With the world buzzing over Apple’s reveal this month of the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch, it’s hard to believe that this multi-trillion-dollar tech giant was once a small computer startup.如今，全世界都在谈论苹果公司（Apple）刚刚发售的iPhone 6和苹果手表（Apple Watch），人们很难坚信，这家价值数万亿美元的科技巨头曾多次也只是一家较小的初创电脑公司。For many entrepreneurs, the epic trajectory of Apple AAPL -0.87% — or Facebook FB -1.63% or Twitter TWTR 0.07% , for that matter — serves as evidence that the consumer space is where you go to launch a winning startup.对于许多创业者们而言，苹果、Facebook或Twitter的发展轨迹，证明消费者市场才是创业的蓝海。

But that doesn’t always hold true. By foregoing the potentials of selling to business (as opposed to consumers), entrepreneurs are missing out on a world of opportunities — and lucrative ones at that.但这一点并非一直都是准确的。如果退出与公司经商（与消费者市场忽略）的潜力，创业者们将错失大量有利可图的好机遇。As a board member at 1871, Chicago’s entrepreneurial hub for startups, I see a lot of startups and know what B2C companies can learn from B2B startups, including Fieldglass, MarkITx and Eved.作为芝加哥创业服务的组织1871的董事会成员，笔者认识过许多初创企业，因此很确切B2C（企业对消费者）公司可以从B2B（企业对企业）初创公司教给什么，还包括人力资源管理公司Fieldglass、在线企业硬件交易平台MarkITx和会议与活动在线交易市场Eved。

The B2B space is rife with potential; by integrating new technologies into traditional businesses, entrepreneurs can dramatically improve efficiencies, uncover new markets, solve longstanding problems and, in some cases, disrupt entire industries. Indeed, an increasing number of B2B startups are experiencing rapid growth while achieving enviable profit margins.B2B领域有极大的潜力；通过将新技术统合到传统业务当中，创业者们可以明显提高效率，开发新市场，解决问题长期存在的问题，在某些情况下，甚至不会政治宣传整个行业。事实上，更加多的B2B初创公司正在经历快速增长，同时提供了令人艳羡的利润。Take Fieldglass, for example. Once a small startup, the Chicago-based software company is now the biggest vendor management system (VMS) provider in the world. In May, it was reportedly acquired by SAP for more than $1 billion, one of the largest sales of a privately held tech company in recent years.以Fieldglass为事例。这家芝加哥软件公司最初规模较小，如今已沦为全世界仅次于的供应商管理系统（VMS）提供商。

据报导，该公司在今年五月被SAP公司以多达10亿美元的价格并购，这是近几年规模仅次于的私人科技公司交易。Or consider MarkITx, an online marketplace to trade enterprise IT hardware, which earned a $12 million valuation after only eight months of operations. After speaking with its co-founder Frank Muscarello, the company’s revenues are up 300 percent this year compared to last.再行比如企业IT硬件在线交易平台MarkITx，公司正式成立仅有8个月，市值之后早已超过1,200万美元。笔者从公司牵头创始人弗兰克o姆斯卡莱罗那里了解到，公司今年的收益同比快速增长了300%。

To launch the next great startup, here are six lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from B2B companies about how to launch the next great startup:要创立下一家最出色的初创公司，创业者们应当从B2B公司学会以下六条经验：Target your first customers wisely明智地确认第一批客户Many B2B businesses design their products and services around their initial clients, making it critically important to take a strategic approach to recruiting those first customers. Talia Mashiach, founder and CEO of Eved, went after large firms like Dell when her company was still in its early stages. She then designed Eved’s platform and online marketplace to address those customers’ needs and provide visibility into their meeting and the total amount spent on an event. That set the stage for the recruitment of other large-scale firms and helped her stock her online marketplace with more than 5,000 companies.许多B2B公司往往不会环绕最初客户来设计产品与服务，因此通过战略方法更有第一批客户就显得至关重要。Eved正式成立之初，公司创始人兼任CEO塔利亚o弥赛亚追赶的目标是戴尔（Dell）等大公司。后来，她设计了Eved平台和在线市场，以解决问题这些客户的市场需求，使客户可以直观理解会议和活动的总支出。而这为更有其他大公司奠下了基础，协助她将客户减少到5,000多家公司。

