Slack’svaluationsoared to $2.8 billioninless than two years, and has doubled in the past six months alone — all withoutany big marketing campaigns. The startup’s adoption curve and rave reviews aresomething many founders and investors dream about, but few actually achieve.

Slack公司的价值在短短两年内飙升至28亿美元，并且在过去的六个月就已翻了两倍，而且没有什么大的营销活动。创业公司Slack的消费者采用曲线以及如潮的好评是很多创始人和投资者梦寐以求的，但是很少能够实现。

Enterprisestartups ingeneral have been on a tear over the past few years as the “consumerization”trend continues to churn and the ascendance of Big Data continues to transformthe way business gets done.Slackis by nomeans the first enterprise collaboration tool to gain serious traction, but the startup has made strategic choices —from product design toenterprisecontractstructure — that have put it on track to generate massive adoption and addvalue to companies across verticals.

创业公司在过去的一些年基本上挣扎于“消费化”趋势的持续混乱以及大数据的崛起持续转变了业务的完成方式。Slack绝不是第一个获得重要发展的企业合作工具，但是此创业公司已经从产品到企业合同方面做出了战略性的选择，他们已经将此实施并获取了较大的采用率，增加了企业的纵向价值。

So while Slack has become the model after which all other enterprise startups pattern themselves, it’s imperative this new class of startups think criticallyabout a few key factors that will shape their product offering, and ultimately position them to be the next unicorns of the enterprise.

虽然Slack已经变成了其他创业公司规划的模板，这一类创业公司的当务之急是要批判性的思考一些塑造他们产品的一些关键因素，并最终将其定位为下一个unicorn公司。

Collaboration

合作

While not all youngenterprisestartupshave the hype ofSlack, there are many taking on equally bigopportunities and standing poised to become winners in their category. Forexample,HighFiveis tacklingvideo conferencing, which is critical to running remote teams in today’sbusiness world. However, most current solutions are limited in their adoptionbecause they are expensive and hard to use.

虽然并不是所有的年轻创业公司都有像Slack那样的宣传炒作，但是有很多同样有很大的机会并蓄势待发想要成为他们行业内的赢家。比如说，HighFive瞄准了视频会议行业，这对于如今商业世界的远程团队运营至关重要。然而，大多数当前解决方案的应用受到限制，因为他们十分昂贵且很难操作。

HighFive’s hardware sets upevery conference room for remote meetings with an “instant on” feature, at afraction of the price of traditional solutions ($800 per room versus ten timesthat). Its Apple-esque design makes its camera attractive and its softwareaddictive — quite a change from fighting with your overpriced Polycom.

HighFive利用具有“即时”功能的硬件来装备每一个远程会议的会议室，它的价格是传统解决方案的十倍（传统解决方案的价格大概是800美元每会议室）。其苹果式的设计让它的摄像头和软件具有足够的吸引力，与价格昂贵的Polycom相比具有很大的改变。

Quipis what youwish you were getting from GoogleDocs — a modern productivity suite that makesit easy to create content in documents and spreadsheets. It’s best on mobile,and users can create, edit and communicate about content from any device, thencollaborate via chat, checklists and more. Redefining collaboration for mobileis definitely a billion-dollar opportunity, and Quip already has 10,000 businesses(versusSlack’s 30,000) and millions of individualsusing its service.

Quip是一种你希望能从谷歌文档中得到的东西，它是一个现代化的高效套装，使你能够很容易在文档和电子表单中创建内容。它非常适应于移动设备，用户从任何设备上可以创建，编辑以及交流内容，并通过交谈，清单以及其他方式进行合作。重新定义移动协作绝对是一个数十亿美元的机会，Quip已经拥有1万个业务（与Slack的3万个相比）以及数百万的用户在使用它的服务。

A Better Database

更好的数据库

A majority of2015’s most promisingenterprisestartupshave built solutions that help manage, understand and capitalize on Big Data.Big Data’s impact, although well documented, cannot be understated. However,the explosion of data also raises some architectural challenges.Delphixoffersdata-as-a-service, “virtualizing” databases so that one database can look like many.

2015年大多数有前景的创业公司都建立了协助管理，理解以及利用大数据的解决方案。大数据的影响尽管已经被很好的记录下来，但是并不容易理解。然而，数据的爆发同样引起了一些架构方面的挑战。Delphix公司提供数据作为服务，“虚拟化”数据库可以让一个数据库看上来有很多。

Having one database letsbusinesses more rapidly manage data that moves around between databases. Thisapproach saves a huge amount of time — according to Delphix, it can accelerateapplication project schedules by 50 percent — and time means money. In addition,Delphix has strategically attracted large enterprises by showing its value witha single database, then expanding to own all the databases.

拥有一个数据库可以让企业更加快速的在数据库之间管理数据。此方法可以节省大量的时间，根据Delphix，它可以将应用项目进程加速50%，时间就意味着金钱。另外，Delphix通过展示单一数据库的价值已经战略性的吸引了一大批企业，然后扩展到拥有所有的数据库。

Business Intelligence For Real People

实实在在商人的商业智能

The explosion of data alsoposes challenges asenterpriseorganizationsstruggle to make sense of it. There is no shortage of business intelligence(BI) tools to address this very challenge, but most are not used by realbusiness people because they are hard to deploy and seem no better than Excel.

数据的爆发同样给试图利用它的企业造成了挑战。这里并不缺乏强调这一重要挑战的商业智能（BI）工具，但是大多没有被实际的商人利用，因为他们很难部署，而且感觉并不比Excel要好。

Lookerisexcitingbecause itfocuses on data exploration. Its technology helps data analysts create andcurate custom data experiences that enable everyone across the business, in anydepartment, to get the answers they need to make decisions. The company startedby focusing on early-stage e-commerce startups, and today works with an elitelist of customers, includingYahoo!,Warby Parker,Asana,Instacart,Venmo,UpworthyandGilt. It experienced 400 percent growth in2014.

