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    LinkedIn通过大数据选出美国最具人才吸引力的50个创业公司 LinkedIn Top Companies | Startups: The 50 industry disruptors you need to know now 作者:Daniel Rot   Editor in Chief, LinkedIn 所有估值和资金数据来自CB Insights。除非由公司直接提供,否则任职,员工增长和全球员工数据均来自LinkedIn Premium Insights。 全文是英文,我们简单列出前十名: 1、UBER 2、AIRBNB 3、WEWORK 4、LYFT( 跟UBER一样的打车软件) 5、Slack  (HR项目) 6、NIO 7、Rubrik 8、Dropbox 9、Houzz 10、Convoy ········ 16、Pinterest 19、Udacity 22、Opendoor 31、Coursera 46、Glint (HR项目) 详细的大家可以看这些项目和公司福利。   Some of the most fascinating businesses today are startups. Sensing a chance to transform (or take over) a market, founders are channeling their seemingly endless flow of venture funds into new ideas — and top talent. We wanted to see which startups were winning the talent game. Who are the 50 most in-demand upstarts in the U.S. today? The all-new LinkedIn “Top Companies | Startups” list is the answer. To surface the companies, we looked at the billions of actions of LinkedIn’s more than 500 million members to determine employee growth, job seeker interest via views and applications, member engagement with the company and its employees — and how well these startups pulled talent from our flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list. (You can learn more about our methodology here.) To be eligible for Top Companies | Startups, companies must be 10 years old or younger, have at least 100 employees, remain independent and privately held and have at least one round of venture-backed funding. LinkedIn worked with CB Insights to pull a global list of nearly 25,000 eligible venture-backed companies. Share the list and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopCompanies. Here are this year’s top 50 startups in the U.S. All valuation and funding data come from CB Insights. Tenure, employee growth and global headcount data are from LinkedIn Premium Insights unless provided directly by the company. Follow Driving forward: Uber has been in the public eye this year for all the wrong reasons: sexual harassment claims, regulatory issues, a new CEO and loads of boardroom drama. That hasn’t kept the ride-sharing giant from growing fast or attracting top talent. Of all the companies on our list, Uber has the most workers who have joined from other LinkedIn Top Companies; employees have left the likes of Google, JPMorgan and Facebook to work at the super-unicorn. Global headcount: 16,000 Global headquarters: San Francisco Catch a ride: Worldwide employees get free monthly Uber credits to use on personal rides or UberEATS, the company’s online meal ordering and delivery platform. Valuation: $68 billion Explore jobs at Uber Follow Yurt, treehouse, castle: Airbnb has had 200 million guest arrivals since the company launched. Taking on the $550 billion hotel industry is no small feat. To go head-to-head, the company has expanded its instant booking listings and even announced plans to open its first co-branded apartments (which residents will be able to share on Airbnb). Global headcount: 3,000 Global headquarters: San Francisco Royal lodgings: Employees receive an annual $2,000 (£1,516) stipend to stay in Airbnb locales around the world, including one of nearly 3,000 listed castles. Valuation: $29.25 billion Explore jobs at Airbnb Follow Creating communities: WeWork has nearly doubled its membership this year to over 150,000 users, expanded to some 170 locations (including its first India location) and purchased private coding academy Flatiron School in a recent acquisition. While the startup has been growing rapidly, a highly competitive office-leasing market recently raised doubts around the company’s rich valuation. Global headcount: 3,000 Global headquarters: New York City TGIM: New hires join WeWork every Monday for orientation at the company’s headquarters. The day includes a citywide scavenger hunt where employees get a glimpse of the company’s nearly 40 buildings across New York and ends with the weekly “Thank God it’s Monday” dinner for the entire staff. Valuation: $20 billion Explore jobs at WeWork Follow Driving across America: Lyft has been rapidly expanding across the U.S. It now covers 95 percent of the population across all 50 states, more than any other rideshare platform, and provides over 1 million rides every day. In mid-October, it raised $1 billion in a new funding round led by the venture arm of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Global headcount: 2,000 Global headquarters: San Francisco Expanding accessibility: Lyft introduced new features to make the app more accessible to deaf or hard-of-hearing drivers, including visual notifications and a message telling passengers to contact the driver via text. Passengers can also get a quick tutorial on how to say “Hello” and “Thank You” in sign language. Valuation: $11 billion Explore jobs at Lyft Follow Revolutionizing productivity: Known as a dead-simple collaboration tool, Slack is going head-to-head with the likes of LinkedIn parent Microsoft and Atlassian to own workplace productivity. Its platform allows workers to message each other in real time, while connected apps add context or automate mundane tasks to help get the job done. Global headcount: 890 Global headquarters: San Francisco Corporate scale: Slack bills itself as the fastest-growing business application in history, serving some 9 million weekly active users and 43 companies from the Fortune 100 list. It’s been hiring rapidly to keep up with that scale: growing 32 percent over the past year.   Valuation: $5.1 billion Explore jobs at Slack Follow Speeding into the future: Shanghai-based NIO develops smart, electric and autonomous vehicles. The startup, which expanded to the U.S. two years ago, built the world’s fastest electric car, manned or unmanned, able to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds. CEO Padmasree Warrior, formerly of Cisco, says NIO cars will be available in the U.S. as soon as 2020. Global headcount: 3,000 Global headquarters: Shanghai (San Jose, Calif. in the U.S.) Welcome to the team: NIO has more than quadrupled its staff since June 2016. Amid such rapid growth, NIO shepherds its culture through bimonthly “team time,” where all employees welcome new hires and get to know each other outside of work through activities like trivia and scavenger hunts. Valuation: $2.89 billion Explore jobs at NIO Follow Cloud’s the limit: Rubrik helps companies organize their data in the cloud, ensuring instant access for recovery, analytics and application development. It counts corporate giant JLL, non-profit World Vision and the Tampa Bay Rays among its customers, but CEO Bipul Sinha has even bigger ambitions. “In the future, data will be like money,” he said in a May interview. “Rubrik can be like the Visa for enterprise.” Global headcount: 600 Global headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. Big-name investors: The company counts NBA MVP Kevin Durant as one of its investors and board advisors alongside iconic firms like IVP and Lightspeed Ventures. It’s also notably transparent: all 600 employees can attend board meetings and see the company’s financials. Valuation: $1.3 billion Explore jobs at Rubrik Follow Refreshing storage: Dropbox has a new look these days. The online storage company went through its biggest-ever rebrand this year, repositioning itself as the tool to enable and inspire creativity in the workplace. The new branding also comes with a major milestone: Dropbox reached a $1 billion revenue run rate in February, the company told LinkedIn. Global headcount: 1,900 Global headquarters: San Francisco Giving back: Every Dropbox employee is given 32 hours of annual volunteer time off to participate in a cause about which they are passionate. The company will also match up to $1,000 for all donations made by Dropboxers to charitable organizations. Valuation: $9.38 billion Explore jobs at Dropbox Follow Bringing tech home: Houzz, the online platform for remodeling and decorating, is transforming the way people design and shop for their homes. Beyond sketching ideas or hiring the right contractor, users can experience their designs through Houzz’s augmented reality tool. The company says that shoppers who engage with the tool are 11 times more likely to purchase. Global headcount: 1,600 Global headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. More than an office: On their first day, every new employee gets a pair of Houzz slippers to wear around the office so they can feel at home. It’s not much of a stretch: Houzz’s meeting rooms are inspired by household spaces around the world, including the British Tea Room, German Backyard and Italian Closet. Valuation: $3.84 billion Explore jobs at Houzz Follow Trucking on demand: Convoy believes the world moves on reliable trucks, and it is in the business of building innovative services to match shipments with reliable carriers. The company works with a network of independent trucking companies and uses technology to match the right truck to the right load, helping optimize supply chain performance. Global headcount: 170 Global headquarters: Seattle Staffing up: The company has been scaling rapidly since its founding in 2015. In the past six months, Convoy’s headcount has grown 37 percent — and it’s hiring for another 28 jobs currently, according to LinkedIn data. Its recent $62 million funding round, led by Y Combinator, will help rev up that growth. Total funding: $80 million Explore jobs at Convoy Follow Closing the skills gap: General Assembly is creating a new way to educate today’s workforce. The company, which started as a single co-working space in 2011, now has campuses in 20 cities. GA has served over 40,000 students through its full- and part-time programs, and it says it works with a third of the Fortune 100 to develop proprietary, sustainable talent pipelines in fields like data science and web development. Global headcount: 580 Global headquarters: New York City Moving up: While GA has some great perks (like 16 weeks of parental leave for a primary caregiver), the biggest benefit may be the upward mobility within the company. In the first half of 2017, GA had 136 promotions, the company told LinkedIn. That’s a quarter of all employees. Valuation: $452 million Explore jobs at General Assembly Follow Moving the money: Bought something online at Target recently? Or Under Armour? Then you’ve likely used Stripe’s products without even realizing it. The company builds the tools businesses need to instantly accept and manage online payments, helping buyers pay seamlessly and providing sellers real-time analytics. Global headcount: 810 Global headquarters: San Francisco Worldwide access: Stripe powers businesses in 25 countries and accepts 135 different currencies (plus Bitcoin). It enables Apple Pay across the internet and in iOS apps, and Stripe even helped launch a new cryptocurrency: Stellar. Valuation: $9.2 billion Explore jobs at Stripe Follow The birth of an empire: Before starting her direct-to-consumer skincare and makeup company, Glossier CEO Emily Weiss ran the popular blog Into the Gloss. The industry expertise and cult following she gained was a recipe for Glossier success. Her social media-savvy brand became such a hit after launching in 2014 that its products quickly sold out and garnered waitlists 10,000 people long. Global headcount: 130 Global headquarters: New York City Growth in all directions: At an annual employee growth rate of 257 percent, Glossier was the fastest-growing company on this list over the past 12 months, according to our data. The company also made strides to meet growing demand abroad with plans to ship to Canada, the UK and France. Total funding: $34.4 million Explore jobs at Glossier Follow Connecting the dots: Early in his career, Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen worked in logistics importing lawnmowers and jacuzzis from China. Now he’s on a mission to ensure any two businesses can trade regardless of distance or regulatory hurdles. His freight forwarding and customs brokerage company is growing at a rapid clip, with its base of clients up 315 percent over the past year, the company says. Global headcount: 500 Global headquarters: San Francisco Branch out: The company does a regular “lunch roulette” where you go out to lunch with coworkers you don’t see on a daily basis. Valuation: $910 million Explore jobs at Flexport Making the connection: Organizations often spend a fortune investing in telecommunications infrastructure from the likes of AT&T and Verizon. Aryaka Networks, a SD-WAN provider, is disrupting those telecom giants by providing a networking option that eliminates hardware and helps control costs with a pay-as-you-use model. The end result is seamless connectivity that’s optimized for cloud-based applications and global access. Global headcount: More than 300 Global headquarters: San Mateo, Calif. Loyal employees: The average employee tenure at Aryaka Networks is 2.7 years, the longest of all the companies on the list, according to LinkedIn data. Total funding: $120 million Explore jobs at Aryaka Networks