????閱讀關(guān)于知名初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的報(bào)道，每次看到記者大叫“他們甚至都還沒(méi)有盈利”時(shí)，我都覺(jué)得挺逗的。

????我之所以提到記者，是因?yàn)檎沁@幫人讓“致力于盈利永遠(yuǎn)是正確的”這一錯(cuò)誤觀點(diǎn)長(zhǎng)盛不衰。此外，我也聽(tīng)到很多企業(yè)家（當(dāng)然還有很多“正常人”）反復(fù)提到這一觀點(diǎn)。

????盈利和增長(zhǎng)間存在一種良性的矛盾。要加快增長(zhǎng)，企業(yè)就得動(dòng)用當(dāng)前財(cái)務(wù)周期的資源，雖然投入這些資源后可能半年、一年都看不到增長(zhǎng)。以銷售團(tuán)隊(duì)為例，就很容易說(shuō)明問(wèn)題：如果1月份招了6個(gè)銷售代表，每人年薪12萬(wàn)美元，即每月人工成本增加6萬(wàn)美元，但有可能這些銷售代表4-6個(gè)月內(nèi)都不會(huì)達(dá)成新的業(yè)務(wù)。因此，新聘這些銷售代表會(huì)使第一季度的凈利潤(rùn)減少18萬(wàn)美元。我知道這看來(lái)顯而易見(jiàn)，但我敢保證一談到盈利，即使聰明人也會(huì)忘了這一點(diǎn)。

????增聘人手并不總是正確的舉措。必須知道新招的人能不能在短期內(nèi)帶來(lái)營(yíng)收增長(zhǎng)，或者能不能獲得足夠廉價(jià)的資本來(lái)填補(bǔ)損失，直到投資開(kāi)始顯現(xiàn)效益。

摘要：

????全世界大多數(shù)(98%以上的)公司（甚至包括科技初創(chuàng)企業(yè)）都應(yīng)該高度關(guān)注盈利。盈利意味著擁有更多的自由度，這不是依賴他人資金時(shí)所可想象的。

????? 確實(shí)需要融資時(shí)，盈利能有助于舉債。(因?yàn)楹芏嗤顿Y者并不指望打造龐大的商業(yè)王國(guó)，他們看重投資對(duì)象能否實(shí)現(xiàn)經(jīng)營(yíng)盈利。)

????? 盈利能帶來(lái)更多的退出機(jī)會(huì)。盡管谷歌（Google）和Facebook這樣的公司會(huì)進(jìn)行“人才收購(gòu)”(至少截至2011年12月是如此)，但許多收購(gòu)者都不樂(lè)意購(gòu)買(mǎi)不賺錢(qián)的公司。他們考慮收購(gòu)一家公司時(shí)，往往會(huì)考慮：“我需要多久才能賺回收購(gòu)成本？”如果你還沒(méi)有盈利，你對(duì)他們而言就完全是一個(gè)燒錢(qián)機(jī)器。

????? 盈利當(dāng)然也會(huì)讓公司更有能力熬過(guò)困難時(shí)期。

????不應(yīng)以盈利為當(dāng)前要?jiǎng)?wù)的人們包括：

????? 有機(jī)會(huì)或看到機(jī)會(huì)，有望打造極具可擴(kuò)展性的業(yè)務(wù)、互聯(lián)網(wǎng)規(guī)模企業(yè)的人。

????? 能從那些致力于培育互聯(lián)網(wǎng)規(guī)模企業(yè)的投資者那里輕松獲取資本的人。

????我想說(shuō)的是，

????“如果你真的有一個(gè)很宏大的想法，市場(chǎng)中的其他人也會(huì)看到這一點(diǎn)，他們會(huì)和你競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

????如果你具有市場(chǎng)領(lǐng)先地位，那么現(xiàn)在進(jìn)行融資和投資將能在其他人進(jìn)入市場(chǎng)時(shí)給予你幫助。

????如果你不這樣做，其他人肯定會(huì)！”

????I find it amusing when a journalist writes about a prominent startup and decries that, "They're not even profitable!"

????I mention journalists because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is always appropriate, and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many "normals") repeating the same mantra.

????There is a healthy tension between profits and growth. To grow faster, businesses need resources in today's financial period to fund growth that may not come for 6 months to a year. The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people: If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you've taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs, yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. So your Q1 results will be $180,000 less profitable than if you hadn't hired them. I know this seems obvious but I promise you that even smart people forget it when talking about profitability.

????Hiring more people isn't always the right answer. You have to understand whether they're likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off.

Exec Summary:

????Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. Being profitable allows you degrees of freedom you don't have when you rely upon other people's money.

????? You may have leverage when you DO need to fundraise. (There are many investors who are not looking to build enormous businesses who value the fact that you can run a business profitably)

????? It allows you many more exit opportunities. While Google and Facebook will buy "acquihires" (at least as of Dec 2011), many acquirers hate the idea of buying companies that aren't profitable. When they look at buying your company they often think in terms of "how long will it take until I earn back the profits to pay for my acquisition price?" If you're not profitable you're purely a cost center to them.

????? Being profitable certainly makes your company more sustainable in difficult times.

????The characteristics of somebody who should NOT focus on profitability include those who:

????? Have or perceive that they have the opportunity to build an immensely scalable businesses. Internet scale.

????? Have easy access to capital by investors who are committed to building businesses at Interent scale

????As I like to say,

????"If you're really on to an enormous idea then other people in the market are going to spot that and want to compete with you.

????If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market.

????If you don't, somebody else WILL!"