每一个高科技创业公司成功站稳脚跟的背后，总有无数倒下的身影。一些最天才的创业者止步于产品问题，而另一些人虽然开局喜人，但终究虎头蛇尾，离目标太远。其他人尽管可能成功上市，但却无法实现持续的增长，当然最终也无法创造持续的价值。

    实际上，市值超过 10 亿美元的科技公司可能有好几十家，而 100 亿美元以上的科技公司则屈指可数。但成功者一定都有共同的特质，胸怀大志的创业者也应努力学习现成的成功模式。

    尽管公司经营会涉及方方面面的问题，但根据奥卡姆剃刀原则，最简单的道路的确有助于集中力量办大事。下面我们将论述生存的四大法则，当然这远不是生存的全部，但如果您可以秉持这四大法则，您的公司将会成为长期的赢家。

    1.做好与做大同样重要

    很多初期非常成功的公司发现，随着规模的不断扩大，延续以前的成功将会越来越困难，而不是更加容易。有时人们发现，以创始人为主导的初期销售业绩很难复制，因为招聘的销售人员不那么激情澎湃。而另一些时候，初期的需求其实并不代表整体市场的需求。不论罪魁祸首是什么，但最终的结果都是增长越来越困难，保持稳定的前进步伐开始好比逆水行舟。

    只有极少数的公司能随着规模的扩大变得越来越好。销售团队的效率提高，新客户越来越多，产品也越来越成熟。转换率、交易规模、回头客以及支持成本等关键指标都随着收入增长而改善。最终，利润率和股本回报率也随着时间推移而不断提高。

    最近上市的 Workday (WDAY)就是一个例子。这家公司在规模扩大的同时，利润率一直稳步提高。销售和市场推广成本、研发以及行政总务费用等项目占业务收入的比重一直随着业务规模的扩大而呈下降趋势。另一个例子是，尽管最近面临一些挑战，但苹果公司 （Apple's）的股本回报率在过去五年中已经上升了 10%。

    做大的同时做好并不是一件容易的事，但如果您想笑到最后，进行业务投入必不可少。它可能会长时期拖累增长——例如，在可以找到足以支持高效增长的充分成熟产品前，您可能需要放慢销售人员的招聘步伐——但长期的收获绝对值得这样做。

    For every example of an enduring high-tech growth company, there are countless more that don't make it. Some of the most talented entrepreneurs get tripped up by product issues, while others successfully launch but plateau well below their aspirations. Still others may get public, but are unable to achieve consistent growth and ultimately fail to create sustaining value.

    In fact, you can count the number of tech companies with over $1 billion in market value on a few pairs of hands, and the list gets much shorter over $10 billion. There are common traits among the winners, however, and aspiring entrepreneurs should always try to learn from existing models of success.

    There are many buttons to push when you're running a company but, in the spirit of Occam's razor, identifying the simplest path can really help with focus. What follows is are four keys to going long. It's far from exhaustive, but if you can nail these four, you'll set your company up to be a long term winner.

    1. Get Better as You Get Bigger

    Most companies that achieve early success find that it gets harder, not easier, to continue prospering as they get larger. Sometimes the initial, founder-led sales are difficult to replicate as less passionate salespeople are hired. Other times, early demand turns out not to be indicative of a broader market need. Whatever the culprit, growing gets harder and maintaining consistent pace feels a bit like running uphill in sand.

    Some rare companies get better as they scale. Sales teams get more efficient as more customers are added and the product matures. Key metrics such as conversion rates, deal sizes, repeat purchases and support costs improve with growth. The results are improving profit margins and higher return on capital over time.

    Look at recently-public Workday (WDAY). The company has been steadily improving profitability with scale. Sales and marketing costs, R&D and G&A all havel been declining as a percentage of revenue as the business scales. Similarly, despite recent challenges, Apple's (AAPL) return on equity has improved by 10% over the past five years.

    Getting better with scale isn't easy but, if you want to build a long term winner, it's essential to invest in your business. This may slow growth for long periods - for example, you may need to slow hiring of sales people until you can build a mature enough product that will support efficient growth - but the long-term result will be worth it.

    2.勇为牛首

    “宁为鸡首，不为牛后”的想法虽然没什么不对，但长远的赢家却还是牛首。成为牛首的方式有两种， 一是打入已有的大市场，二是新开创一个大市场。

    当初，马克•贝尼奥夫建立 Salesforce.com并专注于客户关系管理业务时，它已经是一个庞大的市场，同时也存在一个市场龙头 Siebel Systems，后者在被甲骨文公司（Oracle）收购前，年收入已近高达 13 亿美元。建立 Salesforce.com，打造第一个真正的 SaaS 应用，贝尼奥夫成功打入 CRM 市场。今天的 Salesforce 年营业额已超过 30 亿美元，远远超过巅峰时期的 Siebel，但贝尼奥夫并不需要创造一个庞大的市场——它已经在那里，而他能够打入这个市场，并从一开始就占据领导位置。

