商旅计划应用 Travo 获 240 万美元融资 Startup pitch: Travo raises $2.4M to simplify business travel
这家 base 在洛杉矶的出行应用 Travo 便将商旅预订流程化，通过数据分析，帮助商旅人士快速找到匹配的航班、食宿和本地交通，并且实现动态打包。
举例来说，一个人要在周四上午 10 点，在巴黎参加一个活动，下午 5 点结束，那么这里面需要的相关信息：
你知道什么时候达到和离开？
达到之后，你准备做什么？
你要住在哪里？
活动完结后，根据航班时间你什么时候赶赴机场？
总预算是多少，结合舒适度、价格、时间来看又是怎样？
而 Travo 得到这些信息之后，能够在一分钟左右构建你的出行行程。Travo 在 11月 上线了 beta 版本，目前仍是邀请制。
近日，Travo 也宣布完成 240 万美元种子融资，投资方包括 Great Oaks Ventures、Baroda Ventures、Valence Ventures、 TYLT Lab，以及个人投资人，包括高盛执行董事（managing director）Rob Sweeney ，IVP 投资 GP Dennis Phelps 等。
关于盈利模式，Travo 会跟 OTA 或者酒店等上游资源合作，达成利益分成。创始人 Tae Lee 预计，商旅市场目前能占到整个旅行市场的 1/3，他们只是初步聚焦在出行计划工具上面。
不过，Travo 在国外也会面临竞争对手，比如 NexTravel、Rocketrip以及潜在的 Expensify。另外还有 Cinch Travel 和30 Seconds to Fly 这样的小型公司。
本文参考：Tnooz.com 作者：孝羽，如若转载，请注明出处：http://36kr.com/p/5040725.html
以下是英文访谈：
A Q&A with Tae Lee, founder:
Tell us how you founded the company, why and what made you decide to jump in and create the business.
For many small businesses I’ve been a part of, signing up with a travel agency or a managed travel service is very low on the priority list.
At the same time, I’ve always felt that the gap for trip planning assistance between managed corporate travel vs. DIY leisure focused OTAs is too great. Even though I had no experience in the travel industry, I knew there was a significant market being underserved.
I’ve had successes with startups bringing innovation in a wide-range of industries. I’ve previously grown companies from 20 to 250 employees as the chief operator and been part of three successful exits in digital media, ad tech, and consumer electronics. So why not travel?
After all, the trait I saw for what determines an entrepreneur to bring disruptive technology to market has never been industry experience. More than anything, every successful startup I’ve been part of had one common trait: speed. Move fast, fail fast, and when something works, as Jeff Weiner would say, “next play”.
Size of the team, names of founders, management roles and key personnel?
Travo is comprised of 10 employees. Every employee is in product and/or engineering with a background in big data, game theory, and algorithms.
Funding arrangements?
We raised a $2.4 million funding round led by leading institutional and angel investors.
Estimation of market size?
Business Travel is approximately 1/3rd of travel – but we start with a much smaller segment of business travel. Our initial target market is focused on travel planners and travellers within a specific demographic we have yet to disclose.
Competition?
Short term, it’s everyone trying to make travel planning fast and easy. There are a LOT of solutions out there and we’ll learn from their successes and failures.
Long-term, our competitors are corporate travel agencies who currently help business travellers plan and book travel.
Although our product won’t be able to completely replicate the services offered by travel agents, we believe many travellers prefer to have control over their trips as long as it’s fast and easy.
Revenue model and strategy for profitability?
We have partnerships with some of the best OTAs and directly with brands in the hotel space. As we do not book on our site, we’re happy to pass along highly qualified traffic to our partners for commissions.
What problem does the business solve?
Let’s say you’re going to an event in Paris that starts at 10AM on a Tuesday and ends 5PM on a Wednesday. Now think about the logistics for that trip.
Do you know what day you need to leave to get there on time?
Once you’re there, how are you going to get around?
Where are you going to stay?
After your meetings, based on traffic conditions and your transportation, when are you going to need to leave to get to the airport on time so you don’t miss your flight?
How much is all this going to cost, and does it combine the right level of comfort, price, and timing that is in tune with a business trip?
With Travo, we can generate a scientifically calculated end-to-end itinerary in around a minute so you can feel confident in your trip planning.
How did the initial idea evolve and were there changes/any pivots along the way in the early stages?
We tested many features and even platforms at different stages of developing the product. In the beginning we started too wide and too feature heavy.
In fact, our first version of the product (which was completed in February) had more features than our product does today.
However, I believe this is a death sentence for many startups. In the beginning, nobody knows who you are. Which means, if it takes you longer than a sentence to describe what your product does, people tune out and don’t know what you really do.
Throughout all the changes and pivots we’ve made, the biggest realization we came to was determining we WON’T do.
For example, we don’t do post-booking itineraries like TripIt or Worldmate does. We don’t do bookings on our site because that would lead to a need for a massive customer service team (which is not our core competency).
We don’t do corporate travel restrictions and backend financial integrations that companies such as Egencia and many others are doing. Rather, we are partnering with the best companies who do these things extremely well.
Why should people or companies use the business?
We make business travel planning simple, fast, and cost effective.
What is the strategy for raising awareness and the customer/user acquisition (apart from PR)?
We’re going to be razor focused on a particular demographic of users. This means marketing at events that they attend, being where they are on the web, and offering promotions that encourage change in user behavior.
Where do you see the company in three years time and what specific challenges do you anticipate having to overcome?
We’re not interested in turning TRAVO into a nice little business. I think the investors and I started this company to shoot for the moon in what is arguably the largest and the most competitive industry.
So, in three years we’ll either be out of business or we’ll be one of the most successful startups in travel.
I’m obviously betting on the latter but it won’t be easy. The biggest challenge with any travel startup is customer acquisition and how much your spending to acquire that customer.
The other challenge comes after you’ve successfully acquired a customer to try your product – how you’re going to change user behavior?
What is wrong with the travel, tourism and hospitality industry that it requires a startup like yours to help it out?
