????領(lǐng)導力內(nèi)部網(wǎng)絡(luò)是邀請最有智慧、最具影響力的商界人士及時回答職業(yè)與領(lǐng)導力問題的在線社區(qū)。本期我們的問題是“你會給打算創(chuàng)業(yè)的人提什么建議？”以下為Hearsay Social創(chuàng)始人兼CEO史宗瑋的回答。

????如今的硅谷（我就住在那里），似乎人人都想創(chuàng)業(yè)。但創(chuàng)建一家公司遠不止一個創(chuàng)意那么簡單。你需要為之付出心血、汗水和淚水，要對創(chuàng)業(yè)達到癡迷的程度。事實上，成為創(chuàng)業(yè)者絕非易事。5年前離開銷售軟件公司Salesforce.com創(chuàng)建Hearsy Social，是我迄今為止做過的最艱難但也是最好的決定。要放棄大公司的舒適工作，開始白手起家，需要有非凡的勇氣和堅定的信念。對此，我從未后悔。

????對于準備冒險一試的人，我可以保證，創(chuàng)業(yè)將給你帶來前所未有的回報。下面是我在創(chuàng)業(yè)過程中總結(jié)的幾條最重要的經(jīng)驗：

????做好犧牲的準備

????初創(chuàng)公司要想成功，必須克服重重困難。最初，除了自己的能力與資源，你一無所有。顯然，所有公司都比你的公司規(guī)模更大，經(jīng)營時間更長，比你更加成熟。要想取得勝利，你必須力爭上游，而這需要你努力工作，付出大量的時間。除此之外，沒有捷徑。

????公司成立后的第一年，所有人都在不分晝夜地工作。最初，我們在我的客廳里通宵工作，后來有了第一間辦公室，我們會在凌晨三點回家，甚至就在辦公室過夜。根本不存在病假或休假。那段時間，我錯過了朋友們的生日，這讓我非常遺憾。除了與同事之間的交流，我停止了一切社交活動。我還必須盡快讓自己坦然接受在不確定的時間內(nèi)沒有薪水的現(xiàn)狀。每一位創(chuàng)業(yè)者需要做出的犧牲也有所不同，但可以確定的是，犧牲是不可避免的。成功需要專注，而專注則意味著取舍。

????明智地選擇合伙人

????評估、吸引和建立與聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人、早期員工和投資者之間可靠的工作關(guān)系，是決定成敗的關(guān)鍵。我很幸運能與好朋友、斯坦福大學的同學史蒂夫?加里蒂一起創(chuàng)建Hearsay Social公司。有人一起交流想法，討論重大決定和交換不同意見，能讓創(chuàng)業(yè)新人受益匪淺。十多年的友誼為我們奠定了信任的基礎(chǔ)，讓我們可以自由地辯論，相互扶持地度過所有初創(chuàng)公司都需要經(jīng)歷的情緒過山車。

????初期重要崗位的招聘也會決定公司的命運。Hearsay的第一名員工在公司身兼數(shù)職，最近前往倫敦，組建和領(lǐng)導Hearsay Social的歐洲團隊。另外一名早期員工最初擔任客戶成功經(jīng)理，后來負責運營客戶成功部門，數(shù)月前飛赴香港組建亞洲團隊。創(chuàng)始團隊與早期員工將決定公司的文化。在Hearsay，我們很早便確定了公司的三條核心價值觀：1) 幫助客戶實現(xiàn)長期的成功，2) 團隊合作，3) 完成任務(wù)。從成立至今，我們一直在基于這三條價值觀進行招聘和人才培養(yǎng)，實現(xiàn)員工的自我強化。公司在整個發(fā)展過程中始終需要有強大的合伙人與員工，但在初期尤為重要。

????關(guān)注客戶

????許多公司都在談?wù)摽蛻舫晒?，但有多少公司能真正始終將客戶放在首位？Hearsay最引以為豪的時刻之一是在今年早些時候。當時，我們的一位客戶，來自一家《財富》百強公司的CEO，在公司1月份的立項活動上發(fā)表演說，聲稱要將Hearsay視為合作伙伴，而不是供應(yīng)商。這家公司由CEO和總經(jīng)理負責與Hearsay的關(guān)系，而不是采購部門。這是一種真正的合作伙伴關(guān)系，也是我們成功的關(guān)鍵。要達到這種程度的信任并不容易，這也是我們每天必須努力去實現(xiàn)的目標。

