• David sacks
    一个崭新的、遵纪守法的 Zenefits 。 David Sacks 的一封信:The New Zenefits - Becoming the Compliance Company   这是Zenefits的CEO David Sacks新官上任3个月后、尝试以公开透明的姿态,向公众汇报Zenefits最近一段时间积极配合政府部门的检查、以及改过自新的各种举措。另外这个David Sacks 也要加入特朗普的团队了~~ 文中主动坦承了创始人、前CEO确实写了个脚本帮员工知法犯法地、作弊考取卖保险的资格认证。这篇检讨书可以打几分?可以多大程度拯救这个“从天上掉到地上的独角兽”?   详细看看他的原文吧: Three months ago, I became CEO of Zenefits after an internal investigation brought to light deficiencies in the company’s licensing compliance. In my Day 1 memo, I said that we would be transparent about these failings, because in order to fix a problem, you must first admit that it exists. Regulators and the public have an expectation that their rules will be followed, and the new leadership of this company is completely committed to doing that. Getting compliance right is important for all businesses, but this is especially true for Zenefits. Our software is intended to help customers with their HR and Benefits, so compliance is fundamental to our value proposition. We not only have to be a compliant company, we have to be excellent at understanding compliance and delivering that in our product. We have to be the Compliance Company. Over the past three months, we have worked hard to become this company. This transformation is still underway and there is still some work to do. But we have brought our licensing into compliance. We have dealt with many other issues as well, including a previous culture that was complacent about cutting corners and dismissive towards long-term planning. We have made a break with this culture and defined operating with integrity as our new number one value. If there is a silver lining to the difficulties that Zenefits has gone through the past three months, it is that we have turned compliance into a core part of our values, culture, and expertise. In turn, I believe that we will be able to use this experience to improve our product and help our customers with their own compliance needs. This will ultimately make us into a stronger and more differentiated company that provides a much greater level of value to our customers. I want to thank our customers for sticking by us during this difficult period. The fact that our ARR remains the same today as it was before all of this happened is a testament to the value that small businesses find in our platform. As I reflect back on these first three months, I think it’s important first to make clear how our compliance issues came to light. We need to close the chapter on what went wrong so we can move forward. Second, I want to describe our remediation efforts in more detail. Finally, I want to tell you about how we are looking forward as a company. I. Background In late November, the company conducted an internal review of our licensing procedures that made me aware of two issues for the first time. First, contrary to what I had been led to believe, the company had engaged in many instances of unlicensed selling. Second, the review uncovered the existence a software program, or “Macro”, that created the perception that employees were studying required online coursework when they were not in fact logged in. In response, the company initiated two investigations. In December, the company hired a Big Four auditing firm to itemize the licensing failures. After I became CEO in February, we self-reported the findings to all the state departments of insurance. Since then, we have been