Title：VC Funding: Why Startups Are Failing to Raise Cash?

Brief Introduction：

After years of venture capital flowing freely into early-stage tech companies, investors are getting pickier. That’s forcing founders to make tough decisions and causing more of them to shut down.?

WSJ Pro Venture Capital reporter Yuliya Chernova joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss the landscape for startup funding and what it's like to be a founder these days.

簡(jiǎn)介：

在多年的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)資本自由流入早期科技公司之后，投資者變得越來越挑剔。這迫使創(chuàng)始人做出艱難的決定，并導(dǎo)致更多的創(chuàng)始人倒閉。

《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》專業(yè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資記者Yuliya Chernova與主持人Zoe Thomas一起討論創(chuàng)業(yè)資金的前景以及如今作為創(chuàng)始人的感受。

正文：

Welcome?to?Tech?News?briefing.?It's?Wednesday,?June?14.?I'm?Zoe?Thomas?for?the?Wall?Street?Journal.?For?years?leading?up?to?and?through?the?pandemic,?money?was?pouring?in?to?startups.?But?as?economic?conditions?have?changed?and?interest?rates?have?risen.?Funding?is?harder?to?come?by,?and?many?venture?backed?startups?are?running?out?of?cash?that's?forcing?leaders?of?these?startups?to?change?their?business?plans.?One?of?them?is?Samantha?Ettus,?CEO?of?the?FinTech?Park?Place?Payments.?

歡迎來到科技新聞簡(jiǎn)報(bào)會(huì)。今天是6月14日，星期三。我是《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》的佐伊·托馬斯。在大流行之前和過去的幾年里，資金涌入初創(chuàng)企業(yè)。但是隨著經(jīng)濟(jì)狀況的變化和利率的上升。資金很難獲得，許多風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資支持的初創(chuàng)公司現(xiàn)金耗盡，這迫使這些初創(chuàng)公司的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者改變他們的商業(yè)計(jì)劃。其中之一是FinTech?(金融科技）公園支付公司首席執(zhí)行官薩曼莎·埃圖斯?(Samantha?Ettus)。

Ediths?founded?the?company?in?2018,?and?it?raised?$4?million?from?venture?investors.?But?Edith?told?me?she?started?to?notice?a?shift?in?the?market?last?year?in?20?twenty-two?towards?the,?I?would?say,?end?of?summer.?There?were?rumblings?of?like,?oh,?things?are,?are?changing?fast.?You?sort?of?started?hearing?rumblings?of?like,?money's?drying?up.?The?Vcs?are?tightening?their?belts.?Everyone?is?getting?a?lot?more?concerned?about?what's?to?come.?And?I?started?feeling?that,?too,?as?a?founder.?

伊迪絲于2018年創(chuàng)立了該公司，并從風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資者那里籌集了400萬美元。但是伊迪絲?(Edith)?告訴我，她開始注意到去年20月22日市場(chǎng)向夏末轉(zhuǎn)變。有傳言說，哦，事情正在迅速變化。你開始聽到類似的傳言，錢在枯竭。風(fēng)投們正在勒緊褲腰帶。每個(gè)人都越來越關(guān)心即將發(fā)生的事情。作為一名創(chuàng)始人，我也開始感覺到這一點(diǎn)。

What?exactly?did?you?experience??Was?it?the?end?of?2022.?You?know,?what?were?your?investors?telling?you,?What?were?you?hearing?from?banks?in?terms?of?getting?new?money?to?move?the?company?forward.?Yeah,?I?mean.?

你到底經(jīng)歷了什么？是2022年底。你知道，你的投資者告訴了你什么，你從銀行聽到了什么關(guān)于獲得新資金推動(dòng)公司向前發(fā)展的信息。是的，我是說。

Towards?the?end?of?summer,?we?had?a?term?sheet?from?a?lead?investor,?and?they?just?were?suddenly?unable?to?fulfill?the?amount?that?they?had?committed.?They?just?suddenly?were?like,?it's?not?happening.?And?I'd?already?raised?money?around?that.?And?that?was?a?huge?blow?to?us.?And?it?put?us?in?a?pretty?precarious?situation.?And?so?we?had?to?pivot?and?adjust?really?fast.?So?you?sold?the?company?6?weeks?ago.?