The visual search engine: Seven years after the company’s debut, it’s still hard to nail down exactly what Pinterest is: it’s part social network, part scrapbook, part catalog of ideas. But, increasingly, it’s defining itself as a search company — one that hopes to offer marketers an alternative to ad behemoths like Google. The company is expected to generate $500 million in ad revenue this year, up from $300 million in 2016. Global headcount: 1,200 Global headquarters: San Francisco Just getting started: Pinterest believes most of its site “hasn’t been built yet,” so this year it launched Pinterest Labs, a collaboration with researchers, scientists, engineers and universities to take on the biggest problems in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Valuation: $12.3 billion Explore jobs at Pinterest Follow Working to save lives: Since launching a year ago, GRAIL has attracted a whopping $1 billion in funding from Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and some of the biggest companies in healthcare. The company's goal is to detect cancer early, when it's possible to cure. To do that, it’s attracted world-class geneticists and biostatisticians, and launched one of the largest clinical research programs in genomic health, with studies enrolling more than 130,000 people. Global headcount: 250 Global headquarters: Menlo Park, Calif. Expert leader: CEO Bill Rastetter co-invented one of the world’s most valuable cancer therapies, and has won praise for his work in academia. He held multiple faculty positions at MIT and won the award for “Excellence in the Teaching of Chemistry” at Harvard. Total funding: $1 billion Explore jobs at GRAIL Follow Growth hackers: Duo Security, the first of five cybersecurity companies on the list, provides features like two-factor authentication and secure single sign-on to clients as diverse as Facebook, Toyota and Zillow. The 8-year-old company has been on a tear: In the last year, Duo quadrupled its user base, doubled its headcount and became cash-flow positive, it says. Global headcount: 500 Global headquarters: Ann Arbor, Mich. Local flavor: The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company embraces its Midwestern roots by enforcing a “no jerks” policy and gives each employee a personal candy pack from Zingerman’s, the famous local deli, on the first day. Valuation: $1.17 billion Explore jobs at Duo Security The Silicon Valley university: On a mission to democratize education, Udacity offers courses designed by companies like Google and Salesforce that teach professionals the foundational skills needed to land jobs as web developers, mobile developers or data scientists — all at a fraction of the cost of normal universities. Global headcount: 500 Global headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. Driving diversity: If you thought you couldn’t get a degree in self-driving cars, think again. Udacity recently created a scholarship with Lyft for its new Intro to Self-Driving Cars program to help make the field more accessible. Valuation: $1 billion Explore jobs at Udacity The Yelp for enterprise software: With nearly 250,000 verified user reviews for software and services, G2 Crowd is making it simple to find the best business technology based on people’s real experience, acting as a Yelp for enterprise software. There’s one big difference from the consumer-focused review site: G2 Crowd doesn’t sell any ads. Instead, it uses its data to provide for-purchase research reports. Global headcount: 120 Global headquarters: Chicago Personalized welcome: If you land one of G2 Crowd’s 130 forecasted job openings over the next year, expect to see your personal Bitmoji hanging at the entrance to the office on your first day. Valuation: $300 million Explore jobs at G2 Crowd Modern mortgage making: Blend provides mortgage lenders the digital tools they need to make home loan applications faster, smarter and more secure. The company, which says its clients control about 25 percent of the $10 trillion mortgage lending industry, has helped process $57 billion in applications so far this year. Global headcount: 200 Global headquarters: San Francisco Humble beginnings: Blend CEO and founder Nima Ghamsari attributes his foray into entrepreneurship to his first job at McDonald’s. “The one thing it teaches everyone is that most jobs are not glamorous, and you have to do whatever it takes to get by,” he told LinkedIn. Valuation: $500 million Explore jobs at Blend Moving on: Opendoor wants to cure your real estate woes by making it possible to sell your home online quickly — no real estate listing necessary. The company, which also operates its own mortgage business, buys your home directly then resells it. Opendoor is active in Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Las Vegas and Atlanta with plans to expand to two new markets before year end, it says. Global headcount: 415 Global headquarters: San Francisco Undercover employee: All new hires act as Opendoor secret shoppers in order to experience the service first-hand, using the app to enter a home and explore as if they were potential buyers. Valuation: $1 billion Explore jobs at Opendoor Follow Military grade security: Fighting hackers is no easy task, but Boston-based Cybereason is equipped for the challenge. Many of its employees served in the Israel Defense Forces’ cybersecurity unit and now use similar tactics to protect its clients. The company’s endpoint detection platform finds attackers’ vulnerabilities after they’ve infiltrated an organization, letting companies know if they are under attack and how to quickly stop the threat. Global headcount: 325 Global headquarters: Boston Perk alert: Cybereason offers employees unlimited vacation, reimbursement for commuting expenses, free lunch and an employee referral bonus of up to $5,000. Valuation: $999 million Explore jobs at Cybereason Follow Protection on all fronts: Cylance is one of the world’s first companies to provide an antivirus platform built on machine learning and artificial intelligence. It uses its next-generation technology to proactively protect companies like Panasonic and Gap Inc., as well as the U.S. government and even consumer home devices, from malware attacks. Global headcount: 805 Global headquarters: Irvine, Calif. The motive: On a flight to Australia in 1989, Founder & CEO Stuart McClure faced a near-death experience when the flight incurred devastating damage en route that cost eight other passengers their lives. Since that day, McClure told LinkedIn, his life’s passion has been “to find and fix the problems introduced by technology to prevent bad stuff from happening to innocent people.” Valuation: $1 billion Explore jobs at Cylance Follow Making headlines: Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike was the first to point a finger at Russia after its investigation of the Democratic National Committee email hack prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Since then, it’s capitalized on the surging interest in online security to raise new funding (another $100 million in May) and to sign on ever-more clients. CrowdStrike tells LinkedIn that more than 10 percent of the Fortune 1000 now leverage its tech and services. Global headcount: 760 Global headquarters: Sunnyvale, Calif. In-person intro: The company flies all new hires in from around the world to meet with execs and learn about company's strategic direction in person. Valuation: $1.01 billion Explore jobs at CrowdStrike Increasing efficiency: Chicago-based predictive analytics firm Uptake added more than 300 jobs this year. The company’s software analyzes sensor data to improve productivity and decrease failures across a host of industries, from aviation to energy. One example: wind farms. Uptake’s software can predict when parts on a turbine may soon need to be replaced, preventing costly outages. Global headcount: 800 Global headquarters: Chicago Your name here: Employees who submit patentable ideas for company review can be awarded up to $2,000 and named inventors if the patent is granted. Valuation: $2 billion Explore jobs at Uptake Cash, credit, or a loan: Third-party lender Affirm aims to offer shoppers an alternative at the register by providing quick and easy personal loans with fixed monthly payments. The company recently announced it’s available at checkout with more than 1,000 merchants, up from 100 a year ago, often for higher-priced merchandise like furniture and electronics. Global headcount: 280 Global headquarters: San Francisco Origin story: Despite just having sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2012, Max Levchin couldn’t get approved for a car loan. He was haunted by minor credit issues racked up in college. The experience proved to him that FICO scores weren’t useful for determining credit worthiness and helped birth the idea for Affirm, where he’s co-founder and CEO. Valuation: $781 million Explore jobs at Affirm New foundation: Construction projects rarely finish early or under budget. Katerra wants to streamline the process — by owning all of it. With its model, developers don’t parcel out work to contractors who in turn subcontract again, which inflates costs. Katerra oversees everything, from design to materials sourcing and assembly. Its Phoenix, Ariz., manufacturing facility can build a 24-unit apartment building every two weeks. Global headcount: 850 Global headquarters: Menlo Park, Calif. Who it’s hiring: The company writes that it looks for employees who can “think big, and lead from any seat.” Another core corporate value: frugality. As the company looks to trim costs from the construction process, one cultural principle is working “in the most cost-efficient manner possible.” Valuation: $1 billion Explore jobs at Katerra Ding-dong: Video doorbell company Ring turns your smartphone into a surveillance hub, sending you a live feed of your front door. The company, rejected by judges on “Shark Tank” in 2013, went on to generate an estimated $160 million in sales last year. It recently expanded into other user-friendly home security products like floodlight cameras. Global headcount: 1,500 Global headquarters: Santa Monica, Calif. Doing battle: In his quest to stay ahead of competitors, CEO Jamie Siminoff treats employees as “confidants in war,” the LA Times reported, “bestowing them with dog-tag-style security badges inscribed with name, start date and title.” Another corporate rarity: Ring’s dozens of team leaders have nearly full autonomy — no mandatory management meetings or even budgets — to encourage speed and innovation. Valuation: $431 million Explore jobs at Ring Rethinking real estate: Convene designs and operates corporate meeting spaces, and sees its business model as much more, calling it “workplace as a service.” The company amps up the cool factor of average office buildings by adding high-end touches more common in luxury hotels like microbrew coffee shops and farm-to-table meals. It brought in $40.7 million in revenue in 2016, up from $28.9 million the prior year. Global headcount: 320 Global headquarters: New York City Coffee talk: Within a month of starting at Convene, every new hire meets with one or both of the company’s co-founders to chat over coffee. They also receive a giant chocolate business card with their name on it. Total funding: $113.5 million Explore jobs at Convene Follow Open classroom: Online education giant Coursera offers a multitude of digital courses on topics from cryptocurrency to game theory. It has grown to over 28 million users globally and is adding nearly a half million new users every month, the company told LinkedIn. Coursera is committed to amping up the technical skills of underemployed people worldwide, often partnering directly with governments to close the skills gap. Global headcount: 300 Global headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. Hit the books: Employees enjoy free Coursera courses as well as time during working hours to meet with colleagues in study groups. Valuation: $800 million Explore jobs at Coursera Follow Customized: Online styling service Stitch Fix pairs customers with its more than 3,000 personal stylists to gauge wardrobe needs and dispatch regular boxes stuffed with clothes, shoes, and accessories. There is a strict separation between the company’s merchandising and data teams to ensure its recommendation algorithms get just the right products into customers’ hands. Global headcount: 5,800 Global headquarters: San Francisco On the market: The company recently filed for its much-anticipated IPO; it reported$977 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year and lost $594,000, although it was profitable in previous years. Valuation: $314 million Explore jobs at Stitch Fix Follow Alibaba of the West: Wish, a mobile commerce app, connects shoppers directly with the suppliers of everything from down jackets to wireless chargers. This direct access to manufacturers, many of which are in China, means cheaper prices and a huge selection: the site has tens of millions of listed products. Global headcount: 310 Global