cooperating with regulators to fully account for all historical violations while instituting new technology and practices to avoid future ones. Separately, we hired the firm Cooley LLP to investigate the Macro. Cooley reviewed over 15,000 documents and interviewed current and former employees. On January 25, Cooley reported its findings to me. This is when I learned for the first time that founder and former CEO Parker Conrad had written the Macro and that its use violated a state licensing requirement. I immediately escalated the matter to the Board of Directors. An emergency board meeting occurred on February 1, Parker agreed to resign, and I instructed company counsel to self-report the issue to the California Department of Insurance. All of these actions are described in Cooley’s investigative report to the Board, which we are making public as part of our commitment to transparency. II. Remediation Since I became CEO on February 8, we have moved swiftly to remediate these issues. As I outlined in my Day 1 memo, this has required not just new policies, procedures, and technology but also sweeping changes to our leadership, governance, values and culture. a. Macro Remediation To ensure that something like Macro cannot happen again, we have disabled the underlying technology on our network. More to the point, we have terminated executives who were ringleaders in encouraging and disseminating the Macro. We are committed to operating with integrity, and behavior of this kind will never be tolerated at Zenefits again. We are also requiring that every broker at Zenefits take 52 hours of coursework created by industry authority NAHU (the National Association of Health Underwriters). Of this, 12 hours consists of ethics training. For each NAHU course, the participant must pass a proctored NAHU test. The program has already begun and will be completed by October 1. You can see our NAHU curriculum here. b. New Licensing Controls To bring our licensing into compliance, our engineers have developed sophisticated new controls on the Salesforce.com platform that prevent any current or prospective account from being assigned to a sales rep who does not have a valid license in the correct state. Recently, we integrated this technology with a live feed from a national licensing database, so data on our employees’ insurance licenses is always up-to-date. Zenefits currently has approximately 300 licensed employees with almost 10,000 licenses. In the words of our Big Four auditing firm, “the processes and controls over the licensing of sales agents are adequately designed to address the risk of sales activity being performed by agents without the appropriate license.” If you’re familiar with the words of auditors, this is about as enthusiastic as their evaluations get. We will be bringing back our auditors in Q3 to verify that the new controls are working as designed. c. Dedication to Broker Education And Professionalism Zenefits is not content just to do the minimum broker education required by the state. We have also instituted the following additional education: As described above, every broker at Zenefits must take 52 hours of mandatory NAHU coursework and pass the NAHU test. Zenefits has created a Boot Camp for new hires, where they receive an additional 20 hours of insurance training. In order to get into Boot Camp, new hires must show proof that they have already obtained their