ZenPayroll改名为Gusto，向福利业务拓展，追Zenefits 的节奏？
（HRTechChina编辑部 9月24日报道）
ZenPayroll正式改名为Gusto。
人工处理工资单很容易犯错，这一直以来都是企业者的心头痛，ZenPayroll这家创业公司要帮业主做好这一业务。然而ZenPayroll突然宣布其将改名，并把其业务向福利方向拓展。
首席执行官乔希 · 里维斯透露到，我们早就意识到会改名，在公司发展到第三个月的时候我们就知道会这么做。
里维斯告诉BI团队选择 ZenPayroll 作为其初始名称的来由：眼看就只有二天我们产品要在 [Y Combinator] 演示了，在这之前我们需要打印t 恤（所以就取了这么个名字并且决定以后要改？！）。
不过新名称， 里维斯说，我们也想了好久，最后受服务对象启发而起了这个名字。
公司总部位于 San Francisco，目前业务包括提供一个基于云计算的系统来自动执行税款计算和支付薪金。其基于 web 的服务已经在超过 20,000 的小型企业得到使用。
当它还没改名（还是叫 ZenPayroll ）的时候，公司的目标是帮助 600 万美国的小企业— — 像花店、 教堂和沙龙— — 解决工资条的问题 ，要知道在过去这些机构的工资条通常是由人工完成。
但在上周四公司还宣布，它将推出健康福利和工人赔偿等企业服务，这样雇主和雇员可以使用他们的一站式系统满足他们基于补偿的一切需求。“回看 2012 年我们种子轮融资文件，你会发现我们从一开始就打算这么做，包括福利这一内容，现在我很兴奋把这一计划与公众分享。”
在Gusto的平台上，员工可以访问和管理他们的福利和工资信息。基于已有企业的工资数据里, 夫斯说，它们可以完美实现与福利的无缝对接。
Gusto和 Zenefits在过去曾密切合作过，不过现在这一公告似乎证实了早些时候两家公司成为对手的报告。早在本周前BuzzFeed曾报道Zenefits（一家估值45亿美元的福利管理公司）正开发新系统用于处理工资条，而现在，Gusto打算闯入福利这一领域。
今年早些时候公司宣布了 其6000 万美元 B轮融资（此轮融资由谷歌资本领投），而今估值已达5亿6千万美元。公司每年要处理数十亿美元的工资单，业务遍及美国各大州。公司现有员工约 250 人，和里夫斯说，未来几个月我们还会招募300员工。Gusto除了在 San Francisco 有个办公室外，还在丹佛市另开设了一间办公室。
早期2000 万美元A轮融资的投资方包括支付公司Stripe，Evernote（印象笔记），Eventbrite（在线活动策划服务平台），Instagram （图片社交网络）和 WordPress 的首席执行官，阿什顿 · 库彻、 贾里德 · 莱托以及PayPal, Nest, Mint, Twitter, and Reddit等科技公司创始人均参与此次投资。
（图片来源Inc）
以下为Gusto创始人关于ZenPayroll改名的一封邮件：
Today is a big day for the whole ZenPayroll community.
ZenPayroll is now Gusto.
When we founded the company in 2011, our core belief was that people are the most important part of every business. Four years later, we believe it even more strongly, as we’ve grown to serve tens of thousands of businesses across all 50 states.
We are on a mission to help businesses everywhere put employees first. Today, we’re taking another step towards accomplishing this mission by launching health benefits and workers’ compensation services that make employers’ lives easier, and enable employees to do the best work of their lives.
Our new name Gusto was inspired by our customers and their teams who show courage and passion in the work they do every day. When you work on something you care about, with people you enjoy spending time with, it’s an amazing feeling. That energy. That oomph. That’s Gusto. We believe everyone has the potential to feel this way at work.
