• 观点
    未来智能办公升级,阿里、腾讯角逐企业服务战场 编者按:本文来自第一财经,作者:段倩倩 2014年5月,在突袭微信失败后,阿里巴巴社交软件“来往”团队中以陈航为首的几个成员搬进了湖畔花园,来往在这里改头换面为主打企业社交的“钉钉”,陈航的职位变为阿里钉钉CEO。 钉钉不断升级,11月19日,阿里钉钉在深圳发布钉钉4.0版,并发布了三款配套的智能办工硬件产品,钉钉智能前台、钉钉智能通讯中心和钉钉智能投屏。 已经很难再用企业社交软件去定义钉钉。社交只是入口,钉钉已经变成一个平台,一个to B的企业服务提供商。在中国,依靠企业服务成为独角兽的公司少之又少;而在美国,仅Oracle、SAP、Salesforce三家公司的市值已经超过了3500亿美元,在投融资战场上展露峥嵘的公司中,to B和to C势均力敌。 毫无疑问,中国企业服务市场还是一片蓝海,在这个市场跑马圈地的公司不仅是钉钉一家,企业微信悄悄推陈革新,功能不断优化;美团大象则是小荷才露尖尖角。 突袭微信失败后,钉钉显然走向了一个更广阔的市场:企业服务。用陈航的话,钉钉赶上了风口,中国中小企业从传统的纸质办公时代,进入云和移动时代。 但某种程度上这只是一个美好蓝图。一财科技记者采访发现,即便已经是钉钉用户,一些企业在员工入职等事项上还是表现“保守”,重要资料、流程不会通过电子档来保存和审批。 阿里、腾讯角逐企业服务战场 放眼全球,主打to B、企业服务的公司已经在科技领域登堂入室,如SAP、Salesforce、Infor等。这些公司“低调而神秘”,获得不菲融资成为行业独角兽。而在中国,几乎所有的互联网公司都以C端为导向,庞大的C端用户缔造了BAT王国,缔造了美团、滴滴、摩拜等独角兽,但鲜有to B公司展露峥嵘。中国企业服务市场还是一片尚未开发的价值洼地。 盯上企业服务市场的公司不只阿里钉钉一家。钉钉曾经无法撼动的社交巨头微信,也在反攻企业社交,2016年4月,微信上线专门面向企业的即时通讯软件微信企业版,并为企业提供解决方案;美团团队内部孵化的美团大象被认为是钉钉的有力对手,当匿名社交平台出现爆料称接到公司下发的战书“2018年第二季度把钉钉干趴下”时,大家普遍猜测这个公司是指美团,尽管后者曾经予以否认。 钉钉和企业微信的优势是基础版免费。双十一期间,钉钉推出了硬件产品M2的“酷公司0元购机计划”,钉钉企业在提升自己移动智能办公能力后,可以免费获得这款产品。对于美团大象来说,“新美大”下游众多小型商家接近形成自有生态,美团点评推进的技术开放平台,也透露了建立为中小消费商家服务的生态想法。 在亿欧企业服务副主编黄志磊看来,钉钉和企业微信面临的共同缺点替换成本相对较低,一旦企业进入中大型阶段,定制产品的适宜性会替换掉钉钉和企业微信。 与此同时,Infor、Salesforce等国际企业服务巨头已经在进入中国市场。中国企业服务市场会是什么格局?是否会像生活社交、电子商务那样形成一家独大之势,还是钉钉、企业微信、美团大象三足鼎立,或是被外企通吃? “目前来看中国企业更接地气,中小企业会更喜欢;大型企业市场定制化依然是主导,但更多是在细分业务模块开展定制。”黄志磊称。 和美国企业服务市场大中型企业贡献主要营收不同,在中国,中小企业才是主角,中小企业是市场服务主体。在4.0发布会上,陈航宣布钉钉企业用户数已经达到了500万。此前陈航也曾在接受采访时透露,钉钉用户以中小企业居多。 黄志磊认为,企业服务每个业务模块太多,市场最后不会只剩几家巨头存在,共赢局面是可以期待的,“中小企业做企业服务可以占据长尾市场,可以做生态系统中的小草角色。细分领域市场机会依旧存在,在细分业务管理模块、流程设置以及技术改造上,足够小的市场也有百亿水准。”
    观点
    2017年11月21日
  • 观点
    央视批在线教育“变味”,在线教育的野蛮生长环境要结束了吗? 编者按:本文来自芥末堆(jiemoedu),作者:怡彭。 近几年我国在线教育产业发展迅猛,涌现了VIPKID、猿辅导、一起作业等多家新锐独角兽企业。而任何一个产业的野蛮生长都是有时限的,对于在线教育来说,这种信号也早就释放过,在今年两会期间,全国人大代表周洪宇就提交了《关于加强互联网教育立法的议案》,建议加强和完善互联网教育相关的法律法规。 而就在昨天,关于规范在线教育产业的信号再次传出,中央电视台新闻频道在昨日以《变了味的学习APP》为题,对目前的在线教育平台缺乏监管与资质的问题进行了报道。 在这段时长七分半钟的新闻中,云朵课堂、作业帮和阿凡题等多家在线教育公司被点名。而从资质问题上看,所有涉及在线教育服务的公司都有涉及不合规的可能性。 央视报道:无审核,开办在线网校仅需五分钟 云朵课堂是央视此次报道中主要提及的企业。根据公开资料,云朵课堂是一家提供在线教育网校系统、网校搭建的解决方案提供商。在其官网内,有包括“五分钟独立网校上线”、“无需美工与编程”等宣传字样。 云朵课堂的工作人员对央视记者表示,个人开办网校只需提供身份证即可,企业用户也仅需双方盖章签字,没有任何其他要求。在面对是否需要教育相关资质的问题时,云朵课堂方面称:“主要的资质在我们这边,您其实算是我们的一个小分支。” 此后,央视记者进一步追问是否任何人都可以开办一个在线教育平台,云朵课堂的工作人员也给出了肯定的答复。 央视的报道称,这样的问题并非个例。包括被报道所提及的作业帮、阿凡题,目前在网页及App端上有大量提供教育培训服务的公司及品牌,但多注册为科技公司,并未向教育相关主管部门注册。 2000年,教育部在《关于加强对教育网站和网校进行管理的公告》中明确,凡在中华人民共和国境内,举办冠以中小学校名义或面向中小学生的网校和教育网站,必须经省级教育行政部门同意,并报国家教育行政部门核准。 根据这份文件,央视在报道中认为,大量在线教育公司都存在资质问题。而由于没有被纳入监管范围,在线教育也暴露出了内容涉黄、教师虚假宣传等严重问题。 办证无门?法规亟待明确 北京市教育科学研究院信息处副处长唐亮对央视记者表示,大多数以App形式提供的在线教育服务的公司,都以商业机构的形式进行注册,少部分地区对此类互联网信息服务的前置审批有相应的要求。但从大区域来看,还没有形成明确有效的管理制度和措施。 一位业内人士对芥末堆表示,形成目前的状况主要有两个原因。首先,大多数公司在创立之初并没有提供实际的辅导、培训服务,而是以题库、拍照搜题等产品为主,因而必须以商业性质的科技公司名义进行注册。其次,在目前的政策法规与实践中,在线教育公司很难拿到《办学许可证》等相关资质,几乎不具备可操作性。 事实上,有关在线教育资质的讨论在很早之前就已开始。2017年6月末,国家新闻出版广电总局针对“新浪微博”、“ACFUN”、“凤凰网”等网站在不具备《信息网络传播视听节目许可证》的情况下开展视听节目服务的问题,做出了关停整改的处罚决定。而根据芥末堆的调查,教育企业中仅有清大学习吧和新东方在线持有该许可证。 且与《办学许可证》的状况类似,除现有的588家持证网站外,该证书现在几乎不再发放。一不愿透露姓名的在线教育从业者表示,“在线教育基本不涉及敏感的内容,在视听许可证方面相对还比较安全。但随着官方媒体对资质问题的关注,在线教育很可能会面临更严格的监管。” 民促法已正式实施,在线教育新政将至? 不只是在线上,整个民办教育领域的“合法身份”问题都是悬在所有教育培训公司头上的达摩克利斯之剑。自2017年初起,上海就曾连发多项政策与措施,对教育培训机构进行整顿。据公告称,上海在六月即已梳理出教育培训机构近7000家,其中证照齐全的2000多家,有营业执照但无教育培训资质的3200多家,无照经营的有1300多家,并开展了关停无照经营机构、整改无资质企业的措施。 但对整个民办教育行业来说,2017年仍是一个充满希望的年份。随着新修订的《民办教育促进法》于九月一日正式生效,经营性的民办教育机构终于获得了合法的身份。各地实施细则的陆续公布,也被认为是结束培训机构无序竞争和各类乱象的利好。而随着在线教育的重要性、行业占比日益提升,家长学生、老师以及行业内,也都出现了对行业规范化的诉求。 中国人民大学教育学院教授程方平在接受央视采访时表示:“在线教育确实应该有一个基点,这个底线被突破后就会出现很多问题。包括知识的错误传播、以及用不正确的方式进行教授等等。最重要问题则是没有人来进行判定,广大消费者在这方面并不专业。因此相关的立法应该尽快出台。” 据消息人士透露,与在线教育相关的立法的确正在酝酿之中。而对于“新政”所带来的影响,某大型在线教育公司高管对芥末堆表示:“政策法规上的规范化是一个新兴行业发展的必经阶段,而相关立法对行业发展的实质影响,可能在于提高准入门槛,并让已经存在的差距继续拉大。” 有分析人士指出,师资问题可能是在线教育在监管层面要面对的核心问题。例如以外教为主打的教育平台们,需要解决海外老师的资质认证问题,而以公立学校老师兼职为主的K12平台,也有很大被整顿的可能性。此外,在近年来多次出现的培训机构跑路问题,也并不排除发生在互联网教育公司中。针对线下培训机构所设立的“保证金”制度,可能也会被引入到对在线教育的监管中。 新政的到来,或许将意味着狂奔数年的在线教育将告别野蛮生长,进入新的时代。
    观点
    2017年11月20日
  • 观点
    问答是个筐,啥都往里装?中国式问答产品的未来到底是什么? 微博和知乎真的要越变越像了?这不好说,但可以肯定的是,问答已经成了微博一个至关重要的业务部分,这两天,又传出了微博上线全新问答功能的消息,该功能与付费问答不同,对提问者和回答者都实行零门槛限制。在今日头条推出悟空问答后,微博这一举动无疑又搅动了问答这池没平静多久的「浑水」。 最近两年,围绕问答铺开的战场上玩家越来越多,无论是今日头条、微博这样的平台,还是如懂球帝这样的垂直 App;玩法同样是花样翻新,从内容到直播、从社区到全网,只有你想不到的加持方式,没有问答套不进的产品模板。 问答是个筐,啥都往里装?内容不够问答来凑、变现困难问答帮忙,当更便捷的支付与内容的话语权的分散逐渐催熟内容创业的生态,一夜之间,让问答在中国似乎成了 C 端互联网产品的标配。 把时针拨回 2010 年,那时候海外的 Quora 带火了问答社区,次年 Quora 的中国学徒知乎诞生,但从那以后,问答社区在中国,就走上了一条和世界其他地方截然不同的路。 如今的 Quora,依然是相对纯粹的知识分享社区,专业的知识探讨仍是主流,碰到常春藤大学的教授在 Quora 讨论学术问题是常有的事。而问答这一个产品形态在中国正逐渐向内容型发生偏移,问答产品的背后是信息的传递,也是低成本的获客,更是攫取流量的利器,这一切都让问答在中国这个流量越来越贵的市场承载了更重也更复杂的商业诉求,知乎青出于蓝,中国式问答也距离它最初的模仿对象越来越远,这些年里,这一切,是如何发生的? 问答产品的中国式「变异」史 所有人都清楚,问答在中国变了样,但究竟什么才是问答最初的样子? 互联网开始出现时,因为信息在需求和供给两端的爆发增长,海量的冗余信息催生了更精确的信息需求,问答的概念应运而生。从最早的 Answers.com 到谷歌在 2001 年尝试的 Google Answers,从 FAQ Farm(WikiAnswers 的前身)到 Yahoo!Answers,再到之后 Fluther.com,以及知乎的鼻祖 Quora;而在国内最早从 2004 年的新浪爱问知识人到 2005 年的百度知道,那时便出现了问答的影子,以及之后的 SOSO 问问,再到后来雅虎中国上线的雅虎知识堂和谷歌联合天涯社区开发了天涯问答。 中外问答网站产品年鉴 问答社区早有过属于自己的辉煌,特别是当 Quora 出现之后,有着 Facebook 血统的 Quora 创始团队将社交属性添加到问答社区,改变了一问一答单向模式,结合了精确搜索和社交的问答社区开始崛起,当时的硅谷甚至一度有观点认为一些「问答式」创业型企业和网站逐步发展,将对谷歌在搜索市场中的垄断地位构成威胁,甚至有可能成为下一个谷歌。 看回国内,知乎无疑是中国互联网问答史上最具代表性的例子。作为国内最早的对标 Quora 的问答社区产品,知乎引入问答社区的同时,也潜移默化的影响着问答社区在中国的生存形态。 第一批互联网圈的种子用户奠定了知乎的氛围,高参与度和优质内容,那时的知乎拥有近乎理想的用户土壤。没有所谓大 V、没有话题营销、没有变现困扰,那是一段知乎的「田园诗」时代。 可惜,这状态并没有持续太久,知乎在快速完成体量增长的同时,也不可避免的稀释了高质量问答的占比。 因为在中国这个资本占绝对主导地位的市场里,用户数量成为了判别产品价值的唯一单位,受困于此的知乎想要生存就必须要拓宽自己的用户图谱,让产品下沉触及普通用户。 知乎从 2011 年开始到 2012 年,最初一批种子用户的占比很快被稀释到了 15%,2013 年知乎用户量又增长了 15 倍、2014 年知乎流量首次超过人人、2015 年注册用户达到 1700 万,而截止 2017 年 3 月知乎的注册用户已经达到了 6900 万。这样的规模早已不是一个小众的精英产品,知乎完成了用户量膨胀,高质量问答的比例也在下降,知乎对那部分专业用户的吸引力逐渐变小。 知乎始终在寻求平衡点,在用户量和内容质量之间。 只可惜知乎的产品特性又决定了在知乎上用户的喜好决定着平台的内容呈现,于是我们就看到了越来越多「如何做到 25 岁前年薪百万?」、「有一个逗比女友是什么样的体验?」……等娱乐性、抖机灵的问答内容。 问答在中国,开始从知识型往内容型发生偏移。 紧接着,分答在 2016 年的突然出现又借着知识付费的风口,将付费问答的模式彻底普及,这也加速了问答的中国化进程。 内容、变现,问答在中国的生存法则 分答、得到、值乎、小密圈、微博问答、悟空问答……这些「一夜间」出现的问答产品彻底将中国式问答带入了一条完全不同的赛道,问答开始变为一种内容补充、一种变现手段。 最早依靠着知识付费的大风,问答作为一种天然的介于内容和知识之间的形式载体,很快成了宠儿,大批创业者蜂拥而至,其中不乏知乎和果壳这样的老牌知识分享平台,也有逻辑思维这样惯于兜售知识的「知识商人」,不过所有人想法都很一致,问答如今是实现知识变现的好途径。 这其中分答算是走的最前,也是把问答变现玩的最纯粹的。这个果壳网内部孵化的项目在小试牛刀后便开始狂奔,短短一周时间,王思聪随手收割 21 万、情感专家 ayawawa 入账 7 万,这也只是冰山一角。 在这其中,不管是问者还是答者,分答都会从总流水里抽成 10%,也包括了数量庞大的偷听者的 10%。这样的变现能力,让果壳、知乎这样的知识分享老玩家似乎瞬间看到了希望。如此诱人的商业模式也给了无数创业者极大的信心,于是更多玩家开始把问答变成了一门空手套白狼的生意。 另一面,像微博和今日头条这样的内容型大流量玩家而言,问答则给了他们不一样的启发。 知乎日报的成功让玩内容的流量大户们嗅到新机会,以问答为载体创造内容。问答无论是作为 UGC 或者 PGC 的内容都是内容咨询很好的补充,并且这种时效性和话题性都自带的内容形式向来是最受欢迎的。另外,大 V 们自带的粉丝关联的属性同样是这些产品所需要的。 最好的例子自然是不久前抢走知乎 300 大 V 的今日头条,砸钱、拉大 V、聚人气、搞话题,今日头条的悟空问答其实本质上更像是百度知道,一种面向广众的内容形态,只不过依托于「问答」的形式,能够更好的进行话题运营,带来更好的流量,本质上还是流量生意价值最大化的那套逻辑。作为头条资讯之外的内容补充,是一个很好流量增长点。未来,这种问答的话题模式商业化价值也很高。 至此,中国式问答算是完全脱离 Quora 的影响,完成了彻底的本土化。 问答从单纯严谨的知识分享,演变出了如今内容补充和变现手段的角色,好的一面,问答给众多产品,尤其是垂直社区提供了新的成长空间和变现渠道;坏的一面,绝大多数问答在中国也丢失了该有的严谨和门槛,剩下几家苦苦支撑。 说到底,中国式问答的未来在哪?这些利用问答做生意的尝试或许也分担问了答在国内的商业化需求,严谨的问答可以更纯粹。不如让生意的归生意,知识的归知识。
    观点
    2017年11月17日
  • 观点
    AI+招聘的第一站,也许是为共享经济提供员工背景审查 在人工智能产业结合的诸多可能性当中,人工智能+招聘服务很可能是最复杂的。毕竟这东西涉及最复杂的资源:人。 人才资源的资质、证书、业绩、履历加在一起,可能组成一个极为复杂的迷宫。而且很多时候招聘之间的感觉和判断非常微妙,需要依靠HR经验与思考的地方非常多。用AI替代人类,绝对个任重道远的工程。 但另一方面,人力资源流通中又涉及非常多的数据和模型,似乎又是非常适合AI发挥效力的领域。在美国市场中,AI+人力服务项目已经成为大风口。 可是我天朝自有国情在。尤其是互联网招聘这件事在我国是极富特色的,貌似欧美这个领域的AI项目很难贴合中国需求。 那么有没有一些垂直场景,可以让我们快速移植欧美的商业模式,来解决中国的人力资源市场痛点呢? 好像也有,比如说,给共享经济做员工身份调查。 洋和尚的经:英国身份认证公司如何撬动AI 几个月前,3个牛津大学毕业生在英国创立的身份认证公司 Onfido,刚刚完成了 3000 万美元 C 轮融资。 这家创立了5年的公司,如今已经被各种人工智能研究报告认定为英国在身份认证、员工背景调查方面使用AI技术的典型案例。 员工背景调查,是欧美企业公司招聘员工时必经的一道程序。目的包括了解应聘者的信用卡状态、犯罪记录、教育履历、工作经历、社会保险状态、是否涉嫌恐怖主义活动、是否位于全球监控名单等方方面面的内容。而公司自己去验证雇员提供的文件与证件真伪,调查雇员背景显然是非常艰难的一件事,所以很多公司聘请第三方机构来完成员工背景调查。目前员工背景调查领域的最大市场和最大服务商都集中在美国。 但是传统的员工背景调查服务,是通过第三方人员去逐层核查员工提供的资料真伪,以及对比各种数据库资料。一般来说,每次员工背景调查要消耗企业150美元以上的成本,并且耗时达到10到15天。不仅成本高效率低,传统背景调查公司提供服务的界限还有区域限制,不能满足跨国公司的需求。 为了解决传统背景调查与身份认证服务中的痛点,Onfido尝试将人工智能引入服务体系中。但说实话,他们的人工智能解决方案在逻辑上并不复杂。只是在关键位置用人工智能简化了流程,从而获得了成本压缩与效率提高。 具体来说,Onfido所提供服务在三处运用了AI能力。首先是用人工智能技术来提升不同数据库之间数据对比与认证的效率,节省了人工验证的重重步骤。第二是利用机器学习技术打造了护照等证件的验证技术,只需要通过手机或者摄像头拍下照片,系统就会自动识别真伪,并与数据库对比发现失窃证件与篡改证件。通过对更多伪造证件方式与特征的学习,这个系统会逐步提升认知能力。第三就是利用AI人脸识别技术来快速匹配证件和真人,避免盗用他人证件。 通过机器学习平台带来的快速身份检查能力,Onfido已经可以将初步员工身份认证时间降低到几秒。并且通过逐步增强对欺诈模式的学习,系统还将适应越来越复杂的信息伪造情况。 