broker license prior to starting work. After Boot Camp there is continuing education. We’ve developed our own quarterly exam (written by individuals with over 30 combined years of broker/carrier experience) to make sure that our brokers are keeping up their insurance knowledge. Twice monthly, the entire team is trained on subjects like new legislation. Zenefits will begin seeking continuing education credits for many of these trainings. Zenefits has established a Zenefits Insurance Advisory Board (ZIAB), consisting of experienced brokers who oversee the training curriculum and have Broker Office Hours to answer additional questions. ZIAB is also active in the company’s emerging compliance structure. Finally, as a part of our dedication to the broker profession, every producer at Zenefits is a member of NAHU, as well as their associated state and local organizations. Zenefits is encouraging active participation and pays for membership fees. d. Corporate Governance and Leadership Zenefits has reconstituted its Board of Directors and Executive Team. Previously, the Board consisted of 4 seats, three of which were controlled by Parker; effectively he had total control. The new Board consists of 6 seats and is balanced: in addition to a CEO seat, there is one founder seat (Laks Srini), one seat for the Series A/B investors (Lars Dalgaard from Andreessen Horowitz), one seat for the Series C investors (Bill McGlashan from TPG), and two outside directors (Antonio Gracias from Valor and Peter Thiel from Founders Fund). We are grateful that prominent investors and industry leaders like Antonio, Bill, and Peter agreed to join the Board when I became CEO. We also named a new Executive Team after each member was vetted by Cooley to ensure that they had no role in disseminating or encouraging use of the Macro. New Sales leadership has been appointed in both San Francisco and Phoenix. And throughout the company, we have appointed or promoted over 20 new mid-level managers and executives. e. Creation of Compliance Team One of my first acts as CEO was to appoint Josh Stein, a former federal prosecutor, in the new role of Chief Compliance Officer, which reports directly to me and to our Board of Directors. One of our key failings under the previous CEO was that we did not have a dedicated compliance department — we have fixed that. Over the past three months, Josh has done an amazing job standing up a robust compliance organization that works with the Exec Team and managers throughout the company. We have 9 dedicated compliance personnel — up from zero under the previous CEO — with plans to hire 3 more. The team is conducting a top-to-bottom compliance review, and we have established a compliance hotline that allows any employee to report (anonymously, if they desire) any issue that needs to be investigated. Maintaining robust compliance monitoring and remediation is something that we will never stop doing as a company. f. Change in Culture and Values Company culture is what guides employees’ decisions when no one is looking. As Warren Buffett has written, “Culture, more than rule books, determines how an organization behaves.” That is why some of the most important changes that we’ve made have been at the level of culture and values. Zenefits declared three new company values on Day 1: #1 Operate with integrity. We have empowered our employees to act with integrity and we are seeing amazingly positive results from that.  