Blue Sprig：硅谷初创公司在中国的尝试

美国硅谷布满外国的初创公司，它们的总部设在海外，但是在旧金山湾区（Bay Area）设立了办事处，通常是为了既能接近硅谷的投资人，又能接近美国的整体市场。可是，你很少能看到美国的初创公司把总部设在硅谷，却到国外建立业务运营的核心部门。经验丰富的科技商人詹森·约翰逊迈出了第一步。
Silicon Valley is full of foreign startups that are headquartered overseas but set up offices in the Bay Area, usually to gain access to the Valley's funders and the U.S. market in general. But very ra*y do you see a U.S. startup that's headquartered in Silicon Valley but goes overseas to set up a core part of its operations.
美国硅谷布满外国的初创公司，它们的总部设在海外，但在旧金山湾区（Bay Area）设立了办事处，通常是为了既能接近硅谷的投资人，又能接近美国的整体市场。可是，你很少能看到美国的初创公司把总部设在硅谷，却到国外建立业务运营的核心部门。
That, however, is exactly what tech veteran Jason Johnson did earlier this year when he cofounded Blue Sprig, a company that builds smartphone security and maintenance apps. (Think McAfee for the iOS and Android set.)
而这正是经验丰富的科技商人詹森·约翰逊（Jason Johnson）今年初做的事。当时，他与人合作创办了Blue Sprig——一家开发智能手机安全与维护程序的公司。（请想想迈克菲（McAfee）为iOS和Android装置所做的一切。）
This is no typical outsourcing story. A serial entrepreneur and former Dolby Laboratories executive, Johnson actually joined forces with a Chinese entrepreneur and cofounded a company together, setting up their entire engineering team in that country and leaving only Johnson, the company's CEO, and a business development executive in San Francisco.
这并不是典型的外包故事。软件开发企业家、杜比实验室（Dolby Laboratories）前高管约翰逊实实在在地与中国企业家强强联手，共同创办了一家公司。他们在中国建立了自己的整个工程团队，只把公司的首席执行官约翰逊和一名业务拓展专员留在旧金山。
Six months later, Blue Sprig has $10 million in A-list funding and a suite of products on the market--both of which Johnson tells Fast Company were made possible by bucking the Silicon Valley tendency to look inward.
六个月后，Blue Sprig获得1000万美元的重要项目基金和一批上市产品——约翰逊告诉《快公司》，这都是顶住了硅谷向内看趋势的结果。
Earlier this year, Johnson, who cofounded Founders Den, the invitation-only startup co-working space in San Francisco, was thinking about launching a new company. The startup he cofounded last year, Rethink Books, which has an app that helps consumers discover new things to read, was humming along nicely, and Johnson was ready to roll up his sleeves on a new venture. But being a business guy, he knew he would need a technical partner to move forward on any new idea.
约翰逊曾经与人合作创办了“创始人之家”（Founders Den）——旧金山凭邀请才能创办新公司的协作空间。今年初，他考虑开办一家新公司。去年与人共同创办的新公司Rethink Books开发了一套能够帮助顾客发现可读新内容的应用程序，运行一直良好，因此，约翰逊准备着手创办一家新企业。不过，作为一名商人，他知道，要想推进新的想法，自己需要一个技术合作伙伴。
"In Silicon Valley, it's becoming more and more difficult to find highly talented people," Johnson says. The competition for engineers has been widely reported. Less well known, however, is how difficult it is to find a CTO.
约翰逊说，“在硅谷，要找到才华横溢的人越来越难了。”招聘工程师有多难已经广为人知，但是很少有人知道聘用一名首席技术官（CTO）有多难。
Since it's comparatively easy to start a company today--you don't need a lot of capital to proto***** an idea and see if it has legs--“to try to find a cofounder who's waiting around for you, they're becoming fewer and far between," Johnson says.
如今，开办公司比较容易——无需多少资金，你就能把想法付诸实践，看它是否站得住脚——“相比之下，试图找到一个等着和你共同创业的人比较难，这样的人越来越少了。”约翰逊说。
When a mutual acquaintance introduced Johnson to Hugo Dong, a entrepreneur based in Chengdu with a track record of building PC security products for the Chinese market, Johnson realized he'd met his partner. The two had complementary skills and similar ambitions and outlooks.
一位了解彼此的熟人把约翰逊介绍给董胡国（音）。董是成都的一名企业家，曾经创造了为中国市场开发个人电脑安全产品的业绩。约翰逊意识到，找到自己的合作伙伴了。他们两人有互补的技术，也有相似的抱负和观点。
"I felt like he was like a version of myself, but in China," Johnson says.
