培训即服务创业公司Lesson.ly融资110万美元，2014年营收增长850%
提供上岗培训管理和培训工具的创业公司 Lesson.ly 在今天早晨宣布，已获得 110 万美元投资。此轮融资由 Allos Ventures 领投，数位天使投资人参投。Lesson.ly 是首个接受“ExactTarget 三位联合创始人作为投资人”的公司。ExactTarget 是一家与 Lesson.ly 类似的美国中西部公司，于 2013 年被 Salesforce 收购。
Lesson.ly 在 2013 年获得过一小笔种子融资。该公司拒绝透露先前一笔融资的具体金额。不过却表示最近一笔融资获得了超额认购，其最初计划融资 100 万美元，最终却多获得了 10% 的资金。
Lesson.ly 计划利用这笔资金来增加营销开支，扩展产品和扩充团队人数到正常水平。
TechCrunch 上一次报道 Lesson.ly 还是在 2013 年底，当时 Lesson.ly 只有三名员工，每月的营收增速达 245% 。考虑到当时这家公司成立还不久，相对比例没什么意义。现在 Lesson.ly 拥有 10 名员工，预计到年底员工数将达 12 名，并计划在 2015 年让员工数翻番。
Lesson.ly 的创始人兼首席执行官马克思·尤德(Max Yoder)表示，Lesson.ly 今年的营收增长了 850% 。他预计 Lesson.ly 2015 年的营收将增长 300% 。
尤德向 TechCrunch 表示，Stripe 和 Lyft 都是 Lesson.ly 的客户。我问尤德，Lesson.ly 是不是严重依赖于某一个客户，得到的答复是没有一个客户对营收的贡献超过 10% 。
作为一家热切希望向硅谷客户销售的非硅谷公司，Lesson.ly 很出众。我问尤德，中西部创业环境近况如何。他提到了不少退出案，并表示“天使投资要比以往任何时候都强，芝加哥和俄亥俄州风投对中西部创业公司的兴趣在这些年也大幅增加。”我曾经也是芝加哥科技圈的参与者，这话我爱听。
培训并不是最性感的行业，但增长是一家年轻公司能展示的最具吸引力的东西。Lesson.ly 是否能实现其 2015 年的增长预期令人期待，祝他们好运。
Training-As-A-Service Startup Lesson.ly Picks Up $1.1M After Growing Its Revenue 850% In 2014
Lesson.ly, a startup that provides onboarding and training tools, announced this morning that it has raised a $1.1 million round led by Allos Ventures, and participated in by several angels. The firm claims to be the first company to “count all three ExactTarget co-founders as investors.” ExactTarget, a Midwest company like Lesson.ly, was acquired by Salesforce in 2013.
The $1.1 million follows a smaller seed round in 2013. The company declined to detail the amount of its former fundraising. It did note that its most recent capital event was oversubscribed — the company had initially planned to raise a flat $1 million, but accepted 10 percent more cash.
The company intends to use its new capital, it informed TechCrunch, to grow its marketing spend, and build out its product, normal enough stuff.
TechCrunch last discussed Lesson.ly in late 2013, when the company had three employees, and revenue growth in the hundreds of percent per month. Given its youth at that stage, however, the relative percentages weren’t too meaningful — the law of large numbers does work to the inverse, in reverse. Today, Lesson.ly has 10 employees, expects to make it to 12 by the end of the year, and plans to nearly double its staff in 2015.
According to the company’s founder and CEO Max Yoder, Lesson.ly’s revenue has grown 850 percent this year. He expects the company’s top line to grow 300 percent in 2015.
Lesson.ly counts companies like Stripe and Lyft among its customer base, Yoder told TechCrunch. I asked if the company was heavily dependent on any single customer, but was told that no single account constitutes more than 10 percent of its revenue.
As a company, Lesson.ly stands out somewhat for being a staunchly non-Valley play, but one that is more than willing to sell to Valley-centric customers. I asked Yoder how the Midwest startup scene was growing. He cited several exits as important moments, and stated that “angel funding is stronger than ever, and interest from Chicago and Ohio VCs has grown significantly over the years.” I was once a participant in the Chicago technology scene, making that somewhat edifying to hear.
