????Maveron是一家美國風投公司，總部位于西雅圖和舊金山，由星巴克（Starbucks）首席執(zhí)行官霍華德?舒爾茨和投資銀行家丹?拉維坦于1998年創(chuàng)建。這家公司專門從事消費者業(yè)務，因為成功地投資了多家市值數十億美元的公司而聞名，其中包括eBay、凱佩拉大學（Capella University）、團購網站Groupon和母嬰用品團購網站Zulily。（另一家快餐連鎖店Potbelly的市值已經超過了5億美元。）

????拉維坦最近接受《財富》采訪的時候解釋了自己投資Trupanion的原因。Trupanion是一家總部位于西雅圖的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，為寵物提供健康保險服務。了解風投公司的投資決策過程是一件非常有意思的事情。下面，我們就來聽一聽拉維坦親口向《財富》雜志資深高級編輯亞當?拉辛斯基講述的內幕。

????我們投資的一些最好的創(chuàng)業(yè)理念在傳統(tǒng)風投界看來有些不著邊際。最近，很多人都一直在討論Potbelly和Zulily。但我們對一家名為Trupanion公司的業(yè)務特別感興趣。它從事的是寵物健康保險。

????Trupanion是一家為狗、貓?zhí)峁┙】当ｋU的公司。令我感到驚訝的是，美國人每年在寵物上的花費約為550億美元。而且每一年，當我看見帶有寵物合影的假日明信片時，我都會想到我們所居住的世界竟然已經發(fā)生了如此大的變化。

????2005年左右，我們曾在寵物行業(yè)內搜尋可擴展、具有吸引力的創(chuàng)業(yè)點子，因為寵物行業(yè)的吸金能力確實不俗。而大家當時都在投資有機食品之類的產業(yè)。我們倒是覺得，這種類型的投資沒有什么風險收益。然后，有一天，我接到了我朋友打來的電話，他說：“你得見見這個家伙，他開了一家寵物健康保險公司?！?/p>

????我覺得很有意思。隨著了解的不斷加深，你會發(fā)現，獸藥在過去25年多時間里的增長速度是GDP增速的兩倍。過去，貓狗接受的手術和護理與人存在很大不同，但這個差距正在不斷縮小。如今，寵物的治療護理方式與人的治療護理方式越來越接近。因此，在保險領域有很多非常有意思的長期趨勢。事實上，我們在深入了解后發(fā)現，英國有25%的寵物都買了保險，美國只有1%。看起來簡直是天壤之別。這位來自于溫哥華附近鮑恩島的家伙走了進來，說：“我想成立世界上最好的寵物健康保險公司。”

????我花了一年的時間來了解他，熟悉項目，因為我的合作伙伴提醒我說，我對保險一竅不通，而且我們最后還拉攏了再保險公司Renaissance Reinsurance與我們共同投資。

????但是對于整件事，我的觀點是，在那個時候，我詢問了一批獸醫(yī)。實際上，我們公司基金的一位投資人的配偶就是獸醫(yī)。在這一行業(yè)中已有一些早期嘗試，但它們執(zhí)行的并不好。獸醫(yī)認為這總體來說不是什么好創(chuàng)意。他們擔心會被保健組織拖垮。2007年就發(fā)生過這種事情。當時經濟穩(wěn)健，很多人都有閑錢，但是人們沒有這種消費意識。

????快進到數年之后，也就是2010年，突然間，人們的閑錢沒有那么多了。突然間獸醫(yī)也開始擔心，他們的客戶沒有那么多的錢來給予貓狗所需的護理。突然間，這個趨勢又開始發(fā)生變化。Trupanion的方案相當簡潔明了，同時也得到了獸醫(yī)的認可。

????在我看來，這就是一個例證，因為這個點子在當時并不是很盛行。但是我們是先支持人，而后支持他們的業(yè)務。一直以來，我們所支持的Trupanion這位與眾不同的家伙給我們留下了非常好的印象。

????但請別誤會，我們并不是不喜歡那些有利可圖的大趨勢。最近，我與查理?蒙格【沃倫?巴菲特的商業(yè)合伙人兼伯克希爾哈撒韋公司（Berkshire Hathaway）的副董事長】身邊的人進行了交談。他們問蒙格：“為什么你不怎么在意細節(jié)？你是典型的粗線條類型?！彼卮鹫f：“在我看來，寧可大致是對的，莫要全盤皆錯?！蔽覀冊浡犘帕祟檰柟镜膱蟾?，投資了一家名為Eos的航空公司，我想我們當時恰恰就是全盤皆錯。消費者熱愛自己的寵物，而且害怕寵物因重大問題而導致災難性后果，我想這一點大致是對的。