    相反，Google（Google）曾经建立了强大的搜索技术，但早期并没有找到真正的盈利模式。当然，搜索营销 并不是 Google 的发明，它只是将市场再造，单凭一己之力，在短短 10 年时间里，就使搜索营销的市场规模增长了 20 倍。

    如果您的公司也希望成为牛首，您的使命将是规划如何赢得重要的市场份额。如果市场不够大，就得规划如何推出新产品、或者侵占相邻市场来扩大市场。

    3.通过差异化赢得竞争

    公司越成功，面临激烈竞争的可能性越大。很不幸的是，成功的企业如果缺乏差异化，竞争加剧往往会带来无尽的烦恼。例如，团购网站Groupon过去增长就非常迅速，但它的竞争优势并不突出，许多竞争对手也可以向消费者提供类似的优惠。结果，这家公司一直疲于奔命，难以创造价值。

    与 Groupon 的经历相反的则是商务社交网站LinkedIn。LinkedIn 的优势在于一项重大的核心差异化因素，那就是它独一无二的数据库。随着工商界专业人士不断更新资料和关系网络，数据也得到持续丰富。凭借网络的强大力量，它所向披靡，无可替代。LinkedIn 已经找到这种数据库的盈利模式，同时加上没有竞争威胁，它近期的利润率还有上升的可能。

    4.打造强大的管理团队

    最好的管理团队会带来上述全部三个特质——他们在企业规模扩大的同时改造着企业架构，使它变得更好，他们扩大市场，同时建立强大的竞争壁垒。在商业上，唯一不变的就是永恒的变化。最好的团队时刻牢记这一点，持续更新人才库，培养新领导人才，在不可避免的市场变革来临时挺身而出，面对瞬息万变的市场始终保持敏捷性。高级领导团队的周围也都是最好的人才，常常董事会既有人质疑他们的决定，也有人帮助他们取得成功。

    事情就这样简单。尽管这四大秘诀并不是高深的火箭技术，但也不是唾手可得。但提前专注于这四点可能有助于提高您的成功几率。

    格伦‧所罗门是风投公司 GGV Capital 的合伙人。他近期所作的投资包括流媒体音乐服务商 Pandora、人才管理云计算公司Successfactors、群集存储系统公司Isilon、移动支付技术公司Square、客户服务软件供应商Zendesk、网络广告公司Quinstreet 和存储及备份解决方案供应商Nimble Storage。本文是针对期望做大的成长阶段创业者的系列文章的第一篇。

    2. Target an Enormous Market

    There's no shame in building a dominant player in a small market, but your market has to be huge if you want to be a long-term winner. There are two ways to get there – disrupt an existing large market or build into a new one.

    When Marc Benioff started Salesforce.com (CRM) and focused on customer relationship management, this was already a huge market with a leader, Siebel Systems, generating $1.3 billion in the year before its acquisition by Oracle (ORCL). Launching Salesforce.com as the first true SaaS application, Benioff disrupted the CRM market. Today, at over a $3 billion run rate, Salesforce is much larger than Siebel at its peak, but Benioff didn't have to create an enormous market - it was there and he was able to wrestle leadership from the incumbent via disruption.

    Google (GOOG), on the other hand, had built great search technology but hadn't quite figured out how to monetize it in its early days. Sure, Google didn't invent search marketing, but the company re-invented the market and single-handedly grew search marketing 20x in size over a 10-year period.

    If your company is targeting an enormous market, your mission is to figure out how to win meaningful market share. If your market isn't huge, figure out how to grow it by introducing new products or attacking adjacent spaces.

    3. Differentiate to Protect Against Competition

    The more successful a company, the more likely it will engender serious competition. Unfortunately for undifferentiated high fliers, increased competition often causes trouble. Groupon (GRPN) grew very fast, but its competitive moat wasn't deep and too many others have been able to offer similar savings to consumers. The company has struggled to create value as a result.

    Contrast Groupon's experience with LinkedIn (LNKD). LinkedIn benefits from a meaningful core differentiator – its unique data set. This data is enriched continually as business professionals keep their profiles and networks fresh. Given the power of the network, there isn't a viable alternative. LinkedIn has been able to effectively monetize this data set, and without the threat of competition, appears positioned to grow profitably for the foreseeable future.

    4. Build a Great Management Team

    The best management teams excel at building the three attributes mentioned above – they structure businesses to get better as they scale, they expand the markets they go after and they create significant competitive barriers. In business, the only constant is change however. The best teams recognize this and continually refresh the talent pool, grooming new leaders who are out in front of inevitable market shifts and who enable agility in the face of dynamic markets. The top teams also surround themselves with the best people, often times with boards that both challenge them and help them win.

    There you have it. While these four keys aren't rocket science, they're also not simple to achieve. The good news is that focusing on them early can help improve your chances of success!

    Glenn Solomon is a partner with venture captal firm GGV Capital. Some of his recent investments include Pandora, Successfactors, Isilon, Square, Zendesk, Quinstreet and Nimble Storage. This post the first of a series for growth-stage entrepreneurs who are thinking big.