headquarters: San Francisco Making money: The 7-year-old startup has raised over $1 billion in funding from the likes of Founders Fund and GGV Capital. That bet may pay off. Wish has an annual run rate in the “middle single billions” and is profitable, according to Joe Lonsdale, an investor in the company. Valuation: $3 billion Explore jobs at Wish Follow Wooing millennials: Online brokerage Robinhood lets members make trades without paying any fees, an appealing proposition for many first-time traders. "Free is pretty difficult,” says co-founder Baiju Bhatt, noting that most of the company’s employees are software engineers focused on building automation into the system to ensure customers can easily trade without human guidance or intervention. Global headcount: 100 Global headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. On the rise: Robinhood doubled its base to 2 million users in the past year, and Bhatt estimates that 90 percent are under age 40. The company expects to double its headcount next year to keep up with the growth. Valuation: $1.3 billion Explore jobs at Robinhood Follow Threats thwarted: Cybersecurity company Darktrace uses AI and machine learning to defend enterprise networks. Rather than building perimeters to keep hackers out, it looks at what normal behavior is in a system and raises alarms when something deviates. The company was founded by mathematicians from the University of Cambridge. Global headcount: 600 Global headquarters: Cambridge, UK Unsolved problem: Darktrace has raised $180.5 million in total, including a new $75 million funding round earlier this year, putting its valuation near unicorn territory. Its more than 3,500 customers include even water-supply systems, eager for help. “The problem of cybersecurity is still unsolved,” CEO Nicole Eagan told Bloomberg TV. Valuation: $825 million Follow Get connected: Sprout Social is an enterprise social media management platform that helps companies with the often chaotic task of tending to their presence across multiple social networks. More than 19,000 brands currently use Sprout, and the company has been expanding both its workforce and its capabilities to meet demand. Sprout grew its headcount by 80 percent since September 2016 and added features like Instagram scheduling and a built-in image editor. Global headcount: 400 Global headquarters: Chicago Access to the top: All new employees meet with Sprout CEO Justyn Howard shortly after starting. They can ask questions and hear straight from the top boss about the company’s values and vision. Valuation: $500 million, according to the company. Explore jobs at Sprout Social Follow Powerhouse partnership: Hyperloop One recently announced an investment from and partnership with Virgin Group that gives Richard Branson a board seat and rebrands the startup: Meet Virgin Hyperloop One. The company, which remains independent, will be able to tap into Virgin’s expertise in operations, safety and passenger experience as it looks to commercialize its first hyperloop systems as early as 2021. Global headcount: 300 Global headquarters: Los Angeles Farther and faster: Virgin Hyperloop One’s autonomous system uses electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube, which could reach airplane-equivalent speeds once fully developed. In a second phase of testing in July, its XP-1 pod reached 190 mph and a maximum distance of 1,433 feet, going farther and faster than its initial runs in May. Valuation: $700 million Explore jobs at Virgin Hyperloop One Follow Data driven: Snowflake Computing is a pay-as-you-go data warehouse for the cloud. The 5-year-old company boasts clients like Adobe, Capital One and Sony Pictures and says its sales have increased 300 percent in the past year while its workforce roughly doubled. It raised $105 million earlier this year, bringing its total funding to $210 million, in part to open more sales offices worldwide. It tells LinkedIn it expects to add another 300 jobs next year, a move that would again double the size of the company. Global headcount: 280 Global headquarters: San Mateo, Calif. Warm welcome: In a personal touch at the weekly all-hands meeting, CEO Bob Muglia introduces each new employee, asking them to stand as their colleagues provide thunderous applause and cheers. Valuation: $500 million Explore jobs at Snowflake Computing Follow AI to the rescue: ThoughtSpot is an analytics platform that aims to take the pain out of using business intelligence tools. Its AI-powered software lets users ask questions in everyday language, similar to a Google search. Customers include Chevron, Capital One and OpenTable, with the company aiming for 20 million users by 2020. Global headcount: 220 Global headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. In it together: Co-founder and CEO Ajeet Singh describes himself as “Chief Coffee Maker” and sees his job as being there to help others, even if it's just brewing another pot. ThoughtSpot’s commitment to “selfless excellence” extends into a Slack channel where employees can applaud each other for good deeds. Valuation: $417 million Explore jobs at ThoughtSpot Follow Offline marketing magic: Zenreach has transformed free wifi from a service into a tool: brick-and-mortar businesses can collect the email, demographic information and visit behavior of customers just by inviting them to log onto in-store wifi. Companies can then use that information to better target marketing campaigns to the right consumers at the right time. Global headcount: 220 Global headquarters: San Francisco Star-studded cast: Zenreach has raised $80 million in funding and collected a star-studded list of investors, including Peter Thiel, Kevin Durant and Ashton Kutcher. Valuation: $193 million Explore jobs at Zenreach Follow Keeping data safe: Storing, protecting and analyzing data is big business, and multiple enterprise startups are competing to own the space. Cohesity has been rapidly gaining momentum with its proprietary technology that allows companies to streamline their backup and data protection while delivering real-time analytics. Its products have wooed the likes of Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which are both investors. Global headcount: 210 Global headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif. Bonding on the beach: Last December, CEO and founder Mohit Aron paid for all employees and their families to vacation in Hawaii to celebrate the 4-year-old company’s rapid growth. Valuation: $537 million Explore jobs at Cohesity Follow Customer service meets business insight: Pendo is making that ubiquitous — and loathed — emailed customer feedback survey obsolete. Its software leverages in-app surveys, polls and analytics to give product developers more detailed user feedback. Revenue is up 400 percent compared to a year ago, Pendo told LinkedIn. Global headcount: 150 Global headquarters: Raleigh, N.C. Better than Bitmoji: The Raleigh, N.C.-based startup plans to double in size this year, with an estimated 150 job openings planned for the next year. New hires can look forward to their own hand-illustrated avatar that lives on Pendo’s website and their own personal coffee mug. Total funding: $56 million, according to the company. Explore jobs at Pendo Follow Know your customer: Moda Operandi is redefining what it means to be a luxury shopper in a digital age, allowing customers to pre-order clothing, accessories and jewelry straight from the runway online. New this year is Moda Operandi Madison, a private boutique off of New York’s Madison Avenue for exclusive events and appointments. Global headcount: 200 Global headquarters: New York City Happy (furry) employees: Dogs are welcome in the office anytime, including at Moda Operandi’s weekly Friday happy hours. Biped employees also get bonus and equity at every level. Valuation: $330 million Explore jobs at Moda Operandi Follow Open-source operation: Databricks is helping companies like Salesforce, Viacom and Shell accelerate innovation by unifying analytics across engineering teams, data scientists and business partners. The company was founded by the creators of the open-source processing engine Apache Spark and is committed to continuing that open tradition. Databricks believes “that no computing platform will win in the big data space unless it is fully open.” Global headcount: 220 Global headquarters: San Francisco This is the droid you’re looking for: Databricks employees enjoy free catered lunch every day, Boba tea twice a week and the chance to spot an R2D2 model around the office daily. Valuation: $856 million Explore jobs at Databricks Follow Easier apps: Skuid is a champion of the better user experience, believing that low adoption rates of business software traces back to bad UX. Based in Chattanooga, Tenn., Skuid’s platform lets businesses build analytics apps with a drag-and-drop interface instead of coding. It scored a $25 million investment this year from Iconiq, the family wealth manager of tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg. Global headcount: 175 Global headquarters: Chattanooga, Tenn. Health, ensured: Skuid covers 100 percent of insurance premiums for its employees and their dependents. Total funding: $35.62 million Explore jobs at Skuid Following Taking the pulse: Glint attempts to go beyond the employee-happiness survey of old. One of its newest products, Narrative Intelligence, uses AI to analyze employee comments and provide a visual map of what employees care about. HR execs rejoice: No more reading through thousands of survey comments. Global headcount: 130 Global headquarters: Redwood City, Calif. Walk the talk: Based on its own employee feedback, Glint has added programs like No Meeting Wednesdays, volunteer opportunities and adjustable-height desks for all employees. Total funding: $119.17 million Explore jobs at Glint Follow Standardizing software: Docker is an open-source platform that allows developers and system administrators to build, ship and run distributed applications. Its container-as-a-service platform packages software into standardized units for easier access by teams and clients, which can speed up software shipments as much as 7x for companies, according to Docker. Global headcount: 325 Global headquarters: San Francisco Who needs groceries: Employees at Docker can help themselves to lunch, dinner, snacks, and bottomless cups of coffee at the office. Valuation: $1.3 billion Explore jobs at Docker Follow Making free services pay: Credit Karma built a profitable business providing free credit reports, credit monitoring services, and — in the wake of the Equifax breach — free ID monitoring. Its services have attracted 75 million users to date, including almost half of all American millennials, according to the company. This year the fintech startup topped $500 million in revenue and opened new offices in Charlotte and Los Angeles. Global headcount: More than 700 Global headquarters: San Francisco Recharge in the office: Perks include an on-site spa for manicures and pedicures, nap nooks and dedicated rooms for music jam sessions, art creation and retro arcade games. Valuation: $3.5 billion Explore jobs at Credit Karma Follow Better sleep, wherever: Direct-to-consumer mattress maker Casper has gone beyond its flagship single product. It introduced products like a humidity fighting duvet, an adjustable bed frame and a dog bed. Casper has also gone offline in a big way this year, launching a roving “bedmobile,” retail pop-ups and a Target partnership that puts its products in stores across the U.S. Global headcount: 350 Global headquarters: New York City Sleeping on the job: New employees receive a full suite of Casper sleep products, from the mattress to pillows to sheets, to ensure they are well-rested. If mid-afternoon sleepiness hits, they also have access to office nap pods for a quick snooze. Valuation: $920 million Explore jobs at Casper Follow Making search flexible: Elastic believes that good things come from connecting the dots — lots and lots of them. The company builds open-source data software for easier search, logging, security and analytics in real-time. Elastic’s products have been downloaded more than 150 million times and its community has grown to more than 100,000 developers across 100 countries. Global headcount: 600 Global headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. Distributed talent: Elastic searches far and wide for the best tech talent regardless of location — and embraces a distributed workforce model. The company started with employees in places like Amsterdam, London, Prague and Barcelona. Valuation: $700 million Explore jobs at Elastic Reported by: Chip Cutter, Susan Jackson, Laura Lorenzetti and Ashley Peterson Corrections: Valuations and funding for Sprout Social, Udacity, Aryaka Networks, Convoy, Pinterest and Cylance have been updated with information directly from the company. Global headcounts for Ring, Darktrace, Pinterest and Airbnb have been updated. WeWork recently acquired Flatiron School; it was incorrectly stated as the company's first acquisition.