Looker公司很激动，因为它关注于数据的探索。它的技术能够帮助数据分析家创建并组织自定义数据体验，企业中任何部门的人员都能得到他们需要作出决定的答案。公司开始关注于前期阶段的电子商务创业公司，现在与一系列精英客户合作，包括Yahoo!,Warby Parker, Asana, Instacart, Venmo, Upworthy以及Gilt，它在2014年实现了400%的增长。

Beckonis BI andplanning focused solely on marketing. They are perfectly timed alongside afundamental shift in the CMO role, with the largest companies in the world nowusing data to drive all their marketing spend. Companies likeCoca-Cola,GapandMicrosofthave seenvalue in organizing all their marketing campaign information across channelsinto one system under Beckon, and owning the system-of-record for marketing isgoing to be a unicorn-sized business.

Beckon是一个商务智能公司，计划仅仅关注于市场。他们与首席营销官角色的根本性转变完美同步，世界上最大的一些公司正在使用数据来驱动他们所有的市场支出。像Coca-Cola,Gap和Microsoft这样的公司已经看到了在Beckon体系下。通过一个系统管理所有渠道的营销活动信息的价值，拥有营销记录系统将会是像unicorn公司规模的业务。

Customer Acquisition And Success

客户获取和成功

Enterprisestartupsare having a particularly marked impact in sales and marketing departments,where they are leveraging data to turn mass targeting, cold calling and chasingweak leads into relics of the past.

创业公司对销售以及市场部门具有显著的影响，他们利用数据将庞大的目标群体，冰冷的来电以及追逐疲软线索成为过去。

For example,Radius’marketingintelligence platform connects to your CRM and analyzes social media activity,web presence, advertising spend and other metrics to identify the prospectsthat are most likely to say “yes.” The product pitch is not unique, butits solution uses technology in a novel and powerful way to help companies thatsell to small businesses find more new customers.

例如，Radius的营销智慧平台与你的客户关系管理，社会媒体活动分析，网络运营，广告支出以及其他可以鉴定“有效”前景的指标相连接。产品本身并不是独特的，但是它的解决方案使用了新颖和有力的技术方式来帮助公司为小型企业寻找更多的新客户。

Rather than helping businessesfind prospects in the wild,Intercomhelps B2Bbusinesses capture the customers that come to them. The buying process for B2Bproducts is shifting entirely online, and SaaS companies need better ways toconvert those browsing users into real customers. Intercom uses a freemiummodel that lets companies run analytics to see who is coming to their website,and how often. The paid service lets a sales team use a live chat to talk toprospects directly on the website, when they may be ready to buy.

与其帮助企业在慌乱中寻找前景，Intercom帮助B2B企业抓住他们的客户。B2B产品的购买程序在整个网络上发生了很大的转变，SaaS公司需要更好的方法来将这些浏览用户变成真正的客户。Intercom使用一种免费增值模式使公司通过分析来观察谁访问了他们的网站以及访问的频率。当客户准备购买时，付费服务让销售团队使用一种直播交谈工具与客户在网上直接交谈。

Once a customer has beennailed down, the next challenge is to retain them.According to Hubspot, it costsabout five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to generate newbusiness from an existing customer.

一旦客户已经确定下来，下一个挑战就是维持住他们。根据Hubspot公司，获取一个新客户的花费大约是从既有的客户达成新生意的5倍。

With this realization in mind,VP of Customer Success has become the fastest-growing new role on executiveteams fromYelptoNew Relic.Gainsight’ssoftwarehelps customer success executives and teams maximize the lifetime value oftheir customers. Gainsight was not the first startup to create software forcustomer success, but it is defining the role with thoughtful (and persistent)offline and online marketing and community management, including helpingcompanies hire VPs of Customer Success and hosting regular conferences andcommunity events that cover the category.

意识到这些以后，从Yelp公司到New Relic公司，客户成功副总已经成为执行团队发展最快的角色。Gainsight公司的软件可以帮助客户成功执行者和团队使他们的客户价值最大化。Gainsight并不是第一个创建客户成功软件的创业公司，但是它通过全面（和持久）的线上和线下营销和社会管理定义了这一角色，包括帮助公司雇佣客户成功副总以及举办例会和社会活动。

This puts it in a position tobe the solution for all customer success. Gainsight is also a great example ofa company that has met with success by selling to a single role within acompany, which simplifies the message and allows the company to focus onbuildingthe best product for its user.

这就使其定位为所有客户成功的解决方案。Gainsight同样是通过销售公司内部单一角色而获取成功的伟大案例，它简化了信息，让公司关注于为客户提供最好的产品。

Ten years ago, gaining groundin theenterprisesectoras a startup was a major challenge. Largeenterprisecustomersoften have needs that outscale the capabilities of small startups, and theenterprisesalescycles tend to be long, which can wreak havoc on a fledgling company.

两年前，创业公司在所属领域获得一席之地是一个很大的挑战。大型企业的客户通常有超出创业公司能力的需求，而且企业销售周期也变得很长，这将在很大程度上影响一个创业公司的运营。

However, startups today are

proving that they can appeal to and handle the needs ofenterpriseorganizationswith the promise of a little investment for big returns. The explosive growthofSlack, and the other companies listed here,showjusthowready for innovation theenterpriseis.

然而，如今的创业公司正在证明他们可以利用小投资有大回报的承诺来吸引并满足企业组织的需求。Slack的爆发性发展以及其他列举的公司表明了这些公司正时刻准备着创新。

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