We don’t punish employees who make honest mistakes; we recognize them for tackling the root causes that led to those mistakes. Our employees are spotting issues and bringing them forward, knowing that the company will take their concerns seriously. Operating with integrity is about more than just compliance, as important as that is. It’s about integrity in everything we do. A key component of that is the integrity of our data and infrastructure. We have declared a War on Errors with a dedicated quality team, and we have created a new Core Service team in Engineering. As a result of these initiatives, key metrics for error rates, site performance and reliability have all improved markedly, improving the experience for our clients and their employees. We have seen that our problem was not the vast majority of our employees — our problem was fundamentally a failure of tone and leadership from the top. I’m proud of our current employees and inspired by their dedication to doing the right thing. #2 Put the customer first. We have made the decision to focus on small businesses because this is where we can be most impactful as a company. These are the businesses that most need a product like Zenefits. Small businesses rarely have an HR department larger than one — many have no one at all, with the heavy administrative burden falling on the business owner. We have found that many small businesses are offering health insurance for the first time (28% of our new clients) because Zenefits makes it easy to do so. Similarly, many of our small business clients are now able to offer other big company benefits, like commuter benefits or FSAs. This helps our small business clients compete for talent and take care of their employees. Part of our dedication to small business is a dedication to smart growth. Rather than chasing ever larger accounts, we have re-dedicated ourselves to improving our service with our small business customer in mind. Today we are focused on the quality of our offerings, with important initiatives like our War on Errors. In the near future, look for even more radical changes dramatically expanding the power of our platform for small businesses. #3 Make this a great place to work. We have made strides in making Zenefits a great place to work. By “great”, I don’t mean just a fun place to work. Having fun is important, but it’s not the end of the story. Working at Zenefits should be a rewarding experience, where employees believe they are part of making an important change in the world and feel a connection with each other and our customers. We started by declaring our mission statement, which is to make entrepreneurship easier and more accessible to everyone. We sharpened our focus on small businesses to make winning achievable. We recognize employees who demonstrate our new values at our All Hands meetings through a peer nomination process. We are deepening the connections between our customers and employees with our biweekly “Live Chat” series, which brings in customers to share their experience with Zenefits. This is especially important for our employees who don’t have regular contact with our customers. A rewarding place to work is one where you can see the positive impact you’re making. And we are catching up on all the other things employees expect from a company they give their all to: a more generous benefits program, a 