    linkedin
    2017年11月05日
  • linkedin
    LinkedIn推出“活跃状态”功能 标记用户是否上线,但是不能隐身 小编发现LinkedIn推出了在线和活跃状态的功能! 绿色表示目前在线,绿圈表示过去在线,同时会告诉你的message 是否被阅读。感觉有一种时刻被盯着的样子。。。这样对于猎头或HR对于候选人沟通的过程可以进行管理了,比如候选人看了消息不理你,或者是根本就没看,或者不在线等等。。。。。   LinkedIn正悄悄上线名为“活跃状态”的新功能。当用户在线,可以通过LinkedIn消息平台聊天时,头像就会出现绿色圆环。这个简单的举措可能会彻底变革用户浏览和使用LinkedIn的方式。而如果企业员工希望偷偷通过LinkedIn寻找新工作,那么也会面临问题。 对所有主流社交平台而言,消息收发都是重要功能。然而在此之前,LinkedIn这方面处于落后。新功能可以提高LinkedIn的粘性,使其对候选人、同事和招聘人员更有用。“活跃状态”功能将默认开启,不过用户也可以在设置选项中将其关闭。尽管这不太可能对Facebook和谷歌产生太大的影响,但很明显,微软正试图让LinkedIn深入5亿多用户的日常生活。 “活跃状态”功能的使用场景非常明确。不过目前也不清楚,活跃用户是否会因此受到更多骚扰。LinkedIn希望通过该功能提高用户参与度,吸引用户更频繁的使用,从而展示更多广告,吸引更多用户购买付费服务。 LinkedIn高级产品经理萨米·谢雷巴蒂(Sammy Shreibati)表示,LinkedIn专注于速度。“这项新功能帮助用户查看,哪些联系人是活跃的,而用户将可以知道什么时候适合联系对方,发起对话。最终,我们希望帮助用户更方便地进行富有成效的对话,获得职业生涯的成功。”
    linkedin
    2017年08月23日
  • linkedin
    LinkedIn推出免费的撮合“师徒关系”服务,美国版“在行”? 近日,职业社交网站LinkedIn推出一项免费新服务,撮合相关职业领域的人组成“师徒关系”,并将首先面向旧金山和澳大利亚的用户开放。 初期,LinkedIn会人工筛选一批潜在的导师,当有用户表示自己希望能够获得指导时,便可对双方进行撮合。另外,导师可以通过设定一些前提条件来筛选徒弟,比如说和自己社交网络的远近关系、所在的地区、毕业院校等。后期,LinkedIn将充分贯彻“三人行,必有我师”的理念,向所有人开放导师资格。 在徒弟端,当用户表示自己希望在特定话题获得建议或帮助时,LinkedIn就会为其提供一些指标来缩小搜索范围,如地理位置、毕业院校等。 一旦成功撮合师徒配对,双方就可以自由进行沟通,但任何一方都可以随时终止沟通。 LinkedIn表示,希望能够借助这项功能填补市场空白。如果能够通过工作或其他渠道接触同一领域的前辈或资深人士,那么新入职场的人获得职业指导就是一件简单的事情。 虽然目前BetterUp和Everwise等能够提供职业指导服务,但都较为正式,并且都是付费服务。相较之下,LinkedIn新推出的这项服务可以免费使用,并且覆盖范围广泛。  
    linkedin
    2017年08月06日
  • linkedin
    招聘技巧:LinkedIn上回复率最高的InMail,有什么共同点? 编者按:Neha Mandhani最近发表了一篇题为These Are The LinkedIn InMails That Get The Highest Response Rates的文章,介绍使用领英InMail发送招聘信息时的一些雷区和成功经验。 如果你是领英用户,而且资料较全,你就很有可能收到InMail,招聘人员可通过 InMail 向未建立联系的领英用户直接发送站内信。如果应用得当,InMail会成为有力的社交工具。过去两年,领英上招聘人员和用户的互动增加了40%,InMail回复率今年提高了25%,六月甚至达到了历史新高。越来越多人通过InMail的回复找到工作,招聘人员也越来越注意InMail中的措辞。 随着InMail的流行,不论是原始用户还是招聘人员都想确保发出的信息被看到且被认真回复。所以我们研究了一下领英上最成功的招聘人员发出的信息类型数据,以找到最有效的信息类型。   私人化 发出的信息偏向私人化而不是直接复制模板会提高15%的回复率,群发的回复率肯定是很低的。但是你可以使用模板,只是需要根据个人信息做一下修改。 我在领英上的资料除了营销之外还是瑜伽老师。几年前,一个做过瑜伽老师的招聘人员在领英上找到我,并巧妙地提到了我们共同的经历,内容是这样的: Hi Neha, 我在你资料里看到你是个瑜伽老师,我最近也刚刚拿到瑜伽教练的资格证明,我也知道工作以外的兴趣也是生活中重要的一部分。 我现在是ABC公司的员工,我们公司刚刚得到了融资,所以公司将会平稳持续发展。我们现在正在招聘一名项目经理,我觉得你在科技行业的工作经历相当出色,我也很欣赏你工作与生活之间的平衡。所以我认为你可能会很适合这个职位。请问方便在空闲时间跟我们通话吗? 其实我对这个工作不太感兴趣,但是我还是抽时间在领英上谢绝了这个邀请。提到你们的共同点会拉近你们的距离,提高收到回复的几率。有共同点的人回复你的概率要比其他人高出21%,若你在信息中提到你们以前共同的东家,回复率会提高27%。   强调联系 这可能有点陈词滥调,但是提到“联系”这个词的确会提高InMail的回复概率,“聊”“谈”“电话”等词也有同样的功效。 但是不要做得太过火!我们看到很多招聘人员连工作安排,薪水,邮箱等信息都写到了InMail里面,这反而会降低回复概率。(比如,据说最近领英关掉了发送视频的功能,因为很多招聘人员会给用户发送企业文化的视频。) 很多招聘人员还会询问用户知不知道其他对这份工作感兴趣的人,这也是不对的。这会让用户觉得他们只关注自己的招聘,而不是应聘人员。你们要先和用户之间建立信任的基础,这样他们就会更愿意为你们推荐合适的人选。示例如下: 主题:请联系我! 我看到了你的资料,并觉得你的设计背景十分令人惊艳。我现在正在为费城的一家著名制药厂招聘,希望知道你有没有兴趣成为我们的美术总监。如果愿意,我们可以详细聊聊细节信息。 如果不愿意,我也很高兴能与你交流!   短而亲切 和邮件一样,InMail也要简短一些。主题要醒目易懂,InMail整体长度为200-500字。 主题:交友机会 我是XX公司的营销经理,我想十分想求教于您这样的人才,我碰巧看到了您的领英资料,对您的职业道路很感兴趣,十分想向您学习。请问您是否愿意交个朋友,改天一起喝个咖啡? 谢谢!   时间不重要 不管你信不信,发送的时机并不重要。大部分的人喜欢在周中发送InMail,以避开周一的烦心,周五的浮躁,以及周末的黑洞。但我们的数据显示回复率其实在一周之中都是一样的。这是因为人们会根据自己的时间回复信息,而不是你发完就立刻回复。   参考他们的资料 成功的InMail都是那些研究过用户资料的人发送出的。对招聘人员来说,承认赞扬别人的成就,询问他们的兴趣和职业目标都是不错的选择,这也会帮助你认识到他们是不是合适的人选。 在第一次发送信息的时候,千万不要向对方要简历,也别提供一个比别人现在职位低的工作邀请。我们的数据显示,70%在一年内刚刚跳槽的人都不会换工作。 主题:与X公司领导层试探性交谈 一切可好?我是X公司人力资源部的一名员工。我看到了你的资料,你的背景让我印象深刻。你在ABC,XYZ公司做产品经理的经历证明你很优秀。 我们的产品领导层团队很想进一步了解你的经历,我想请问你是否愿意同我们交流。我很乐意认识你,并搭建一个你与我们交流的平台。 希望可以收到你的回复。   关注那些希望收到你信息的人 如果你是一名招聘人员,这是很简单的。从你们公司主页分享过四次以上链接的人会更倾向于回复你的信息。在领英上关注你们公司的人比其他人的回复率高出81%。 还有一些小技巧可以提高回复率,但是和邮件与其他交流方式相同,你在与陌生人交流的时候很容易就会变得啰嗦。所以下一封InMail你可以从其他招聘人员那里借鉴经验,上述的一些坏毛病都是很容易纠正的。 编译组出品。编辑:郝鹏程 本文来自翻译:www.fastcompany.com,如若转载,请注明出处:http://36kr.com/p/5084221.html
    linkedin
    2017年07月19日
  • linkedin
    LinkedIn中国总裁沈博阳离职 曾志恒将暂代中国总裁 6月23日消息,LinkedIn全球CEO Jeff Weiner在给中国员工内部信中宣布,领英中国总裁沈博阳于6月30日起将不继续担任此职务,沈博阳已在LinkedIn(领英)中国服务了三年半。在找到沈博阳的长期继任者之前,领英国际工程团队的负责人曾志恒将代理中国总裁一职。 内部信里提到,今天领英中国处在一个关键的变革时期,在过去的将近四年时间里,领英中国一路披荆斩棘,从一家创业企业成长为中国互联网行业一股不可忽视的力量。通过全员的努力,领英为中国数以千万计的职场人和企业提供和创造了更加广阔的发展机会。在沈博阳的带领下,领英中国迈出了坚实的一步并为未来的成功奠定了基础。Jeff代表公司对沈博阳表达了最衷心地感谢。 在沈博阳的带领下,过去的三年多时间里,领英中国取得了任何一家全球互联网企业在中国都未曾取得的好成绩,领英中国也被诸多行业观察家打上了成功的烙印—— 进入中国市场的金钥匙。2014年1月,领英正式进入中国市场,沈博阳带领团队迅速将领英打造成了一个行业内举足轻重的企业,同时也为中国用户量身定做了更加适合本土用户习惯的产品。在过去的三年中,领英中国与微信、微博以及蚂蚁金服旗下芝麻信用等本土互联网旗舰产品都开展了深度合作,并迅速使领英中国用户数增长了七倍。同时,领英也与超过1,000家企业客户建立了战略合作关系,这其中就包括华为、阿里巴巴、复星以及上海市政府等政府机构和企业。 Jeff Weiner对于领英中国的高速发展表达了极大的赞赏,同时也表示中国在领英全球的版图上是至关重要的组成部分。随着公司进一步的发展和壮大,领英中国也将进入到一个新的发展阶段。领英中国将一如既往地保持独立而高速发展,不遗余力地继续本土化的努力和尝试。此外,领英中国将更好地和亚太区其他国家进行融合,充分借鉴领英全球资源为中国用户和企业提供更好的服务。在找到沈博阳的长期继任者之前,领英国际工程团队的负责人曾志恒先生将代理中国总裁一职。 今日,沈博阳也在其微博上回应了离职一事: 沈博阳微博原文 曾志恒此前一直积极参与到为本地用户提供更为贴近中国市场需求的本土化产品项目中。同时,负责企业业务的领英中国副总裁于志伟先生将升任领英中国董事总经理,并继续负责领英中国的商业化业务。于志伟将汇报给亚太区董事总经理Olivier Legrand,并同时虚线汇报给领英中国总裁曾志恒。 Jeff Weiner对领英中国的全体员工表示,他对新的领导团队充满信心,并相信在沈博阳先生建立的坚实基础上,领英中国会一如既往地为中国用户和企业提供更有价值的服务。 沈博阳简历 沈博阳,1996年毕业于南开大学,获得环境化学和管理学双学位。2000年毕业于美国加州大学洛杉矶分校,获得计算机硕士学位。他担任过大型跨国网络公司的高管,也有过成功的互联网创业经验;他不仅拥有技术工程的背景,还是一名杰出的商业领袖。他曾于2010年初创立糯米网,2014年1月起,开始担任LinkedIn(领英)全球副总裁兼领英中国总裁一职。 来源:腾讯科技
    linkedin
    2017年06月23日