目前,Onfido的服务对象已经从企业招聘延伸到了银行场景、客户调查和金融服务当中。但平台最主要的服务对象,就是如今在全世界范围内越来越兴旺的共享经济。 AI代劳:共享经济平台招聘时的痛点 无论是网约车、外卖、O2O服务平台,在招聘雇员时都有相同且显著的痛点:必须大量反复招聘持有相关资质的员工。 由于共享经济走的就是海量路线,比拼服务覆盖范围。因此平台对于需要仔细考量的高精尖人才需求量并不大,但对普通的司机、外卖员、家政服务人员招聘需求却是非常巨大的。尤其在平台极速扩张时期,可能经常需要多地协同,甚至跨国大量招聘。这让平台在核准员工资质、考察员工素质方面面临着极大的工作难度。 这点在我国的共享经济领域表现非常明显。外卖、网约车、快递三大业务的快速爆发,给全国各地增添了大量工作岗位。并且中国并不是一个缺少劳动力的地方,这些领域招人的整体难度并不大。 但面临的困难是,快速扩张往往让平台检验职业资格时力不从心。比如如何把交通肇事历史的司机拒绝在网约车门外?如何不让某些疾病携带者成为外卖配送人员?如何避免逃犯、躲债人员混迹在共享经济系统中?始终都是共享经济悬而未决的问题。 而这些问题的根本原因,就是在于人工逐个数据库核对与证件验证的成本太高,在大城市还好,在二三线城市以及乡镇地区平台就很难负担得起人力与时间成本。 而引入AI系统来智能识别证件、核对信息可能是一个非常不错的解决方式。一个连接大量数据库,并能够不断提升伪造证件与资历辨识度的AI系统,一方面可以解决地方城市与乡镇缺少审查、筛选员工机制的问题,同时还可以降低大城市共享经济类平台的审查成本,满足共享经济企业扩张期大量反复招聘的特殊需求,甚至完成全球化招聘与人力管理带来便利。 当然,这种商业模式想要移植到中国来,最重要的是要满足独特的市场需求,拿出适应中国独特人资环境的技术解决方案。 中英间不同的市场与技术需求 近两年以来,Onfido以每月环比增长40%的速度在英国与欧洲市场成长,并开始在美国挑战传统巨头的市场垄断地位,凭借的并不是有多么黑科技、多么复杂的技术。恰恰相反,他们的商业支撑点在于使用了并不复杂的技术,组成了一个很容易看到效果,并可以快速扩张的平台模式。 这恰恰是很多国外AI项目引进时的问题:我们当然喜欢那些科技含量极高的东西,但复杂往往意味着高昂的迁移成本,简单直接说不定更有效。 但即使简单的迁移,在中国也将面临完全不同的市场状况。这对于AI创业者来说尤为重要。以员工背景调查为例,与英国和美国相比,中国有更强大的共享经济风口和人员认证需求。同样也有从单一服务项目向生态化展开的优势:比如从身份认证向着雇员评级、保险等增值业务发展。像网络招聘平台一样成为综合人力服务的入口。 但不那么美好的一方面,在于员工身份和背景认证,在中国没有很好的习惯性基础。大部分中小企业和地方企业不怎么在乎招聘中的这项环节,甚至简单走走过场了事。 虽然AI身份认证有可能解决共享经济平台的很多问题,但让平台型企业普遍接受这种商业服务的信任成本会很大。想要在中国打开这个缺口,必须尽可能的压缩服务成本,并且让共享经济平台意识到通过技术向消费者证明我们员工的高素质与专业性是必要的。 另一方面,在中国做此类服务需要面对着数据库建立不完善的尴尬。并且需要尽可能的与政府机关相关数据库合作,打通认证机制与公安、社保、医疗体系的良好合作通道。而这些在目前的中国人才服务市场中还基本属于空白。 此外,通过BOSS直聘和李文星的事件就可以看出,在中国伪造资质和信息造假的成本有多么低廉。这也给AI识别伪造证件与履历带来了巨大的阻碍。必须有对虚假数据、虚假履历、伪造证件中花样繁多的方式与方法更好的技术识别方式,尤其是通过大数据+机器视觉的来远程判断非电子文件的优质AI解决方案,才可能在虚假横行的中国互联网人才招聘市场立足。 不管怎么说,种种骇人听闻的事件应该已经让我们意识到共享经济平台把控员工素质的重要性。通过AI技术撬动这个需求,也已经在欧美市场被证实了有效性。相比令人眼花缭乱的各种能力,去伪存真,给社会增添信任,应该是AI能带给今天世界的第一价值。
    观点
    2017年11月09日
  • 观点
    帮你减轻微信办公的痛苦,正在成为创业公司的机会 【本文来自钛媒体特色栏目快公司,项目由钛媒体Pro数据库TMTPOST推荐】 当微信打破了工作与生活之间的那道墙,从此工作进入#7X24小时#模式,每个员工被推送不停的微信群绑架,而且每个公司、部门,每个项目、每次活动、每伙小团体都有一个微信群,微信群成了活动通知、上班打卡、员工交流、工作安排、商务拓展……的地方。 管理微信群,在不同群之间无缝切换,在工作模式和生活模式之间无缝切换也成了每个职场人的必备技能。虽然从微信刚刚入侵开始,就一直有人抱怨“工作生活界限的消失”不堪其扰,然而天长日久,这样的“变态”已经变成了常态。每个人早已都泥足深陷无法自拔。 当然,致力于将职场人“解救”出来的专业团队协作、沟通工具一直层出不穷。而企业级IM市场也被视为阿里在社交领域的一次机会,企业微信也紧锣密鼓地推进。然而,这些封闭办公系统不仅未能减轻职场人的心智负担,反而“撕裂”了他们的工作沟通。让他们奔忙于微信群与钉钉(或企业微信)之间。如果说钉钉与微信的互相封闭可以理解,那么企业微信与微信之间的壁垒高树就有点难以理解了。 刚建立企业微信被领导骂了,老板说这是什么玩意儿,完全闭门造车,和外界无法联通,还不如微信群聊,赶紧滚回去建个微信群聊。 企业微信竟然还要单独下载安装,微信放弃了固有的自身优势,本来可以在现有微信中集成的功能,非要搞成单独的APP,那不如用钉钉了。 这两条来自于用户的亲身吐槽“戳中”了企业微信的最大软肋。 虽然在企业微信产品产品介绍中,将“转发微信聊天记录”排在第一位,以示与钉钉的差异化之所在。然而,用户需要的远远不止于聊天记录转发微信,而是与微信的深度融合、打通,基于微信群的功能拓展。不过,微信肯定不会主动戳破工作与生活之间这层窗户纸。 以前都说因为微信和QQ是两个事业群,微信主打移动社交,QQ主打办公桌,日程表是办公功能,但是现在无论是社交或是办公约事都是在微信上约,为什么微信不能直接侦测并建立提醒功能?我每次约吃饭还得跳转到日历上建立新约会和提醒真是一个累人的事,希望微信团队能给个解答。 知乎上的这个问题反应出公司人对于微信的“求全责备”之心。也正是因为独立企业协作工具与微信之间的这种“撕裂”,才给了很多创业者以开发提升微信内工作效率的工具的创业空间——比如日程管理类应用。 如果说上一代的日程管理是“日历+邮箱”模式,那么这一代的创业者瞄准的是“日历+IM”模式。 Google Calender和Microsoft Outlook是“日历+邮箱”模式的代表,由于中国并没有欧美国家的邮箱文化,这种模式始终未能深度渗透。 这一代起步于微信的日程工具,则希望利用微信社交网络与自然交互,结合语音识别、自然语言处理、算法推荐等技术,帮助用户随时将信息流中的事项“结构化”为日程,并可通过微信快速实现多人分享,实时提醒。这种打入微信内部提供效率工具的思路与企业级SAAS服务自成一体的模式完全不同。 当然,这些日程、协作工作的野心都不只在于做一款微信内效率工具,而都想通过微信积累用户,然后将社交关系链转移到自己的App。而起家时身兼GTD工具与日程共享的日历工具,后来则走上了不同的岔路口。一些继续主打日程共享与团队协作,并努力将微信上的社交关系转移到App上,另一些则转向了个人GTD工具。 微约日历是前者的代表,为了确保转移到App上的用户关系黏性,微约日历就主打多人共享时间表的概念:在添加好友,设置日程查看权限后,伙伴间可以互相查看对方日程详情或忙闲时段,实现实时快捷的时间协调,方便组织会议、活动、聚会、户外等事项。 日程的共享带来的是工作透明度的提升,办公协作效率的改善,以及团队整体同步性的增强。对于扁平化的创意团队,以及跨部门乃至跨公司的协作团体,都是一款打破层级藩篱的协作利器。 而朝夕日历则是从“社交日历”转向了“智能时间助理”,其开发的朝夕万年历、番茄闹钟等GTD工具以及“GTD微课“为它积累了百万级粉丝,也让它意识到基于微信的GTD工具是一条快速增长的捷径。 发展路径的分化也意味着基于微信的日历工具所面临的瓶颈。 “日程+提醒”模式本身就是在工作、生活截然分开的时代,一种必要的工作安排。微信群这种实时沟通、无缝渗入生活的模式已经一定程度上颠覆了这种模式。微信活动群组在活动组织、通知、变更、参与情况跟进、实时协调反馈等方面的灵活度、方便性明显要高于这些“时间定死”的日程应用。(朝夕日历在添加日历之后添加了讨论页面,这明显是再向微信群组的一次“倒退”)。而这些日程工具至多只能以“群插件”(小程序)的方式做“增强”的工具,其自身独立性及延伸价值存疑。 当然,这也是所有工具类小程序共同面临的问题,转移社交链到自身平台还是专注于爆款工具,究竟哪一种策略能够走得更远,将是小程序创业时代一个绕不过去的拷问。 (本文首发钛媒体,记者/张远)
    观点
    2017年11月08日
  • 观点
    市场太小?模式同质?职业前教育的下一站其实是招聘服务 时间进入到 11 月,2018 年的校招季也进行了大半。高校毕业生的就业率一直是学校的“老大难”问题,2017 年与此同时,大多数高校的设立的就业指导中心在功能定位上只负责就业信息的对接和后期三方协议的收发,并没有涉及到学生就业的具体实践,指导意义并不大。庞大的在校人群、企业用人需求和高等教育之间的割裂激发了职业前教育这一新市场。 异军突起的同时我们也看到,除了市场规模小之外,各家从模式和内容也都出现了同质化的特征,如何去抬高天花板呢?跳开“教育”的框架,既然同时连接了C端有直接应聘需求的学生以及B端有招聘目的的企业,那么,招聘服务或许才是这个这新兴市场里玩家们的下一站。 新兴的细分赛道 严格意义上,华图、中公们“安身立命”的公务员考试培训也可以看做是职业前教育的一个细分,但我们此次要讨论的职业前教育玩家们更多服务于求职意愿集中在咨询、金融等“泛商科”领域的学生,虽然没有强制性、通过率低的考试在前,但 “背景提升”这一诉求同样也是激发这部分用户付费意愿的关键点,这部分用户的需求具体来讲可以分为以下 3 方面: 帮助缺乏职场人脉的大学生获取理想的企业内推和实习的机会; 课堂学习和职场断层,不清楚自己所在行业具体需要哪些专业技能; 跨专业就业信息不对称。 在职业前教育这个近两年异军突起的新领域里,国内玩家并不多,大部分都还在较早期的阶段,处于天使轮或 pre-A 轮,跑得比较快的是职业蛙(CareerFrog)和职优你(UniCareer ),都已经跑到了 B 轮。 简单总结这一细分赛道。 首先是直接 to C 端的,如 UniCareer、职业蛙、DreamBigCareer 等先从留学生群体切入,除了泛商科学生群体更大、更广之外,在另外还有一类如小灶计划、Offer先生等从求职咨询、技巧类公众号做起,在积累了一定粉丝之后,以职业前教育的形式将垂直流量变现。 除了直接面对小C端之外,也有一部分玩家直接面向高校 B 端收取费用,开展合作,例如曾经介绍过的职得、一起点拨和 FutureTour,三者都有一定的内容研发能力,为学校提供课程包。不过,to C 端和B端之间也并非隔离开,前面提到的 C 端产品同样能够以提供测评工具或课程内容的形式进校。 除了天花板低,小赛道内的大小玩家们还都越来越像了 关于职业前教育的故事听起来很美,但到底能做到多大呢?和 K12、语言培训相比,职业前教育的确是教育领域内的一个小众细分市场。 我的同事郭雨萌曾经对职业前教育的市场容量进行过测算:根据教育部在 2016 年发布的《中国高等教育质量报告》,2015 年度中国在校大学生规模为 3700 万人,现阶段各家用户多集中在大二(找实习)和大三(校招)阶段,即1800 万左右,以 2015 年 91.7% 的就业率计算,有直接就业意向的学生约 1600 万,以人均付费意愿在 3000 元计算,市场规模乐观估计 480 亿左右。 此外,复购率低也是影响市场规模的一个因素所在,即找工作更多是一个“一锤子买卖”,不过对于这一点,各家都在强调“从大二年级第一次找实习到毕业后 3 年内”都会是平台的潜在用户,即用户生命周期平均为 5~6 年。 除了市场规模之外,记者还观察到,这个小赛道内的大小玩家们都越来越像了。 B端资源,C端收费是对职业前教育商业模式的简单概括。职业前教育满足的就是 C 端对于 B 端资源的需求,在某种程度上颇有种“花钱买一份工作”的感觉,而依靠吸引到的 C 端用户,这些玩家又得以和 B 端企业合作去获取更多的 C 端用户,进而形成循环。 内容层面上,各家也都主打从"测评"到"拿offer"的一站式服务,内容层面都呈现出”课程学习+求职辅导“,都想要抓住“测评-规划-行业知识学习-求职技能咨询-Offer 发放”这几个环节,讲回到具体的服务内容上,虽然由于体量和阶段不同在呈现结果是略有区别,但都涉及到了以下几方面: 都需要将非标内容进行标准化和模块化; “资源依赖”,这里提到的资源涉及到两部分,行业导师和企业资源。以企业资源为例,前面提到,对于C端学生,选择职业前教育的初衷除了能够进行职业规划外,也会带有“花钱买一份工作”的感觉,但这类合作是否足够稳定仍是影响前端获客和后续用户体验的重要因素。对于“稳定”我的理解是,是直接和企业合作还是 “课程学习+职业规划”里,前者可以通过模块化的内容来解决,而后者则可以抽象类比到留学咨询服务,因此除了内容,职业前教育其实更重服务和运营。 B端和C端都收费是一个理想状态,但招聘的确是一个通路 当 C 端市场之外,沿着前端的人才资源,职业前教育的玩家们能否向 B 端开始收费呢?当然,这也意味着,职业前教育的下一站能否有走向招聘。 根据易观发布的《中国互联网招聘市场年度报告2016》,中国的互联网招聘市场规模在 43.5 亿元,从市场份额来看,前程无忧占到了 32.5%,智联招聘则占到了 28.0%,这两者都是国内具有一定代表性的综合招聘平台,从产品服务架构上来看,不难发现,除了招聘之外,“培训测评”也占到了如果从上下游产业链延伸逻辑来看,传统招聘服务商们从招聘切入职业前教育大多满足的是企业端在培训侧的长尾需求,全人力资源产业拓展、丰富业务形态的盈利模式已经得到了验证。 图片来源:《中国互联网招聘市场年度报告2016 》 不过传统招聘平台也存在信息对称性不足、信息流单向无反馈、供需匹配度不高,用户求职招聘效率较低等服务体验等问题,因此,也出现了拉钩这类垂直招聘平台和以LinkedIn 为代表的社交型招聘平台。HR 的招聘渠道有千千万,如果谈到付费意愿的话,抛开形式,企业端用户关注的核心在于人员的输送效率和精准程度,这同时也是职业前教育要分招聘服务(确切来说,应届生求职招聘服务)一杯羹时需要考虑的两方面。 精准程度显然是职业前教育去切入招聘服务时的前提优势。这一点很好理解,毕竟测评和规划本身就是无论客户的求职意愿还是后期的课程培训都具有一定的针对性和指向性,像 UniCareer、职业蛙等在授课之上也都有自己的测评工具和体系,能够给到 HR 们相对客观和直接的评价指标帮助他们进行判断。 如果说对于C端用户,职业前教育服务解决的是到哪儿去的问题,那么到了B端,这些产品就需要在优质人才“从哪儿来”的问题上进行发力,即扩充 C 端用户数。 UniCareer 在今年 5 月完成了 B 轮融资,新东方是资方之一,职业蛙也已经和启德留学建立了合作,不论是新东方的融资还是和启德的合作,二者都是从“留学后”市场切入来打开自己的前端流量,当然,某种程度上,也能够降低自己的获客成本。此外,面包求职也已经拿到慧科教育集团的战略融资,其课程内容直接嵌入慧科旗下高校邦的产品内,间接获得慧科的流量资源。 不难发现,无论是在上一部分提到的企业端和导师之间的资源,还是这一部分讲到的为了扩大流量而从扩充 C 端流量,职业前教育都体现出了很强的”资源依赖型“的特征。当然,除了拼资源之外,从 C 端向 B 端延伸也存在一个时间的问题,虽然在C端学生和B端资源之间的关系链条很难去做先后权重的判断,但如果要获取足够稳定的 B 端合作,C端流量的体量和质量仍旧是基础。 值得一提的是,大学生求职教育开始延伸到人力外包服务这件事已经有巨头实践过了。在 2014 年成功 IPO 的 Recruit 就是从针对大学生的新闻广告媒体做起,最终在盛业模式上实现了人力资源和市场营销的打通,从 Recruit 财报数据来看,收入来源最重的部分就是人才外包。 来源:36氪,作者:思齐。转载或内容合作请联系zhuanzai@36kr.com;违规转载法律必究。
    观点
    2017年11月08日
  • 观点