401k, a thoughtful goal setting and review process, more commuter benefits, manager training, and events to socialize together outside of the office. Today, thanks to our facilities team, employees in San Francisco arrived to a much needed spruce-up of our office space in San Francisco. III. Moving Forward Although our work on remediation is not yet done, we have made major progress. We have sent an independent audit to regulators, owned up to our historical issues, and will accept the consequences for our past mistakes. We will continue the partnership with regulators we have forged by self-reporting this issue. Now it is time to look forward as a company. We need to focus on making small business ownership easier and more accessible. We need to use the deeper understanding of compliance that we now have to help our customers with their own compliance-related needs. This is a value proposition that already undergirds some of our most compelling products. One example is Onboarding. We offer a simple “Hire” button that, once configured, keeps small businesses in compliance by extending offer letters, running background checks, automatically offering eligible new hires insurance, facilitating completion of I9s, and collecting the information required for W-4s. Our goal is to make hiring a new employee as easy as calling an Uber. Another example is our ACA Compliance tool. Particularly for companies with part-time or hourly employees, calculating whether you have to provide coverage, and for whom, when, and how much is very complex. And producing the Form 1094-Cs/1095-Cs filings is a significant administrative burden. This tool is free, regardless of whether you make us your broker. But it’s much more powerful when we’re the broker because we can auto-populate so much of the data. This shows how an all-in-one HR and Benefits system drives so much value for small businesses. Products like these demonstrate the value we deliver as the Compliance Company. Our focus now is to continue executing for small businesses and living up to the great potential of this company. About David Sacks David is CEO of Zenefits. He is an Internet entrepreneur who was the founding CEO of Yammer and original COO and product leader of PayPal. He also produced the award-winning independent film Thank You For Smoking. He is an angel investor in tech companies like Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Houzz, SpaceX, and Palantir.               详细文章来看看吧:https://www.zenefits.com/blog/new-zenefits-becoming-compliance-company
    David sacks
    2017年01月11日
  • David sacks
    Zenefits CEO David Sacks提出离职,任职不满一年,有可能加入特朗普团队 作为去年成长最快的企业服务独角兽之一,ZenefitsC轮融资时估值45亿美元。 就在10月,Zenefits刚刚发布了全新改版后的Z2版本,由一站式云HR管理工具转型为整合各类HR应用程序的交易平台。曾经的Zenefits由于让未经授权的销售人员非法成为保险代理人,曾一度引来监管机构的调查,随后Zenefits创始人Parker Conrad被迫辞职。 之后CEO David Sacks 入职后开始大力整顿,今年2月裁员250人,占总员工数的17%;6月,他再次裁员 9%,想重构企业文化;7月,他宣布将去年5亿美元的投资者股份由原来的11% 提高到25%,将C轮估值降到20亿美元。而此次推出的Z2更新,就是Sacks进行业务调整的一大尝试,他希望借此带领Zenefits突破困局。 不过就在今天,《纽约时报》报道称,David Sacks正式宣布辞去CEO一职,他说,“是时候寻找下一位领导者了”,不过,辞职之后的David Sacks将继续留在该公司担任董事长职务。 而《华尔街日报》则指出,Sacks正在考虑加入唐纳德·特朗普总统的过渡团队——Sacks为硅谷风险资本家兼PayPal创始人Peter Thiel的好友及前任同事,而Thiel正在特朗普的过渡团队中担任负责人。 Read Sacks' tweets here: 1/ Ten months ago, the Board asked me to step into the CEO role at Zenefits amidst a regulatory crisis. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 2/ This is not a job I sought, but I felt a responsibility to investors, employees and customers to help the company through the crisis. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 3/ I accepted no compensation to do this job. (I wanted employees to get it all -- we more than doubled their ownership.) — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 4/ This week we successfully resolved the issues with the California Department of Insurance (CDI), our lead regulator, and 19 other states. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 5/ Remarkably CDI reduced its fine 50% in recognition of the remediation and cultural transformation we’ve done. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 6/ Regulators across the country have praised the company for resetting its values, culture, mission, leadership, and governance. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 7/ As a result, the company now has a clean bill of health. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 8/ Meanwhile, our amazing employees kept working. We launched our new Z2 product that small businesses love. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 9/ We reset our relationship with investors. We reduced headcount 35% and lowered monthly burn 50% YoY. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 10/ We refocused on our core small business market. We’ve seen renewed growth on the heels of Z2. Sales is hiring again. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 11/ In short, we've achieved every goal set forth in my Day 1 memo, which outlined the turn-around plan. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 12/ Now it is time to open a search for permanent CEO of the company. I will stay involved as Chairman, focusing on product and strategy. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 13/ Zenefits has a great team, hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank, and years of runway to keep building. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 14/ Z2 is also the best product in a huge greenfield category -- small business HR. With this, Zenefits is spring-loaded for success. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 15/ I cannot thank all of our employees enough for their hard work to turn the company around. Their decisions and actions made it happen. — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 16/ I’m excited about the future of Zenefits and partnering with a great operator and our Board to take Zenefits to the next level. // — David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 3, 2016 本文参考了多个信息来源:www.businessinsider.com,
    David sacks
    2016年12月04日
  • David sacks
    Zenefits为翻身特别推出Z2——为中小型企业HR打造的一体化服务平台;为HR提供全方位服务,本文详细介绍Z2的大体功能 上个月,在旧金山,Zenefits旗下的一款为中小型企业HR打造的一站式平台——Z2正式揭开了面纱。 Z2是Zenefits 经历诸多动荡之后的新任CEO David Sacks 做出的一个巨大的调整和改变。相关更多信息可以看这里 Zenefits被重新打造成了一个应用间相联结的生态系统,给小型企业最全面的一体化人力资源解决方案,并提供最佳供应商加入Zenefits平台。   对于小型企业来说,这可以让创业者从体力劳动中解放,让他们可以有更多的时间专注于有意义的工作。 接下来HRTechChina为大家介绍下Z2的一些新功能和亮点:   Z2的亮点   新的后台界面 我们已经重新设计了Zenefits的后台界面,来突出app的主要板块,例如工资、招聘、健康福利等。 新的外观使它对于新用户来说更简便和直观。   搜索 我们的理念是让Zenefits更简单,我们在后台顶部添加了一个新的搜索栏。你可以快速获取员工信息、文章和Zenefits的应用。    一体式应用 Z2的主要部分是在Zenefits平台上增加了新的一体化app。我们推出了17个主流业务app,并期待能增加更多的合作伙伴和功能。这个部分真正能够为小型企业提供一体化解决方案。 一体式应用就在后台面板的右边,并将融入HR的关键流程中,例如招聘,晋升,或离职。 所以当你下次用Zenefits招聘时,就可以利用一体式应用轻易的建立起新员工的账户。 Zenefits平台的强大之处在于能够在应用中共享信息,并减少你的工作量,现在已经扩展到平台内的所有应用中了。 