  • linkedin
    谷歌正在开发招聘APP 准备与LinkedIn竞争 北京时间4月14日消息,最新消息显示,谷歌收购的创业公司Bebop正在替谷歌开发招聘App。Bebop网站发布一些招聘消息,点击之后链接指向http://hire.withgoogle.com,页面内容显示谷歌正在开发一项名叫“Google Hire”的服务。 实际上新服务已经启用,华纳兄弟子公司DramaFever、创业公司Medisas和Poynt等机构用谷歌Hire发布职位空缺消息。 几个月前,谷歌推出了Cloud Jobs API,通过API企业可以为自己的网站添加职位搜索功能,现在谷歌又准备推出Hire服务。谷歌Hire将会与Greenhouse、Indeed、Jobvite、LinkedIn、甲骨文Taleo竞争。 Bebop是一家创业公司,其联合创始人戴安·格林(Diane Greene)也是VMware的联合创始人,2015年谷歌收购了Bebop。 2015年,谷歌CEO桑达·皮查伊(Sundar Pichai)曾经在收购消息中表示:“Bebop是一个新的开发平台,有了它开发、维护企业应用将会变得更容易。我们认为Bebop将会帮助更多企业寻找出色的应用程序,让它们从云计算中获益。”自此之后产品到底有了多大的变化?我们不得而知。(云外) 来源:新浪科技
    linkedin
    2017年04月14日
  • linkedin
    LinkedIn增长揭秘:262亿美元的增长引擎是如何练成的? 编者按:本位来自微信公众号“WPS企业服务研究院”(ID: WPS-SaaS),作者 欧开磊(fieldspring)。WPS企业服务研究院是金山WPS旗下的一个专注于研究企业服务行业的平台,旨在提供更有价值的企业服务行业分析、大咖观点与前沿资讯。 2002年,号称硅谷人脉之王的Reid Hoffman聚集了他之前的一些来自SocialNet和PayPal的老部下,打算再度出山创业,这次他想打造一个让职场人士认识和连接彼此的社交平台。 Hoffman的这个创业想法主要受到了六度分割理论的启发,根据这个理论,你和任何一个陌生人之间所间隔的人不会超过六个,也就是说,最多通过六个人你就能够认识任何一个陌生人。在20世纪90年底晚期,有一个名为“六度商务社交网络”(SixDegrees.com)大放异彩,但这个社交网络在2000年的网络泡沫中就关门歇业了。Hoffman和他的团队想打造一个基于身份和关系的全新且持久的职业社交网络。 Hoffman披露,在LinkedIn的早期阶段,全靠他自己往里搭钱来维持公司的运营和产品开发。“之前参与创办PayPal让我赚了不少钱,所以项目早期所需的资金全是我个人提供的。如果银行账户里没有资金的话,员工就会有忧虑,他们会担心:这个项目能成吗?公司资金能够维持公司正常运转到获得风险投资的那天吗?我个人为公司早期发展提供充足的资金后,大家就不会有这些顾虑了。”Hoffman说道。 经过六个月紧锣密鼓地产品开发,LinkedIn于2003年5月5日正式上线。5个创始人是LinkedIn最早的几个用户,当时最大的难题就是如何在短时间内扩大用户量。 当时5个人都被分派了任务,每人必须找到100个用户,因为李锡恩和Jean-LucVaillant是工程师,人际关系不如其他三人广,他们得到特许,只需要每人找50个用户。 Guericke在多年的学习和工作中积累了深厚人脉,3天之内他就找到了100人。 上线一周时间,LinkedIn获得约6000个注册用户。LinkedIn最开始的用户增长其实是非常缓慢的,有时一天只新增20个左右的用户。尽管如此,在上线后的4个月后,LinkedIn的用户数达到5万,公司也获得了来自红杉资本的470万美元的首轮风险投资。在上线一年后,LinkedIn用户数突破50万。2006年,也就是产品正式上线后的3年后,LinkedIn实现了盈利。到了2011年,LinkedIn成功上市,市值达180亿美元。2016年,LinkedIn被微软以262亿美元的天价收购。 从最早的5个用户到4.3亿用户,再到被微软以262亿美元的天价收购,LinkedIn究竟是如何做到的呢?下文将为你深度揭秘。 一、LinkedIn出现的必然性 2003年LinkedIn刚推出的时候,当时市面上的一些社交网络虽然非常适合朋友间约会与联系,但却并不适合用于职场人士间的沟通与联络。 福布斯2004年发表了一篇文章,文章里有一段话非常准确得描述了LinkedIn这个网站的核心理念:“在商务世界里,无论是找工作、招人还是寻找商业合作伙伴,其中最关键的一步就是获得高质量的推荐。推荐其实并非易事,因为人们通常不知道自己认识的人又都认识其他哪些人。” LinkedIn充分利用了六度分割理论。LinkedIn自己也曾公开承认过,构成LinkedIn核心理念的六度分割理论并非Hoffman和他的团队的原创。这个理论最初被Andrew Weinrich运用在SixDegrees.com上,这是一款1997年推出的商务社交网络。Weinrich在2001年还获得了六度分割理论的专利。后来,在Six Degrees的用户数达到350万的时候,公司便被以1.25亿没有的价格卖给了Youthstream Media Networks。 然而在被收购的三个月后,Six Degrees这个网站便被关闭了。不久后,收购方Youthstream也彻底关门歇菜了。尽管如此,Six Degrees网站背后的六度分割理论被证明是非常有价值的,这也是LinkedIn在2003年以70万美元的价格购买了六度分割理论的专利的原因所在。 尽管构成LinkedIn的核心理念来自于已经关闭了的Six Degrees网站,但LinkedIn和Six Degrees及市面上其它流行的社交网络还是有很大区别的。根据LinkedIn的规则,用户在LinkedIn上是无法像在Friendster等当时流行的社交网络上一样能随心所欲地与其他任何人建立联系的。LinkedIn用户被限制在仅仅与他们真正认识的可信赖的人或是在职业网络中被他人推荐的人建立联系。 这种方式能最大限度降低垃圾邀请以及未经请求的邀请的数量,让LinkedIn能成为Marc Andreessen、Jerry Yang和Pierre Omidyar这些备受追捧的行业大牛的一个安宁的港湾,免受铺天盖地的未经请求的邀请的困扰。 二、早期遭受的种种置疑与挑战 LinkedIn早期的发展之路并非一帆风顺,也遇到过很多问题和挑战。LinkedIn是在2002年经济不景气的时间段创立的,那时也被称为硅谷“互联网的冬天”。不过Hoffman将这个挑战视为是一种机遇。“我坚信,在经济不景气的时间点创办公司其实是非常明智的选择,因为这会让你有足够长的跑道。经济不景气的时候,融资虽然也会相应困难很多,但是你如果在经济不景气的时候还能成功融资,这会让你拥有很大的优势。”Hoffman曾这样说道。 除了面对经济不景气方面的挑战外,最初人们对LinkedIn的核心理念其实是有抵触的。在LinkedIn 2003年推出的时候,当时线上社交网络是由Friendster定义的,LinkedIn的联合创始人Guericke曾这样描述过外界对LinkedIn的普遍反应:“年轻人会在社交网络上交朋友、交换照片,这是肯定的。但你却想让职场成年人通过网络交朋友?这根本就行不通。” 除此之外,大家还认为LinkedIn没有先发优势。“即使LinkedIn的模式是可行的,如果Friendster在自己网站上添加一个职场社交版块,那么LinkedIn将必死无疑。” 不仅如此,正如我们在上文提到过的,LinkedIn一开始的用户新增速度是比较慢的。虽然面临这这些挑战,LinkedIn依然专注于增长。LinkedIn的联合创始人Allen Blue建议早期创业公司:“在早期增速低于预期的情况下,不要惊慌、也不要分散注意力。除非你有真正充足的理由,否则就要坚持你的战略。” 三、早期通过聚焦硅谷科技圈获取首批高质量种子用户,蓄积增长势能 LinkedIn之所以能够克服这些挑战并实现不错的增长势头,原因之一就在于它在一开始只聚焦于硅谷科技圈。在产品刚发布之后,公司的几个合伙人就邀请他们在之前的工作中结识的一些硅谷科技圈的知名人士来使用自己的产品。“在产品最初上线的一段时间,我们推的很慢,因为我们想确保LinkedIn的模式是可行的。” 在邀请职场人士使用LinkedIn的过程中,Hoffman只选择邀请那些有号召力的成功人士,这些成功人士的使用能为LinkedIn添加很多耀眼的光环,其他人也会在这些光环的吸引下去使用LinkedIn。很快,LinkedIn就成为硅谷的职场人士认识潜在投资者和顾问的必须使用的平台。有这样一句格言说得好:“你懂什么不重要,重要的是你认识谁。”LinkedIn就是最好的例证。 随着越来越多的科技圈人士使用LinkedIn,网络效应开始显现,LinkedIn开始成为接近和结实所需人脉资源的一个枢纽。此外,LinkedIn也让用户能更方便地与之前在职场上认识的人保持联系,毕竟硅谷创业公司里人才跳槽是非常频繁的,跳槽之后很多就联系不上了,因为换一份工作通常也就会换一个邮箱地址和电话号码。在很多方面,LinkedIn解决了网络效应业务中非常经典“鸡和蛋”的悖论问题。LinkedIn先通过聚焦于硅谷这个本地化网络,获取首批高质量的关键用户,这些关键用户能为你吸引更多用户进来。LinkedIn的做法和后来的Facebook和Uber的做法可谓有异曲同工之妙。Facebook最开始只聚焦于一个单一的学校来实现早期网络效应增长,Uber也是一次只进驻一个城市的方式来实现突破。 对于任何社交网络而言,在早期必须达到临界规模(Critical Mass)才能让社交网络的网络效应发挥作用,形成一流的用户体验,提高活跃度并形成病毒式传播。通过挖掘硅谷当地的商业精英们使用LinkedIn,这带动了一大批硅谷职场人士跟着注册LinkedIn,早期这批高质量关键用户既提高了用户忠诚度,也帮助实现了用户间的口碑传播,这批人也成为LinkedIn下一阶段病毒式增长的关键环节。LinkedIn自己也因此硅谷职场人士必备的一个职场社交网络。在硅谷那批人通过各自人脉圈向外扩散的过程中,LinkedIn也开始慢慢走出硅谷,走向更大的世界。 四、免费增值模式 根据资料显示,LinkedIn在2004年年中就开始商业化方面的尝试了,最开始尝试的是Adbrite广告,那次广告的收益可以说是微不足道。到了2005年,LinkedIn又推出了三种收费模式:挂招聘职位、付费订阅和广告。一年后的2006年,LinkedIn便实现了盈利。 针对LinkedIn推出付费订阅模式这件事,LinkedIn联合创始人Guericke曾这样说道:“这是我认为非常重要的一件事,它可能不算是一个好的客观商业决策,但我认为,作为一个企业家,如果有人会愿意为使用我的产品而付费的话,我会感到非常满足,因为这会让我觉得我打造了一款真正有价值的产品。如果我打造的是一款很多人会用的免费社交产品,也有人想在上面打广告,例如Gap想在上面卖T恤,这只意味着Gap知道如何从我的那些用户身上赚钱,但我作为公司合伙人却不知道,这是让人非常失落的一件事。” Hoffman证实说LinkedIn并不是一开始就考虑通过广告盈利,但他继续解释道:“有两件事说服了我可以通过广告来盈利,一是LinkedIn的用户分布情况非常健康,二是我们开始意识到我们是可以打造一个独特的业务产品的。” 