    行业逐渐回暖,但风口已过的在线教育依旧会步履维艰 8月23日,VIPKID召开D轮融资发布会,2亿美元的融资金额打破了K12在线教育领域的单笔融资记录,随后不久,作业盒子也宣布完成2亿元B+轮融资。 历经五年探索,一度陷入资本寒冬的在线教育似乎开始有了行业回暖的迹象,一时间关于在线教育能否风口再起的讨论甚嚣尘上。更为关键的是,共享经济的投资热潮已然陷入尾声,市场上同样需要新的风口来刺激互联网经济的生长。 只不过单靠融资记录的突破,恐怕并不能证明在线教育有成为下一个风口的趋势,尤其是行业痼疾之下,新一轮的资本青睐可能也意味着新的风险。 巨额融资背后的理性回归 据IT桔子最新整理的创投数据显示,截止10月16日,2017年度在线教育领域公开的融资次数超过150笔,累计融资额超过80亿元人民币,其中K12领域融资公司有38家,融资金额接近41亿元。表面上看,共享经济席卷资本市场的情况下,在线教育还能获得如此频繁的融资次数,或许已经彰显了该行业得到市场认可之后的商业价值。 但是与2014年投资风口不同的是,从近一年的融资状况可以发现,其实市场上早已不是当初的那种投资热潮,这就说明理性回归可能意味着在线教育很难重新站在风口之上。 以融资的具体情况来分析,近几年的融资多集中在种子轮、天使轮、Pre-A 轮、A、A+轮等早期轮次。例如今年1-3 季度中,早期融资事件都超过一半,达70%上下,但与轮次集中的状况恰恰相反,融资金额反而主要加注于中后期融资阶段的在线平台。 数据显示,2017年第三季度的69起早期融资,披露的融资总金额为18.42亿元。而中期融资阶段(B、B+、C、C+轮)的案例有16起,披露的融资总金额为22.96亿元,后期阶段(D轮以后及并购)的案例共4起,金额却达到了22.03亿元。 这种情况说明两个问题,一方面投资在线教育的资本广泛遍布早期项目,这侧面印证了教育市场的需求确实在逐渐升温,尤其是二胎政策的放开,使得家长对教育的关注明显提升。另一方面,更为关键的是,资本还是青睐于较成熟的项目。换句话说,虽然在线教育行业并没有形成稳定的格局,但随着早期成熟项目或平台对资本的吸引愈加集中,也就意味着其他相对弱势的中小教育产品,将会面临洗牌期的淘汰。 尤其是在市场探索阶段中,各类平台非但没有一套成功盈利的商业模式作为支撑,反而盲目跟风,造成了平台日益同质化的倾向。这种情形之下,依赖融资就成了平台存活的最重要希望,而新晋参与者或小平台恐怕在吸引融资方面没有任何优势。由此可见,投资理性回归对整个行业来讲,并不全是好事。 五年探索未果,成功的商业模式路在何方? 8月16日,培生集团宣布将其环球天下教育集团(环球雅思)的业务,以8000万美元的价格出售给中国一家名为“朴新教育”的公司,而六年前培生买入的价格是2.95亿美元。与此同时,华尔街英语也被宣布“寻找潜在业务合作伙伴”接盘,培生集团接连抛售在华业务,除了在本土化过程中水土不服之外,其实这些举动也暗示着国内教育市场的步履维艰。 据央视财经此前报道,市场机构对400家主要在线教育企业的调查结果显示:截至2016年底,400家企业当中70%的公司都处于亏损状态,仅有10%的公司能够持平,而能够盈利的仅仅占了5%,甚至有15%的企业濒临倒闭。 这背后的原因都在于在线教育平台盈利模式尚未明晰,整体来讲,内容付费、会员收费、平台佣金和广告等方式,看似都有可行性,但是应用到教育这一复杂领域就显得异常不适,以内容付费为例,不管是内容本身还是盈利模式都存在大量现实问题。 一般情况下,为了尽快突破亏损困境,在线平台都会将付费内容的战线拉得过长,相应地内容管理和用户体验方面就会有所欠缺,而且从这些平台的具体表现看,出现了两种比较极端的反差。一方面,从教育机构转型的在线教育企业,一般都会照搬复制线下的课程,虽然表面上打通了线上渠道,但其缺乏互联网运营经验。而另一方面,互联网企业则盲目集结很多质量参差不齐的课程资源,利用互联网为线上用户学习服务。 这两种情况都直接导致课程优质内容缺乏、运营管理不足,使本来就缺少忠诚度的用户丧失兴趣。而从盈利角度看,内容付费的实现也极大受限于模式缺陷,这主要是因为教育平台为了低成本提升获客量,基本上一开始都打着免费的旗号争夺流量,而免费内容大范围推行之后,用户付费习惯就很难培养,到最后平台只能靠着融资烧钱、弥补高额成本。 仅仅是内容付费,在线教育就已经是百般受困,更深度触及国内教育痼疾的教学问题,基本上所要跨越的不只是获客成本,而是观念、教学方法、人力成本等一切挑战传统教学的多重障碍,这对任何平台都是终极的市场考验。 在线教育想要依靠技术突围,可能依旧困难重重 在传统认知中,十年育树,百年育人,教育说到底是一个更考验长期回报的领域,即使互联网改变了教育的形式,但本质上这点决定了在线平台的商业价值,还未能像普通快消品一样获得较快的收益回馈。可目前在线教育市场则恰恰相反,主要靠资本驱动的商业运转,不得不受制于投资人的回报期望,这两者之间的矛盾令平台对商业模式的探索更加困难。 可能正是认识到这点,在线教育除了费尽心机地摸索盈利渠道,其实把更多的期望寄托到新技术身上。比如VR、AR、AI及大数据分析等等,不仅被认为是在线教育平台提高教学效果、提升平台效率的未来工具,更是挑战传统教育的最大核心竞争点。可是就目前的情况来看,技术突围可能只是一种幻想。 以去年红极一时的在线直播教育为例,据悉,到2016年涉及到直播的公司,累积融资金额占在线培训行业融资总额的84%,总金额约20.5亿美金,相对应的录播型只占16%,可见当时行业对直播给予了多大的厚望。 可是直播元年已经过去,再看看现在的直播教育基本上已不如当初的势头。这不仅仅是因为直播行业本身的“熄火”,还在于“教育+直播”模式,不但不可能一下子将在线教育盈利难的问题解决,而且很有可能受居高不下的直播成本所累,为在线平台的亏损增添更重的负担。 直播风口已过,VR/AR或者是AI技术还只是停留在概念层面,尤其是前者,风风火火的元年最后只换来一地鸡毛,这说明新技术远不到成熟落地的时间。也就是说,在线平台所谓的虚拟课堂或智能教育,没有强硬的技术实力支撑就等同于空话。 实际上,在线教育平台的前景应该不止于作为对传统教育的补充而存在,更遥远一些,若是能通过线上渠道突破现有教学思维、方式的桎梏,那其商业价值和社会意义将会成倍增长,当然前提是先解决好盈利问题。 来源:歪道道,科技媒体人,互联网分析师。微信公众号:歪思妙想(wddtalk)。谢绝未保留作者相关信息的任何形式的转载。
    观点
    2017年11月07日
  • 观点
    标榜自己是中国的Salesforce的CRM厂商们,醒醒 近几年被业内人士看好的几家CRM公司,如纷享销客、红圈营销、神州云动、销售易、外勤365、EC等,以及一些不太知名的CRM厂商,纷纷说自己是中国的Salesforce,吹嘘技术实力有多强,发展前景有多好。但直到现在也没出现行业“黑马”,国内CRM市场规模约10亿,没有一家厂商占比超过20%。 很多CRM厂商在面对媒体和客户时,评价Salesforce的字眼多为:持续亏损、收费高、续费率低、易用性不够等等,然后再讲几个自己产品替代Salesforce的用户案例,对于自己与Salesforce的差距有多大,一般闭口不谈。 Salesforce下面这些客观事实,值得国内CRM见贤思齐并加以宣扬。 1 地位稳固,增速强劲 Gartner数据显示,连续几年,Salesforce在全球CRM领域的市场份额始终是第一,第二的Oracle在CRM领域的市场份额不到Salesforce的一半。 Salesforce市场份额增速之快,让业内惊叹,从2010年的10.6%上升到2016年的21%左右,今年将达到30%左右。Salesforce2017年营业收入将超过100亿。 反观国内的CRM厂商,年营业收入大多在几千万徘徊,多数是亏损状态。2017年资本市场对CRM领域投资很谨慎,能拿到投资继续研发产品、开拓市场的厂商算是幸运,销售易、神州云动、红圈等几家就占了融资份额的80%。 Salesforce虽然每年仍有亏损,但主要原因是他们暂时不考虑盈利,要拿利润换高增长,把蛋糕做大,比盈利更重要,所以少量亏损丝毫不影响他们的发展速度和影响力,目前市值已飙升到700亿美元左右,分析师表示Salesforce将在3年内成为一家价值1000亿美元的公司。 Salesforce多年来始终执行1/1/1模式的慈善事业,拿出百分之一的股权、百分之一的利润和员工百分之一的时间做公益慈善,投入巨大,值得很多企业学习。 2 创新驱动引领发展 《福布斯》全球最具创新力企业排行榜上,Salesforce名列首位,并且连续四年稳居宝座。 Salesforce是最早将软件带入到SaaS时代的厂商,但当大家埋头SaaS时,Salesforce已经推出了强大的PaaS平台,用户可自行或在Salesforce的协助下开发、扩展应用,这使得Salesforce用户数大幅上升,续费率也提升到96%左右,这是国内CRM厂商无法企及的。 近两年,销售易、神州云动、纷享销客等国内CRM厂商都说自己也有了PaaS平台,其完善程度就不得而知了,毕竟PaaS的技术门槛很高。 基于PaaS平台,Salesforce又推出了AppExchange,从内生到外延,目前这个自定义程序共享中心已有3000多个应用程序。 Salesforce为加快完善这个生态体系,2017年推出AppExchange合作伙伴计划,拨款1亿美元来激励开发商、创业公司和ISV。 国内CRM厂商继续效仿,神州云动在今年8月宣布推出国内首款CRM生态,但目前其应用商城仅有数十款应用,并且多为自己研发的。 2017年,Salesforce重点做AI和大数据,依然有厂商跟风。但看情形,Salesforce能做到“一直被模仿,从未被超越”。 3 巨额市场投入带动销售 Salesforce每年在市场和营销方面的投入,占销售额的50%左右,广告投入巨大,这也说明了他们只是暂时不想盈利。 他们通过大量报道,成功的宣传了自己的理念:No Software,并与媒体建立了良好的关系,很多媒体在Salesforce成立之初,就拿他们和行业强者相媲美。 Salesforce 2017 Q2财报营收同比上涨26%,弗雷斯特研究公司的副总裁兼首席分析师Andrew Bartels表示,“Salesforce创造的每一美元收入,它将其中的约45美分花在了销售和营销上。如果你把这么多的钱花在销售和营销上,要是没有获得那种收入增长势头才怪。” 纷享销客前两年在各广告渠道频频现身,烧了许多钱,但因产品实力一般,加上战略方向不清晰,营收并不理想,去年忍痛裁员。国内其他CRM厂商在市场营销方面的投入都很谨慎。 Salesforce最新产品Salesforce AI——Einstein(爱因斯坦)已经做到自动挖掘相关商机,预测和分析客户行为,推荐下一步最佳的行动方案,帮助用户提升销售能力。 在CRM之外,Salesforce还有CommunityCloud、Analytics Cloud、IoT Cloud和App Cloud,这些服务虽然不与CRM直接相关,但是这却是Salesforce能够满足客户多样需求,不断提升服务质量的保障,共同构建起Salesforce业务生态。 国内CRM厂商,请跟上节奏,加快增长、创新的步伐!企业用户需要你们。
    观点
    2017年11月06日
  • 观点
    LinkedIn通过大数据选出美国最具人才吸引力的50个创业公司 LinkedIn Top Companies | Startups: The 50 industry disruptors you need to know now 作者:Daniel Rot   Editor in Chief, LinkedIn 所有估值和资金数据来自CB Insights。除非由公司直接提供,否则任职,员工增长和全球员工数据均来自LinkedIn Premium Insights。 全文是英文,我们简单列出前十名: 1、UBER 2、AIRBNB 3、WEWORK 4、LYFT( 跟UBER一样的打车软件) 5、Slack  (HR项目) 6、NIO 7、Rubrik 8、Dropbox 9、Houzz 10、Convoy ········ 16、Pinterest 19、Udacity 22、Opendoor 31、Coursera 46、Glint (HR项目) 详细的大家可以看这些项目和公司福利。   Some of the most fascinating businesses today are startups. Sensing a chance to transform (or take over) a market, founders are channeling their seemingly endless flow of venture funds into new ideas — and top talent. We wanted to see which startups were winning the talent game. Who are the 50 most in-demand upstarts in the U.S. today? The all-new LinkedIn “Top Companies | Startups” list is the answer. To surface the companies, we looked at the billions of actions of LinkedIn’s more than 500 million members to determine employee growth, job seeker interest via views and applications, member engagement with the company and its employees — and how well these startups pulled talent from our flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list. (You can learn more about our methodology here.) To be eligible for Top Companies | Startups, companies must be 10 years old or younger, have at least 100 employees, remain independent and privately held and have at least one round of venture-backed funding. LinkedIn worked with CB Insights to pull a global list of nearly 25,000 eligible venture-backed companies. Share the list and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopCompanies. Here are this year’s top 50 startups in the U.S. All valuation and funding data come from CB Insights. Tenure, employee growth and global headcount data are from LinkedIn Premium Insights unless provided directly by the company. Follow Driving forward: Uber has been in the public eye this year for all the wrong reasons: sexual harassment claims, regulatory issues, a new CEO and loads of boardroom drama. That hasn’t kept the ride-sharing giant from growing fast or attracting top talent. Of all the companies on our list, Uber has the most workers who have joined from other LinkedIn Top Companies; employees have left the likes of Google, JPMorgan and Facebook to work at the super-unicorn. Global headcount: 16,000 Global headquarters: San Francisco Catch a ride: Worldwide employees get free monthly Uber credits to use on personal rides or UberEATS, the company’s online meal ordering and delivery platform. Valuation: $68 billion Explore jobs at Uber Follow Yurt, treehouse, castle: Airbnb has had 200 million guest arrivals since the company launched. Taking on the $550 billion hotel industry is no small feat. To go head-to-head, the company has expanded its instant booking listings and even announced plans to open its first co-branded apartments (which residents will be able to share on Airbnb). Global headcount: 3,000 Global headquarters: San Francisco Royal lodgings: Employees receive an annual $2,000 (£1,516) stipend to stay in Airbnb locales around the world, including one of nearly 3,000 listed castles. Valuation: $29.25 billion Explore jobs at Airbnb Follow Creating communities: WeWork has nearly doubled its membership this year to over 150,000 users, expanded to some 170 locations (including its first India location) and purchased private coding academy Flatiron School in a recent acquisition. While the startup has been growing rapidly, a highly competitive office-leasing market recently raised doubts around the company’s rich valuation. Global headcount: 3,000 Global headquarters: New York City TGIM: New hires join WeWork every Monday for orientation at the company’s headquarters. The day includes a citywide scavenger hunt where employees get a glimpse of the company’s nearly 40 buildings across New York and ends with the weekly “Thank God it’s Monday” dinner for the entire staff. Valuation: $20 billion Explore jobs at WeWork Follow Driving across America: Lyft has been rapidly expanding across the U.S. It now covers 95 percent of the population across all 50 states, more than any other rideshare