Long-term value of customers is critical客户的长年价值至关重要Generally speaking, B2B companies have longer sales cycles than B2C firms. However, most B2B customers are long-term customers and, in the end, companies can extract greater value from them. After Jai Shekhawat founded Fieldglass in 1999, it took him more than a year to land his first customers, which included Verizon VZ -0.80% , AIGAIG -3.34% , GlaxoSmithKline GSK -1.33% and Johnson Johnson JNJ -2.36% . But he held on to them, and now each spend billions on contract labor annually. To date, Fieldglass boasts a customer retention rate of more than 99%.一般而言，B2B公司的销售周期比B2C公司更长。但大多数B2B客户都是长年客户，最后，B2B公司可以从客户提供更加多价值。1999年，贾伊o谢卡瓦特正式成立Fieldglass，他花上了多达一年时间才寻找第一批客户，其中还包括威瑞森（Verizon）、美国国际集团（AIG）、葛兰素史克（GlaxoSmithKline）和杜邦（Johnson Johnson）。

但他仍然紧紧抓住这批客户，现在这些客户每年在合约雇工方面的支出都超过数十亿美元。到目前为止，Fieldglass的客户维持亲率多达99%。To generate steady revenue, focus on opportunities to generate reoccurring revenue要取得平稳的收益，应当逃跑需要产生经常性收益的机会。Prioritize customers that are most likely to use your product or service repeatedly.将最有可能重复使用公司产品或服务的客户放在首位。

Muscarello knew that financial companies would serve as ideal suppliers for his online exchange because they invest heavily in IT and frequently purge their inventory to make room for the latest technology. MarkITx’s first customer, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is now on its 22nd trade since August 2013.姆斯卡莱罗自知，金融公司将是其在线交易平台的理想供应商，因为金融公司不会在IT方面展开大量投放，并且常常要清扫库存，为近期技术留出空间。MarkITx的第一家客户是芝加哥商业交易所（Chicago Mercantile Exchange），从2013年8月以来已展开了22次交易。Build something that sticks研发有粘性的服务或产品To develop a long-term relationship with your customers, you need to create products or services that are inherently “sticky” and provide several levels of integration within a company. MarkITx’s dashboard plugs into companies via API and provides real-time data about the mark-to-market value of their assets and the optimal time to refresh their IT infrastructure. As a result, these companies regularly check the dashboard and are more apt to use MarkITx when it comes time to sell their assets. Fieldglass takes integration a step further by staying enmeshed in its customers’ problems. It monitors, for example, changes in labor laws (in Europe alone, Shekhawat estimates that there are 25-30 changes per month) and ensures that its software immediately reflect those shifts. In turn, customers grow more dependent on Fieldglass to manage their problem for them.要与客户维持长年关系，必需创立天生具备“粘性”的产品与服务，并且为同一家公司客户包括多个层级的统合服务。MarkITx的仪表板可以通过应用于程序接口（API）相连到客户公司，为客户获取其资产的动态市场价值数据，以及改版IT基础设施的最佳时间。

结果，这些公司不会常常查阅仪表板，而且在必须出售资产的时候，不会更加偏向于用于MarkITx。通过投身客户遇上的实际困难当中，Fieldglass可以提早为客户打造出整合性服务。

例如，公司不会紧密注目劳动法的变化（谢卡瓦特估算，仅有在欧洲，每月之后不会有25-30一处变化），并保证其软件能及时体现这些变化。因此，为了解决问题，客户对Fieldglass显得更加倚赖。Look for a business idea on your desk从眼前找寻商机Think about the problems your company is facing or how you might address issues in your industry. There are business ideas there — maybe not sexy ones, but solid, profitable ones. Shekhawat came up with the idea for Fieldglass after serving as a contract developer, working for a technology vendor and consulting for buyers and customers, where he witnessed the challenges of managing contract labor. That insider knowledge also enabled him to build a company that easily overshadowed the five preceding competitors (all have since gone out of business).思维一下你的公司目前面对的问题，或者你不会如何解决问题行业内的问题。

商机无处不在——也许这些机遇没那么令人兴奋，但却十分可信且有利可图。谢卡瓦特在产生创立Fieldglass的点子之前，曾做到过合约程序开发员，为一家技术供应商工作，并为买方和客户获取咨询，后来他找到了管理合约雇工所面对的挑战。对行业内情的理解，也使他创立的公司精彩击败了其他5家竞争对手（这些公司都已倒闭）。

Know when to venture further确切何时采行下一步行动Consider whether the work you’re doing now could parlay into something bigger. Before Eved went global in 2010, it was a local service company that grew to $10 million in four years and landed on the Inc. 500. But Mashiach knew that there was a bigger opportunity out there. So she sold Eved’s service side, took its RD and re-launched it as a global company, with her sights set on a billion-dollar goal.思维一下，你现在的工作能否变为更大的事业。2010年，Eved进占国际市场之前，还是一家本土服务公司，公司规模在4年内快速增长到1,000万美元，并选入Inc. 500强劲（Inc. 500）排行榜。

但弥赛亚确切，海外有更加多机会。于是，她出售了Eved的服务部门，保有了研发部，将其新的打导致一家全球性公司，她的目标是公司市值超过十亿美元。

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