除了依靠广告业务外,LinkedIn还将广告模式和其它几个盈利模式结合起来,比如免费增值的订阅模式。“我们发现,订阅模式能够让我们更快地实现盈利。用户付费订阅后,便可以使用增强版的沟通和搜索功能。为了达成相应的目的,人们往往需要和他们之前不认识的人沟通,这也是我们今天业务的重要组成部分。” Hoffman说道。 就这样,LinkedIn开始尝试从自己的核心资产上进行盈利,提供付费订阅功能,让用户可以更方便地与其他人建立联系。推出订阅功能后,用户依然可以免费注册LinkedIn,并可以使用大部分的基本功能,比如创建个人资料,以及通过推荐与职场人进行联系。然而,付费订阅之后,便可以使用一些更高级的增值功能。 LinkedIn针对企业老板、雇主、求职者和销售等不同人群提供不同的增值功能包,每个增值功能包里提供的高级功能是不一样的。对于订阅了标准LinkedIn增值包的用户,可以通过发ImMail消息的方式与自己认识的人之外的人进行联系。对于订阅了销售增值包的用户,可以查看自己的1度、2度、3度关系网络里所有联系人的全部资料。对于订阅了求职者增值包的用户,简历能获得最大程度的曝光。而对于购买了雇主增值包的用户,可以享受特别设置的工作流和搜索功能。 虽然听起来比较复杂,但这种分层的订阅系统确保了不同类型的用户都能够在自己可接受的价格范围内享受到自己所需要的功能服务。 五、活跃用户的价值:专注于提升强项要比提升弱项容易和有效得多 在2012年的一场增长黑客大会上,LinkedIn的增长负责人Elliot Shmukler以“从13个用户到1.75亿用户,LinkedIn在这个过程中学到的经验”为主题做了一次分享。Shmukler分享了LinkedIn学到的这样一条经验:“专注于提升强项要比提升弱项容易得多。” 为了更好地说明这个问题,Shmukler还分享了一组数据,说明LinkedIn在2008年想重点改善的两个增长渠道的数据:邮件邀请注册和主页访客注册。 •  邮件邀请注册: 增长率:  4% → 7% 用户数:25000 → 44000 用   时:  2 年 •  主页访客注册: 增长率:  40% → 50% 用户数:50000 → 63000 用   时: 4 个 月 LinkedIn一开始的主页访客注册率高达40%,这个数据是非常漂亮的,也是LinkedIn的一大强项和优势。但邮件邀请注册率仅有4%,这显然是LinkedIn的一个弱项。LinkedIn还发现,通过邮件邀请过来的用户的粘性并没有通过自然增长获得用户的粘性高。总之,在驱动用户增长方面,邮件邀请注册并不是LinkedIn的强项。 在主页自然访客的注册率方面,LinkedIn已经做得非常好了,不过他们想在这方面投入更多的精力,消除尽可能多影响用户使用体验的各种小问题,从而进一步提升这方面的表现。 这显然是一个非常明智的做法。通过四个月的努力,主页访客注册率从40%提升至50%,这个渠道4个月新增的注册用户相当于邮件邀请注册过去两年努力的成果。不过,经过两年的努力,邮件邀请注册率也提高了将近一倍,这本身也是一个非常的成绩。但是要想在一个相对短的时间里取得大的突破的话,还是需要专注于提升自己的优势和强项,这能让你获得更快地增长。 专注于提升强项的另一个例子是LinkedIn的“你的个人主页被谁浏览了”的邮件。那些原本的活跃用户打开链接的率高达20%,而非活跃者的打开率仅有5%。面对这种情况,LinkedIn并没有试图去吸引那些不活跃的用户,而是选择再一次专注于提升自己的强项优势,通过做A/B测试,看哪种邮件主题、邮件内容和排版能让邮件对那些活跃用户更具吸引力。Shmukler对这背后的核心理念进行了总结:“相比让不活跃的用户活跃一点,让活跃的用户更活跃要容易得多。” 六、令人称奇的病毒式传播 对于职业社交网络,这个社交网络上的人越多,用户在网站上搜索时才会觉得这个平台越有价值。正因如此,Hoffman深知,要想让LinkedIn成为一个对用户有价值的社交网络,他们需要获取尽可能多的用户。因此LinkedIn遇到的第一个重大挑战就是如何获得第一个100万用户,从而让用户在网站上搜索时觉得这个平台是真正有价值的。 LinkedIn的早期员工Josh Elman将公司早期的增长描述为“双重病毒传播循环”。这种病毒式传播并非偶尔间实现的,而是经过不断地测试、调整再测试才摸索出来的。在LinkedIn的病毒式传播增长路径走通之前,他们还有意延缓了与营收和用户活跃相关的功能跟的开发,而这个过程用了将近1年半的时间。 LinkedIn究竟做了哪些工作才实现令人称奇的病毒式传播的呢? 1. 找到魔法数字 为实现病毒式传播,他们从一开始就做了各种测试。他们首先调研了新注册用户愿意邀请的朋友的数量,经过反复测试,最终确定了“4”是一个魔法数字。当新注册用户到达“邀请好友”页面时,如果系统默认建议用户邀请的朋友数量少于4人,则他们很可能会轻易地忽略这一步骤;如果多于4人,则可能会让用户感到焦虑和麻烦;而不偏不倚刚好4人,能实现最大程度的邀请转化率。 2.优化邀请邮件的文案 LinkedIn早期的邀请方式是向用户的好友发送邮件。最早的邮件文案客套生硬,对用户毫无吸引力。直到后来他们将邀请邮件的文案优化为: “我在浏览人脉网络时看到了你。让我们互加为好友吧,我将很乐意满足你的请求,并提供后续可能的帮助。这将有助于我们组建更强大的人脉网络。” 这种简洁有力的叙述既阐明了邀请信发出的原因、希望对方做的事情,同时强调了给对方带来的潜在价值。让被邀请者在注册之前就能大概知道这款产品对他有什么用。这些努力带来了数量可观但低水平的病毒式传播。 3.导入邮箱联系人 LinkedIn发现,通过邮件邀请带来的用户里,只有不到25%的人会继续主动添加更多联系人,大部分人注册进来之后只原封不动地保持着与他们各自邀请者的好友关系,而不再邀请新的联系人。 面对这个问题,LinkedIn开始尝试导入邮箱联系人的方式,这个策略在今天看来是再平常不过的了,但在2004年却是一项创新的举动。在那时,联系人导入需要输入用户的邮箱地址和密码,让网站筛选你的邮箱通讯录。这在当时是十分新颖,当时大多数人的网页邮件客户端上并没有联系人。 为了解决这一问题,LinkedIn专门开发了适用于本地邮件收发软件Outlook的插件,用户安装后,可帮助他们自动导入存储在本地的通讯录。以今天的标准来看,这个过程虽然也很繁琐,但相比人工输入却有了很大提高。这一举动促使7%的新用户上传了他们的通讯录,也让邀请朋友加入的比率提升了30%以上。 4. 双重病毒传播循环 虽然LinkedIn的病毒式传播的效果在慢慢改善,但大部分用户在LinkedIn上依然只有一个联系人好友。LinkedIn发现,用户平均收到3.2封邀请邮件才会真正注册。这时,LinkedIn开始在用户个人档案上做文章,即用户目前所在的公司和职位。 当新用户注册LinkedIn时,他们都会被邀请填写目前所在的公司与职位,数据显示超过90%的人都愿意填写这项资料。于是LinkedIn很聪明地在这一环节增加了联系人推荐功能,网页上会马上呈现LinkedIn上与该新用户在同一家公司的同事的名单清单,新用户只需要简单勾选这些名单,linkedIn就会代新用户向这些目前的同事发出站内邀请信。这个流程在LinkedIn内部被称为“Reconnect Flow”。 这一举措打破了此前基于现成邮箱联系人的单一连接维度,将存在于线下的同事关系搬到了线上。这一尝试取得了非常好的效果,于是LinkedIn很快又在新用户注册环节增加了另一项需要填写的内容:“请输入你之前所在的公司与职位”。这时LinkedIn同样会呈现出LinkedIn上与该新用户过去曾在同一家公司工作的老同事的名单清单,这样用户就能很容易与之前的老同事再次建立联系。 Reconnect Flow的精妙之处在于,它不仅能让新用户在LinkedIn上快速建立起人脉网络,同时还能驱动新用户填写更详细的个人档案资料,所填的每一项信息都是工作经历的一部分。此外,随着越来越多的新用户发送邀请与其他人建立联系,平时不活跃的老用户也会经常收到新用户的添加好友邀请,这有助于提高他们的活跃度。 经过一系列的努力,LinkedIn的病毒式传播效果获得了极大提升。LinkedIn的PV提升了41%,站内搜索量提升了33%,用户个人资料页面填写的职位信息数量提升了38%。 上述整个病毒传播流程在LinkedIn内部被称为“双重病毒传播循环(Double Viral Loop)” 新注册用户源源不断地邀请更多新用户,同时也会带动老用户时不时回来看看并处理邀请,或者主动发起好友邀请。两个循环同时发生,病毒传播效果大大提升。 5. 用“背书(endorsement)”系统将活跃者与非活跃者联系起来 2012年,LinkedIn产品增长负责人Elliot Schmukler为LinkedIn带来了新的奇迹。他在调研中发现,随着用户量的增加,成员之间的活跃程度的两极分化趋势日益明显:那些在职场中游刃有余的人使用LinkedIn更加频繁;而原本埋头肯干的默默无闻者,在网上也同样低调内敛,使用LinkedIn也没那么活跃。这一差异直接带来的影响是:每当LinkedIn发送一封通知邮件,告知用户的个人主页被浏览时,那些活跃用户点开链接的概率高达20%,而非活跃者点击链接的概率只有5%。 换做别人,可能会去想如何向不活跃用户发送更多邮件,或者干脆放弃他们。但Schmukler的策略更为巧妙,他试图将活跃用户与不活跃用户联系起来,其中联系的纽带就是“背书(endorsement)”系统。这个新上线的功能模块能够让用户为任何好友做出评价,给他们贴上擅长领域的标签,如“web前端开发”、“运营达人”、“增长黑客”。这些标签将显示在被评价者的个人主页上,并默认根据评判次数降序排列。有了这个功能,即使再内敛低调的人,也能在他人的好意背书下突显出自己不为人知的技能,让自己的简历看起来更光鲜亮丽。而人们往往又是互利互惠的,一时间彼此互贴标签蔚然成风,那些原本沉寂无名的低调看客们终于也有理由加入了狂欢。背书系统上线的这一年,LinkedIn迎来了突飞猛进的一年。 6. 将用户的个人档案向搜索引擎开放 2006年,LinkedIn推出了一项备受外界称道的黑客增长策略:公开个人档案,即用户可以将自己的职业信息在互联网世界公开,让所有人都能通过搜索引擎搜索到。和通讯录上传类似,这在今天看来非常常见,但在LinkedIn公开用户个人档案之前,人们基本是不愿意在搜索结果中公开自己的档案的。 让用户档案出现在搜索结果中这一举动为LinkedIn带来了巨大的流量和用户。用户一旦在搜索结果中点击进入LinkedIn网站查看想认识的人的信息,他们必须先注册LinkedIn,然后才能与想认识的人进行联系。 此外,那些未注册LinkedIn的人在发现他们想认识的人竟然有这样一个专属页面,并且还可以私信,他们自然也会愿意加入LinkedIn。LinkedIn在Google的搜索权重排名也迅速提升,当搜索你自己、你的潜在客户、你的同事的名字时,他们的LinkedIn公开档案总有机会出现在谷歌的首页。 LinkedIn上面的这个黑客增长举措要想取得成效的话,首先需要有足够量的早期用户做支撑才行,这也是为什么LinkedIn等自己的用户达到200万之后才开始做用户档案的搜索索引。 由于这一做法这涉及到用户隐私,所有LinkedIn的这一举动也遭受了一些指责,后来LinkedIn允许用户可以选择在搜索结果中关闭自己的个人档案,或是可以对展示的个人信息进行设置。 七、LinkedIn今天的增长引擎 1. 