关于早餐，有一则古老的寓言，内容如下：当一盘火腿和鸡蛋摆在鸡和猪面前时，鸡或许饶有兴趣，而猪已然欣喜若狂。

    最近，我一直在思考这则关于鸡和猪的寓言，并由此想到成功企业家所具有的特性。具有这种特性的企业家往往是大多数风投公司，尤其是我所在的公司所青睐的对象。用一句话来概括，我们喜欢和猪打交道：这种一心为企业未来着想的企业家往往愿意承担风险，甚至破釜沉舟。

    如何区分这两种类型的企业家？大多数情况下比较容易，但有时候比较难。具有如下特质的企业家们往往会在创业的时候做出类似于“鸡型”企业家的举动。

    1) 更倾向于在收到投资之后开始创业 （“只要能拿到钱，一切就可以开始了”…嗯，这么说是不是我不给你钱你就不开公司了？）

    2）没拿到投资前仍干老本行。（“这一年来我一直把这个当副业做，我恨不得马上就能把它作为主业来干” …嗯，如果你都等不急了，那为什么还要等？）

    3）创业之时不愿把自己或团队搬迁至同一地区。【想想爱德瓦多•萨维林在电影《社交网络》（The Social Network）中在纽约渡过了整个夏天】

    4）更倾向于以主席一职自封，对公司不闻不问，或者第一时间聘请首席运营官/总裁，而不是由自己来担任首席执行官/总裁一职全权负责公司事务。（为不伤及无辜，故不逐一举例。但是，作为经验之谈，员工不足40人的公司并不需要首席运营官）

    5）聘请员工，筹措资金以及拓展业务不愿意充分利用个人的社会关系和职场人脉。

    另一方面，“猪型”企业家所具有的5大特性就是：

    There is an old parable about commitment when it comes to breakfast. The story goes that when looking at a plate of ham and eggs, it's obvious that the chicken is an interested party, but the pig is truly committed.

    Lately I've been thinking about the parable of the pig and the chicken in the context of characteristics that make a great entrepreneur -- and the kind of entrepreneur that we VCs in general, and my firm in particular, like to back. In short, we like to back pigs: Entrepreneurs who are truly and completely committed to the outcome of their venture, have a lot of stake, and no fallback.

    How do we discern the difference between the two entrepreneurial archetypes? It's usually relatively easy, but sometimes subtle. Here are a few of the top characteristics we see in entrepreneurs who appear to be exhibiting behavior that suggests they're more like "chickens" when it comes to their start-up:

    1) Prefer to wait to start their venture only after they receive funding ("We are ready to go, as soon as you give us your money." ...um, does that mean you won't start the company if I don't give you my money?).

    2) Don't quit their day jobs before receiving funding. ("This has been a side project for a year, and I can't wait to focus on it full-time" ... um, if you can't wait - why are you waiting?)

    3) Don't physically move themselves or their teammates to be in the same geography when starting their venture (think Eduardo Severin in The Social Network spending his summer in NYC).

    4) Prefer to play a hands-off chairman role or look to quickly hire a COO/president in the early days rather than operate as the hands-on CEO/president. (I'll leave out the numerous examples to protect the innocent but, as a rule of thumb, companies with fewer than 40 employees don't typically need a COO).

    5) Are unwilling to fully leverage their own personal and professional networks to drive recruiting, fundraising and business development.

    On the other hand, the top five characteristics we see in "pig" entrepreneurs:

    1） 全身心地投入公司，即便是举家搬迁，辞职或辍学，他们也在所不惜（尽管我个人并不赞同也不鼓励）

    2）为事“坦坦荡荡”，在业界、同行、家人和朋友面前从不遮遮掩掩。即便失败，也是轰轰烈烈。

    3）还未获得巨大的成功，或者并未达到腰缠万贯而不用工作的地步。【90年代中期，我记得我在移动通讯服务商公开市场公司（Open Market）工作时我为自己买了人生的第一套房，我的导师和老板暨公司的首席执行官格里•艾克洪曾表示祝贺并说道：“我希望你要还的房贷金额很高，这样你就无路可退，只能拼命赚钱！”】

    4）很少花时间来培养与公司业务无直接关系的兴趣爱好。创业极其耗费时间、精力，需要一周7天、全天24小时全心投入。养家糊口并保持身体健康已经实属不易。如果企业家有一大堆业余兴趣和爱好，这不是个好消息。我的一位合作伙伴甚至去调查企业家在夏天打高尔夫球的次数（反正这显然是公开的信息，但是我不玩高尔夫，所以也就不知道他是怎么调查出来的），藉此作为衡量企业家对新公司关注程度的晴雨表。

    5）也有一小群罕见的企业家，由于他们天性古怪，不满于现状，尽管已经获得了巨大的成功，他们仍如饥似渴，斗志昂扬。要分辨这种企业家，关键要看他们是否仍是像以前一样事必躬亲（例如，对产品十分痴迷，十分关注公司的财务模式，公司的销售活动总是冲在第一线）。确实，这些企业家很特别。

    因此，你是哪一类，鸡型还是猪型？显然，投资者只会择其一而爱之，而且所涉及的对象不仅仅是创始人，还包括整个团队。所以，组建团队的时候要小心，别雇佣“鸡型”员工，在眼光老辣的投资者看来，聘他们还不如雇佣“猪型”员工。

    杰弗瑞巴斯冈是风投公司Flybridge Capital Partners的普通合伙人。具体信息请参见他的推特@bussgang

    1) Commit to the new company everything they have - even if that means moving their families, quitting their jobs, or even dropping out of their schools (as much as I don't want to condone or encourage this!).

    2) Put themselves "out there" publicly and visibly with the industry, their relationships, family and friends. If the company is a failure, it will not be a quiet one.

    3) Have not yet achieved a mega-success already and/or yet achieved wealth beyond the point of needing to work again. (I remember my mentor and boss at Open Market, CEO Gary Eichhorn, congratulating me when I became a first-time homeowner in the mid-1990s and observed: "I hope you got a large mortgage so that you are locked in and highly motivated to create wealth!").

    4) Participate in a minimal set of outside interests and hobbies that aren't directly related to their business. Starting a company is a consuming, obsessive, 7x24 endeavor. Raising a family and remaining healthy is enough of a battle. When we see entrepreneurs with long lists of hobbies and outside interests, it's a red flag. One of my partners went so far as to look up the number of times an entrepreneur played golf one summer (which apparently is public information somehow, although I'm not a golfer so still don't know how he figured this out) as a barometer for how hard they were applying themselves to their new venture.

    5) There exists a rare breed of entrepreneurs that have already had mega-success are so special and driven that they remain obviously hungry and scrappy. For these entrepreneurs, the key is to watch and see if they're still as hands on as they ever were (e.g., obsessed with the product, knee-deep in the financial model, out in front of the organization in selling). Again, these entrepreneurs are very special.

    So what are you - the chicken or the pig? Investors clearly prefer one model over the other, not just in the founder, but in the entire team. As a result, as you are assembling your start-up team, be careful not to hire chickens. In the eyes of prospective investors, you may find it's even less kosher than hiring pigs.

    Jeffrey Bussgang is general partner at venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners. You can follow him on Twitter @bussgang