Investor Herd Dynamics

<img src="http://www.virtumundo.com/images/spacer.gif" height=15 width=1> Want to start a startup?

<img src="http://www.virtumundo.com/images/spacer.gif" height=15 width=1> 想要创业吗？

Get funded by Y Combinator .

获得 Y Combinator 的资助。

</td > August 2013 The biggest component in most investors' opinion of you is the opinion of other investors.

</td> 2013 年 8 月 大多数投资者对您的看法中最重要的是其他投资者的看法。

Which is of course a recipe for exponential growth.

这当然是指数增长的秘诀。

When one investor wants to invest in you, that makes other investors want to, which makes others want to, and so

当一位投资者想要投资你时，其他投资者也会想要投资你，这也会让其他投资者想要投资，所以

on.

上。

Sometimes inexperienced founders mistakenly conclude that manipulating these forces is the essence of fundraising.

有时，缺乏经验的创始人会错误地认为操纵这些力量就是筹款的本质。

They hear stories about stampedes to invest in successful startups, and think it's therefore the mark of a successful startup to have this happen.

他们听到有关蜂拥投资成功初创公司的故事，并认为发生这种情况是成功初创公司的标志。

But actually the two are not that highly correlated.

但实际上两者的相关性并不那么高。

Lots of startups that cause stampedes end up flaming out (in extreme cases, partly as a result

许多引起踩踏事件的初创公司最终都熄火了（在极端情况下，部分原因是

of the stampede), and lots of very successful startups were only moderately popular with investors the first time they raised money.

踩踏事件），许多非常成功的初创公司在第一次筹集资金时只受到投资者的普遍欢迎。

So the point of this essay is not to explain how to create a stampede, but merely to explain the forces that generate them.

因此，本文的目的不是解释如何制造踩踏事件，而只是解释产生踩踏事件的力量。

These forces are always at work to some degree in fundraising, and they can cause surprising situations.

这些力量总是在某种程度上在筹款过程中发挥作用，并且可能会导致令人惊讶的情况。

If you understand them, you can at least

如果你理解它们，你至少可以

avoid being surprised.

避免感到惊讶。

One reason investors like you more when other investors like you is that you actually become a better investment.

当其他投资者喜欢你时，投资者更喜欢你的一个原因是你实际上成为了更好的投资。

Raising money decreases the risk of failure.

筹集资金可以降低失败的风险。

Indeed, although investors hate it, you are for this reason justified in raising your valuation for later investors.

事实上，尽管投资者讨厌它，但出于这个原因，你有理由为后来的投资者提高估值。

The investors who invested when you had no money were taking more risk, and are entitled to higher returns.

当你没有钱的时候投资的投资者承担了更多的风险，并且有权获得更高的回报。

Plus a

加一个

company that has raised money is literally more valuable.

筹集到资金的公司实际上更有价值。

After you raise the first million dollars, the company is at least a million dollars more valuable, because it's the same company as before, plus it has a million dollars in the bank.

当你筹集到第一百万美元后，公司的价值至少增加了一百万美元，因为它和以前是同一家公司，而且它在银行里还有一百万美元。

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