I think “wrong” is a strong word as there’s pretty much a solution to any travel need at this point. Companies in this space have been around for a long time and have innovated a great deal.
However, there are parts of the travel industry that I think would benefit from applying more focus.
For us, that is helping business travellers with the actual planning of the trip before they make selections to book.
Logistically, it’s pretty complex piecing together a unique trip based on preferences of the traveller while simultaneously taking into account price, location and time requirements.
What other technology company (in or outside of travel) would you consider yourselves most closely aligned to in terms of culture and style… and why?
One of the companies I have a ton of respect for in the trip planning space is Roadtrippers. They have a fantastic road trip planning tool that is easy to use and like Travo, looks at your trip from start to finish and recalculates based on choices you make.
Developing this product, we can certainly appreciate how complex things are to make a product like that run smoothly.
I’m not sure how big the road-trip market segment is in the US, but these guys do 3+ million unique users per month. That’s a whole lot of Roadtrippers!
Which company would be the best fit to buy your startup?
Great thing about the travel industry is there is no shortage of companies making investments in the travel space. I think software companies from Microsoft to pure-play travel companies like Priceline all can make acquisition in this space.
As for us, it’s not a topic we even think about. We’re more focused on turning Travo into the best solution for business travellers and building a profitable, fast growing business that can stand on its own.
Describe your startup in three words?
Business travel simplified
硅谷
2015年12月06日
硅谷
个性化营销公司 Bluecore获2100万美元 B 轮融资
据科技媒体 VB 消息，日前，个性化营销方案提供公司 Bluecore 获得 2100万美元 B 轮融资，本轮融资由 Georgian Partners 领投。
据网站介绍，这家公司的发展速度非常快，全年经常性收入（ARR）的增速为每 45 天增加 100 万美元。
Bluecore 提供的方案可以让营销人员很好的利用，主要是通过一些行为数据和电子邮件与客户接触；
在产品方面， Bluecore 还提供一个产品目录数据，方便企业改变价格和库存。
目前包括Staples、Express和Cabelas 等电子商务公司都采用 Bluecore提供的营销方案。B轮融资的资金提供方Georgian Partners 非常看好提供企业服务且成长迅速的初创公司，之前投过的公司还有Shopify、Tealium和FreshBooks。
Bluecore raises eight-figure series B for email personalization
Bluecore, a marketing automation solution focused on personalization, has raised $21 million in its series B round of investment.
The company has been growing quickly, adding $1 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) every 45 days, and doubling AAR every six months. A number of top ecommerce retailers are now customers, including Staples, Express, and Cabelas.
This kind of growth has impressed investors, including Georgian Partners, which led the round. Georgian has focused investments in companies applying analytics to improve or automate existing processes. Previous investments include companies like Shopify, Tealium, and FreshBooks.
What sets Bluecore apart?
Bluecore lets marketers use behavioral data to personalize customer engagements, primarily via email. We’ve found in our own research that behavioral data is often the most valuable type of data for marketers. Behavioral data provides real-time insight about a consumer’s interest and intent, most of it coming from web and mobile activity.
Yet most marketers today haven’t been able to capitalize on this data. One reason for Bluecore’s success is its ability to capture and process large volumes of behavioral data, like product page views, search term use, and cart abandonment. In conjunction with behavioral data, Bluecore also uses product catalog data, including changes in price or inventory.
Consumers increasingly expect personalization and are unsubscribing from irrelevant emails. As a result, marketers are looking to personalization as a way to increase relevance, along with key metrics and revenue.
In ourublishe report on email personalization pd yesterday, we found that the vast majority of marketers reported increased open rates and click-through rates (CTR) by employing some form of email personalization (including even the most basic personalization tactics).
We also found that email personalization reduces unsubscribe rates and increases revenue by an even greater factor (around 6x).
Most marketers still rate poorly on our email personalization maturity framework, but growing interest will continue to fuel investment in marketing automation and personalization tools like Bluecore.
For those interested in the technical details, Bluecore explained in an email that it drives personalization in several ways, including:
Similar products versus recommendations based on co-view and co-purchase models
Aggregated profile data based on session searches, category navigation and facets, as well as wish list, add to cart, and purchase behavior.
Audience data based on product catalog analytics, used to personalize emails by answering questions like “If the inventory drops on a product by more than 50%, which customers are the most likely to buy the fastest?”
The new round of funding will bring Bluecore’s total funding since 2013 to $28.2 million.