????所以回頭想想，還是人的問題。我們可以找到一個好行業(yè)或業(yè)務，但是我們投資的是創(chuàng)業(yè)初期。因此，除非擁有頑強的意志、決心、智慧和銳意進取的能力，否則是行不通的。我們拉了一個清單，列出了我們支持的企業(yè)家所應具備的10大成功個性。除非你能在最為激動人心的行業(yè)中開創(chuàng)最賺錢的業(yè)務，否則，如果沒有執(zhí)行，沒有領頭的，沒有創(chuàng)造價值的人，我們是不會投資的。

????我之所以深受這位家伙的吸引，原因在于他不走尋常路，而且信心十足，但同時又很沉穩(wěn)，意志堅定。他一遍又一遍地找我，對我說他一心想成立Maveron。

????有一次，他說：“你知道嗎，我覺得你們能增加價值……”我回答道：“你住在溫哥華。如果你真覺得Maveron能增加價值，搬到西雅圖來吧。在這里我們可以把價值增量最大化。”第二天他給我打電話說，“我回到家跟我妻子商量了一下。如果你能注資的話，我們愿意搬到西雅圖。”

????這就相當于他是在非常直接地說：“我想把這個業(yè)務做起來，我是認真的?！彼窃?007年說的這番話。我們在2007年達成了交易。我們投資了公司；當時公司的名字叫做Vet Insurance。他尋求我們幫助的其中一個原因是，他認為Vet Insurance并不是最合適的公司名。

????我們聘請了為星巴克起名的人，Trupanion是他給起的名字。我們召開了第一次董事會議，他對大家的到來表示熱烈歡迎。他走到白色書寫板前面，寫下了一個大大的“10X”。他說：“我清楚你們來這里的原因，你們所想要得到的就是10倍的回報率。那好，我就來實現這個目標。但眼下我跟大家說這話的原因在于，各位要幫助我實現這個目標。大家都是被選中的投資人，而且大家對于10倍的回報率也是志在必得。我來負責實現這個目標，但是我需要你們的幫助?！?/p>

????整個過程都非常愉快。我和CEO們干的事情中，我和他一起干的事最有意思：我和他每年都要爬一座山；我們會梳理他認為今年應該實現的目標，互相商量；我們會從太陽谷的這座山的山頂帶回來一塊石頭。每年我們都要去爬這座山。它就在我家后面。我們會寫下具體的目標，我的桌子上和他的桌子上都放著一塊石頭。他的管理團隊已經受不了這些石頭了，因為他總會毫不猶豫地在撿石頭之后提高目標。這就是我們先前所討論過的業(yè)務與人的結合。我覺得，如果你要問我們成功的秘訣是什么，那么它就是，在很多情況下，我們總能非常幸運地、早早地發(fā)掘不錯的人才。然后我們?yōu)樗麄兲峁┮磺匈Y源，跟他們站在一條線上。

????Maveron is a U.S. venture capital firm based in Seattle and San Francisco that was co-founded in 1998 by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and investment banker Dan Levitan. The firm focuses exclusively on consumer businesses, and has made a name for itself with successful investments in the billion-dollar companies eBay (EBAY), Capella University (CPLA), Groupon (GRPN), and Zulily (ZU). (Another, the fast food chain Potbelly [PBPB], is more than halfway to the billion-dollar-valuation mark.)

????In a recent interview, Levitan explained how he came to invest in Trupanion, a Seattle-based startup company that offers health insurance for pet animals. It's a fascinating look at the investment process for a venture capital firm. Below, Levitan in his own words, as told to Fortune senior editor-at-large Adam Lashinsky.

????Some of the best ideas that we've invested in have made no sense to conventional sources. A lot of people have been talking about Potbelly and Zulily lately. We have a business that we're quite excited about called Trupanion. It's in pet health insurance.

????Trupanion is health insurance for dogs and cats. It's astounding to me that Americans spend approximately $55 billion on their pets every year. And every year I'm reminded when I see the holiday cards with people's pets how much of a change that's become in the world we live in.