Training is not the sexiest technology, but growth is the most attractive thing a young company can post. It will be interesting to see if Lesson.ly can not only meet its 2015 growth expectations, but best them.
来源：techcrunch
硅谷
2014年12月09日
硅谷
硅谷最火的创业公司Airbnb和Pinterest怎么招人？史丹佛大学最热门的一堂课就是教导学生如何创造一个网路帝国，硅谷投资人 Sam Altman 每周会带来硅谷最火红的名人来跟学生分享他们的创业秘笈。最近他们开设了一门为期两周的课程，教导学生如何建立良好的企业文化。Airbnb 的 CEO Brian Chesky 和 Pinterest 的 CEO Ben Silbermann 就是其中两位讲师。以下是两场演讲的精华节录，文末附有Youtube完整影片。
「Don’t fuck up the culture.(别搞砸了公司文化)」
这是 Chesky 向 PayPal 的创办人 Peter Thiel 寻求意见时，所得到的答案。比较好的说法是，要在组织中建立「热情」且「忠诚」的文化并不容易。技术人员往往把重心放在产品和行销上面，而低估了建立团队文化的重要性。
企业想要长久经营就必须要有一个清楚的使命，明确的价值观和做事方法，才能让这间公司和员工变得独一无二。
Chesky 强调公司想要长久经营，需要有一个明确的使命，这个使命要渗透公司里大大小小的事情。以苹果来说，他们所有的东西都经过精美的设计，无论是产品或是发表会。Airbnb 的宗旨就是让人们聚在一起，所以当他们搬到旧金山的新办公室时，他们自然而然地在这个两倍大的空间里举办种活动(我个人也去过两次，那里非常友善)。反观苹果，他们从不办任何鸡尾酒派对，那不是他们的核心价值。
「每个人都必须雇用更好的人，公司的水平才会提升。」
Chesky 表示，公司在快速成长的时候，品质很容易被稀释掉，只有在每次征才时都设定更高的标准，才能保有公司原有的水平，而这不单单只是在技术层面，对于新进员工是否符合公司文化也是一样的，这样才能找到稳定度较高的员工。
「我习惯问那些重量级的人物：你们在找什么样的人才?」
Silbermann 说，多数经营者只有在招募的过程之中，才开始明白他们要找的是什么样的人，但是他在招募之前，透过与那些成功人士的对话中，找到最好的答案，然后持续向他们学习。
「我们在找的是那些有创意且充满好奇心的人，他们需要有一些特定的兴趣。我们要找的是那些可以把事情做得很好，但是不自满的人。他们喜欢承担风险，勇于挑战自己。」
用兴趣来区分人才是一个很好的方法，最有名的例子，就是GOOGLE 在广告看板上写了一个数学题目，邀请大家来解谜，然而这个测验的重点并不是找到数学天才，而是找到充满好奇心的人。
「我并不会忽略人的特质。他们心愿是什么?做事风格?他们有多想被记住?如果你知道这些东西，代表你很关心他们本人，总的来说，这也就是你的目标」
花时间去了解员工，可以让他们更融入团队，让他们觉得自己是团队的一份子。很多员工整天只是坐在电脑前面，除非有人打破僵局，主动了解大家，不然很多能力和特质都会被埋没掉。
「传统的观念里，你只会雇用那些长期使用公司产品的人，但对我们来说，我喜欢那些有理想，喜欢上网的人。」
Pinterest 的 CEO Silbermann 不希望整个团队都是产品狂热份子，他喜欢雇用那些没有很喜欢 Pinterest 的使用者，他们才可能创造出让「非 Pinterest 使用者」满意的产品。
YouTube视频地址：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfWgVWGEuGE；https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Dl8rZ6qwE
复制去Google翻译翻译结果
TheLadders更新其iPhone应用专注职业推荐，同时推出“就业市场指导”功能
当你不找工作的时候，求职网站或应用又有何用处呢？这便是TheLadders当前正在解决的问题，该公司近日对其iOS版应用做出了更新，还推出了一项名为“就业市场指导”（Job Market Guide）的新功能。
TheLadders首席执行官亚历克斯·多泽特（Alex Douzet）告诉我，这两项举措只是TheLadders提出的新战略的第一步。TheLadders创立于2003年，最初的目标受众是寻找年薪超10万美元职务的人，近年来开始将业务重点扩大至更广泛的职业和收入类别。