夏末，我們收到了一份來自主要投資者的條款說明書，他們只是突然無法履行他們承諾的金額。他們只是突然覺得，這沒有發(fā)生。我已經(jīng)為此籌集了資金。這對(duì)我們來說是一個(gè)巨大的打擊。這讓我們處于一個(gè)非常不穩(wěn)定的境地。因此，我們必須快速調(diào)整和調(diào)整。所以你6周前賣掉了公司。

Was?that?ever?an?expectation?of?yours?that?you?would?have?to?sell?the?company.?No,?this?was?not?the?outcome?I?expected.?It?was,?very?much,?you?know,?I?was?building?a?company?that?we?were?going?to?have?for?years?on?end?that?was?creating?this?revenue?stream?for?tons?of?people,?freelancers?that?work?for?us.?That?was?the?goal.?It?was?never?the?goal?to?sell?this?early.?And?it?was?really?some?of?my,?a?couple?of?seasoned?investors?who?came?to?me.?And?they?were?like,?this?is?the?time?to?sell.?The?market?is?getting?way?worse.?People?are?scrambling?to?find?outcomes.?You?want?to?get?ahead?of?this.?

你是否期望你必須賣掉公司。不，這不是我期望的結(jié)果。非常，你知道，我正在建立一家公司，我們將擁有多年的公司，為大量為我們工作的自由職業(yè)者創(chuàng)造收入來源。這就是目標(biāo)。盡早出售從來都不是目標(biāo)。真的是我的一些，幾個(gè)經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的投資者來找我。他們就像，現(xiàn)在是賣的時(shí)候了。市場(chǎng)越來越糟。人們爭(zhēng)先恐后地尋找結(jié)果。你想提前。

Of?course,?not?all?startups?are?able?to?find?a?buyer?or?make?changes?to?stay?afloat.?It's?a?dire?time?in?startup?land.?Julia?Chernova?covers?venture?capital?for?WSJ?Pro,?and?she's?been?looking?into?this?broader?downturn.?Julia,?A?lot?of?funding?for?startups?comes?from?venture?capital?investors.?

當(dāng)然，并不是所有的初創(chuàng)公司都能找到買家或做出改變來維持生計(jì)。在創(chuàng)業(yè)之地，這是一個(gè)可怕的時(shí)刻。朱莉婭·切爾諾娃?(Julia?Chernova)?為《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》?(WSJ?Pro)?提供風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資，她一直在調(diào)查這一更廣泛的低迷。朱莉婭，創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的大量資金來自風(fēng)險(xiǎn)資本投資者。

How?has?VC's?approach?to?investing?in?these?young?companies?changed.?Oh,?so?much?change.?You?know.?Just?Vcs?fund.?These?companies?have?totally?different?expectations?from?the?expectations.?They?had?a?couple?of?years?ago.?So?for?the?founders,?what?they?have?to?demonstrate,?the?traction?they?have?to?show?to?investors?to?get?any?kind?of?funding?is?very?different.?

VC對(duì)這些年輕公司的投資方式發(fā)生了怎樣的變化。哦，變化太大了。你知道的。只是風(fēng)投基金。這些公司的預(yù)期與預(yù)期完全不同。他們幾年前有過。因此，對(duì)于創(chuàng)始人來說，他們必須證明的是，他們必須向投資者展示的牽引力才能獲得任何形式的資金，這是非常不同的。

The?Vcs?want?to?see?much?more?traction?revenue?customers?than?they?did?before?for?the?same?level?of?investment.?And?they?want?the?companies?to?grow?fast.?But?at?the?same?time,?something?that?they?didn't?care?about?as?much?before,?they?want?the?founders?to?keep?costs?low,?to?keep?headcount?low,?to?keep?spending?low,?right.?So,?and?to?make?every?customer?profitable.?So?this?is?very?difficult?for?these?high?growth?companies?and?very?few?of?them?can?really?persuade?investors?to?give?them?more?money.?