????In the mid-2000s we were looking for scalable, compelling ideas within the pet segment because all this money had been allocated to it. And everyone invested in organic food and this and that. And we kind of couldn't find in our mind venture returns in those kinds of investments. Well, one day, I get a call from a friend, and he says, "You need to meet this guy. He has this pet health insurance company."

????And I thought it was interesting. As you peel away the onion, you see that veterinary medicine is growing over the past 25 years at twice the rate of the GDP. The operations and care that they can give these dogs and cats has narrowed between what they used to do and human beings. And now it's kind of gotten closer to how they treat humans. So there are a lot of secular trends that were really interesting in insurance. In fact, as we looked into it, 25% of the pets were insured in the U.K., and 1% of the pets in America were insured. It just seemed like such a dichotomy. So in walks this guy from Bowen Island, outside of Vancouver, and he says, "I want to have the best pet health insurance company in the world."

????I spent a year getting to know him and working on it because my partners kind of reminded me that I didn't know anything about insurance, and we ended up getting Renaissance Reinsurance to invest with us.

????But my point in all this is, I asked around a bunch of veterinarians about that time, and in fact, one of the investors in our fund was married to a veterinarian. And there had been some early attempts at this business, and they weren't executed very well. Veterinarians thought this was a bad idea in general. They were afraid of being HMOed to death. This was happening in 2007, when the economy was robust -- lots of people had discretionary dollars, and there wasn't this concern for spending.

????So flash-forward a few years later, to 2010. Suddenly people don't have as many discretionary dollars. Suddenly that's the worry of vets, that their customers don't have the money to treat dogs and cats the way they need to. Suddenly the shift starts changing. Trupanion kind of had a very simple straightforward program that vets can embrace.

????That's an example of something that, in my mind, wasn't an obvious idea at the time. But we back people before we back businesses. And this particular guy that we backed at Trupanion, just always felt was a really good guy.

????I don't want to give you the impression that we don't like macro trends that work. I was talking to someone recently who was with Charlie Munger [Warren Buffett's business partner and vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway], and they asked Munger, "How come you don't really look at the details? You're such a big picture guy." And he said, "I'd rather be roughly right than precisely wrong." I think that we were precisely wrong with all the consultants' reports on a transatlantic airline we invested in called Eos. I think that we were roughly right that consumers love their pets and are fearful of the catastrophic consequences of major problems with their pets.

????But I get back to it all being about the people. We can find a great sector or business, but we're investing so early that unless there's this tenacious grit, determination, resourcefulness, ability to evolve, it won't work. We've created a checklist of 10 characteristics of an entrepreneur that have been the successful characteristics for us in terms of who we back. Unless you find that you can have the best business in the most exciting industry, but if the execution, if the torch-holder, if the value-creator isn't there, then we don't make it happen.

????And this guy was fascinating to me because he was unusual, he was confident, but he was quiet, he was determined. And he kept coming at me and telling me how much he wanted Maveron.

????And at one point he said, "You know, I think you guys add value, da-da-da-da-da-da." And I said, "Well, you're living in Vancouver. If you really think Maveron will add value, move to Seattle. That's where we can add the most value." And the next day he called me and he said, "I went home to my wife, and I talked to her. And we'll move to Seattle if you fund us."

????That was a very direct kind of, "I'm serious about making this business work" statement. That was 2007 when he said that. We closed the deal in 2007. We invested in a company; at the time it was called Vet Insurance. One of the reasons he came to us was he knew that Vet Insurance wasn't probably the best name.

????We used the naming guy that did Starbucks to come up with Trupanion. And we had a first board meeting, and he welcomes everyone, and he goes up to the whiteboard and he writes a big "10X." And he says, "I know you guys are here because this is what you want. 10X. Well, I'm going to deliver that. But the reason why I'm telling you this now is you're going to help me deliver that. You've been picked, and you need to own 10X also. I'll own it delivering it, but I need your help."

????It's been a really nice ride. I do one of the most fun things with any of my CEOs: He and I climb a mountain every year, and we go through what the goals that he thinks the year should be, and we kind of negotiate, and we take a rock from the top of this mountain in Sun Valley. We've climbed the same thing every year. It's a mountain behind my house, and we write down what the goal is, and the rock is sitting on my desk and on his desk. And his management team is sick of hearing about all these rocks because he's not shy in raising the bar for them. That's the integration of business and people that we were talking about before. I think that if you ask what's made us successful, it's because we've been fortunate enough to identify, in a number of cases, great people early. Then we throw all the resources behind them and are aligned with them.