HEALTH BENEFITS AND WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
Today, we are also launching two incredible new services: health benefits and workers’ comp. These services are fully integrated with payroll, which removes a tremendous amount of unnecessary manual effort for business owners. Most importantly, both employers and employees can now onboard and manage all forms of compensation in one modern product.
This is just the beginning. We exist to serve our customers. Helping them build great businesses and put their employees first is what motivates us every day. In the coming months and years, we’ll continue to add exciting ways to make employers’ and employees’ lives better. Stay tuned.
Please reach out if you have any questions for us. We’d love to hear from you.
Josh, Tomer and Eddie
Co-founders of Gusto
手把手教你做一家 “2 万亿” 美元的教育公司
编者按：互联网的普及，创造了互联网教育平台，移动端的出现，带来了在线教育；现在越来越多的创业者把目光放在教育行业。
尽管它比较热门，但真正成功的公司还是比较少的，在成功的案例中，其中2U 教育公司去年以 5 亿美元的估值正式上市，另一个不太出名的教育公司EdTech去年的市场资本额已达 15 亿美元；另外，在线教育平台Lynda以 15 亿美元被LinkedIn收购。教育创业公司如何发展？如何塑造未来估值可达 “2 万亿” 美元的成功企业？投资人 Mahesh Vellanki谈了他关于教育创业公司未来发展的看法。
就美国而言，每年在教育行业的投资可达 1.6 万亿美元，其中政府投资可达 1 万亿美元，K12 教育市场和高等教育市场资本额分别为 6880 亿美元和 5350 亿美元。尽管拥有大量的资金支持，但教育行业的现状和创业公司的发展都不容乐观。
教育行业现状
1、贫困家庭学生大学入学和学费压力
学费上涨，教育变得越来越昂贵，贫苦家庭和学生早已负担不起。
2、失业率上涨
教育成本变高，但学生数量并没有减少，就业压力依旧巨大，失业率近些年呈上涨趋势。
3、过时的学习模式
现阶段大学的学习模式已经延续了几百年，大都是照本宣科，创新能力较低。根据现在社会的发展来看，这种模式已经过时，不适合培养当代人才。
我们要做什么？
纵观当下的教育行业，会发现在 K12、高等教育和成人教育类别中出现了很多的创业公司，他们会为教育行业的发展带来新的希望。
未来发展的想法
我认为对于教育行业的创业公司来讲，2U 公司和 Lynda 公司是一个可以借鉴的成功案例。2U 专注于提供名校在线学位课程，它与美国名牌大学达成合作，为学生提供虚拟课堂服务，为大学提供工具、技能、资金等来帮助大学管理在线教育项目，同步大学教学课程。而 Lynda 是一开始就使用收费订阅，打造丰富优质的教学课程，让用户养成付费阅读的习惯。
与其他教育机构合作。在公司固有结构的基础上与学校等其他教育结构达成合作，借用其生源优势和影响力。
学习硅谷客户营销策略。树立产品观念，通过免费商业模式以及病毒式传播等方式扩大影响力，增加客户群。
基础内容建设。对于一些初创公司，最根本的还是要通过技术和服务建立丰富教育资源，内容为王。完善公司即教育平台的基础性服务。
教育行业的创业公司更多依靠着网络，优化网络技术平台，为在线教育提供技术支持。
未来教育会变成什么样？
在这里让我大胆的预测一下：
· 学习成果优先化。
· 教育结构的规模变大。
· 去大众化，更多 “个人核心” 内容。
· 减少人力教师，利用技术和自动化教学。
· 远程学习和在线课程将成为解决教学问题的主要模式。
而这些情况则需要当下的教育创业公司来实现，他们的成功将改变教育的模式。
本文来源：编译自Mahesh VC
How Startups Are Shaping The Future Of The $2 Trillion Education Industry
Education is the second largest industry in the US following healthcare. Yet despite it’s gargantuan size, start-ups have had a difficult time navigating it and achieving success. One of the few recent success stories is 2U (in Redpoint’s portfolio), a company that partners with top colleges and universities to bring their degree programs online. 2U went public at a half billion dollar valuation last year and has quietly traded up to $1.5B in market cap – it’s one of the biggest EdTech companies that you have never heard of. Separately, online learning platform Lynda.com was acquired by LinkedIn for $1.5B.