platform, and provides over 1 million rides every day. In mid-October, it raised $1 billion in a new funding round led by the venture arm of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Global headcount: 2,000 Global headquarters: San Francisco Expanding accessibility: Lyft introduced new features to make the app more accessible to deaf or hard-of-hearing drivers, including visual notifications and a message telling passengers to contact the driver via text. Passengers can also get a quick tutorial on how to say “Hello” and “Thank You” in sign language. Valuation: $11 billion Explore jobs at Lyft Follow Revolutionizing productivity: Known as a dead-simple collaboration tool, Slack is going head-to-head with the likes of LinkedIn parent Microsoft and Atlassian to own workplace productivity. Its platform allows workers to message each other in real time, while connected apps add context or automate mundane tasks to help get the job done. Global headcount: 890 Global headquarters: San Francisco Corporate scale: Slack bills itself as the fastest-growing business application in history, serving some 9 million weekly active users and 43 companies from the Fortune 100 list. It’s been hiring rapidly to keep up with that scale: growing 32 percent over the past year.   Valuation: $5.1 billion Explore jobs at Slack Follow Speeding into the future: Shanghai-based NIO develops smart, electric and autonomous vehicles. The startup, which expanded to the U.S. two years ago, built the world’s fastest electric car, manned or unmanned, able to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds. CEO Padmasree Warrior, formerly of Cisco, says NIO cars will be available in the U.S. as soon as 2020. Global headcount: 3,000 Global headquarters: Shanghai (San Jose, Calif. in the U.S.) Welcome to the team: NIO has more than quadrupled its staff since June 2016. Amid such rapid growth, NIO shepherds its culture through bimonthly “team time,” where all employees welcome new hires and get to know each other outside of work through activities like trivia and scavenger hunts. Valuation: $2.89 billion Explore jobs at NIO Follow Cloud’s the limit: Rubrik helps companies organize their data in the cloud, ensuring instant access for recovery, analytics and application development. It counts corporate giant JLL, non-profit World Vision and the Tampa Bay Rays among its customers, but CEO Bipul Sinha has even bigger ambitions. “In the future, data will be like money,” he said in a May interview. “Rubrik can be like the Visa for enterprise.” Global headcount: 600 Global headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. Big-name investors: The company counts NBA MVP Kevin Durant as one of its investors and board advisors alongside iconic firms like IVP and Lightspeed Ventures. It’s also notably transparent: all 600 employees can attend board meetings and see the company’s financials. Valuation: $1.3 billion Explore jobs at Rubrik Follow Refreshing storage: Dropbox has a new look these days. The online storage company went through its biggest-ever rebrand this year, repositioning itself as the tool to enable and inspire creativity in the workplace. The new branding also comes with a major milestone: Dropbox reached a $1 billion revenue run rate in February, the company told LinkedIn. Global headcount: 1,900 Global headquarters: San Francisco Giving back: Every Dropbox employee is given 32 hours of annual volunteer time off to participate in a cause about which they are passionate. The company will also match up to $1,000 for all donations made by Dropboxers to charitable organizations. Valuation: $9.38 billion Explore jobs at Dropbox Follow Bringing tech home: Houzz, the online platform for remodeling and decorating, is transforming the way people design and shop for their homes. Beyond sketching ideas or hiring the right contractor, users can experience their designs through Houzz’s augmented reality tool. The company says that shoppers who engage with the tool are 11 times more likely to purchase. Global headcount: 1,600 Global headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. More than an office: On their first day, every new employee gets a pair of Houzz slippers to wear around the office so they can feel at home. It’s not much of a stretch: Houzz’s meeting rooms are inspired by household spaces around the world, including the British Tea Room, German Backyard and Italian Closet. Valuation: $3.84 billion Explore jobs at Houzz Follow Trucking on demand: Convoy believes the world moves on reliable trucks, and it is in the business of building innovative services to match shipments with reliable carriers. The company works with a network of independent trucking companies and uses technology to match the right truck to the right load, helping optimize supply chain performance. Global headcount: 170 Global headquarters: Seattle Staffing up: The company has been scaling rapidly since its founding in 2015. In the past six months, Convoy’s headcount has grown 37 percent — and it’s hiring for another 28 jobs currently, according to LinkedIn data. Its recent $62 million funding round, led by Y Combinator, will help rev up that growth. Total funding: $80 million Explore jobs at Convoy Follow Closing the skills gap: General Assembly is creating a new way to educate today’s workforce. The company, which started as a single co-working space in 2011, now has campuses in 20 cities. GA has served over 40,000 students through its full- and part-time programs, and it says it works with a third of the Fortune 100 to develop proprietary, sustainable talent pipelines in fields like data science and web development. Global headcount: 580 Global headquarters: New York City Moving up: While GA has some great perks (like 16 weeks of parental leave for a primary caregiver), the biggest benefit may be the upward mobility within the company. In the first half of 2017, GA had 136 promotions, the company told LinkedIn. That’s a quarter of all employees. Valuation: $452 million Explore jobs at General Assembly Follow Moving the money: Bought something online at Target recently? Or Under Armour? Then you’ve likely used Stripe’s products without even realizing it. The company builds the tools businesses need to instantly accept and manage online payments, helping buyers pay seamlessly and providing sellers real-time analytics. Global headcount: 810 Global headquarters: San Francisco Worldwide access: Stripe powers businesses in 25 countries and accepts 135 different currencies (plus Bitcoin). It enables Apple Pay across the internet and in iOS apps, and Stripe even helped launch a new cryptocurrency: Stellar. Valuation: $9.2 billion Explore jobs at Stripe Follow The birth of an empire: Before starting her direct-to-consumer skincare and makeup company, Glossier CEO Emily Weiss ran the popular blog Into the Gloss. The industry expertise and cult following she gained was a recipe for Glossier success. Her social media-savvy brand became such a hit after launching in 2014 that its products quickly sold out and garnered waitlists 10,000 people long. Global headcount: 130 Global headquarters: New York City Growth in all directions: At an annual employee growth rate of 257 percent, Glossier was the fastest-growing company on this list over the past 12 months, according to our data. The company also made strides to meet growing demand abroad with plans to ship to Canada, the UK and France. Total funding: $34.4 million Explore jobs at Glossier Follow Connecting the dots: Early in his career, Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen worked in logistics importing lawnmowers and jacuzzis from China. Now he’s on a mission to ensure any two businesses can trade regardless of distance or regulatory hurdles. His freight forwarding and customs brokerage company is growing at a rapid clip, with its base of clients up 315 percent over the past year, the company says. Global headcount: 500 Global headquarters: San