如何融资900万？│90后女孩创业之路

WayUp是目前美国最大的大学生求职网站，然而很少有人知道，这家网站的创始人兼CEO竟然只是个26岁的年轻姑娘。当被问到她何以这么快取得成功时，莉兹·韦塞尔只说了两个字：“抓紧”。

最近，在创业服务公司WeWork召开的一次Brunchwork纽约创业研讨会上，从莉兹·韦塞尔的发言中，我们不难看出WayUp为什么在短时间内增长得如此之快。

“我曾亲眼看见，2万多人都指望一个只有10人的所谓‘就业服务中心’来替他们找工作。”

韦塞尔认识创业合伙人的经历也颇为传奇。她侵入了宾西法尼亚大学的数据库，靠这种方法找到了合伙人J·弗里格曼，随后建立了自己的公司。如今，WayUp已拥有9,000余名付费用户。那么，她又是怎样做到这一切的？

1.建立一个市场

莉兹·韦塞尔表示：“双边市场是极难建立的，构建单边市场通常比较容易，但构建另一边则很难，尤其是付费的那一边。”

WayUp为客户提供了两样东西，以鼓励企业使用其服务。韦塞尔表示，他们对企业做出了这样的承诺：“先收起你的信用卡，等到你招聘到合格的人才再付款。”

那么，WayUp如何确保企业能招到合格的人才呢？首先，WayUp的个人资料会收集每名求职者30多项结构化的数据点。比如，每名求职者都要回答以下问题：你在大学里曾经加入什么社团？你有车吗？你懂HTML吗？

韦塞尔表示：“一旦我们获得了所有这些信息，我们就会基于你的个人履历，向你显示你有资格去申请的职位。”

2.鼓励用户进行参与

一个品牌最好的支持者，就是它自己的用户。从WayUp成立第一天开始，使用该服务的大学生们就对WayUp的增长起了极为重要的推动作用。

从一开始，WayUp就聘用了一些用户作为它的校园代表。如今，该公司每学期聘用的校园代表都超过了700人。

用户的权力大到甚至可以给公司改名。WayUp原本叫作CampusJobs，莉兹称取这个名字“完全是个错误”，最后也是在用户的倡议下改成了现在的名字。

“如果公司的名字阻碍了公司的增长，那你就必须改个名字。”

在两名用户提出了WayUp这个名字后，下一步就是给公司设计个logo了。也正是通过WayUp这个平台，该公司招到了一名出色的图形设计师，他只用了几天的时间，就设计出了现在的这个logo。

3.成功获得融资

莉兹·韦塞尔原本并没有融资的打算，但后来她意识到，公司要想实现发展，就免不了要对外融资。

这家初创公司很快吸引了知名创业孵化器Y Combinator的注意。虽然一些创业孵化器经常会帮助初创公司进行融资，但这对莉兹却依然是一个艰难的选择。她说，她后来之所以改变了主意，是因为她意识到：“Y Combinator不仅仅能帮我们融资。更重要的是，它是一个社区，还是一个网络。”

在2周的窗口期里，WayUp获得了第一笔200万美元的融资。如今，这家公司已经获得了超过900万美元的融资。

“你要告诉（投资人），你想拿到的融资要多于你实际需要的钱，因为你的融资有可能需要超过你的预算。”

在谈及WayUp的未来时，莉兹·韦塞尔表示：“我们的目标是成为所有‘千禧一代’人的就业市场。”（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

Hustle. That’s what Liz Wessel, the 26 year-old founder and CEO of WayUp, attributes her rapid success to. WayUp is the largest marketplace for jobs for US college students and recent grads.

At our recent brunchwork NYC startup workshop at WeWork, it was evident why WayUp has grown so much in such a short time.

“I saw first-hand how ridiculous it was that 20,000 people were relying on a small office of 10 people called Career Services to help them all get jobs.”

After finding her cofounder J.J. Fliegelman by hacking into a University of Pennsylvania database, Liz Wessel began building her startup, which now has over 9,000 paying customers. Here’s how she did it:

1.She built a marketplace

“Two-sided marketplaces are incredibly hard to build,” Liz said. “There is usually one side that is easier to build than the other. The side that pays is harder to acquire.”

WayUp encouraged companies to use their service by offering them two things: quality and no-risk. Liz said, they told businesses: “Put your credit card down and you’ll only pay if you get qualified applicants.”

How did they ensure applicants were qualified? WayUp profiles collect an average of 30 structured data points about each applicant. Job seekers answer questions like: What frat or sorority are you in? Do you have a car? Do you know HTML?

“Once we have all that information, we only show you jobs that you are qualified to apply for based on your profile,” Liz said.

2. She engaged users

The best advocates for your brand are often your own users. From Day 1, the same students that use WayUp have been the key to growing it.

Since the beginning, WayUp hired their own users to be campus reps. Today, the company has over 700 campus reps every semester.

Users were even responsible for renaming the company. WayUp was formerly known as CampusJobs, a name Liz said was “a mistake.”

“When your name is a barrier to your growth, it’s an immediate sign that you need to change your name.”

After two users proposed the new name, the next step was to create a logo. Through WayUp, the company hired a graphic designer who created the current logo in a matter of days.

3. She raised capital

While she initially wanted to bootstrap, Liz realized that the company needed to fundraise in order to grow.

The startup caught the attention of leading accelerator Y Combinator. Although accelerators can often help startups fundraise, it was a tough decision for Liz. She said the decision changed when she realized, “YC was much more than just fundraising. It was a community. It was a network.”

WayUp raised their first $2 million in a 2-week window. Now, the company has raised over $9 million.

“Tell [investors] that you are going to raise more than you think you are going to need because you probably are going to need to raise more than you budget.”

As to the future of WayUp, Liz Wessel said, “Our vision is to become the job marketplace for all millennials.”