馬上要迎來(lái)8份的托福考試了，同學(xué)們都準(zhǔn)備好了嗎?出國(guó)留學(xué)網(wǎng)托福欄目為大家?guī)?lái)托福雙語(yǔ)閱讀材料，希望對(duì)大家有所幫助哦!
托福雙語(yǔ)閱讀材料
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:
WayUp是目前美國(guó)最大的大學(xué)生求職網(wǎng)站，然而很少有人知道，這家網(wǎng)站的創(chuàng)始人兼CEO竟然只是個(gè)26歲的年輕姑娘。當(dāng)被問(wèn)到她何以這么快取得成功時(shí)，莉茲·韋塞爾只說(shuō)了兩個(gè)字：“抓緊”。
最近，在創(chuàng)業(yè)服務(wù)公司W(wǎng)eWork召開(kāi)的一次Brunchwork紐約創(chuàng)業(yè)研討會(huì)上，從莉茲·韋塞爾的發(fā)言中，我們不難看出WayUp為什么在短時(shí)間內(nèi)增長(zhǎng)得如此之快。
“我曾親眼看見(jiàn)，2萬(wàn)多人都指望一個(gè)只有10人的所謂‘就業(yè)服務(wù)中心’來(lái)替他們找工作。”
韋塞爾認(rèn)識(shí)創(chuàng)業(yè)合伙人的經(jīng)歷也頗為傳奇。她侵入了賓西法尼亞大學(xué)的數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)，靠這種方法找到了合伙人J·弗里格曼，隨后建立了自己的公司。如今，WayUp已擁有9,000余名付費(fèi)用戶(hù)。那么，她又是怎樣做到這一切的?
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.
1.建立一個(gè)市場(chǎng)
莉茲·韋塞爾表示：“雙邊市場(chǎng)是極難建立的，構(gòu)建單邊市場(chǎng)通常比較容易，但構(gòu)建另一邊則很難，尤其是付費(fèi)的那一邊。”
WayUp為客戶(hù)提供了兩樣?xùn)|西，以鼓勵(lì)企業(yè)使用其服務(wù)。韋塞爾表示，他們對(duì)企業(yè)做出了這樣的承諾：“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如何確保企業(yè)能招到合格的人才呢?首先，WayUp的個(gè)人資料會(huì)收集每名求職者30多項(xiàng)結(jié)構(gòu)化的數(shù)據(jù)點(diǎn)。比如，每名求職者都要回答以下問(wèn)題：你在大學(xué)里曾經(jīng)加入什么社團(tuán)?你有車(chē)嗎?你懂HTML嗎?
韋塞爾表示：“一旦我們獲得了所有這些信息，我們就會(huì)基于你的個(gè)人履歷，向你顯示你有資格去申請(qǐng)的職位。”
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.
2.鼓勵(lì)用戶(hù)進(jìn)行參與
一個(gè)品牌最好的支持者，就是它自己的用戶(hù)。從WayUp成立第一天開(kāi)始，使用該服務(wù)的大學(xué)生們就對(duì)WayUp的增長(zhǎng)起了極為重要的推動(dòng)作用。
從一開(kāi)始，WayUp就聘用了一些用戶(hù)作為它的校園代表。如今，該公司每學(xué)期聘用的校園代表都超過(guò)了700人。
用戶(hù)的權(quán)力大到甚至可以給公司改名。WayUp原本叫作CampusJobs，莉茲稱(chēng)取這個(gè)名字“完全是個(gè)錯(cuò)誤”，最后也是在用戶(hù)的倡議下改成了現(xiàn)在的名字。
“如果公司的名字阻礙了公司的增長(zhǎng)，那你就必須改個(gè)名字。”
在兩名用戶(hù)提出了WayUp這個(gè)名字后，下一步就是給公司設(shè)計(jì)個(gè)logo了。也正是通過(guò)WayUp這個(gè)平臺(tái)，該公司招到了一名出色的圖形設(shè)計(jì)師，他只用了幾天的時(shí)間，就設(shè)計(jì)出了現(xiàn)在的這個(gè)logo。
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.”
3.成功獲得融資
莉茲·韋塞爾原本并沒(méi)有融資的打算，但后來(lái)她意識(shí)到，公司要想實(shí)現(xiàn)發(fā)展，就免不了要對(duì)外融資。
這家初創(chuàng)公司很快吸引了知名創(chuàng)業(yè)孵化器Y Combinator的注意。雖然一些創(chuàng)業(yè)孵化器經(jīng)常會(huì)幫助初創(chuàng)公司進(jìn)行融資，但這對(duì)莉茲卻依然是一個(gè)艱難的選擇。她說(shuō)，她后來(lái)之所以改變了主意，是因?yàn)樗庾R(shí)到：“Y Combinator不僅僅能幫我們?nèi)谫Y。更重要的是，它是一個(gè)社區(qū)，還是一個(gè)網(wǎng)絡(luò)。”
在2周的窗口期里，WayUp獲得了第一筆200萬(wàn)美元的融資。如今，這家公司已經(jīng)獲得了超過(guò)900萬(wàn)美元的融資。
“你要告訴(投資人)，你想拿到的融資要多于你實(shí)際需要的錢(qián)，因?yàn)槟愕娜谫Y有可能需要超過(guò)你的預(yù)算。”
在談及WayUp的未來(lái)時(shí)，莉茲·韋塞爾表示：“我們的目標(biāo)是成為所有‘千禧一代’人的就業(yè)市場(chǎng)。”
托福閱讀欄目推薦：
托福雙語(yǔ)閱讀反應(yīng)快就一定聰明嗎?
如何應(yīng)對(duì)托福閱讀中總結(jié)文章大義的問(wèn)題
托福閱讀中的paraphrase問(wèn)題如何應(yīng)對(duì)
托福閱讀：有一種愛(ài)情的滋味是折磨(上)