對(duì)于相同水平的投資，風(fēng)投希望看到比以前更多的牽引收入客戶。他們希望公司快速發(fā)展。但與此同時(shí)，他們以前不太關(guān)心的事情是，他們希望創(chuàng)始人保持低成本，保持低員工人數(shù)，保持低支出，對(duì)吧。所以，讓每個(gè)客戶都盈利。所以這對(duì)于這些高成長(zhǎng)的公司來說是非常困難的，真正能夠說服投資者給他們更多的錢的很少。

We?heard?from?one?founder?who?talked?about?having?to?sell?her?company?in?order?to?survive.?Can?you?tell?us?about?some?of?the?other?tough?decisions?that?founders?are?having?to?make?sure,?and?sometimes?companies?just?run?out?of?money,?They?have?no?choice?but?to?shut?down?and?try?to?sell?their?assets?piece?by?piece.?And?then,?I?mean,?some?companies?do?manage?to?find?a?way?out?by?pivoting?their?business.?They?can?no?longer?pursue?the?idea?they?originally?had,?but?then?maybe?there?is?a?related?idea?that?does?work.?

我們聽到一位創(chuàng)始人談到必須出售她的公司才能生存。你能告訴我們一些其他艱難的決定嗎，創(chuàng)始人必須確保，有時(shí)公司只是沒錢了，他們別無選擇，只能關(guān)閉并試圖逐塊出售他們的資產(chǎn)。然后，我的意思是，一些公司確實(shí)設(shè)法通過調(diào)整業(yè)務(wù)來找到出路。他們不能再追求他們最初的想法，但也許有一個(gè)相關(guān)的想法確實(shí)有效。

What?about?the?companies?that?can?survive??It?seems?like?we're?seeing?an?uptick?in?that?as?well.?How?does?that?compare?to?past?years.?Because?startups?generally,?you?know,?shut?down?all?the?time.?It's?a?hard?business.?Yes,?you're?right.?In?the?venture?capital?space,?a?lot?of?companies?are?not?expected?to?make?it.?And?when?Vcs?invest,?you?know,?they?invest?in?these?high?risk,?high?businesses?with?idea?that?only?a?few?make?it?big,?and?then?the?rest?of?them?don't.?

那些能夠生存的公司呢？看起來我們也看到了這一趨勢(shì)的上升。與過去幾年相比如何？因?yàn)槌鮿?chuàng)企業(yè)通常會(huì)一直關(guān)閉。這是一項(xiàng)艱巨的工作。是的，你是對(duì)的。在風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資領(lǐng)域，許多公司預(yù)計(jì)不會(huì)成功。當(dāng)風(fēng)投投資時(shí)，你知道，他們投資于這些高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)、高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的企業(yè)，他們的想法是只有少數(shù)幾個(gè)能做大，而其余的企業(yè)卻沒有。

So?what's?going?on?now,?It?does?feel?like?anecdotally?from?speaking?with?V.?C.?S,?from?speaking?with?founders?as?well?as?these?companies?that?provide?restructuring?services,?that?there's?much?more?shutting?down?happening?this?year?than?last?year.?And?then?in?2021?and?one?of?the?reasons?is?that?there?was?just?so?much?capital?in?21,?both?from?Vcs?and?from?the?government?that?supported?small?businesses,?that?it?seems?like?some?of?the?companies?that?maybe?wouldn't?have?survived?without?all?that?extra?support?they?just?now?running?out?of?money.?

所以現(xiàn)在發(fā)生的事情，從與V交談中確實(shí)感覺像是軼事。C.通過與創(chuàng)始人以及這些提供重組服務(wù)的公司交談，今年發(fā)生的倒閉事件比去年多得多。然后在2021年，原因之一是21年只有如此多的資本，無論是來自風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司還是支持小企業(yè)的政府，似乎有些公司如果沒有這些額外的支持，他們可能就活不下來了。

What?does?all?of?this?mean?for?the?venture?capital?firms?to?have?all?of?these?shutdowns?and?even?all?of?these?pivots?from,?some?of?the?companies?they?invest?in.?

所有這些對(duì)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司來說意味著什么，所有這些關(guān)閉，甚至所有這些樞軸都來自他們投資的一些公司。

Well,?that's?the?big?question.?We?are?already?seeing?negative?returns?for?the?first?time?for?VC.?Firms?overall.?That?hit?in?the?third?quarter?of?last?year.?That?was?the?most?recent?data?we?have?available,?and?that?was?the?first?time?that?there?was?kind?of?an?annual?negative?return?for?VC.?Firms?overall,?since?2009,?some?of?that?is?probably?due?to?shut?down.?Some?of?that?is?just?due?to?lower?valuations?for?existing?companies?that?are?still?active?but?just?are?not?valued?as?highly.?So?for?the?Vcs,?the?existing?portfolios?are?going?to?be?suffering?and?the?values?will?be?suffering,?for?sure.?At?the?same?time,?for?the?Vcs,?the?current?market,?in?terms?of?new?investments,?looks?pretty?good.?