多泽特指出，目前工作搜索问题“已经在很大程度上得到解决”，不仅TheLadders在此过程中做出了贡献，LinkedIn和Indeed之类的网站也功不可没。但他表示，这一市场仍然有进一步挖掘的空间，因为专业人士通常每隔三年或四年便会换一份工作。像TheLadders这样的网站“在三四年间给他们做的并不多”——多泽特希望随着这些新产品以及其他酝酿中的创意的发布，能够改变这种状况。
下面就让我们来谈一谈今天发布的TheLadders新版IOS应用吧。多泽特指出，即便你现在并没找工作，但你也可以给那些正在寻找合适人选填补职务空缺的团队工作，或是可以帮助好友找到理想的工作。虽然在线工作推荐并不是什么新创意，但根据多泽特及其团队昨天向我演示的这款应用，我发现它可以通过一种常见且便捷的方法来进行这种推荐。
你在TheLadders上面发布招聘启事时，需要填写许多基本细节——公司介绍、招聘职务、工作地点等，这些描述不得超过200个单词。职务空缺会显示在TheLadders应用中联系人的信息流中，这些联系人可以推荐他们网络中的熟人。如果发帖公司和被推荐者都“赞”了这份推荐，那么他们就可以在TheLadders应用中互相聊一聊。（你还可以推荐不是TheLadders会员的人，但他们会被要求下载该应用。
TheLadders专门针对移动用户开发了该应用，这一点同样至关重要。我不善交际，但可以想见，有些时候下班参与活动或是与朋友一起出去吃饭时，如果看到某个招聘启事，我会想，‘哎呀，我认识一个人特别适合这一工作’，然后我会记下来，等周围有电脑时继续跟进。有时候我可能会忘了这件事，有时候或许仍然记得。通过专注于移动端，TheLadders则可以让你在这些环境下立即采取行动。
TheLadders还会在其去年推出的应用中继续提供现有求职功能。多泽特表示，TheLadders移动应用的绝大部分用户都是iOS设备用户，所以该公司当前也专注于发展iOS平台，不过他承认“当我们看到使用量真的开始大幅增长时，我们会面向现有安卓版应用推出新的职务推荐功能，优化安卓用户的体验。”
与此同时，Job Market Guide预计将在下周正式发布，TheLadders今天推出的只是功能有限的“预览版”。Job Market Guide的想法是，聚合700多万TheLadders注册用户的所有数据，让他们可以掌握自己所选职业的最新信息。
例如，我正在搜索纽约市某些作家的数据，该应用会显示一个页面，里面包括平均工资、当前市场竞争程度，以及“最合适”这一职业发展的城市列表（列表由工资、竞争性和生活成本等因素确定）。你还能看到这一职业所需要的各种技能，甚至可以创建提醒功能，一旦有任何变动和新工作上线，你的电子邮箱都会收到提醒。
多泽特表示，TheLadders的就业指导是独一无二的，因为这一数据反映了用户讨论的最新趋势，而不是几个月前或是几年前某份研究报告透露的内容，并且会根据当地人的偏好做出调整——不仅是工资，还有雇主正在寻找的热门技能，而这些技能会因城市的不同而有所差别。多泽特指出，TheLadders的用户具有不隐瞒收入的动机，因为这有助于他们找到相应的工作：“如果他们隐瞒了当前收入状况，不久便会发现这种做法对他们有害无益。”
在被问及这些数据是否更偏向于那些高收入职业（TheLadders最早曾专注于为高收入群体提供服务）时，多泽特表示年薪低于10万美元的工作和年薪超过10万美元的工作之比现在是二比一。这或许并不能体现美国劳动大军的准确构成，但TheLadders表示其用户的规模和深度足以让这种数据变得有意义。
至于长期职业规划，多泽特表示TheLadders并不会向用户推荐他们十年以后应该从事哪种工作，因为职场并不是一成不变的，有时候并无明显的规律可循。他说：“没有一款产品能预言5年或10年以后你应该干什么。不过，职位介绍应该与相关工作有联系，所以，如果你是作家，想要成为一名编辑，仍然可以从这款应用中感受到你需要多少别的经验，以及什么样的新技能。”
TheLadders Revamps iPhone App To Focus On Job Referrals, Unveils Job Market Guide
What good is a job search site or app when you’re not looking for a job? That’s the issueTheLadders is tackling with the launch of a new version of its iOS app and a new feature that it calls the Job Market Guide.