Z2的合作伙伴: 薪酬工资 我们很高兴地宣布,Zenefits工资单现在已经可以在加利福尼亚的小型企业使用了,其他州也将逐步开放使用。我们的工资单app是一体化系统,可以与其他app一同使用,例如健康管理或时间管理。这意味着你或员工的每一个变化都会促使工资单的信息进行更新,这一切都是app自动在运作。 如果您感兴趣的话,可以点击这里注册。https://www.zenefits.com/payroll/zenefits-payroll/   健康福利 找到合适的健康计划,对于您和员工来说是必不可少的。这也是为什么我们要改变你选择的方式,并重新制定员工的健康福利。我们创建了一个新的计划——“购物体验”,你可以浏览并过滤一些信息来寻找最佳计划,就像定飞机票那样简单。 我们推出了提供商地图,这也是Z2的一个独特的部分。你可以查看所有的网上医生和它所在的位置,以及你的员工生活在哪里,这使得它更容易为你所有的员工制定计划。   人力资源顾问 人力资源顾问是Z2的一个全新的有偿服务,旨在帮助小型企业HR解决所有棘手的复杂的问题。它有一个综合性文档库,包含律师信息、人力资源信息和一些工具。用户还可以和人力资源专家交谈,以帮助您解决最困难的人力资源问题。   招聘 招聘是企业中最常见和最关键的人力资源工作之一。我们使它变得更容易操作。您现在可以按照一步步的流程来自定义你的招聘,包括了自定义录取通知书、员工协议和背景检查。 我们也重新设计了招聘指南,当你在Zenefits上雇佣一个新员工,我们将会有一个新的指南,告诉你每一步该如何操作。 休假 我们升级了整体操作方式让您更好操作并且更透明。所以我们增加了一个新的概述页面来显示最重要的信息。 此外,我们现在为年假、病假和事假等提供预先申报政策。   考勤 我们的考勤应用已经重建,使您和您的员工更简便的操作日志和批准时间。我们同时能够添加项目代码,并制定午餐休息时间,使您的时间和考勤政策满足您的业务需求。  移动端 有了智能手机我们希望把一体化HR放在您的手中。我们对我们的ios应用和安卓应用都进行了更新。   以上是 Z2的最新的介绍。
    David sacks
    2016年11月05日
  • David sacks
    Zenefits 发布针对中小企业服务新平台Z2 ,新任CEO能否借此翻身呢? (编译:何弃疗) 上周一当我踏入Zenefits办公室的时候,周围一切闹哄哄的。这是公司大翻身的前一天:人们走来走去,移动着大件儿,如火如荼地筹备着一件需要高度合作的大事。所有的这一切都是为了新任CEO David Sacks所做的周转工作。也正是这位David Sacks临危受命,在一切走向地狱之前拉住了这头曾一度估值45亿美元的独角兽。 在过去的一周,Sacks正在竭力筹备推出新产品Z2,但是我更感兴趣的是什么催生了这次发布,尤其是为什么Sacks认为这场翻身仗能够一举成功。 身为PayPal前COO、Yammer联合创始人的Sacks以一个典型的创业者形象在会议室里接见了我,他单纯不做作,和外面那些硅谷企业家好不一样,似乎这也是他能够介绍这家公司现状的唯一方式。作为Zenefits前COO,Sacks临危授命出任首席执行官试图带领公司东山再起。不到九个月里,他的工作已经从危机管理者变成了信使。他必须要向我在内的诸多媒体人、投资者、监管机构解释,一切都在好转。 “这是我们有史以来召开过的最重要的产品发布会。”随后他向我介绍了Z2:一个整合了HR、福利以及薪资应用程序的交易平台。“公司成立之初,我们就有一个愿景,那就是将一切一体化。” 坎坷的初创之路 Zenefits一开始就是作为一个一体化的产品,或者说是一个能够解决企业人力资源所有问题的自动化机器。任何能够简化工作场所繁重规章制度的解决方案都有潜力获得成功。直到2016年年初...... 2015年巅峰时刻这家公司曾估值45亿美元,然后随着BuzzFeed一系列的新闻报道,存在的很多问题曝光了。一、公司绕过了许多保险法律,导致销售人员非法销售本公司产品。二、这家公司为了获得更多的员工认证,使用了一个名为macro的软件,帮助人们轻易通过在线测试。三、该公司“销售为王”的强压企业文化营造了一个恶性竞争的办公环境。 综上所述,这些恶果导致这家公司传奇毁灭,估值暴跌一半。Zenefits创始人兼CEO Parker Conrad引咎下台,公司COO也是投资人的Sacks继任。 “当你获得了很多投资,你就会开始飘飘然。”Sacks如是说。 “然而事实是没有一家初创公司是无所不能的,”他解释道,“我认为对于初创公司来说,专注很重要。”所以Zenefits目前专注于小型业务,在此之前它来者不拒。Zenefits曾经的客户包括Netflix和Jet.com,但是现在这些大客户都离开了。Zenefits表示他们不想再和大公司打交道了。 “大企业不是我们能玩转的地方。” 换条路走 这次转变不仅仅是客户类型的转变,它也试图颠覆此前的企业文化和犯过的错误。当Sacks接手之时他就有自己的计划。“我们列出了公司主要利益相关者的名单。”他们是监管机构、行业合作伙伴、客户、员工、投资者以及每一个参与公司运转的人。 “接下来就是我们应当如何同这些人重新建立关系并赢得他们的信任。” “想要解决公司目前面临的问题,我们首先需要明白这些问题是什么,此外我们必须公开透明对待这些问题。”对于审计机构来说,透明是审计的前提。Zenefits聘请了四大会计事务所的其中一家去调查其所可能犯的失误,并在去年5月将这些调查结果报告给国家监管机构。“我们又请了一家独立公司专项调查Macro。”Sacks补充道。 对于行业内的合作伙伴,Sacks更专注与保险及人力资源企业进行交流合作。“过去我们同中间商的关系是一种不必要的敌对关系。但我们与中间商之间有很多共同点。”他强调了Zenefits是如何成为美国健康保险商协会(NAHU)的“活跃成员”。为了同投资者协商,这家公司与投资者达成了一项解决方案,将估值降低一半以上。 针对员工问题,这家公司快速改变了其结果至上的销售精神——公司内部称其为“准备、瞄准、开火”——同时开始推崇新的核心价值观。Sacks也为任何想要离职跳槽的员工准备了一个被称为“The Offer”的收购选项,他补充道,只有10%的员工接受了该选项。 对于Sacks来说新的企业文化至关重要,这显示了该公司的发展潜力。Zenefits一开始斗志昂扬想要在保险行业大干一番。尽管最初是这样的,但是随着Zenefits逐渐壮大,品质却没有随之增长。“企业文化需要成长,”Sacks如是说,“我们的企业文化尚未形成气候,但这个问题是可以解决的。” 现在我们正在观望Z2的用户情况,这就是Sacks所说的计划起点。“该方案能够帮助我们辨别谁是重要股东,同时告诉我们如何才能获得利益相关者的信任。” 翻身之路道阻且长 按照Sacks的观点,目前情况对他不利。“我本人是非常信赖创始人和CEO的。”当被问及为何接过大旗之时,Sacks如是说道。 “但在这里,所有发生的一切几乎打消了信赖存在的可能性。”在臭名昭著之后东山再起,Sacks自己也承认,“我知道科技公司想要东山再起非常艰难,基本上都是徒劳。” 但Zenefits还是有一丝丝成功的曙光的。首先,Sacks指出Zenefits的服务填补了市场空白,而其他科技企业扭亏失败是因为产品已经不流行了。“当你想到一些必须面临扭亏的公司——诸如雅虎或AOL,这些公司的产品都不适应市场了,很多产品变成了明日黄花。”但是Zenefits不是这样,他说道,“我们的市场策略尚未过时,事实上,每个人都在抄袭我们。” 有一系列的公司正在提供相似的服务。Gusto就是一个例子。“无论何时只要你有一个好想法,竞争就会随之出现。但是我们知道,我们永远走在前面。” Sacks同时强调了当面对保险违法行为和内部文化斗争的双重丑闻打击时,Zenefits的反应速度很快。Conrad下台Sacks接手,紧随其后Zenefits开始重塑新的企业价值观。价值观被写上墙,召开了一系列会议向员工解释说明,并奖励那些表现良好的员工。例如,一个员工坦白自己错误并获得奖励,这种情况在过去是完全不可能出现的。 放手一搏 除了快速重振旗鼓,他认为Zenefits处理外部问题的方法是其唯一可行方案。