這是個(gè)大問題。我們已經(jīng)第一次看到風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資的負(fù)回報(bào)。公司整體。這發(fā)生在去年第三季度。這是我們獲得的最新數(shù)據(jù)，這是VC首次出現(xiàn)年度負(fù)回報(bào)?？傮w而言，自2009年以來，其中一些可能是由于關(guān)閉。其中一些原因只是由于對(duì)仍活躍但估值不高的現(xiàn)有公司的估值較低。因此，對(duì)于風(fēng)投來說，現(xiàn)有的投資組合肯定會(huì)受到影響，而價(jià)值肯定會(huì)受到影響。同時(shí)，對(duì)于風(fēng)投來說，目前的市場(chǎng)，就新投資而言，看起來還不錯(cuò)。

Vcs?like?it?when?valuations?are?down?and?when?founders?don't?have?a?lot?of?capital?sources,?right,?so?that?Vcs?can?keep?prices?low?and?can?buy?into?good?companies?cheaper.?And?this?is?hope?is?that?they?can?now?invest?in?these?lean,?mean?money?making?machines,?you?know,?which?is?very?different?from?Twenty-one.?

當(dāng)估值下降時(shí)，當(dāng)創(chuàng)始人沒有很多資金來源時(shí)，風(fēng)投會(huì)喜歡它，對(duì)吧，這樣風(fēng)投可以保持低價(jià)，可以更便宜地買入好公司。這就是希望他們現(xiàn)在可以投資于這些精益的，卑鄙的賺錢機(jī)器，你知道，這與21臺(tái)非常不同。

When?every?company?was?birdie?money?and?super?blowed?it,?what?does?this?mean?then,?from?the?founders?perspective.?For?people?who?want?to?start?companies.?Definitely?much?harder?to?start?a?company?now?in?terms?of?raising?money.?Do?you?have?to?show?much?more?to?your?investors??Prove?that?this?business?will?turn?profitable.?Or?at?least?on?the?kind?of?unit?economics?level,?will?turn?profitable?quickly?and?that?you?can?do?it?on?the?cheap.?Sort?of,?you?can?grow?fast?on?the?cheap,?but?there?are?some?advantages?to?the?current?market?for?starting?a?company?in?terms?of?access?to?talent?and?new.?The?fact?that?there?were?so?many?layoffs?in?the?tech?market?means?that?startups?can?also?find?new?employees?cheaper?and?started?building.?

從創(chuàng)始人的角度來看，當(dāng)每家公司都是小鳥錢并超級(jí)大賺一筆時(shí)，這意味著什么。對(duì)于想創(chuàng)辦公司的人來說。就籌集資金而言，現(xiàn)在創(chuàng)辦一家公司肯定要困難得多。你必須向你的投資者展示更多嗎？證明這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)將實(shí)現(xiàn)盈利?；蛘咧辽僭趩挝唤?jīng)濟(jì)水平上，將迅速實(shí)現(xiàn)盈利，并且您可以廉價(jià)地做到這一點(diǎn)。在某種程度上，你可以在廉價(jià)的情況下快速成長(zhǎng)，但在獲得人才和新人才方面，目前的市場(chǎng)對(duì)創(chuàng)辦一家公司有一些優(yōu)勢(shì)?？萍际袌?chǎng)裁員如此之多，這意味著初創(chuàng)公司也可以找到更便宜的新員工并開始建設(shè)。

Alright,?that's?a?WSJ.?Pro?venture?capital?Reporter?Julia?Chernova.?And?that's?it?for?today's?tech?news?briefing.?For?more?tech?stories,?head?over?to?our?website,?W?SJ?dot?com.?I'm?Zoe?Thomas?for?The?Wall?Street?Journal.?Thanks?for?listening.?

好的，那是《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》。風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資記者Julia?Chernova今天的科技新聞發(fā)布會(huì)就到此為止。有關(guān)更多技術(shù)故事，請(qǐng)?jiān)L問我們的網(wǎng)站W(wǎng)SJ?dot?com。我是《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》的佐伊·托馬斯。謝謝你的傾聽。

不要忘記一鍵三連噢！?。?/p>

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