CEO Alex Douzet told me that these are the first steps in a new direction for the company, which was founded in 2003. TheLadders was initially aimed at people looking for jobs that paid more than $100,000, before expanding its focus to a broader range of careers and salaries in recent years.
At this point, Douzet argued that the job search problem “has been mostly solved,” not just by TheLadders but by other sites like LinkedIn and Indeed. However, he said there’s still an opportunity to expand, because professionals usually only change jobs every three to four years. A site like TheLadders “is not really doing much for them in between” — something he’s hoping to change with these products, and with other ideas in the pipeline.
Let’s start with the updated app, which is launching today. Douzet pointed out that even if you’re not looking for a job, there’s a good chance you’re working on a team that needs to find good people fill open positions, or you may be able to help out a friend who’s trying to do the same. And while online job referrals aren’t a new idea, the app that Douzet and his team showed me yesterday offers a casual, convenient way to make those recommendations.
When you post a job opening in the app, you just enter a few basic details — your company, the title, the location, and a description, which can’t go longer than 200 words. The listing then shows up in the newsfeeds of your connections in the app, and those connections can recommend people in their network. If both the poster and the person being referred “like” the recommendation, then they can start chatting with each other in the app. (You can also recommend people who aren’t already members of TheLadders, who are then asked to download the app.)
The fact that TheLadders built this specifically for mobile could also be key. I’m no great connector, but even I can think of times when I was at an after-work event, or having dinner with a friend, and a job opening came up. I’d think, “Oh man, I know someone who’d be perfect for this” — then I’d have to make a note to myself to follow-up once I was at a computer again, which sometimes happened, and sometimes didn’t. By focusing on mobile, TheLadders allows you to take action right away in those situations.
The company will also continue to offer the existing job search features in the app, which launched last year. Douzet said added that the majority of TheLadders’ mobile usage is on iOS, so that’s where the focus is right now, but he acknowledged, “When we see the usage really, taking off, we will have to address Android” by introducing the new referral features to the existing Android app.
The Job Market Guide, meanwhile, is supposed to launch in full next week, but the company is releasing a more limited, “sneak preview” version today. The idea is to aggregate all the data from TheLadders’ 7 million-plus registered users and give people access to up-to-date information about their chosen professions.
For example, I looked up the data for writers in New York City, bringing up a page that includes the average salary, the current level of competitiveness, and a list of the “best” cities for that career (which is determined by a combination of salary, competitiveness, and cost-of-living). You can also see the kinds of skills needed for jobs in that profession and set up email alerts for changes and listings.
Douzet said TheLadders’ guide is unique because the data reflects what users are saying now, not what was reported in a study months or years ago, and it’s attuned to local differences — not just in salaries but also in the skills that employers are looking for, which can vary from city to city. He also argued that users on TheLadders have an incentive to be honest about their salaries, because that helps them to find relevant jobs: “If they lie about their current compensation, they find out very quickly that it’s not going to be useful for them.”
Asked if the data is skewed towards those high-income jobs that TheLadders started with, Douzet said the ratio between jobs paying less than versus more than $100,000 a year is now two-to-one. That may not be a perfect representation of the American workforce, but the company says the size and breadth of its user base is enough to make the data meaningful.
As far as longer term career planning, Douzet said TheLadders doesn’t try to tell you what kind of job you might have a decade from now, because careers don’t always follow an obvious, linear path: “There’s no product you can build that can predict in 5, 10 years where they should go.” However, the job profiles link to profiles for related jobs, so if you’re writer looking to become an editor, you can get a sense of how much additional experiences and what new skills you need.
来源：TC
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