那些年風險投資教會我們的那些事

It's been more than a year and a half since I left Bessemer Venture Partners to join Pinterest. Since then, I've taken quite a few meetings and phone calls from junior VCs or MBAs asking about my transition from VC to operating. By far, the most common question I get from this bunch is something along the lines of, "Did you learn anything actually useful in VC?"

大約一年半前，我從柏尚風險投資公司（Bessemer Venture Partners）辭職加入了Pinterest。自那以來，我遇到過、也接到過一些年輕風投人或MBA們的電話，詢問我是從風投轉型到營運的心得。迄今爲止，我遇到過的最常見的問題大概就是“你從風投行業學到了什麼真正有用的東西？”

Yes.

是的，我們今天就來聊聊這個話題。

1. I learned how to ask the right questions. Anyone can ask questions. But learning how to ask the right questions -- to use questions as a mechanism to uncover the hidden truth in a company's business model, or the tradeoffs in an engineer's architecture, is something that comes with training. VCs spend a huge amount of their time asking questions, and thus learn the craft of asking the right ones. This skill has been enormously valuable to me as I transitioned to Pinterest.

1.我學會了提問。任何人都可以提問。但如何提問，並藉此發現一家公司商業模式的真相或者一位工程師架構的妥協，是需要一些訓練的。風投資本家花大量的時間提問，因此懂得如何問正確的問題。我轉型至Pinterest時，這項技能對我來說極其重要。

2. I learned how to read people. In my first performance review at Bessemer, people judgment was one of my weaknesses. I'd now say it's one of my strengths. As a VC, you're constantly meeting founders and building your pattern recognition for reading people. This skillset is particularly useful when you're in a business or corporate development role but, as with asking the right questions, it's one of those horizontal skills that will serve you anywhere.

2.我學會了識人。我在柏尚做第一次績效評估時，識人是我的一個弱點。現在，我可以說這是我的強項。風投資本家需要經常與創業者會面，需要建立自己的識人模式。處在商業或企業拓展職位時，這項技能特別有用。但正如提問一樣，這類橫向技能不管走到哪裏都能用得上。

3. I learned how to learn. In VC, you're constantly ramping up in a new area. Each company you evaluate comes with its own ecosystem that needs to be understood. Similarly, trends in the tech ecosystem turn over so quickly that, if you ever stop adapting and learning, you'll quickly become a dinosaur and won't know a Snapchat when you meet one. That drive to constantly learn will help you adapt to new environments and challenges.

3.我學會了學習。風投行業的人經常要硬着頭皮瞭解新的領域。你評估的每一家公司都有獨特的生態系統，需要你去了解。類似的，科技生態系統的趨勢變化這麼快，一旦停止適應和學習，人很快就會變成老古董，連什麼是Snapchat都不知道。這種持續學習的動力能幫助你適應新的環境和挑戰。

There's a flipside to these three though:

但這三點也存在另一面：

1. In startups, you've got to answer the questions. One thing I learned early on at Pinterest is that my muscle for asking questions was a lot stronger than my muscle for answering them. As with asking questions, there's an art to answering questions well. It's been good to exercise this skill.

1.在初創公司中，你必須回答問題。我在Pinterest很早就瞭解到的一件事是，我的提問能力遠超回答能力。和提問一樣，回答也是一門藝術。鍛鍊這項技能很重要。

2. I didn't learn how to read an organization. VC firms tend to be smaller partnerships. Although Bessemer was about 45 people when I left, I was never in an office with more than 10 people. As Pinterest has grown from 30-odd people when I joined to more than 200, I've had to learn how to navigate a company. People who have come from larger companies definitely have a leg up in this regard.

2.我不知道如何解讀一個組織。風投公司往往是規模較小的合夥企業。雖然在我離開時，柏尚已經有了大約45人，但每次我在辦公室裏時，辦公室裏從沒超過10個人。隨着Pinterest從我加入時的30多人發展到瞭如今的200多人，我必須學會如何理清公司的結構。來自大公司的人們在這方面當然比我強很多。

3. I'm not specialized. VCs rarely specialize. Sure -- I knew the e-commerce ecosystem cold, met with countless consumer companies, and quite a few adtech companies, but that doesn't compare to spending several years working at Google. But you've got to start somewhere ...

3.我沒有專長的領域。風投資本家很少專長某一領域。當然 -- 我很瞭解電子商務生態系統，我見識過大量的消費公司和廣告科技公司，但這都不比不上在谷歌（Google）工作幾年。但凡事總有個開始...

Good luck!

祝你好運！