通过自行并系统性地纠正错误,才能找到一条可能通往成功的道路。 “Theranos与投资者对簿公堂这类事件是投资人最不愿意处理的,同时这一事件对企业的伤害非常大。”与之相反,Sacks选择正面处理这些问题,他认为透明度和直率是企业必备品行。 尽管Zenefits已经开始重新振作,并且在个别州达成解决方案继续进行交易,但是仍然还有很多困难需要克服。Sacks表示Zenefits对9个州有了相应的解决方案,不久将会推行到更多地区。“在被监管的这段时间里,我认为问题能够尽快解决。” 明年我们就能看到他的扭亏是否奏效。Sacks是一个很有决心且经验丰富的企业家。“这不是我自己选择的工作,”他承认,“我同意接手是因为我需要对员工、投资者和用户负起责任。尤其是在当下这种危难时刻。” 但是作为PayPal mafia的一员和Yammer(12亿美元被微软收购)的联合创始人,Sacks真的有能力挽救Zenefits吗?对于Sacks来说,这可能是“死马当活马医”。 “如果我们想要东山再起,就不得不放手一搏。”   本文来自猎云网,如若转载,请注明出处:http://www.lieyunwang.com/archives/233252
    David sacks
    2016年11月02日
  • David sacks
    保险代理HR服务公司Zenefits降低估值 从45亿到20亿的估值 换取投资人不起诉 BI中文站 7月1日报道 人力资源软件初创公司Zenefits首席执行官大卫·萨克斯(David Sacks)今日宣布,公司已经与投资者达成了一项协议。协议规定,Zenefits将给投资者更多的公司股份,条件是投资者不得对公司提出起诉。 2015年5月,投资者以5亿美元的价格购买了Zenefits大约11%的股份,当时这家创立仅2年时间的初创公司在那项交易中的估值为45亿美元。 根据公司与投资者达成的新协议,投资者持有的股份比例将上升到25%,公司估值下调至20亿美元。 作为交换条件,投资者必须同意不对公司提出起诉。之前有消息称,Zenefits因为无照销售保险而在多个州遭到调查,公司还公开指责前任首席执行官兼公司创始人帕克·康拉德(Parker Conrad)编写了一款计算机程序供员工使用以“绕过州政府的发牌要求”。 当时萨克斯在公司担任首席运营官职务,他也是Zenefits的投资者之一,个人对公司投资了数百万美元。但是他说自己对这款计算机程序并不知情,他说他一发现这个问题马上就采取了措施,随后康拉德辞职,一切有关的流程都被纠正过来。 因为这项协议还将稀释普通股东的股份,包括员工们持有的股份,因此Zenefits打算向员工们发放更多的股票来进行补偿,公司将通过一项特殊的股票赠予计划来进行落实,这项计划将在一年之内全部执行完毕。这是一项股票赠予计划而不是股票期权,因此员工们不必担心股票价值下滑的问题,他们所持股份的价值所占的比例不会发生变化。 萨克斯说,除了他本人和联合创始人拉克丝·斯瑞里(Laks Srini)之外,公司其他高管将获得一项新的4年期赠予计划。这意味着萨克斯本人持有的股份将被稀释。 一些大投资者包括Fidelity、TPG、安德森霍洛维茨和Insight Venture Partners已经同意了这份协议,萨克斯说,这份协议很快就会被发到所有投资者手中。 但是只有一个例外情况:作为C轮融资的部分内容,康拉德本人向投资者出售了价值1000万美元的公司股份,他的主要目的就是套现。Zenefits不打算向买下这部分股票的投资者提供这项协议,萨克斯说,这些投资者不必放弃起诉的权利。他补充说:“我希望这个问题能在近期得到解决。” Zenefits是一家私营公司,原本不必公开像这样的内幕交易,但是由于它现在面临的困境早已不再是什么秘密了,因此萨克斯选择开诚布公地方式向投资者言明他为了解决问题而采取的种种措施。(林靖东) 【美国Business Insider作品的中文相关权益归腾讯公司独家所有。未经授权,不得转载、摘编等。微信公众号:BI中文站】
    David sacks
    2016年07月10日
  • David sacks
    Zenefits新CEO开始调整销售部门,裁员17%,部分员工抱怨新CEO胡搞 估值45亿美元的人力资源创业公司Zenefits正陷入危机。该公司周五宣布,销售和招聘部门已裁员约250人,占员工总数的约17%。 在CEO及创始人帕克·康拉德(Parker Conrad)被扫地出门之后,过去几周Zenefits正面临不利处境。Zenefits向中小企业提供免费软件,帮助它们进行人力资源管理。该公司此前被发现存在系统性的欺诈行为。随后还有媒体报道称,Zenefits有着松散,甚至不恰当的企业文化,例如曾有员工在楼梯间里发生性关系。 这些丑闻导致Zenefits很难完成营收目标。该公司此前以45亿美元的估值完成过融资,但去年,公募基金投资方大幅减记了Zenefits股份的价值。 该公司首席运营官大卫·萨克斯(David Sacks)已接任CEO一职。萨克斯是硅谷知名人士和创业者。他上任后的第一项要求就是禁止在公司内饮酒,而目前又宣布了对销售部门的裁员。 他在一份公告中表示:“今天,Zenefits宣布裁员约250人,占员工总数的约17%。这些调整几乎全部来自销售部门,此外也包括招聘部门的十余名员工。这一裁员将帮助我们重新专注于战略,以符合我们新公司价值的方式进行重建,并以受控的方式取得发展。这对我们的业务有着战略意义,同时有利于我们的客户。” 在致员工的一封电子邮件中,萨克斯承认,复苏处于困境中的科技公司并不容易。不过他表示,有信心Zenefits能够重回正轨。他表示:“Zenefits犯了一些错误,但从未失去产品与市场的适应性。”(维金)
    David sacks
    2016年02月27日
  • David sacks
    Zenefits 创始人兼CEO 出局,COO接替新CEO ,超高融资酿下苦果 Parker Conrad,作为2015 增长最快的独角兽之一的 Zenefits 创始人兼 CEO,正式从公司出局。 在 Parker 的掌舵下,Zenefits 的财政收入没能达到预期目标,而且正在接受美国监管部门的调查,可以说有点被公司扫地出门的感觉。接任的 CEO David Sacks 在向员工解释原 CEO 离职的内部邮件中表示,Conrad 是因为合规管理意识的缺乏而出局。 ''实际情况是,公司内部的各种流程、控制和法律风险的规避都在执行力上有些问题,甚至有些决定是错误的。'' Zenefits 主要的产品是 HR 相关的各种云服务,大多数都是免费的,其主要收入的来源是面向其客户的保险业务。这就是问题的关键所在,他们让未经授权的销售人员非法成为保险代理人,销售医疗保险,这一举动就引来了监管机构的调查。 随之而来的便是 Zenefits 在 2015年 未能达到自己定下的 1 亿美金的营收,这个消息也是 Conrad 确认的。而 1 亿美金这个数字也是 Zenefits 在之前能够收到资本青睐的主要原因之一,上一轮他们获得了 5 亿美金的融资,估值达到 45 亿美金。 但在其营收没能达到预期的情况下,Zenefitsd 投资者之一的 Fidelity 在去年9月 对这家公司的估值仅为拿到融资时的一半。 ''拿到授权''是新 CEO David Sacks 在内部邮件中提到的关键词之一,他强调之前的公司文化已经不太适应现在这家受到高度监管的公司了。这封内部邮件非常的直接的在职责 Conrad 的各种行为。 在成为公司 CEO 前,David 是 Zenefits 的 COO,同时也是一位投资人,经它手最明星的项目毫无疑问是 Paypal,这次公司高层的变动也让更多的投资人进入了董事会,包括鼎鼎有名的 Peter Thiel(Paypal 合伙人)。 原创文章,作者:Mihawk,如若转载,请注明出处:http://36kr.com/p/5043184.html
    David sacks
    2016年02月10日