????事實上，幫助客戶實現(xiàn)成功這一理念，從公司創(chuàng)立至今也在不斷變化。在Hearsay創(chuàng)立之初，客戶成功意味著客戶有我的私人電話號碼。這意味著通宵修復代碼錯誤，以及其他需要極大的勇氣才能付諸實施的行動。如今，我們有全球客戶支持團隊，有一個1-800免費電話（謝天謝地?。?，還有一個確保產(chǎn)品質(zhì)量與網(wǎng)站可靠性的團隊。從諾德斯特龍和扎珀斯，到蘋果，再到客戶服務(wù)軟件開發(fā)商Zendesk，每一家成功的公司都有一個共同的特點：專注于為客戶做正確的事情，并使客戶滿意。從最開始便專注于為客戶或潛在客戶服務(wù)，成功也會水到渠成。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

????審校：任文科

????The Leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question “What advice would you give someone looking to start their own business?” is by Clara Shih, founder and CEO of Hearsay Social.

????In Silicon Valley (where I live) it can feel like anyone with an idea these days is starting a company. But building a business requires far more than an idea. It requires blood, sweat, and tears to the point of obsession. There is in fact nothing easy about being an entrepreneur. Leaving Salesforce.com five years ago to found Hearsay Social was one of the hardest but best decisions I’ve ever made. It took every ounce of courage and conviction to make the leap from a comfortable job at a big company to a completely blank slate. And I have never looked back.

????For those of you ready to take the plunge, I assure you there are few things in life as rewarding. Here are a few of the most important lessons I have picked up along the way:

????Be ready for sacrifice

????When startups succeed, they do so against all odds. In the beginning, you have nothing except for your own talents and resources. By definition, everyone else is bigger, further along, and more established than you. To win, you have to swim upstream early on–and that requires hard work and long hours. There are no shortcuts.

????Our first year in particular was marked by long days and nights that often blurred together. We pulled all-nighters in my living room, and then when we got our first office, we would go home at three in the morning or often just spend the night. There were no sick days or vacations. I regret missing my friends’ birthdays during this time. I stopped socializing altogether except with coworkers. I also had to get comfortable and adapt quickly to not having a salary for an indefinite amount of time. The specific areas of sacrifice are different for each entrepreneur, but there is always sacrifice of one form or another. Success requires focus, and focus is about tradeoffs.

????Choose your partners wisely

????The ability to evaluate, attract, and build strong working relationships with cofounder(s), early employees, and investors often means the difference between success and failure. I was incredibly fortunate to co-found Hearsay Social with longtime friend and Stanford classmate, Steve Garrity. As first-time entrepreneurs, it helped tremendously to bounce ideas and talk through big decisions and differing perspectives with one another. Our decade-long friendship provided a foundation of trust for us to debate as well as reassure one another through the inevitable emotional roller coaster that is part of every startup journey.

????Your key early hires will help determine the fate of your business, too. Hearsay’s first employee, has played multiple roles within the company and recently moved to London to start and head Hearsay Social Europe. Another early employee, started as a customer success manager, later ran our customer success department, and a few months ago moved to Hong Kong to launch our Asia office. The founding team and early employees establish the company culture. At Hearsay, we decided early on that we would value three things above all else: 1) long-term customer success, 2) teamwork and 3) getting stuff done. Since our founding, we have hired and promoted based on these values, which makes them self-reinforcing. The need for strong partners and employees persists throughout the life of a company, but it is especially important in the beginning.

????Obsess over your customer

????Many companies talk about customer success, but how many actually put the customer first above all else, always? One of Hearsay’s proudest moments happened earlier this year, when a customer of ours—the CEO of a Fortune 100company–spoke at our January kickoff event and said he views Hearsay as a partner, not a vendor. At this company, the CEO and general managers–rather than the procurement department–own the relationship with Hearsay. It is a true partnership and crucial to our success. This level of trust was not easy to achieve, and is something we must re-earn every day.

????In practice, enabling customer success has also evolved significantly since our founding days. Early on, customer success at Hearsay meant customers having my personal cell phone number. It meant pulling all-nighters to fix a bug in the code and other hero moves. Today, we have a global customer support team with a 1-800 number (thankfully!) and quality assurance and site reliability teams. From Nordstrom and Zappos to Apple and Zendesk, a focus on doing right by the customer and delighting her or him is what every successful company has in common. Obsess over your customer or would-be customer from the very beginning, and the rest will work itself out.