来源：VB
硅谷
2015年12月03日
硅谷
硅谷超级天使Chris Sacca:不退缩，要勇往直前
Chris Sacca 凭借他早期投资 Uber、Twitter、Instagram 和 Kickstarter 的经验，在投资界享有盛名。他也是 Lowercase Capital 的创始人，在他成为投资人之前，他曾在 Google 任职，他帮助 Google 买下了价值十多亿美元的数据中心。
本文是从他的一次视频中精简而成。
你如何才能交到真正优秀的朋友？
Chris Sacca 认为真正的行动者是那些能够让想法变成现实的人，他们并没有多难找，他们只是和其他人不太相同。当 Twitter 和 Square 的创始人 Jack Dorsey，Blogger 及 Twitter 的联合创始人 Ev Williams，Uber 的首席执行官 Travis Kalanick、Slack 的创始人 Stewart Butterfield 谈论到他们的公司时，可以发现他们很清楚自己的公司将会带来巨大的影响力。
识别别人的才能只是第一步，但如果想要结交这些有才能的人，你需要成为他们那个圈子的人。当他第一次与 Instagram 联合创始人 Kevin Systrom 见面的时候，他就在其身上发现了独特的才能。
创业者们通常犯的第一个错误是什么？
Chris 表示不是每一个人都能成为创始人，但成为创始人这件事却充满了诱惑力。我们现在所处的时代，创业是一件非常有吸引力和时尚的事，但是人们受到的仅仅是这种想法的吸引，而并非是在理解了成为一个创始人需要面临如何残酷的现实压力之后仍愿意迎难而上。
Chris Sacca：“理论上，每一个人都能成为创始人，但并不是每一个人都能拥有一颗强大的内心去创建一个公司。”
那么当你成为创始人的时候，你如何判断自己能够做成这件事？
你一定会觉得自己的能力有限，你也没法劝自己否认这个认知。Chris 认为，这个认知源于内心深处，没有人会去质疑，也没有人会把时间浪费在自己根本无力做到的事情上。
相反，如果你发现自己表示出 “我只是想要去创建一些东西” 的想法，根据这个想法考虑了很久并且想找其他人来验证这个想法是否可行。作为一个创始人，你还没意识到自己应该放弃这件事。
在科技领域，哪些人最令人尊重但往往却被人低估？
投资人代表人物：Bill Gurley（Benchmark Capital 高级合伙人、Uber 董事会成员）
Chris 表示很幸运能够和他一起在董事会共事。在整个会议上，Gurley 说的话绝不会超过 30 个词。他是一个超级棒的聆听者。Chris 认为我们所有人都能从他身上学到很多东西。
运营方代表人物：Adam Bain（Twitter 新晋 COO）
Chris 想人们仍然不太了解 Adam Bain 在 Twitter 的工作能力有多出色。他和 Gurley 一样，为人非常低调。如果他想，他可以成为一家大公司的 COO。但他选择留在这个他一手建立的团队里，和另一个非常棒的创始人 Jack Dorsey 一起合作。
同时 Chris 也跟大家分享了分享一些 Larry 以及 Sergey 的故事
Chris 在 Google 任职四年，在 Google 公开上市之前他就已经加入了这家公司。当时他接到的一项任务就是：在不告诉任何人公司发展速度有多快的情况下，用十多亿美元买下数据中心。Chris 还提到，在 Google 大家会在激烈的辩论中讲故事；此外，Google 还会通过其他一些细微的小事促进员工之间的沟通，比如说 Google 故意在餐厅放置了少于就餐人数的座位，这就迫使你与别人坐在一起吃饭，其目的是为了促进员工之间的沟通交流。
关于 Google 的联合创始人 Sergey Brin
Sergey 拥有让人难以置信的沟通能力。他为人风趣。他有时候还会表演独角喜剧，这也是 Chris 会认为他和著名喜剧演员 Robin Williams 能够成为好朋友的原因。Sergey 非常聪明，也是一个能力很强的销售人员。
Google 联合创始人 Larry Page
他真的可以看到未来。不过当他预知未来时，你会发现很难与他相处，这是因为他可以清晰的看到未来世界的发展方向，因此他无法不对周边事物持以轻蔑的心态，尽管他在努力消除这种心态。当你与 Larry 呆在一起的时候，如果你提出的想法太过狭隘或是用了现在时态，他就会毫不客气地嘲笑你。
是否有一些你过去坚信，但现在却觉得被误导了的事？
Chris 说到他过去非常认同谦逊是成功的关键，但当你和世界上最有才华的一群人一起工作的时候，这一点其实很难做到。他表示谦逊并非是人性的自然状态，而假装自己谦逊则是一件非常虚伪的事情。
当你和全世界最棒的程序员和开发商一起工作的时候，要求他们谦逊做事，这是一件很虚伪的事情。Chris 表示这些人都是成功的名人，他们同样也是懂得奉献的人。你可以用任何名词来形容他们，但你不能否认他们是独一无二的。如果因为自己获得成功却对他人怀有歉意，这更是一个虚伪的举动。
不过，当你在不擅长的领域假装自己很牛逼的时候，你可能会招惹到不小的麻烦。
Chris Sacca：“别为自己做成了世界上最棒的一件事而怀有歉意，但你要清楚知道未来发展的目的地在哪。” 他将这称之为人性中的 “生来勇敢”，事实上这也是他的做人准则。
Chris Sacca 在大学笔记本里的到底要有什么内容，竟然成了一辈子的预测？
Chris Sacca 在 Tim Ferriss 播客中提到过，大学时他曾在爱尔兰当交流生，当时有个关于笔记的小插曲：有一次他和同学传纸条，他们分别在纸条上写下与自己梦想工作相关的词汇，最终他将这些纸条拼在一起，而由这些纸条组成的工作就是他梦想的工作，但他连这个工作是否存在都不知道。
Chris Sacca 表示他并不了解这份工作，但他知道这份工作需要讲很多电话，进行很多谈判，也会遇见很多大喊大叫的人，以及很高的风险，但往往是高风险伴随着高回报。他知道他从哪里能得到他想要的，也许会有一半的时间在山上一半的时间在海滩上，但不管它是什么样，他都决定从 40 岁的时候开始要这么做。
几年前，Chris 和他的妻子在他们的车库中找到他的笔记本，但当看到笔记本里的内容时，他们震惊不已，因为他早已在笔记本中非常准确地描述了他现在做这些事的原因。
Chris Sacca 因为什么而变得众所周知？
在职业生涯早期， Chris 并没有展现最真实的自己。当他在 Google 任职的时候，他代表的是公司；当他大学毕业后进入华盛顿时，他不想因民主党身份而丧失一些潜在的雇主。现在他明白了，他以前从来没有不计后果地去选择一个自己喜欢的工作。
“去年美国总统奥巴马举行了当年度最大的募捐活动，但由于我是爱德华·斯诺登巨大的支持者，白宫并没有给我打电话。” Chris 说到。
同时，他表示 “这只是我想要努力成为最真实的人，如果我能继续从事自己喜欢的工作，同时能够激励到其他人，这也许就会为我们正在做的事带来前进的核心动力。”
Chris 认为要做会讲故事的人
Chris 认为讲故事是创业做事的基本内容，融资、招聘以及媒体宣传都依靠讲故事而生存。
要学会利用故事向媒体推销你自己和你的产品，向投资人、员工以及客户讲述你未来的愿景和发展规划。
有的创业者在描述其产品时更倾向于使用未来式的语言，这也是成功的创业者和失败的创业者最根本的区别。
Chris Sacca Doesn’t Hold Back
Chris Sacca is known for his early investments in Twitter, Uber, Instagram, and Kickstarter, among many others, and is the founder of Lowercase Capital. Prior to his investing days, Chris was tasked with buying billions of dollars worth of data centers while at Google, without alerting anyone (Microsoft) as to how big the company would become. He’s one of the most successful startup investors and doesn’t hold back when sharing his advice or opinions — which is exactly what we got in this recent Product Hunt LIVE video chat.