Francisco Branch out: The company does a regular “lunch roulette” where you go out to lunch with coworkers you don’t see on a daily basis. Valuation: $910 million Explore jobs at Flexport Making the connection: Organizations often spend a fortune investing in telecommunications infrastructure from the likes of AT&T and Verizon. Aryaka Networks, a SD-WAN provider, is disrupting those telecom giants by providing a networking option that eliminates hardware and helps control costs with a pay-as-you-use model. The end result is seamless connectivity that’s optimized for cloud-based applications and global access. Global headcount: More than 300 Global headquarters: San Mateo, Calif. Loyal employees: The average employee tenure at Aryaka Networks is 2.7 years, the longest of all the companies on the list, according to LinkedIn data. Total funding: $120 million Explore jobs at Aryaka Networks The visual search engine: Seven years after the company’s debut, it’s still hard to nail down exactly what Pinterest is: it’s part social network, part scrapbook, part catalog of ideas. But, increasingly, it’s defining itself as a search company — one that hopes to offer marketers an alternative to ad behemoths like Google. The company is expected to generate $500 million in ad revenue this year, up from $300 million in 2016. Global headcount: 1,200 Global headquarters: San Francisco Just getting started: Pinterest believes most of its site “hasn’t been built yet,” so this year it launched Pinterest Labs, a collaboration with researchers, scientists, engineers and universities to take on the biggest problems in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Valuation: $12.3 billion Explore jobs at Pinterest Follow Working to save lives: Since launching a year ago, GRAIL has attracted a whopping $1 billion in funding from Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and some of the biggest companies in healthcare. The company's goal is to detect cancer early, when it's possible to cure. To do that, it’s attracted world-class geneticists and biostatisticians, and launched one of the largest clinical research programs in genomic health, with studies enrolling more than 130,000 people. Global headcount: 250 Global headquarters: Menlo Park, Calif. Expert leader: CEO Bill Rastetter co-invented one of the world’s most valuable cancer therapies, and has won praise for his work in academia. He held multiple faculty positions at MIT and won the award for “Excellence in the Teaching of Chemistry” at Harvard. Total funding: $1 billion Explore jobs at GRAIL Follow Growth hackers: Duo Security, the first of five cybersecurity companies on the list, provides features like two-factor authentication and secure single sign-on to clients as diverse as Facebook, Toyota and Zillow. The 8-year-old company has been on a tear: In the last year, Duo quadrupled its user base, doubled its headcount and became cash-flow positive, it says. Global headcount: 500 Global headquarters: Ann Arbor, Mich. Local flavor: The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company embraces its Midwestern roots by enforcing a “no jerks” policy and gives each employee a personal candy pack from Zingerman’s, the famous local deli, on the first day. Valuation: $1.17 billion Explore jobs at Duo Security The Silicon Valley university: On a mission to democratize education, Udacity offers courses designed by companies like Google and Salesforce that teach professionals the foundational skills needed to land jobs as web developers, mobile developers or data scientists — all at a fraction of the cost of normal universities. Global headcount: 500 Global headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. Driving diversity: If you thought you couldn’t get a degree in self-driving cars, think again. Udacity recently created a scholarship with Lyft for its new Intro to Self-Driving Cars program to help make the field more accessible. Valuation: $1 billion Explore jobs at Udacity The Yelp for enterprise software: With nearly 250,000 verified user reviews for software and services, G2 Crowd is making it simple to find the best business technology based on people’s real experience, acting as a Yelp for enterprise software. There’s one big difference from the consumer-focused review site: G2 Crowd doesn’t sell any ads. Instead, it uses its data to provide for-purchase research reports. Global headcount: 120 Global headquarters: Chicago Personalized welcome: If you land one of G2 Crowd’s 130 forecasted job openings over the next year, expect to see your personal Bitmoji hanging at the entrance to the office on your first day. Valuation: $300 million Explore jobs at G2 Crowd Modern mortgage making: Blend provides mortgage lenders the digital tools they need to make home loan applications faster, smarter and more secure. The company, which says its clients control about 25 percent of the $10 trillion mortgage lending industry, has helped process $57 billion in applications so far this year. Global headcount: 200 Global headquarters: San Francisco Humble beginnings: Blend CEO and founder Nima Ghamsari attributes his foray into entrepreneurship to his first job at McDonald’s. “The one thing it teaches everyone is that most jobs are not glamorous, and you have to do whatever it takes to get by,” he told LinkedIn. Valuation: $500 million Explore jobs at Blend Moving on: Opendoor wants to cure your real estate woes by making it possible to sell your home online quickly — no real estate listing necessary. The company, which also operates its own mortgage business, buys your home directly then resells it. Opendoor is active in Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Las Vegas and Atlanta with plans to expand to two new markets before year end, it says. Global headcount: 415 Global headquarters: San Francisco Undercover employee: All new hires act as Opendoor secret shoppers in order to experience the service first-hand, using the app to enter a home and explore as if they were potential buyers. Valuation: $1 billion Explore jobs at Opendoor Follow Military grade security: Fighting hackers is no easy task, but Boston-based Cybereason is equipped for the challenge. Many of its employees served in the Israel Defense Forces’ cybersecurity unit and now use similar tactics to protect its clients. The company’s endpoint detection platform finds attackers’ vulnerabilities after they’ve infiltrated an organization, letting companies know if they are under attack and how to quickly stop the threat. Global headcount: 325 Global headquarters: Boston Perk alert: Cybereason offers employees unlimited vacation, reimbursement for commuting expenses, free lunch and an employee referral bonus of up to $5,000. Valuation: $999 million Explore jobs at Cybereason Follow Protection on all fronts: Cylance is one of the world’s first companies to provide an antivirus platform built on machine learning and artificial intelligence. It uses its next-generation technology to proactively protect companies like Panasonic and Gap Inc., as well as the U.S. government and even consumer home devices, from malware attacks. Global headcount: 805 Global headquarters: Irvine, Calif. The motive: On a flight to Australia in 1989, Founder & CEO Stuart McClure faced a near-death experience when the flight incurred devastating damage en route that cost eight other passengers their lives. Since that day, McClure told LinkedIn, his life’s passion has been “to find and fix the problems introduced by technology to prevent bad stuff from happening to innocent people.” Valuation: $1 billion Explore jobs at Cylance Follow Making headlines: Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike was the first to point a finger at Russia after its investigation of the Democratic National Committee email hack prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Since then, it’s capitalized on the surging interest in online security to raise new funding (another $100 million in