选的标准之一就是：如果你想着出名，这里不适合你。Goodwater的方法执着于寻找能够产生巨大影响的跨时代公司。
One from that I admired greatly is Sequoia Capital and they had this saying that they were just one way if they just missed one great deal, then that would lead them to potentially being a mediocre firm. And so they had this obsession with finding great companies. If that is someone's singular purpose, if that is their obsession as well, which is to find great companies and to invest in them, that's what we look for in young venture capital. And I think that's what young people who are looking to get into venture capital should ask themselves, is this something that I'm really obsessed with that I would go the ends of the earth tube.
我非常钦佩红杉资本，他们总是说，如果错过了一次重大投资机会，就可能使他们沦为平庸的公司。所以，他们非常专注于寻找优秀的公司。如果一个人的唯一目的也是如此，就是寻找并投资于伟大的公司，那么这就是我们在年轻风险投资者中寻找的品质。我认为，那些想进入风险投资行业的年轻人应该问自己：我是否对这一领域充满热情？是否愿意为此付出一切努力？
I will fly over 200,000 plus miles, going back and forth to countries to visit entrepreneurs. It's a really hard lifestyle. It's not glamorous, but you do it because you love it that you are obsessed with finding that insight about a company that will lead to investment that no one else in the world might see. And if that's something that young people really want to do and they're willing to put in the hard work to have the discipline, it's like playing a sport. You have to be like an athlete. You have to be able to invest in your craft day in, day out, and get incrementally better every week.
我将飞行超过20万英里，不断往返于各国访问企业家。这是一种非常辛苦的生活方式，并不光鲜亮丽，但你之所以愿意这样做，是因为你热爱这份工作，对找到那些可能引领投资的企业洞察充满热情，而这些洞察可能是世界上其他人都看不到的。如果年轻人真的想要从事这项工作，并愿意投入大量的努力和纪律，那么这就像在练习一项运动。你需要像运动员一样，每天都投入到你的专业中去，不断努力，每周取得一点进步。
And it's not something that will ever be handed to you. Maybe some venture capitalists just get lucky. That's certainly possible. But to sustain a franchise and to sustain a career over the long term, it really takes a lot of discipline, hard work, and an intensity that is driven by a passion to find and invest in great companies and support them throughout the life cycle of growth. I teach a class on this at various institutions, but how do you have an investor mindset that is A able to see the big picture? Always having that big picture, that home run vision in your mind.
这不是轻易能得到的东西。也许有些风险投资者只是很幸运，这当然有可能。但要长期维持一个企业的成功并发展自己的职业生涯，确实需要很大的纪律、努力工作和由激情驱动的投入，去寻找并投资伟大的公司，并在整个增长周期中支持它们。我在多所机构教授这门课程，但怎样才能具备投资者的思维方式，能够看到宏观全局呢？始终在头脑中有一个宏大的愿景。
B, understand what are the key components that allows that to come true? What do you have to believe for that big vision to come true? C, understand what are the key risks to those? And being able to D, then research those and underwrite those risks and ultimately E, taking a leap of faith that allows you to put it all together to have conviction in your ideas. Whether you're an investor or whether you're a founder, having those key components and being able to break it down, I think having this mindset for the key decisions you need to make is something that we talk about internally.
B. 理解实现这一愿景的关键因素是什么？为了让这个宏伟愿景成真，你需要相信什么？C. 明白这些因素面临的主要风险是什么？D. 然后研究并评估这些风险，并最终E. 做出一个信念的飞跃，让你能够将一切结合在一起，对自己的想法充满信心。无论你是投资者还是创业者，拥有这些关键因素并能够进行拆解是非常重要的。我认为，在做出关键决策时，拥有这种思维方式是我们内部常常讨论的话题。
We certainly teach it for our investors. And also, I think great CEOs also have this investor mindset too, because they're doing capital allocation and they're making decisions. So how do you go through that framework and be able to follow it and then also know when not to follow it? When do you know to break the rules too? That's really where the poetry comes up, that you can able to innovate and create new things when you're able to have exceptions. But to do that, you actually have to know the frameworks and the rules first. We preach both that the frameworks are really helpful, but also really importantly, knowing when to break the rules too is really important too.
我们当然会为我们的投资者教授这一点。而且我认为优秀的首席执行官也具备这种投资者思维，因为他们在进行资本配置和决策。那么，你如何运用这个框架，并能够遵循它，同时也知道什么时候不应该遵循它？你怎么知道什么时候打破规则呢？这正是灵感迸发的地方，当你能够灵活应对时，你可以创新和创造新事物。但要做到这一点，你需要先了解框架和规则。我们既强调框架的重要性，也强调认识到何时打破规则的重要性。