He shares what it was like working with Larry & Sergey at Google, becoming a guest shark on Shark Tank, interviewing Edward Snowden, and asking President Obama the tough questions that no one else has dared to ask.
How do you surround yourself with talented people?
Chris says that the real movers, the people that make things actually happen, aren’t all that hard to find — they’re just different. When people like Jack Dorsey, Ev Williams, Travis Kalanick, and Stewart Butterfield, talk about their businesses there is just an air of inevitability—they know they’re working on something that’s bigger than the rest of us.
But identifying talent is just the first step. To surround yourself with those talented people, you have to become someone they want to be around. Watch Chris describe how to put yourself in that position, and what he saw in Kevin Systrom while meeting the Instagram co-founder for the first time.
What is the biggest mistake first time founders make?
Chris says not everybody is a founder, but that right now there’s a real allure to being one. We’re at a time where it’s very fashionable and attractive to start a company, but it’s the concept that people are drawn to rather than the tough reality of what being a founder is actually like.
“Everybody is capable of being a founder on paper, but not everybody has founding in their gut.” —Chris Sacca
So how do you evaluate if you have what it takes to be a founder?
It’s so obvious to you that you can’t imagine doing anything else. The idea just has to exist, and you’re not trying to convince yourself of that, or anyone. It comes from so deep down, Chris says, that there is no personal doubt that this is what you have to be spending your time on.
In contrast, if you find yourself saying “I just want to start something” and you’re shopping around for an idea and looking around for someone to validate that idea…as a founder, that’s just not going to cut it.
Who are the most respected and underrated people in tech?
On the investing side: Bill Gurley (Benchmark GP & Uber Board Member). Sacca says:
I wish there was an instructional video of Bill Gurley in board meetings. I’ve been lucky enough to serve on a board with him, and the guy doesn’t say thirty words all meeting, but when he does they’re pivotal, they’re inspirational, and they’re high impact. He’s just an incredible listener. I feel like all of us could learn from him, his insight is incredible, and a guy that’s doing it right that I admire. A very different style than mine, but I really admire his style.
On the operating side: adam bain (recently promoted Twitter COO).
I do think people still don’t understand how good Adam Bain is at Twitter. That is a guy who also (like Gurley) just lays completely low and gives all credit to the people around him. He is someone who could be a CEO of a huge company right now, and he’s chosen to build Twitter, to stay with the team he’s built there, and to work with @Jack who’s one of the best people in the world to work with. Keep an eye on Adam Bain — he accomplishes more (and does so with a smile) than anyone I’ve ever worked with.
On that note, can you tell us a little bit about Larry and Sergey?
Sacca spent four years working at Google and joined before the company went public. He was tasked with buying up data centers for over a billion dollars using secret code names as to not alert anyone to how quickly the company was growing at the time. Chris talked about telling stories of the intense debate culture of working at Google at the time, and even the little things, like intentionally having fewer seats than people at the cafeteria so you’d be forced to eat lunch next to someone.
On Google co-founder Sergey Brin:
Sergey is an incredible communicator. He’s very witty, I don’t know if it all comes across on stage because he holds back, but he’s legitimately funny. That guy could even do a little bit of stand up. That was one of the reasons I think he and Robin Williams became such close pals. Sergey is bright and he’s a good sales person, too, whom I learned from.
He just truly sees ahead. And it’s really hard to be around him when he’s in that mode sometimes because the future is so obvious to him that he has a hard time not being dismissive (although he works hard at it). The one reason you could get laughed out of the room with Larry is if you come with an idea that is too small or too present tense.
What’s something you used to fervently believe that you now see as misguided?
Sacca explains how he used to subscribe to the notion that being humble is the key, and that’s hard when you’re working alongside the most talented people in the world at something. He says that humility is just not a natural state for some people and it would be inauthentic to pretend.
When you’re working with some of the best coders and product people in the world, asking them to be humble is disingenuous. They’re rockstars, they’re ninjas, they’re whatever cliche term you want to use for it—but they’re special, says Sacca. And one of the things he realized is that it’s not authentic to be falsely humble, and it’s not authentic to apologize for being kickass at something.
Where that gets you into trouble, though, is when you feel like you have to pretend to be kickass at things that you’re not great at.
What was in Sacca’s college notebook that turned out to be the prediction of a lifetime?
There was an episode on the Tim Ferriss Podcast where Sacca mentioned a notebook from college while he was on an exchange program in Ireland. He was passing notes with a classmate and ended up spelling out his future dream job, for a job he didn’t even know existed at the time.
I don’t know what the job is called, but I know it’s gonna involve a lot of talking on the phone, a lot of negotiations, a lot of yelling at people, a lot of high stakes — high risk high reward — I’m gonna be able to do it from where ever I want, probably half time from the mountains half time from the beach, and whatever it is, I’m gonna be done doing it by the time I’m 40.
A few years ago Chris and his wife found the notebook in the garage — and their jaw dropped, as it spells out a pretty accurate description of what Chris does. Here’s the full story of how that came about:
What does Sacca want to be known for?
Earlier in his career, Chris wasn’t able to be his most authentic self. When he was at Google, he’d be speaking on behalf of the company; and when he graduated college in D.C. he didn’t want to alienate himself from half of the potential employers by coming out as a Democrat. Now he has the luxury of knowing that he never has to apply for another job, and with that, there’s a certain amount of freedom to speak (tweet🐥) up — although not without consequences.