May) and to sign on ever-more clients. CrowdStrike tells LinkedIn that more than 10 percent of the Fortune 1000 now leverage its tech and services. Global headcount: 760 Global headquarters: Sunnyvale, Calif. In-person intro: The company flies all new hires in from around the world to meet with execs and learn about company's strategic direction in person. Valuation: $1.01 billion Explore jobs at CrowdStrike Increasing efficiency: Chicago-based predictive analytics firm Uptake added more than 300 jobs this year. The company’s software analyzes sensor data to improve productivity and decrease failures across a host of industries, from aviation to energy. One example: wind farms. Uptake’s software can predict when parts on a turbine may soon need to be replaced, preventing costly outages. Global headcount: 800 Global headquarters: Chicago Your name here: Employees who submit patentable ideas for company review can be awarded up to $2,000 and named inventors if the patent is granted. Valuation: $2 billion Explore jobs at Uptake Cash, credit, or a loan: Third-party lender Affirm aims to offer shoppers an alternative at the register by providing quick and easy personal loans with fixed monthly payments. The company recently announced it’s available at checkout with more than 1,000 merchants, up from 100 a year ago, often for higher-priced merchandise like furniture and electronics. Global headcount: 280 Global headquarters: San Francisco Origin story: Despite just having sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2012, Max Levchin couldn’t get approved for a car loan. He was haunted by minor credit issues racked up in college. The experience proved to him that FICO scores weren’t useful for determining credit worthiness and helped birth the idea for Affirm, where he’s co-founder and CEO. Valuation: $781 million Explore jobs at Affirm New foundation: Construction projects rarely finish early or under budget. Katerra wants to streamline the process — by owning all of it. With its model, developers don’t parcel out work to contractors who in turn subcontract again, which inflates costs. Katerra oversees everything, from design to materials sourcing and assembly. Its Phoenix, Ariz., manufacturing facility can build a 24-unit apartment building every two weeks. Global headcount: 850 Global headquarters: Menlo Park, Calif. Who it’s hiring: The company writes that it looks for employees who can “think big, and lead from any seat.” Another core corporate value: frugality. As the company looks to trim costs from the construction process, one cultural principle is working “in the most cost-efficient manner possible.” Valuation: $1 billion Explore jobs at Katerra Ding-dong: Video doorbell company Ring turns your smartphone into a surveillance hub, sending you a live feed of your front door. The company, rejected by judges on “Shark Tank” in 2013, went on to generate an estimated $160 million in sales last year. It recently expanded into other user-friendly home security products like floodlight cameras. Global headcount: 1,500 Global headquarters: Santa Monica, Calif. Doing battle: In his quest to stay ahead of competitors, CEO Jamie Siminoff treats employees as “confidants in war,” the LA Times reported, “bestowing them with dog-tag-style security badges inscribed with name, start date and title.” Another corporate rarity: Ring’s dozens of team leaders have nearly full autonomy — no mandatory management meetings or even budgets — to encourage speed and innovation. Valuation: $431 million Explore jobs at Ring Rethinking real estate: Convene designs and operates corporate meeting spaces, and sees its business model as much more, calling it “workplace as a service.” The company amps up the cool factor of average office buildings by adding high-end touches more common in luxury hotels like microbrew coffee shops and farm-to-table meals. It brought in $40.7 million in revenue in 2016, up from $28.9 million the prior year. Global headcount: 320 Global headquarters: New York City Coffee talk: Within a month of starting at Convene, every new hire meets with one or both of the company’s co-founders to chat over coffee. They also receive a giant chocolate business card with their name on it. Total funding: $113.5 million Explore jobs at Convene Follow Open classroom: Online education giant Coursera offers a multitude of digital courses on topics from cryptocurrency to game theory. It has grown to over 28 million users globally and is adding nearly a half million new users every month, the company told LinkedIn. Coursera is committed to amping up the technical skills of underemployed people worldwide, often partnering directly with governments to close the skills gap. Global headcount: 300 Global headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. Hit the books: Employees enjoy free Coursera courses as well as time during working hours to meet with colleagues in study groups. Valuation: $800 million Explore jobs at Coursera Follow Customized: Online styling service Stitch Fix pairs customers with its more than 3,000 personal stylists to gauge wardrobe needs and dispatch regular boxes stuffed with clothes, shoes, and accessories. There is a strict separation between the company’s merchandising and data teams to ensure its recommendation algorithms get just the right products into customers’ hands. Global headcount: 5,800 Global headquarters: San Francisco On the market: The company recently filed for its much-anticipated IPO; it reported$977 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year and lost $594,000, although it was profitable in previous years. Valuation: $314 million Explore jobs at Stitch Fix Follow Alibaba of the West: Wish, a mobile commerce app, connects shoppers directly with the suppliers of everything from down jackets to wireless chargers. This direct access to manufacturers, many of which are in China, means cheaper prices and a huge selection: the site has tens of millions of listed products. Global headcount: 310 Global headquarters: San Francisco Making money: The 7-year-old startup has raised over $1 billion in funding from the likes of Founders Fund and GGV Capital. That bet may pay off. Wish has an annual run rate in the “middle single billions” and is profitable, according to Joe Lonsdale, an investor in the company. Valuation: $3 billion Explore jobs at Wish Follow Wooing millennials: Online brokerage Robinhood lets members make trades without paying any fees, an appealing proposition for many first-time traders. "Free is pretty difficult,” says co-founder Baiju Bhatt, noting that most of the company’s employees are software engineers focused on building automation into the system to ensure customers can easily trade without human guidance or intervention. Global headcount: 100 Global headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. On the rise: Robinhood doubled its base to 2 million users in the past year, and Bhatt estimates that 90 percent are under age 40. The company expects to double its headcount next year to keep up with the growth. Valuation: $1.3 billion Explore jobs at Robinhood Follow Threats thwarted: Cybersecurity company Darktrace uses AI and machine learning to defend enterprise networks. Rather than building perimeters to keep hackers out, it looks at what normal behavior is in a system and raises alarms when something deviates. The company was founded by mathematicians from the University of Cambridge. Global headcount: 600 Global headquarters: Cambridge, UK Unsolved problem: Darktrace has raised $180.5 million in total, including a new $75 million funding round earlier this year, putting its valuation near unicorn territory. Its more than 3,500 customers include even water-supply systems, eager for help. “The problem of cybersecurity is still unsolved,” CEO Nicole Eagan told Bloomberg TV. Valuation: $825 million Follow Get connected: Sprout Social is an enterprise social media management platform that helps companies