I want to see more case studies like 2U and Lynda in other areas of education. While the US was once the clear leader in global education, that is no longer the case in the K-12 sector – the largest of the education markets – with fears that the post-secondary sector may soon follow down that path.
There is $1.6 trillion spent annually in the US on education, and $5.5 trillion globally. The government alone spends $1 trillion. The US K-12 market and US post-secondary markets (both public and private funding combined) are $688 billion and $535 billion in size, respectively. To tackle this market, start-ups have also raised a fair amount from venture investors – $320 million in 2009 and approaching $2B in 2015. It’s easy to throw around big numbers, but what’s really going on?
Key Problems and Trends in Education
1) Enrollment and pricing pressure on universities due to families’ inability to pay
Following the financial crisis, there has been a 39% decline in family net worth. Student loan debt has also been steadily rising, reaching about $30k on average today. Education is already expensive but it is becoming increasingly difficult for students and families to pay up.
2) Growing budgetary pressure to find cheaper solutions
Annual spend by educational institutions has increased as a percentage of GDP every year. Despite all of the increased spend, the US Department of Education, State, and Federal departments have all been facing budget cuts. At least 34 states are providing less funding per student for the 2013-2014 school year than they did before the recession hit. There is also growing regulatory pressure for better student outcomes and analytics.
3) Poor educational outcomes despite increasing expenditures and student debt
The unemployment curve today, particularly for younger people, is far worse than when compared to pre-financial crisis. Institutions are receiving less government funding and as a result students have to pay more. Adding in poor job placement to the mix is basically adding salt to the wounds.
4) Inefficient and bureaucratic organizational structures
It is just plain hard to weed through the bureaucratic and organizational mess that is education. Start-ups have to figure out how to navigate existing processes, deal with compliance, find the right budgets and decision makers, and determine the proper go-to-market strategies.
5) Antiquated learning models
Our current learning model, i.e. college degrees, textbooks, learning pedagogy, etc are all antiquated. Most of our institutional learning was developed a couple hundred years ago and has changed at a snail’s pace in regards to technology when compared to other industries. There are better ways to learn.
What Could The Future of Learning Look Like?
Let me take a stab at the future here (applies to both K-12 and post-secondary):
Outcomes-based learning will be front and center
Education will be more about mass customization versus today’s structured and regimented learning
Less Common Core (wikipedia), more “individual core”
Focus on adaptive learning in capsules rather than a one-size-fits-all approach (Altschool is a good example)
Rather than teachers lecturing a class, they will instead employ a hybrid model where the teacher shepherds the learning process and leverages technology and automation in the classroom
Vast amounts of data will be created which will reinforce the mass customization element
Distance learning and online programs will solve issue of university saturation (colleges have fairly static enrollment supply while student demand keeps increasing)
So How Are We Doing Today?
There are many interesting start-ups going after K-12, post-secondary, and adult learning categories. Below are some of the main segments:
Parting Thoughts
I could argue that some of the recent start-up successes have gotten to where they are by focusing on adult learning, that is, totally ignoring K-12 and post-secondary where the go-to-markets are quite challenging. Companies like Pluralsight, Lynda, Udemy and General Assembly come to mind. Still, there are promising young start-ups attacking the existing education industry such as ClassDojo, Remind101, Instructure, AltSchool, Clever and Brighbytes (and 2U). Some of these companies have done a particularly brilliant job of solving specific problems for end users by leveraging Silicon Valley consumer tech lessons to juice their go-to-market strategies (i.e. thinking product-first, freemium distribution, viral hooks, etc). In any case, it is still early days and I expect to see iconic companies built in educational content, software, infrastructure and services.
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