????有風投支持的初創公司通常都有不可思議的野心。一支創業團隊聚在一起，目的是在現有資源不足的條件下，努力創造出不大可能實現的東西和超出合理預期的東西。一旦獲得資金支持，初創公司的每個人都會得到一份合理的薪水。但如果把不可能變成現實，真正的回報則是股權。

????我曾不可避免地與我的公司討論過獎金問題。一種觀點認為，初創公司現金緊張，應該限制固定工資開支。但如果公司實現了目標，可以發放不固定的報酬，以獎勵員工的出色工作。

????這種邏輯聽起來很有說服力，但實際上卻是錯誤的。獎金對于初創公司而言無異于毒藥。

????除了銷售代表的傭金外，我認為，初創公司在最初幾年里，不應該向員工或管理層發放獎金——至少在公司充分了解了自身財務表現之前不應該這么做。問題在于，獎金與初創公司大無畏的雄心壯志不相匹配，對公司和員工而言也都不公平。

????初創公司并非都能如愿實現他們的目標。讓我們用比較簡單的營收指標來算一筆賬。假設一家初創公司之前一年營收300萬美元，希望在來年翻四番，達到1,200萬美元。結果，這家公司第二年銷售額僅達到900萬美元。團隊獎金的標準是達到或超出目標。團隊工作非常努力，而且，為了發展公司業務，他們一定做了大量工作。然而，它終究還是沒有達成目標。不幸的是，在這一年里，團隊成員們一度認定，他們肯定能得到獎金。畢竟，團隊將公司業務增加了三倍，而且也為此付出了辛苦的工作。但公司明確規定，只有達到或超出目標才能獲得獎金。

????這種情況下，公司該怎么辦？如果不發放獎金，會讓努力工作的團隊心寒；如果發放了獎金，那就意味著公司的目標是軟目標，只要公司業績在發展，團隊工作努力，就應該發放獎金。再增加一個條件，假如公司營收達到1,200萬美元，才能首次實現正向現金流，進而才能有現金支付獎金；而如果公司營收為900萬美元，則意味著公司虧損了100萬美元，需要額外融資。為了彌補損失和可能發放的獎金，公司將不得不面臨所有權被進一步稀釋的風險。不難想象，當員工離開公司的時候，會說公司的目標太瘋狂了——“我們把業務增加了三倍，卻連一分錢獎金都得不到。”

????Venture-backed startups are incredibly ambitious. A startup team comes together to try to create something highly improbable and well beyond what can reasonably be expected given the scarce resources at hand. Once financed, everyone at the startup should have a reasonable salary, but the real compensation for achieving the improbable is equity.

????Inevitably, I get into a discussion with my companies about bonus packages. The idea being that startups are cash constrained and should limit the guaranteed salary costs, but that if the company is achieving goals, it should reward its employees with non-guaranteed compensation for a job well done.

????The logic is compelling, but faulty. Bonuses are toxic at startups.

????Outside of sales rep commissions, I don't think startups should be giving employee or management bonuses in the early years -- or at least not before the company has very well understood financial performance. The problem is that bonuses don't match well with the audacious ambition of the startup and aren't fair to the company or its employees.

????Inevitably, startups don't quite live up to their goals. Using revenue metrics because they are simple, consider the startup that has $3 million in previous year revenue and is hoping to 4X that this coming year to $12 million. Instead it does $9 million in sales. The team bonus is based on hitting or exceeding the goals. The team has worked really hard and, by all means, has done strong work growing the business. Yet it's fallen short of the goal. Unfortunately, somewhere over the course of the year, the team members start to assume that they will get the bonus. After all, the team tripled the business and worked really hard to do it. Yet the bonus was clearly for meeting or exceeding the goals.

????What should the company do now? Disappoint their hard-working team by not giving a bonus or give the bonus and suggest that the goals are soft goals and the team will get paid as long as there is general progress and the team works hard. Add to the scenario that at $12 million in revenue the company would be positive cash flow for the first time and have cash to pay a bonus and at $9 million the company loses $1 million and will need to raise more capital and suffer additional dilution to cover the loss and potentially the bonus. It's easy to imagine employees leaving the company and saying that the goals are crazy -- "we tripled the business and didn't even get our bonuses."