with the often chaotic task of tending to their presence across multiple social networks. More than 19,000 brands currently use Sprout, and the company has been expanding both its workforce and its capabilities to meet demand. Sprout grew its headcount by 80 percent since September 2016 and added features like Instagram scheduling and a built-in image editor. Global headcount: 400 Global headquarters: Chicago Access to the top: All new employees meet with Sprout CEO Justyn Howard shortly after starting. They can ask questions and hear straight from the top boss about the company’s values and vision. Valuation: $500 million, according to the company. Explore jobs at Sprout Social Follow Powerhouse partnership: Hyperloop One recently announced an investment from and partnership with Virgin Group that gives Richard Branson a board seat and rebrands the startup: Meet Virgin Hyperloop One. The company, which remains independent, will be able to tap into Virgin’s expertise in operations, safety and passenger experience as it looks to commercialize its first hyperloop systems as early as 2021. Global headcount: 300 Global headquarters: Los Angeles Farther and faster: Virgin Hyperloop One’s autonomous system uses electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube, which could reach airplane-equivalent speeds once fully developed. In a second phase of testing in July, its XP-1 pod reached 190 mph and a maximum distance of 1,433 feet, going farther and faster than its initial runs in May. Valuation: $700 million Explore jobs at Virgin Hyperloop One Follow Data driven: Snowflake Computing is a pay-as-you-go data warehouse for the cloud. The 5-year-old company boasts clients like Adobe, Capital One and Sony Pictures and says its sales have increased 300 percent in the past year while its workforce roughly doubled. It raised $105 million earlier this year, bringing its total funding to $210 million, in part to open more sales offices worldwide. It tells LinkedIn it expects to add another 300 jobs next year, a move that would again double the size of the company. Global headcount: 280 Global headquarters: San Mateo, Calif. Warm welcome: In a personal touch at the weekly all-hands meeting, CEO Bob Muglia introduces each new employee, asking them to stand as their colleagues provide thunderous applause and cheers. Valuation: $500 million Explore jobs at Snowflake Computing Follow AI to the rescue: ThoughtSpot is an analytics platform that aims to take the pain out of using business intelligence tools. Its AI-powered software lets users ask questions in everyday language, similar to a Google search. Customers include Chevron, Capital One and OpenTable, with the company aiming for 20 million users by 2020. Global headcount: 220 Global headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. In it together: Co-founder and CEO Ajeet Singh describes himself as “Chief Coffee Maker” and sees his job as being there to help others, even if it's just brewing another pot. ThoughtSpot’s commitment to “selfless excellence” extends into a Slack channel where employees can applaud each other for good deeds. Valuation: $417 million Explore jobs at ThoughtSpot Follow Offline marketing magic: Zenreach has transformed free wifi from a service into a tool: brick-and-mortar businesses can collect the email, demographic information and visit behavior of customers just by inviting them to log onto in-store wifi. Companies can then use that information to better target marketing campaigns to the right consumers at the right time. Global headcount: 220 Global headquarters: San Francisco Star-studded cast: Zenreach has raised $80 million in funding and collected a star-studded list of investors, including Peter Thiel, Kevin Durant and Ashton Kutcher. Valuation: $193 million Explore jobs at Zenreach Follow Keeping data safe: Storing, protecting and analyzing data is big business, and multiple enterprise startups are competing to own the space. Cohesity has been rapidly gaining momentum with its proprietary technology that allows companies to streamline their backup and data protection while delivering real-time analytics. Its products have wooed the likes of Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which are both investors. Global headcount: 210 Global headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif. Bonding on the beach: Last December, CEO and founder Mohit Aron paid for all employees and their families to vacation in Hawaii to celebrate the 4-year-old company’s rapid growth. Valuation: $537 million Explore jobs at Cohesity Follow Customer service meets business insight: Pendo is making that ubiquitous — and loathed — emailed customer feedback survey obsolete. Its software leverages in-app surveys, polls and analytics to give product developers more detailed user feedback. Revenue is up 400 percent compared to a year ago, Pendo told LinkedIn. Global headcount: 150 Global headquarters: Raleigh, N.C. Better than Bitmoji: The Raleigh, N.C.-based startup plans to double in size this year, with an estimated 150 job openings planned for the next year. New hires can look forward to their own hand-illustrated avatar that lives on Pendo’s website and their own personal coffee mug. Total funding: $56 million, according to the company. Explore jobs at Pendo Follow Know your customer: Moda Operandi is redefining what it means to be a luxury shopper in a digital age, allowing customers to pre-order clothing, accessories and jewelry straight from the runway online. New this year is Moda Operandi Madison, a private boutique off of New York’s Madison Avenue for exclusive events and appointments. Global headcount: 200 Global headquarters: New York City Happy (furry) employees: Dogs are welcome in the office anytime, including at Moda Operandi’s weekly Friday happy hours. Biped employees also get bonus and equity at every level. Valuation: $330 million Explore jobs at Moda Operandi Follow Open-source operation: Databricks is helping companies like Salesforce, Viacom and Shell accelerate innovation by unifying analytics across engineering teams, data scientists and business partners. The company was founded by the creators of the open-source processing engine Apache Spark and is committed to continuing that open tradition. Databricks believes “that no computing platform will win in the big data space unless it is fully open.” Global headcount: 220 Global headquarters: San Francisco This is the droid you’re looking for: Databricks employees enjoy free catered lunch every day, Boba tea twice a week and the chance to spot an R2D2 model around the office daily. Valuation: $856 million Explore jobs at Databricks Follow Easier apps: Skuid is a champion of the better user experience, believing that low adoption rates of business software traces back to bad UX. Based in Chattanooga, Tenn., Skuid’s platform lets businesses build analytics apps with a drag-and-drop interface instead of coding. It scored a $25 million investment this year from Iconiq, the family wealth manager of tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg. Global headcount: 175 Global headquarters: Chattanooga, Tenn. Health, ensured: Skuid covers 100 percent of insurance premiums for its employees and their dependents. Total funding: $35.62 million Explore jobs at Skuid Following Taking the pulse: Glint attempts to go beyond the employee-happiness survey of old. One of its newest products, Narrative Intelligence, uses AI to analyze employee comments and provide a visual map of what employees care about. HR execs rejoice: No more reading through thousands of survey comments. Global headcount: 130 Global headquarters: Redwood City, Calif. Walk the talk: Based on its own employee feedback, Glint has added programs like No Meeting Wednesdays, volunteer opportunities and adjustable-height desks for all employees. Total funding: $119.17 million Explore jobs at Glint Follow Standardizing software: Docker is an open-source platform that