“It’s about being one of Obama’s largest fundraisers last year, and yet, coming out as a huge supporter of Edward Snowden — and suddenly having the White House no longer return my phone calls.”
“It’s just about trying to be the most authentic person possible, and if I can hopefully keep working on that myself but inspire other people to be that way and maybe really bring that forward as a core value in what we all do — then I would be very proud.”
What was it like interviewing Edward Snowden?
The interview is set to be in November, this tweet was just the prep time. So instead, Sacca told the story of what it was like moderating a series of tech dinners with President Obama. In one of the earlier ones, he noticed that no one was asking the President any real questions, so without holding back — he brought up some of the most controversial issues of our time.
Sacca’s takeaways from that experience can be summed up as:
When the President speaks, do not interrupt.
What seems like an easy choice from the outside is often an impossible task, and the President has to deal with those choices every day on the job.
本文编译自：medium.com
硅谷酷公司：原Zenpayroll-硅谷独角兽公司(Gusto)竟然上班不让穿鞋？！文/硅谷密探 本文得到官方授权，转载需获得原始授权
| 硅谷密探—生动的硅谷|
有这么一家神奇的创业公司，公司员工上班都不能穿鞋！
员工每年都能获得一张飞往地球上任意地点的机票（Golden Ticket)，来一场说走就走的旅行。
这家神奇的公司做的是风口上Software as service (SaaS)业务，今年营收预计可以翻10倍。
更酷炫的是他们是Y Combinator企业孵化器的创业项目，也是第一家同时获得Google Captial和Google Venture投资的公司。
如果再告诉你，他们内部所有的商业数据和财务资料对所有员工公开，员工连公司银行账户还剩多少钱都知道。
没错，就是这家刚刚改名为Gusto（曾用名Zenpayroll）的公司，本密探有幸走访Gusto，并和内部员工亲切交(蹭)流(饭)。
本期侦查：Gusto (Zenpayroll)
让薪资管理愉悦起来
Why Gusto？
说到Gusto，不得不说它的曾用名是Zenpayroll。说实话，它的改名挺令人吃惊的，因为Zenpayroll这个名字其实很好(据CEO说是去YC Demo Day前一天晚上想出来的)。拜乔布斯所赐，Zen（禅）一直在硅谷很流行，而以Zen开头的公司发展得都不错，比如Zendesk上市了，Zenefits也是冉冉升起的新星。
Gusto这个词来自西班牙语，是美味的，兴致勃勃的意思，也常用在食物上。官方解释是说Gusto是着眼于未来，一方面Gusto将拓展除了薪资管理（payroll）外的其他业务，另一方面希望Gusto能给客户带来愉悦的感觉, 他们的宗旨是Delightfuly Modern Payroll（令人愉悦的时尚薪资管理软件，这是打ADP的脸吗？），我暗自猜想也有可能是因为CEO是吃货。
公司概况
总部：旧金山，加州
网站：http://www.gusto.com
Gusto 致力于为用户提供简单快捷的薪资管理服务，目前主要服务对象是中小企业，包括科技初创公司、餐馆和杂货店等等。
基本背景是在美国各州、地区之间的税率计算极其复杂，美国人数学又不好，所以薪资和税务的处理已经成为全职工作。小公司很多依赖专业的会计师进行管理，但是大公司基本上依赖传统的薪资管理服务商，比如ADP、Intuit以及Paychex等等。
目前Gusto已近为约20，000家小型企业提供服务，已经处理超过20亿美元的薪酬。
创始团队：
Joshua Reeves CEO & Co-Founder
Edward Kim CTO & Co-Founder
Tomer London CPO & Co-Founder
三位创始人都是斯坦福毕业生，都是连续创业者，CEO Joshua Reeves创立Zenpayroll前是Unwarp的CEO和co-founder，而其他两位之前都是Y Combinator毕业公司的创始人。Tomer London 入选 2013年 Inc 评选的30位30岁以下创业者。Edward Kim 之前则是Android的明星开发者，他开发的Car Locator等Android APP已经给他带来百万美元收入。
最值得一说的当然是CEO Joshua Reeves，他2013年入选福布斯30位30岁以下创业者，他当年为Zenpayroll募集了六百万种子轮资金，投资人都是巨头 Box CEO Aaron Levie, Yammer CEO David Sacks, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman, Badgeville CEO Kris Duggan, SugarCRM CEO Larry Augustin, 和 Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo. 除了一些是老相识和斯坦福校友，比如Aaron Levie（他们一起入选30 under 30，公司办公室也在一起），他还有一个融资秘诀，就是让投资人推荐两三个其他投资人，当然是找看好你的投资人推荐，否则适得其反。对Joshua感兴趣的同学可以看看他在斯坦福的演讲(http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=3478)，反复强调创业是场马拉松。
企业文化：
忘了说为啥上班不让穿鞋了。Gusto之所以这么做，是为了让员工觉得在公司和在家一样舒适和自由。
Gusto一个核心文化就是透明，这个透明不是停留在纸面上，而是落实在各个方面，除了前文提到的对员工公开所有内部的商业数据和财务资料，Gusto还有每周的AMA（Ask Me Anything，自由提问）会议。透明还表现在招聘流程中，招聘过程中除了会提供给应聘者面试官名单，应聘者还可以申请获得面试官的评价和反馈。让面试者又爱有恨的一点就是，如果Gusto收集前一轮反馈结果不好的时候，还会告诉面试者并提前结束面试。
另外一个核心文化就是要有主人翁意识（ownership）。举个例子，Gusto并没有单独的测试团队，工程师自己写测试，自己负责代码的质量，当然也要code review。不过在创业公司要有主人翁意识也往往意味着要经常加班。
Gusto现在大概300员工，工程师40多人。总体的感觉是Gusto是一家有明确愿景的公司，虽然Gusto今年营收增长了10倍，但是作为一个连续创业者创办的公司，Gusto做事情不紧不慢，这和CEO Joshua的观点一致，他认为创业是一场马拉松。
融资情况：
A轮： 2000万美元， 2014年2月