约翰逊表示，“我感觉他就像我自己的一个翻版，不过是在中国。”
Dong had plenty of experience setting up companies in China, so the two decided to locate the company's development center in Chengdu, whose skyscrapers like the one at right (which houses Blue Sprig) are full of Chinese software companies as well as the local offices of U.S. tech companies. Dong hired all 13 of Blue Sprig's developers (pictured) locally.
董有在中国开办公司的足够经验，因此两人决定把公司的开发中心放在成都。成都的摩天大楼（如右图，Blue Sprig所在地）挤满软件公司和美国科技公司的当地办事处。董在当地为Blue Sprig雇了全部13名开发人员。
The company isn't a joint venture. It's a U.S. startup headquartered in California, and its Chengdu office is like the overseas office of any other American company--simply an extension of domestic operations.
这不是一家合资公司，而是一家总部设在加利福尼亚的美国初创公司，其成都办事处像所有其他美国公司的海外办事处一样——只不过是国内业务的扩展部分。
The idea of having virtually his whole company located halfway around the world never phased Johnson. He'd overseen marketing for a global business unit while at Dolby and had previously worked for a company headquartered in Sweden. Working with international colleagues was second nature. And the setup had many advantages.
几乎把整个公司定位于世界另一端的想法从来没有困扰过约翰逊。他在杜比实验室以及以前为总部位于瑞典的一家公司工作时，无意中了解到全球业务经营单位的市场。与国际同事一起工作也成了老习惯。而且，这样的机构有许多优势。
Like U.S. companies that outsource their development to companies overseas, Blue Sprig can work around the clock. But because Blue Sprig's team in China are all employees, with the company's cofounder at their helm, they can make decisions a lot faster than if they had to negotiate with an outside partner.
犹如把自己开发的项目外包给外国公司的美国公司， Blue Sprig可以24小时运转。不过，因为 Blue Sprig在中国的团队成员都是雇员，又有公司的共同创始人为他们掌舵，他们做出决定的速度要比他们不得不和外来合作伙伴协商后再做决定的速度快得多。
Plus, the fact that Blue Sprig is a U.S. startup means it can attract a lot of great local talent--for a fraction of the cost of U.S. engineers. "All of them dream of coming to the U.S.," Johnson says. “They're excited to be part of something that links them to the West."
此外， Blue Sprig是美国初创公司，这个事实也使它能够吸引大量当地人才——费用只是雇用美国工程师的一小部分。约翰逊说，“他们都梦想来美国，因而很高兴加入到把自己与西方联系起来的企业。”
The collective experience of the founders--Johnson's experience starting companies in the U.S. (the company he cofounded in the late '90s, InterQuest Communications had a successful exit when it was sold to Darwin Networks) and Dong's experience developing security products in China--helped the company nab funding from the prestigious IDG-Accel China Growth Fund even before they had a product in hand.
创始人经验的合并——约翰逊在美国开办公司的经验（1990年代末，他与人合作创办了公司InterQuest Communications，后来卖给Darwin Networks，成功退出）和董在中国开发安全产品的经验——帮助公司从著名的IDG-Accel中国成长基金（IDG-Accel China Growth Fund）争取到资金，当时他们手里甚至还一样产品都没有。
Johnson says he hasn't heard of other Silicon Valley startups taking the same approach. But he thinks more U.S. entrepreneurs will start casting an eye abroad, especially as the competition for talent at home becomes ever tougher.
约翰逊宣称，他还没听说硅谷其他初创公司采用了同样的方法。但是，他认为更多的美国企业家将开始把目光投向海外，尤其是在此国内人才竞争日益激烈的时候。
The outsourcing movement of the last decade got U.S. tech companies used to the idea of working with teams overseas, Johnson says. The next obvious step, then, is for startups to set up globally from jump.
他说，过去十年的外包活动使美国的科技公司习惯了与外国团队合作的理念。那么，初创公司的下一步显然是全球性的迅猛发展。
"We've gotten more comfortable with doing business with people overseas," Johnson says. “I'm just taking it one step further."
他说，“我们对与外国人一起做生意越来越满意了。我正在把它向前推进一步。”

旧金山湾区（Bay Ar生意越来越满意了

。那么，初创公司的下一步显然是全球

支持下