????“權威領導者”（The Leadership Insider）網站是一個在線社區。在該網站上，當代最善思考和最富影響力的商界人士貢獻才智，解答網友有關職業生涯和領導力的各種問題。今天的問題是：“有些人打算創業，對此您有何建議？”答問者是周凱文，軟件公司Kabam的聯合創始人兼首席執行官。

????2006年我與他人合作創立了一家公司，也就是Kabam的前身。該公司最初的定位是社交網絡，要與LinkenIn一較高下。我與聯合創始人以極大的熱情推出了一款名為Watercooer的產品。我們自信滿滿，邀請所有的朋友和家人都加入這個服務。第一天，有上百人注冊登錄了我們的網絡。遺憾的是，一周后便人去網空了。六個月后，每天登錄的用戶就只有個位數了。在靠喝蘇打水、吃拉面加班加點地苦撐多日后，我們終于痛心地意識到，這個花了一萬個小時辛苦打造的產品完全失敗了。

????在耗盡資金前，我們必須徹底改變自己的業務。于是創始團隊閉關兩周，開發了一項全新業務——一款為Facebook開發，支持廣告的運動應用。該應用上線后，第一個月就有一百多萬人注冊，最終用戶超過六千萬人，并創造了可觀的廣告收入。

????18個月后，2008年的經濟衰退使我們的廣告收入大降，迫使我們要么再次改變業務方向，或者干脆關門大吉。于是我們再次閉關，這次我們看好的是Facebook上將逐漸流行的免費游戲。2009年年底，我們將公司更名為Kabam并推出了手游游戲《亞瑟王國》，它最終成為Facebook上排名第一的策略游戲。從那時起，我們已幾次調整業務方向，努力引領業界潮流，尤其是全球興起的手游大潮。

????我們成功的關鍵并不是什么一根筋的發奮投入——這么做太孤注一擲了。在我看來，我們成功的根本，也是所有創業企業所必需的是：一支凝聚力極強的團隊，成員有共同價值觀，密切協作、靈活應變。如果創始人價值觀趨同，就很容易達成共識并打造企業文化。你聘請的人不光要有合適的技能，還要有正確的價值觀。團隊的每個成員都要能緊密合作，并能適應逆境。大家要征服的是市場，不可內訌。

????征服市場看起來該是什么狀態？創辦Kabam公司我們一路經歷過各種大起大落，但從來沒有閉門開過小會。我們不會相互指責，也不會因為業務失策而苛責任何人。沒人會當替罪羊，也絕不會為了權力相互排擠。正因為沒有這些行為，才能達到目標，而不是自己先人仰馬翻。

????共同征服市場好比演奏交響樂。每個演奏者都必須按照一份總譜演奏，大家協調合拍。如果不這么做，樂曲就會刺耳難聽，這對觀眾來說令人難受并且很失禮。要奏出和諧的樂曲，指揮就要設定節拍、把握力度。我的兩位聯合創始人和我現在仍然每天都要面對各種困難的決策。這是無法逃避的。但我們能充滿信心地處理好各種問題，這是因為從創業那天起，我們就始終懷抱共同的價值觀，并致力于通過和諧的團隊協作來開展業務。（財富中文網）

????譯者：阿周

????審校：任文科

????The Leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question “What advice would you give someone looking to start their own business?” is by Kevin Chou, co-founder and CEO of Kabam.

????The company I co-founded in 2006, which ultimately became Kabam, started as a social network competing against LinkedIn. My co-founders and I launched a product called Watercooler with great enthusiasm. We confidently invited all of our friends and family to join the service. Hundreds of people in our network signed up on the first day. Sadly, one week later, no one had stuck around. Six months later the number of daily users logging into the site was in the low single digits. After working around the clock–fueled by soda and ramen–we recognized that the product we invested over 10,000 hours to build was, sadly, a dud.

????We needed to make a wholesale change to our business before our funding ran out. The founding team sequestered for two weeks and came up with an entirely new business—an ad-supported sports application for Facebook. Over one million people signed up in the first 30 days and the service ultimately grew to over 60 million users with a profitable ad-supported revenue stream.

????Eighteen months later, the recession of 2008 cratered our advertising revenues and forced us to change our business again or shutter the company. Again we sequestered, and this time we anticipated the popularity of free-to-play games on Facebook. In late 2009 we changed the company’s name to Kabam and launched Kingdoms of Camelot–it became the number one strategy game on Facebook. Since then we have adapted the company several more times to stay ahead of industry trends, most notably the rise of mobile gaming globally.

????The key to our success has not been the laser-focused hard work—that’s table stakes. I attribute our success to something I believe all startups need: a cohesive founding team that shares common values and works fluidly together. When founders share common values, it’s easy to pass along and create a company culture. You hire people not only with the right skills but also the right values.Everyone on the team works well together and is able to adapt to adversity. You fight the market and not yourselves.

????What does fighting the market look like? In my experience through all the ups and downs of creating Kabam, we never had closed-room conversations. We avoided finger pointing and we did not personally blame anyone for business missteps. Scapegoats were never made. And there was never any jockeying for power. It’s an absence of this type of behavior that results in fighting the market and not each other.

????Fighting the market together resembles an orchestra. Each musician is responsible for following the same score and playing in tune. If they don’t, the music is discordant, which is unpleasing (or downright offensive) to the audience. It’s up to the conductor to set the tempo and dynamics for a harmonious sound. My two co-founders and I still face tough decisions on a daily basis. Those are inescapable. But we manage issues with confidence because, since day one, we have approached the business with a shared vision and commitment to harmonious teamwork.