B轮： 6000万美元， 2015年4月
第一轮融资的众多明星已经介绍过了，公司现在估值是5.6亿美元，但是下轮融资妥妥的估值过10亿美元，将成为下一家独角兽。偷偷打听了一下现在现金流情况，现金流也很理想。
密探带你用产品
Gusto的产品用起来非常傻瓜化
点击客户端的Run Payroll ( 薪资管理 )。你会发现Gusto使用了小箭头来提示你第一步要做什么，并附上了一个便利贴“是时候让你的员工开心开心了，当然，还有让政府也开心一下。”不忘调戏下政府将会收税，果然是年轻公司的心态。
在同一页面输入每一个员工的每小时工资和其他补助以及报销金额。在某一项中输入金额的时候，会出现该栏代表内容的提示，这些小细节都能防止出错。再粗心大叶的人也会多长个心眼。
还可以集成其他Time Card（时间卡）工具或者手动输入度假和病假天数，两种假期的付薪情况是不一样的。
点击计算薪酬，即可完成这期的所有员工工资单计算了。是不是很容易？
薪酬结算成功后存入需要支付的薪资总额，系统会帮你完成最后的薪资发放工作。
还可以设置自动运行模式，你只需要在设置界面设置开启，这样的话每个月会自动进行计算。
目前小探只用到了Zenpayroll的界面，在改名成Gusto后，无论从功能还是界面上都会有一次提升。值得注意的是，在侧边工具栏中，还有一些其他的功能页面，包括给合同工发工资，薪资管理历史，员工福利等等。
Gusto的核心就是让薪资管理变成愉悦的体验，Gusto所有的产品都是基于web或者app，数据存储都在云端，不需要繁琐的盖章签字和纸面劳动，而且很方便的接入中小企业。
Gusto也非常注重数据安全，Gusto除了传统的加密，物理备份，异步验证，入侵检测，据说Gusto还邀请Cyber Secruity的来hack他们的系统。
你已读完1/2，休息一下
探长office里聊会儿
Paul：“需要想法的时候，别忘了，在硅谷你还有一票兄弟。看完本文，就在文末参与评论吧。”
Wallace：“我们平台还有硅谷创业明星在线访谈，你的创业问题，硅谷CEO们现场回答！”
Peter：“还有，硅谷密探邀请全球热爱科技的你加入哦！”
加入全球密探行列吧
硅谷密探这个非神秘组织，由硅谷已经蔓延至洛杉矶、波士顿、费城、纽约、伦敦、米兰、瑞士、台北、北京、上海、深圳……如果你也喜欢写点科技文章，想传递生动的硅谷价值，交一群热爱科技的朋友，请在本文章末扫码，加群或留言都可以 ：）
想知道本案由谁侦破的吗？
协作密探：卢毅
“大家好，我是密探卢毅，左手写程序，右手编段子，读过人工智能博士，喜欢历史，现居旧金山，口头禅是‘无欲则刚’和‘Make a difference’。”
市场，商业模式
商业模式
Gusto目前的商业模式比较简单，靠收取服务费。收费标准是这样的：使用 Gusto 服务的公司首先每月需要支付 29 美元，然后每位员工每月再支付 6 美元。举个例子，如果一家公司有 5个人，那么公司每月需要支付的费用总和为：29+（5×6）=59 美元。而竞争对手ADP和Intuit等的收费大概是两到三倍。
目前Gusto主要用户是员工数1到100的中小型企业，而CEO表示他们将拓展到1到500人的企业，这也将成为他们新的增长点，并加剧和巨头的竞争。
Gusto正筹备进军企业职工福利（benefit）业务，其中最赚钱的医疗保险业务（health insurance borkers & agent）已经在加州开展，而这一块的领跑者Zenefits，虽然创业才两年，但是已经估值45亿美元。
再来看看市场
在美国有600万的公司需要发放工资单，其中40%的公司仍旧用原始的人工方式管理工资单，三分之一的公司因为工资单的相关错误遭到罚款。 而ADP、Intuit和Paychex就将近占据500亿美元的市场份额，粗略估计便知这是一片超千亿美元的市场。
根据Aite Group的调查数据，2012年到2016年，美国薪资管理和预付费市场逐年递增，年平均增长率高达19.9%. 而到2016年，薪资管理将达到626亿美元，预付费市场将达到1060亿美元。真的是个千亿级市场啊。所以，这些做企业服务的公司有着十几亿乃至几十亿美元的估值也就没那么奇怪了。
看看市场竞争
1. 老牌服务商 ADP、Intuit 和Paycheck
ADP 创立于1949年，总部在新泽西，主要客户是大中型企业，服务全面而广。
Intuit 创立于1983年，总部在加州，主要客户是大中型企业。
Paychek 创立于1971年总部纽约，主要客户是中小型企业。
如果是一个5人的公司，Gusto收费是$59每月，而Intuit的收费是$89。 一个10人的公司，Gusto收费是$89，而Intuit的收费是$99, 而且Intuit还有繁杂的额外收费项目，而ADP和Paychex的价格不详，有消息称每月至少$115。
除了在价格有优势，Gusto能够为用户提供更便宜和简单的服务。用户只需 10 分钟时间便可在网站或者移动端上完成注册并使用，所有操作都是基于网页或APP，老少皆宜的交互界面和通俗易懂的操作，大大简化了处理流程，减少了中小企业的人力成本。而这些传统薪资管理（Payroll）领域的巨头的产品往往服务费更高，用户体验极其差，而且流程繁琐，甚至有些对用户有技术门槛。
2. Zenefits 新兴独角兽
虽然Gusto不愿意承认Zenefits是其竞争对手，一部分原因是他们两家背后有多家共同投资人。但Gusto改名进军员工福利业务（benefit），已经把战火点燃，Zenefits也即将发布专门的薪酬服务平台与Gusto对抗。真是“相煎何太急”啊！
Zenefits提供免费的人力资源管理平台（human resource hub），可以集成各种Payroll服务，自己也提供免费的payroll 服务，但是功能太简单。Zenefits和Gusto的竞争将主要集中于员工福利业务，Zenefits的用户通过Zenefits购买保险和其他人力资源管理服务，Zenefits赚取中介费用。而Gusto将进入这个领域直接和Zenefits竞争。
不知面对Gusto的竞争，Zenifits这只在硅谷之前爆红的黄色小鸟是否依然能平稳飞行？
听听用户怎么说
“我是ZP的忠实粉丝，我们从一个大型薪资管理公司换到了这个应用，并且从来没有要回头使用原来的服务。对于一个小公司来说，Gusto更便宜，而且界面比其他的同类公司的产品要好太多，无论从雇主还是员工角度来看都很好。
非常非常容易使用。
最大的缺点是Gusto需要提前4 - 6天存入工资。
当我完成了客户反馈问题后，他们非常快速的回答了我。
总之，使用Gusto的体验比之前的任何一家都要好。”
（硅谷密探出品，直播硅谷创业CEO访谈/科技圈资讯，转载请注明出处，加入组织交流硅谷产品请留言，『硅谷密探微信SVS-007』）
硅谷
2015年11月22日
硅谷
专为中小型企业服务的数据备份公司Datto，获7500万美元B轮融资
来源：猎云网 （编译：竹子）
Datto，一家为中小型企业服务的数据备份和恢复公司，在今天宣布获得7500万美元B轮融资。
此轮融资由TCV领投。至此，这家成立8年的公司，两轮融资累计金额达1亿美元。
TCV 的普通合伙人Ted Coons表示，他们对Datto很感兴趣，它既有强势的领导、成熟的产品，还有巨大的市场潜力。“全世界有大约500万家中小型企业，这意味着很大的发展空间。”
当中小型企业遇到突发灾难，例如飓风等大型自然灾害可以在顷刻之间就将办公室和设备摧毁一空，此时Datto可以帮助企业进行快速备份。即便是使用云端服务的公司，也很可能有一些本地服务器，Datto的职责就是保证它们在灾难来临时能继续运作。
Datto开发的硬件和软件能够以最高每5分钟一次的频率，对一家公司的整个信息技术系统进行快速备份。2011年，当龙卷风席卷密苏里州时，Datto在瞬间就恢复了当地医院访问医疗记录的能力。在飓风桑迪摧毁了纽约对冲基金公司Richmond Hill的系统之后，Datto在数分钟内就令其恢复上线，重新接入市场。
在去年，Datto推出了Backupify——一款云间备份工具，将中小企业的安全级别又提升了一个等级。
尽管公司并不是很需要这笔融资，CEO Austin McChord还是看见了此次融资能带来的一些有利条件，并且抓住了它。“我们是盈利的，但能有一些额外资本用来帮助地域扩张、开发产品或进行战略采购也挺不错。”