通过收购丰富自身业务形态 2012年2月,LinkedIn以1500万美元的价格收购了Gmail插件Rapportive,让用户通过Gmail就能直接与他们LinkedIn通讯录上的人进行联系。 三个月后的2012年5月,LinkedIn以1.19亿美元的价格收购了幻灯片分享网站SlideShare。当时SlideShare网站上共有900万份幻灯片,月独立访客2900万。对于这次收购,LinkedIn的CEO Jeff Weiner表示:“幻灯片是职场人士获取或分享他们的经验知识的主要渠道之一,这反过来也能更好地塑造他们自己的职业身份。SlideShare平台上共享的幻灯片对职场人士事业上的成功和工作中的高效有很大帮助,这与LinkedIn的使命不谋而合,能够让我们为用户提供更多价值。” 2013年3月,LinkedIn又以9000万美元的价格收购了新闻阅读器Pulse,旨在让LinkedIn成为一个职场人生产和获取内容知识的平台。 LinkedIn之所以展开这些收购,是因为它不想仅仅作为一个用户用来找工作和招人的网站,背后隐藏的是更大的野心。 2. 通过内容让LinkedIn成为用户每天都会用的产品 通过在内容方面进行布局,LinkedIn想成为一个用户每天都会用的产品,这可能会成为LinkedIn未来增长引擎中最重要的组成部分之一。当然了,之前说的付费订阅模式以及病毒式传播在LinkedIn未来的增长中依然扮演着重要角色。 (1)LinkedIn Today新闻产品 为了让LinkedIn成为用户每天都会用的产品,增加用户在网站上的停留时间,LinkedIn在2011年推出了新闻服务LinkedIn Today。这是一款专门为职业人士打造的新闻产品,你可以看到根据你所在行业及人际关系圈量身打造的一份新闻大餐,新闻的行业相关性非常高。如果你对自己所处行业之外的其它行业也感兴趣的话,你也可以添加其它行业的内容。 (2)LinkedIn意见领袖内容项目 LinkedIn Today最大的局限性在于它仅仅是一个新闻聚合器,没有原创内容。基于这个原因,LinkedIn在2012年10月份推出了意见领袖项目。这个项目的思路很简单:选择一些意见领袖原创一些优质内容,并将内容独家分享给LinkedIn平台上的用户。 LinkedIn选择的意见领袖包括维珍创始人Richard Branson、通用电气董事长兼CEO Jack Welch、赫芬顿邮报创始人Arianna Huffington等很多业界大佬。LinkedIn的所有用户都可以关注这些意见领袖,并可以阅读、分享和评论他们在LinkedIn上分享的原创内容。 这个项目非常成功,意见领袖发布的文章的平均阅读量在3万,有些文章的阅读量甚至高达200万。意见领袖项目不仅对LinkedIn有益,对那些意见领袖自己也大有益处。这些意见领袖在自己的个人博客里发布的文章平均阅读量只有5000-10000,但通过LinkedIn意见领袖项目发布的文章的阅读量有10万以上。 通过推出LinkedIn Today和LinkedIn意见领袖这样的内容产品,LinkedIn很快就变成一个用户每天都会用的产品。 LinkedIn增长之路小结 很多人可能都将LinkedIn视为一个单纯的职业社交网站,但知道它是世界第二大企业SaaS提供商的人却是寥寥。为和说LinkedIn是世界第二大SaaS服务商?LinkedIn的主要业务是把自己的猎头服务、人才简历等卖给全球近10万个企业客户。因此,对于今天的任何一家SaaS公司而言,LinkedIn的增长史都是极具指导性和启发性。 本文它向我们全方位展示了LinkedIn从5个用户到4.3亿用户的传奇增长轨迹。很显然,LinkedIn从整个战略层面都是非常重视增长的,所以会积极主动尝试各种不同的增长战略。通过聚焦本地化获取一批高质量种子用户以达到临界规模,然后通过新用户添加老用户,让新用户促进老用户活跃,在这个社交网络具备网络效应并积累了一定规模用户后(200万),再把这个社交网络向搜索引擎开放,让主流大众追随早期用户纷纷加入LinkedIn。 为了丰富自己的业务形态,LinkedIn还积极展开收购。为让自己成为用户每天都会用的产品,LinkedIn还积极布局新闻和内容方面的产品和服务。这也可能会成为LinkedIn未来增长引擎中最重要的组成部分之一。 去年,LinkedIn被微软以262亿美元的天价收购了,它未来的增长之路将走向何方?我们将继续关注。
    linkedin
    2017年04月01日
  • linkedin
    LinkedIn联合创始人ReId Hoffman加入微软董事会 LinkedIn联合创始人雷德·霍夫曼(Reid Hoffman)今日宣布加入微软董事会。 此举承接去年微软以262亿美元价格收购LinkedIn一事。交易完成时,LinkedIn首席执行官杰夫·韦纳曾说公司的日常运营将“大体上不会改动”,同时也透露了一系列两家公司将共同合作的领域(比如将LinkedIn整合到微软Outlook和Office系列产品中)。 在LinkedIn发布的博客文章中,霍夫曼表示他的主要工作仍是Greylock合伙人,不过他“在过去九年里仍在LinkedIn首席执行官杰夫·韦纳办公室旁边保留了自己的办公室”——所以他仍有积极参与LinkedIn的事务。(严格来说,他也曾是LinkedIn董事会主席。) 成为微软董事会成员,霍夫曼说他还是会把重心放在LinkedIn上,同时也会帮助微软在硅谷建立更多联系。 “自与微软合并后,LinkedIn如今拥有了新的资源和技术资产得以继续向前发展,”他写道,“试想一下如Cortana这样的人工智能助理帮助你决策,利用三层连接关系让你的利益最大化。或者LinkedIn的学习软件与微软的混合虚拟技术HoloLens结合为你带来更沉浸式的学习体验。” 除此之外,微软年初也任命LinkedIn的凯文·斯科特(Kevin Scott)担任首席技术官。 来源:创投时报
    linkedin
    2017年03月15日
  • linkedin
    从0到$6.4亿:创立BrightRoll学到的不同寻常的经验教训 0 to $640M: Non-obvious Lessons Learned at BrightRoll Lesson #1: Overspend Lesson #2: Don’t Innovate Lesson #3: Focus on Edge Cases Lesson #4: Be An A**hole Lesson #5: Get a Low Valuation Lesson #6: Be Tribal Lesson #7: Love Being Last 里面小故事分享: 有一段时间公司的工程师经常被别人挖走,防不胜防,怎么办? 他们创建了一个假的LinkedIn账号对 recruiter 进行钓鱼,这份假的简历伪装成他们公司的工程师、有一个他们公司的邮箱,收到很多 recruiter 的来信、有工资范围等信息,靠这个假的LinkedIn账号,公司领导们了解到了工程师们的市场价,他们把这些信息也分享给公司里的员工,摆出一副公开透明、很开明的架势:)
    linkedin
    2017年02月20日
  • linkedin
    Facebook、Snap、LinkedIn等高成长公司的增长宝典 编者按:微软高管Tren Griffin总结出了Facebook、Twitter、LinkedIn等公司增长团队的经验之谈,具体谈到了为什么要关注增长?增长团队的责任是什么?初创企业的头号问题是什么?基本的增长公式是什么?客户获取模型是什么等问题。这些基本上都是在别人经验基础上的演绎,如果感觉还不够深入,完全可以再通过文末的文章清单进行进一步的了解,的确可以说是汇聚了众家经验的增长宝典。 1、“一支增长团队有“责任去衡量、理解以及改善公司与产品用户流的进与出。这就是增长的角色。”“从定义上来说财务团队的作用是衡量、理解以及改善进出企业的资金流。这很重要,因为它对各种极其重要的商业决策都有贡献。财务利用其知识帮助企业运营。有趣的是每一家公司(当然财务团队也包括在内)最终都会意识到,发挥其最大的收入潜能的唯一最重要的一个杠杆就是用户数。”Andy Johns,Wealthfront产品副总裁(前Facebook、Twitter员工) 每一家公司都必须实现下列目标才能获得成功: 衡量财务指标 营销产品 优化产品以促进公司发展 这篇文章谈的是第三个目标,做到这一点显然可以给企业带来巨大的积极改变。为了说明增长团队的价值,我们可以看看截止上季度末,Facebook的日活跃用户数(DAU)为12.3亿,而月活跃用户数为18.6亿(MAU)。这些数字代表的是令人震撼的增长。大家很容易会忘记,就在不久之前Facebook的总用户数似乎已经放缓。Facebook负责增长的副总裁Alex Schultz回忆道: Facebook用户数发展到了5000万,再往前走的时候我们开始碰壁。当我们发展遇到障碍时,在Facebook内部提出了很多生存相关的问题,有人质疑社交网络能不能发展到超过1亿用户的规模。这个问题现在听起来似乎很蠢,但在那时候还没人能做到这个。每个人在做到5000万到1亿用户之间的规模时就停滞住了,我们担心这是不可能做到的。而增长团队也就是在这时候设立的。Chamath Palihapitiya(风投机构Social Capital的创始人)把我们一堆人凑到了一起。 小小的理财经理需要发展。Twitter需要发展。上个周末我写了不管每个人再怎么疲惫也都需要成长。增长会带来问题,但那些是高品质的问题。 产品的每一个方面都有潜力帮助企业发展。或者破坏企业发展。通过做出产品选择来创造增长的机会几乎是无穷尽的,因为产品想要技术中立根本是不可能的。必须在创造和提供产品时做出选择,而这些选择会影响到增长,这种影响既可以是正面的也可以是负面的。 2、“我所看到的初创企业的头号问题,是它们实际上并没有实现产品与市场的匹配,但却自以为实现了。”——Alex Schultz 在谈到任何企业推动增长的关键是是什么时,Y Combinator的Jessica Livingston说得非常深刻:“我们的口号是做出别人想用的东西。如果你把东西做了出来但却没人使用的话,你就完了。如果大家不喜欢你的产品,你做任何事情都无济于事。”心理抗拒的威力可以是非常强大的。迫切需要某样东西的人往往会假装自己已经创造了一个别人想要购买的东西,但实际上并没有任何证据支撑,因为面对现实实在是太残酷了。比方说,处在投资者压力之下的团队如果花光了种子轮融资的话,就会说服自己说自己已经创建了一个客户想要的产品,即便10岁小孩都知道那产品是个垃圾。 “产品/市场匹配意味着有一个能令该市场满意的产品进入一个好市场。”这句话是Marc Andreessen第一个提出的。除非企业找到了产品市场匹配,否则的话,在此之前寻找产品市场匹配应该成为公司几乎所有人的全部关注点。Andy Rachleff提出: 价值假设是的尝试积累关键假设的尝试,而后者构成的是客户可能使用你产品的基础。我把识别出有吸引力的价值假设称为是产品/市场匹配。价值假设同时涉及到吸引客户购买你的产品所需的功能以及商业模式。 增长假设代表了你对如何扩充被你的产品或服务吸引的客户数方面的最好思考。获取客户成本效率最高的方式是什么?不幸的是很多人错误地在确定价值假设之前就追求自己的增长假设。 Chamath Palihapitiya认为价值假设是由核心产品价值来推动的,而核心产品价值是指:“市场对产品的渴望”。