allows developers and system administrators to build, ship and run distributed applications. Its container-as-a-service platform packages software into standardized units for easier access by teams and clients, which can speed up software shipments as much as 7x for companies, according to Docker. Global headcount: 325 Global headquarters: San Francisco Who needs groceries: Employees at Docker can help themselves to lunch, dinner, snacks, and bottomless cups of coffee at the office. Valuation: $1.3 billion Explore jobs at Docker Follow Making free services pay: Credit Karma built a profitable business providing free credit reports, credit monitoring services, and — in the wake of the Equifax breach — free ID monitoring. Its services have attracted 75 million users to date, including almost half of all American millennials, according to the company. This year the fintech startup topped $500 million in revenue and opened new offices in Charlotte and Los Angeles. Global headcount: More than 700 Global headquarters: San Francisco Recharge in the office: Perks include an on-site spa for manicures and pedicures, nap nooks and dedicated rooms for music jam sessions, art creation and retro arcade games. Valuation: $3.5 billion Explore jobs at Credit Karma Follow Better sleep, wherever: Direct-to-consumer mattress maker Casper has gone beyond its flagship single product. It introduced products like a humidity fighting duvet, an adjustable bed frame and a dog bed. Casper has also gone offline in a big way this year, launching a roving “bedmobile,” retail pop-ups and a Target partnership that puts its products in stores across the U.S. Global headcount: 350 Global headquarters: New York City Sleeping on the job: New employees receive a full suite of Casper sleep products, from the mattress to pillows to sheets, to ensure they are well-rested. If mid-afternoon sleepiness hits, they also have access to office nap pods for a quick snooze. Valuation: $920 million Explore jobs at Casper Follow Making search flexible: Elastic believes that good things come from connecting the dots — lots and lots of them. The company builds open-source data software for easier search, logging, security and analytics in real-time. Elastic’s products have been downloaded more than 150 million times and its community has grown to more than 100,000 developers across 100 countries. Global headcount: 600 Global headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. Distributed talent: Elastic searches far and wide for the best tech talent regardless of location — and embraces a distributed workforce model. The company started with employees in places like Amsterdam, London, Prague and Barcelona. Valuation: $700 million Explore jobs at Elastic Reported by: Chip Cutter, Susan Jackson, Laura Lorenzetti and Ashley Peterson Corrections: Valuations and funding for Sprout Social, Udacity, Aryaka Networks, Convoy, Pinterest and Cylance have been updated with information directly from the company. Global headcounts for Ring, Darktrace, Pinterest and Airbnb have been updated. WeWork recently acquired Flatiron School; it was incorrectly stated as the company's first acquisition.
    观点
    2017年11月05日
  • 观点
    英文阅读:(人工智能与人力资源)AI and human understanding will win the war for talent 简单讲就是AI人工智能与人力资源是一个好的结合点,尤其是招聘面试的时候,AI可以更好的帮忙搜索简历,进行人才搜寻。 同时面试的时候可以用人工智能的聊天机器人与候选人进行基础的面试管理安排以及与面试官进行协作。这块国内专注面试管理服务的优面宝已经开始这方面的工作。在前期职位分析与人才匹配阶段国内很多招聘服务机构也开始了各种的AI机器人的工作。 一切都在路上!人工智能在人力资源上的机会刚刚开始! One of the most well known tropes in startup and tech culture is that your business is only as good as the team behind it. You can’t do anything without having a strong team, and the most important job for every manager is to hire quality talent that fits into the preexisting team dynamics. The HR and recruiting industry has dedicated itself to finding the people who are right for your company, but the process of skimming resumes and calling in highly rated candidates for an interview hasn’t changed for the past decade or so. However, the newest trend, AI, is infiltrating all industries. While it might be a very good thing, you shouldn’t put all your hiring eggs in that AI basket. The best solution combines the strengths of HR and AI. AI in the hiring process We’ve all been hearing (and reading) about how AI will completely take over our lives. We’ve also been frightened into thinking it will soon replace all of us. While the job of getting people jobs will not be replaced by AI anytime soon, the tech can offer major improvements to the process. To find the right talent, you need to have the ability to scan resumes quickly, read people immediately, and imagine the future of the applicant sitting in front of you. While some of that work can be replaced by AI, currently we are nowhere near an AI that can read people and assess their fit within the culture of the workplace. But some of the processes for finding the right people to join your company — such as immediately asking for more information, screening, and highlighting special candidates — can be done more quickly and efficiently with AI. The integration of AI is not just about saving the company time and resources. It also saves time and uncertainty for the candidate. Getting back to top talent to set up an interview a week from now is the best way to have them move on to the next opportunity. If you can provide instantaneous feedback on every application, you get a leg up over other companies looking to snag that candidate, instead of wasting their time and missing a hire. Onboarding with chatbots The optimal way to maximize efficiency is combining human and technological resources. A chatbot can onboard new candidates as quickly as possible, as opposed to a form that might never get filled out. If you build a real AI chat bot, you can give candidates real-time feedback on their applications and ask questions to gather information before any interview is scheduled. The bot can even automatically analyze the candidate’s resume and information while onboarding and give them real-time responses relevant to them, making sure that the right people get called in for an interview and that the interviewer has the right information before even asking the first question. After the chatbot has done its job and flagged the relevant candidates according to your parameters, the human element kicks in. Hiring managers don’t have to read the whole resume, supporting documents, and answers to a questionnaire because AIs can create a personalized summary of documents. The AI behind the hiring process can create a five-bullet summary of everything that’s important to know about each candidate. It can even set up the interview on its own. This means even small companies where C-level executives do the hiring don’t waste time on pre-interview screening, and interviewers have concise information about each candidate before they walk in the room. The interview is where the human intelligence and expertise shine. Things like a candidate’s cultural fit, connection, and ability to work with others, along with the hiring manager’s overall impression of a person, are vital. Humans can focus on what they do best and automate the rest. The future of AI in recruiting At the end of the day, hiring a person doesn’t just hinge on facts and figures, it depends on who they are. And that’s something AIs still can’t assess. But the process of going through those facts and figures to see if someone is qualified can certainly be automated by an intelligent bot. The value is increased by the fact that you can onboard and convert candidates quickly, meaning top talent will be more likely to work for you and you’ll take less time filling important positions at your company. The combination of AI and human understanding is what hiring managers need to win the war on talent — and save a few dollars, as well as time. Moritz Kothe is the chief executive officer of kununu, a place to find and share workplace insights.
    观点
    2017年11月04日