产品主要是通过托管服务供应商们进行销售，这些供货商帮助中小型企业进行IT运营。McChord称Datto现在有550名雇员，和近5万名用户，其中85%的用户来自美国。
McChord透露，未来的产品可以帮助用户们在公司权限范围内使用160千兆位的数据，这些数据一般在灾难发生前很少被使用到。McChord拒绝透露这些数据将被如何使用，毕竟产品只是他头脑中的一个概念还并未成型，但公司会认真考虑，如何才能帮助用户们信息利用最大化。
Source:TC
Datto Scores $75 Million As It Seeks To Expand Beyond Disaster Recovery
Datto, the company that acts as a backup and disaster recovery service for small to medium sized businesses (SMBs), announced today that it has raised $75 million in a Series B investment.
The round was led by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and brings the total investment across two rounds for the eight-year old company to just over $100 million.
Ted Coons, a general partner at TCV said the firm was attracted to Datto because it had strong leadership with a well-defined product in a huge potential market space.
“On a worldwide basis there are about 5 million [SMBs] — businesses of substance — they’ve got 50,000 endpoints/customers. There’s a lot of room to build,” he said.
Datto helps SMBs get back up and running quickly in the event of a weather event like a hurricane (or any disaster) that could wipe out the offices, computers and on-site servers of a small business. Even companies using cloud services very likely have some on-premises servers and the service is designed to ensure business continuity when a disaster hits.
Last year Datto also bought Backupify, a cloud-to-cloud backup tool giving it another level of safety for SMBs.
Even though they didn’t necessarily need the money, CEO Austin McChord saw an opportunity to get some additional capital on favorable terms and he took it.
“We are profitable, but it’s nice to have [additional] cash to continue geographic expansion, develop new [products] or make a strategic purchase,” CEO Austin McChord told TechCrunch.
The company sells primarily through the channel using Managed Service Providers, organizations which help SMBs run their IT function. McChord reports Datto currently has 550 employees and in the neighborhood of 50,000 customers, 85 percent of which are in the US.
Part of his long-term plan is to expand further into worldwide markets, and to that end, the company already has an office in the UK staffed with 50 people to help establish a market in Europe. It also has a newly minted office in Australia to help make a push there and into Asia.
The company also wants to use some of the money to expand the product line and it already has an internet-enabled networking product coming out soon. The product, as with the backup and recovery service is aimed at SMBs and designed to allow MSPs to communicate with the network device even when there is no internet connection on-site, something that would be very useful in a disaster situation. Instead of rolling a truck and having a service worker check on the scene, they have options to communicate with the network before they have to do that.
McChord also hinted at a future product that could help customers make use of the 160 petabytes of data under the company’s purview that is just sitting there unused unless disaster strikes. He wouldn’t say how he would use it — it wasn’t clear that he even has a specific product in mind just yet — but the company is clearly thinking about how it could help its customers make better use of all of that information, while expanding the product line beyond pure disaster recovery.
By this time next year, the company, which has its headquarter in Norwalk, Connecticut could have close to 700 employees as part of its expansion plans.