Chamath认为“核心产品价值是难以捉摸的,而且大多数产品都没有核心价值。” 3、“一旦你理解了核心产品价值,你就可以创建周而复始的反馈循环。你必须回过头来提出‘大家用它是做什么事情的?’‘他们想要的啊哈时刻是什么?’,然后尽快提供给他们。” Chamath Palihapitiya Chamath的这段话是这三点基础上的补充:(1)找到产品市场匹配(2)识别核心产品价值(3)企业必须识别出啊哈时刻(有时候也叫做魔法时刻),这是基于产品的证明体验得出的。啊哈时刻代表着提出增长假设的一个机会。关于思考Chamath对啊哈时刻这番话的含义,现在有一个例子很应景。Snap IPO的文档提出了他们所认为的核心产品价值:“Snapchat是一款相机应用,它的创建是为了帮助大家通过短视频和相片进行沟通。”在Facebook上看到朋友在使用Snap服务然后跟他们聊天并告诉对方故事的体验就是啊哈时刻。潜在客户出现啊哈时刻越快,对于企业来说就越好,因为此前错过的每一个时刻都会增加此人不成为客户的可能性。作为反馈回环的一部分提供一系列啊哈时刻的企业可“尽早且经常地”将其核心产品价值展示给客户,而这个就会推动增长。 4、“扎克会说‘你真的以为如果没人有朋友的话,他们也会积极地上Facebook吗?你是不是疯了?’” Alex Schultz Facebook有个做法很出名,就是直接引导员工把所有的焦点都集中到在特定时限内让用户发展一定数量的朋友上面,这就是啊哈时刻的重要性所在。别的啊哈时刻包括在Twitter上得到一个点赞或者转发,或者找到你想购买的产品。经历过啊哈时刻的人更有可能参与并保持互动。Richard Price总结了一些业界的互动指标: Greylock的VC,曾在Twitter负责过增长方面事务的Josh Elman曾经说,Twitter互动的领先指标是一个跟Facebook类似的指标:用户关注特定数量的人,以及这些人反过来关注回对方的比例。 Ellior Schmuker曾经说过LinkedIn互动的领先指标要跟Facebook的类似:在Y天之内建立X个连接关系。不过他没说X和Y到底是多少。 领先指标的特征 各种领先指标可以归为三类: 网络密度:在一定时间窗口内交到的朋友或者关注连接的数量。 增加的内容:往Dropbox文件夹添加的文件 访问频率:第一天的留存情况 Chamath讲过他的增长团队是如何发现“10天7位朋友”的领先指标的。他说1他们会查看互动性强的用户聚类,以及互动性不强的用户聚类,结果发现,互动性强的那一组用户在注册10天内至少会连接7位朋友。 5、“知道真正的核心产品价值可以让你设计出必要的试验,从而真正把因果关系梳理出来。比方说,我们在Facebook有一件事情是可以早早确定的,那就是在特定时间内你的朋友数与流失的可能性之间存在着关键的关联。了解到这一点让我们在让新用户进入啊哈时刻方面可以做很多事情。不过显然,这需要我们首先要比较肯定地知道啊哈时刻是什么。” Chamath Palihapitiya。 创新和最佳实践是那些尝试为自己的公司逐渐建立适应性的创业者发现的。作为他们试验一部分所创造出来的产品和服务会有更好的适应性,而适应性不那么好的产品和服务则会死掉。当创业者创办或者改变一家企业时,基本上就是在这套进化系统里面进行试验。所不同的是今天的工具和系统使得进行试验的成本比以前低了很多,速度快了许多。在过去是不可能知道那么多这方面的东西的。其诀窍是能够利用这些工具来从噪声中分离出信号。 6、“如果你能比旁边的那个家伙进行更多的试验,如果你对增长充满饥渴,如果你能为每一位新增用户殚精竭虑、废寝忘食,然后不断地进行那些试验,获得数据,你就会增长得更快。”“初创企业在产品内进行一个试验的机会就只有那么多,他们还要受到银行账户剩下的钱能耗多久的时间限制。也就是说你得进行重要的试验。”“当你采用更小规模样本时的试验必须经过充分的深思熟虑。” Alex Schultz。 创业者在寻找更好的产品和服务时热衷于“演绎思维”。Eric Ries是这样描述这个过程的:“学习如何建设一家可持续的企业是遵循三步法的试验之结果。这三部曲是开发、衡量然后学习。”我们可以用一个例子来说明这一点,Snap S1(招股说明书)里面提到了它是如何通过“开发、衡量和学习”流程进行试验以增强核心产品价值的: “我们看到那么多的人通过我们开发的Creative Tools(比如画画和标题)获得了乐趣,所以我们认为大家也许希望购买额外的手段来表达自己。为了测试这一假设,我们建立了一个Lens Store(滤镜商店),让用户在我们提供的免费滤镜基础上可以购买新的滤镜。结果令人失望。只有少量用户想要购买滤镜,并且使用滤镜的人数也开始下降。几周之后,我们干掉了滤镜商店,并且把所有的滤镜都免费开放。我们的社区几乎马上更频繁地使用起了滤镜,并且创作出更多的Snap发给自己的朋友以及添加到Story上。” 7、“基本的增长公式:漏斗顶部(A) x 魔法时刻(B) = 可持续增长(C)”   Andy Johns Greylock Partners的Chris McCann提到寻求增长的人常犯的一个常见错误是:“大多数增长专业人士进入一家新公司然后马上就开始在A)漏斗顶部上面下功夫。这种做法的问题是如果你没有真正理解B)和C),那你基本上就是往漏桶里面加人。他认为漏斗顶部与驱动流量和提高产品转化率的不同机制(SEO、付费获取、SEM、社会化等)有关。”啊哈时刻或者魔法时刻是一次“吸引人的体验,可创造出客户首次体验到的原始情绪反应。” Chamath以及替他工作的人曾经说过客户获取流程一般有这些元素: 获取 大家希望实现什么(核心产品价值是什么)? 让大家迅速体验该服务的最好办法是什么? 激活 啊哈时刻是什么? 如何才能尽快让大家达到这一时刻? 互动 企业如何才能尽可能多地把核心产品价值带给客户? 只有这三个目标都实现之后才可以试验方法来让服务更加流行起来,实现病毒式的流行,但少些套路,更加诚恳。 Andy Johns认为:“增长可分解为几个基本问题:(1)如何才能提高获取率,比如说获得更多的注册?(2)如何才能在前‘N’天之内尽快尽可能多地激活用户?(3)互动和留存的杠杆是什么,如何才能撬动这些杠杆?(4)如何才能让流失的用户回到系统,让他们从死亡中‘复活’?” Dave McClure自己也有一个流程,他称之为AARRR: A:获取(Acquisition)——用户的渠道是什么,来自哪里? A:激活(Activation)——“快乐”的最初体验的百分比是多少? R:留存(Retention)——他们会不会时不时回来再看看? R:推荐(Referral)——他们是不是喜欢到会推荐给朋友? R:收入(Revenue)——你能对任何行为进行货币化吗? 8、“只要能减少这过程当中的摩擦就要去做。”“减少使用摩擦和愚弄用户之间的界限很微妙。欺骗用户会伤害用户。增加使用摩擦也会伤害用户。” Alex Schultz 如果不必要的摩擦妨碍了大家进入啊哈时刻,那增长团队的工作就不到位。增长团队的一个重要目标是要消除在客户获取过程中任何不必要的摩擦。在不敢肯定的时候撤销客户必须采取的步骤以帮助他进入啊哈时刻。潜在客户如何才能在数秒钟之内以几乎无障碍的方式得到一次啊哈体验呢?LuLu Cheng写了以下这些: 你如何评估不同的注册流然后确定把时间和资源分配到哪里呢? 第一步是理解可为产品带来新用户的所有不同渠道。确定每一个渠道的转化率,然后基于以下4点确定优先次序: 基于优势要比改进劣势更容易。 类似地,让活跃用户做更多要比让不活跃用户做任何事情更容易。比方说LinkedIn发送“谁在浏览你的简历”电子邮件给网站的活跃用户(点进率CTR 20%以上)而不是不活跃的那些(CTR不到5%)。 渴望-摩擦=转化。减少摩擦比制造渴望要容易得多。 应用这个10%定律:假设你能把每个渠道的转化率都提高10%,你从每个渠道可以获得的增量用户有多少? 在你找到一个有效的flow之后,进行A/B测试来优化它。有一个A/B测试框架能帮助做出知情决策,而且还可以培育数据优于观点、鼓励快速迭代的文化。不过要记住,A/B测试只能让你实现局部最优,而不能取得突破性的改变。 9、“思考你的产品的啊哈时刻是什么,然后让大家尽快来到这一时刻,因为之后你就可以抬高那条渐近的蓝线,如果你能把大家连接到让他们流连忘返的东西的话,你就可以轻而易举地把留存率从60%提到70%。” Alex Schultz 不让客户流失也是给企业带来的增长的办法,这一手段往往为人所忽视。VC Tom Tunguz用一个例子说明了维系挽留客户的重要性: “流失率是企业的一个限制因素。就像使用摩擦一样,在达到一定规模之后,客户流失会阻止企业发展。要想维持现有客户群的订购收入需要更多的资金投入。ARR(年经常性收入)为2000万美元的企业如果每年失去50%客户的话每年就必须替换价值1000万美元的客户,而增长率才是0%。假设回收期为18个月的话,那销售和营销方面的开支就是1500万美元。这意味着该企业将需要不断融资。” 10、“关注于短期优化永远都不会见效。” Chamath Palihapitiya 如果你未能发现核心产品价值,那再多的增长也救不了你。在找到产品市场匹配之前通过“黑客手段”吸引来的客户一定是会走掉的。在没有找到产品市场匹配前尝试让产品“病毒性流行”是不明智的们这一点不言而喻,因为大家口口相传的会是你的产品有多糟,这就像是自己给自己下毒。由于它对留存产生的负面影响,所以从长期看这绝对是不会有效的。对于这类问题Twitter最终采取了放眼长远的态度。 11、“大多数人在谈到增长时往往认为这是件很复杂的事情,因为你想在让大家产生这些超常规行为。其实不是这样的。其实这与对产品价值以及客户行为有着非常朴素而优雅的理解有关。” Chamath Palihapitiya 基于对客户行为的深刻理解而创建流程要比靠一些技巧或者黑客手法好得多,因为前者是可持续的,而后者不仅难以为继而且会毁了在客户那里的信誉。更好理解消费者行为的好资源可以在有关行为经济学的书本里面找,比如《影响力》、《思考,快与慢》以及《Misbehaving(错误的行为)》等。如果你对互惠原则、社会认同等概念不熟悉的话,你就无法理解增长其中一些最重要的驱动力。 12、“留存是增长唯一最重要的一个东西。”“留存是我们在Facebook的头号关注。你不能对用户投机取巧。”“留存来自于有很棒的想法,有很棒的产品支撑这一想法,以及有很好的产品/市场匹配。”“我们审视产品是否有很好的留存率的办法是,看看用户是否安装了它,是否长期泡在它上面,当你在聚类的基础上进行规格化时,看看你的产品然后说‘好吧这一块的前100、1000以及10000用户会不会长期留下来不走呢?’我想这是一个很好的分析方法论。”“如果你观察那条曲线,也即是纵轴为‘月活百分比’,横轴为‘获取客户后的天数’,如果这条留存曲线逐渐逼近于与X轴平行的话,那就可以说你的业务是可行的,你在某个市场子集中已经实现了产品市场匹配。但大多数公司你看到的是爬坡的曲线,这些可能是通过病毒性营销之类的手段实现的,然后留存率就朝着轴线下滑,到最后泯没于X轴那里(用户都跑光了)。” Alex Schultz   本文来自翻译:25iq.com,如若转载,请注明出处:http://36kr.com/p/5063835.html
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    2017年02月15日