硅谷
2015年11月18日
硅谷
文字沟通或许是件麻烦事，Cola想帮你简化这个流程
来源：猎云网（编译：田小雪）
聊天通信在日常沟通交流中发挥着越来越大的作用，但我发现它也有弊端：当想要协调多人之间的沟通时，常常会被一些长段的、复杂的对话难倒。现在，一家叫做Cola的初创企业，希望用“Cola气泡框”的交互方式来代替那些繁杂的来回往返的信息。
举个例子，假设你想发消信与某人安排一个会面时间。以往我们都是来回发送一系列问答，内容诸如“你周五有空吗？”“周五没空，但你看周四怎么样？”来回确认，非常麻烦。
但Cola的创新做法是：你可以直接从App里引入自己的日历，选出三个空闲时间，通过一个气泡框将这三个时间段同时显示出来，让接收方根据他自己的情况来选择一个最合适的会面时间。
此外，Cola还创建了可供分享地理位置或是预计到达时间的气泡框，方便将行程中的每个人联系起来并且创立一些共享的待完成事项清单。当然了，通过短信也可以完成这一系列事项，但还是那句话，麻烦。
公司CEO David Temkin说：“我们认为，这款App能够做成功的关键其实就在于帮人们省去了发送多达10条不同短信的麻烦。”
Temkin之前是AOL（American Online美国在线）的总经理，负责手机以及邮件业务。他与另四位执行主管一同创建了Cola公司，分别为Macromedia 创始人Marc Canter、前Adobe工程师Mike McEvoy、前iPhone工程师Jeremy Wyld 以及Postini创始人Brian Maggi。
Cola官方宣布到目前为止已经筹得了130万美元的资金，投资者分别是线上融资平台AngelList 的创始人Naval Ravikant所属财团、技术主管Brad Garlinghouse、Tribeca Angels等。
Temkin同时还是Laszlo Systems的创始人，这家公司专门创建在线应用程序。我们都知道浏览器是网站的主要平台，所以Temkin认为，同样的道理，信息通讯也会逐渐成为智能手机的主要活动平台。
他说：“在我们现在所生活的世界里称为“电话”的工具，其实是用来发信息的，这才是智能手机这一类电子设备的主要用途。”。
而这也解释了Cola目前在信息功能方面加大研发力度的原因，同时公司进一步的目标是创建一个全新的操作系统，在那里其他的开发商也能够创建Cola的App。
Temkin举了一个例子说，他希望能够有人创建出一个可以即时分享航班信息的Bubble，这样一来机场接机的人就不用多次查看了。他说，我们很明显能够看到，在工作中，包括在游戏中，气泡框的数量都还很少。
Temkin知道他自己并不是唯一一个关注“通信平台化”的人。事实上，Facebook近期也推出了Messenger来与其他产品配套使用，但是它还加入了GIF以及其他一些有趣的内容，这一点与Temkin及其联合创始人们的目标想法相去甚远。
“其实通信是非常庞大的门类。”所以相比于其他公司致力于赋予短信App更多的乐趣，Temkin却看到了一块无人触及的全新领域，即节省人们的时间并且提高人们的工作及生产效率。
目前公司接受其私人测试版App的注册申请。虽然App是iOS版的，但是你可以用气泡框向任何一个人发送短信和链接，不管对方有无App，也不管对方是何种手机系统（安卓手机也可以接收）。
Source:TC
Cola Is Building A Platform To Help You Send Fewer Text Messages
As text messaging takes over more of my communication, I find myself on lots of long and complicated chats where I’m trying to plan and coordinate with multiple people. Now a startup calledCola aims to replace all that back-and-forth with a set of interactive “Cola Bubbles.”
For example, let’s say you wanted to message someone and schedule a time to meet up. Instead of sending a bunch of “Are you free Friday?” “No, but what about Thursday?”-type messages, you can bring up your calendar from directly within the Cola messaging app, select three open time windows, then send a Bubble presenting those three times and allowing the recipient to choose the one that works best for them.
Cola has also built Bubbles for sharing your location/estimated time of arrival, for polling everyone in the thread and for creating shared to-do lists. Yes, you can accomplish most of that with straightforward text messages, but again, it usually takes a bit of back-and-forth.
“We’re winning when we save you the need to send 10 different text messages,” said CEO David Temkin.
Temkin was previously the general manager of AOL Mobile and Mail (TechCrunch is owned by AOL, and Temkin worked on the TechCrunch app). He founded the company with four other executives — Macromedia founder Marc Canter, former Adobe engineer Mike McEvoy, former iPhone engineer Jeremy Wyld and Postini founder Brian Maggi.
Cola is also announcing that it has raised $1.3 million in funding from AngelList founder Naval Ravikant’s syndicate, tech executive Brad Garlinghouse, Tribeca Angels and others.
Temkin was also the founder of Laszlo Systems, a company that built online applications. He argued that in the same way that the browser became the platform for the web, text messaging will increasingly become the platform for activity on the smartphone.
“We live in a world where the things we call phones are not phones — they are for texting, that is the main use of these devices that we call smartphones,” he said. As a result, the Cola team views texting as your basic “line of sight,” while “your peripheral vision is all these other apps.”
That’s why Cola is adding more functionality to text messaging, and why the bigger vision is to build an “operating system” that allows other developers who can create Cola apps (or, in the company’s parlance, Bubbles).
As an example, Temkin suggested someone could create a Bubble for instantly sharing your flight information, so the person picking you up at the airport doesn’t have to look it up. There are less obvious Bubbles in the works, including a game, he said.
Temkin knows that he’s not the only one looking at “the platformizing of messaging.” In fact, Facebook recently opened Messenger to integrate with other products — but adding GIFs and other fun content is pretty far from what Temkin and his co-founders are aiming for.
“Messaging is an enormous category,” he said. So while other companies try to make their messaging apps more fun, Temkin sees a “green field” in saving you time and making you more productive.
The startup is currently accepting sign-ups for its private beta. The app is built for iOS, but you can send messages and links to Bubbles to anyone, even if they don’t have an app, including users with Android phones.
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