IT教育初创企业Pluralsight以3600万美元价格收购Code School
生命不息，学习不止。在各种在线教育公司层出不穷的今天，去哪里学是个问题。而这类公司要想吸引学习者的注意力，就必须在专业性、内容规模等方面做大做强，大鱼吃小鱼成为必然选择。
因此，IT 在线教育公司Pluralsight的战略目标很明确，就是要通过收购小型公司来完善职业 IT 教育培训完整生态链。今天该公司宣布以 3600 万美元收购另一家提供开发教学视频和实训的初创企业 Code School。
Code School 由 Gregg Pollack 成立于 2011 年，总部位于奥兰多。虽然 Code School 成立只有 3 年多的时间，但是 Pollack 为开发者提供 IT 教育内容的努力已有 8 年历史。现在 Code School 可以为开发者提供 JavaScript、HTML/CSS、Ruby、iOS 以及 Git 等的教学课程、视频以及截屏，有 web 版和移动 app，尤其注重实践培训，在编程经验有限的开发者中很受欢迎。目前其注册用户数已达 100 万，月活跃用户数为 4 万左右。
在去年 8 月获得了1.35亿美元的融资后，Pluralsight 的荷包很鼓。这已经是 Pluralsight 过去 18 个月 Pluralsight 进行的第 6 笔收购（其他 5 笔收购分别为评测平台Smarterer、创意教学 Digital Tutors、在线技术教育网站 PeepCode、开源课程教学网站 TrainSignal、截屏技术供应商 Tekpub）。此前 Pluralsight 提供的总课程数已接近 4000 门，除了面向 IT 专业人士提供教学内容外（月费 29 美元），Pluralsight 还面向企业提供内部培训课程（收取年费）。这次的收购必将进一步加强 Pluralsight 与其他对手如 Lynda、Skillsoft 等进行竞争的实力。根据 CBInsights 的数据，其估值已达 10 亿美元。
[本文参考以下来源：bits.blogs.nytimes.com, wired.com]
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2015年01月27日
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社交客户服务公司Sparkcentral完成1200万美元B轮融资
社交客户服务公司 Sparkcentral 已完成 B 轮融资，募集资金 1200 万美元，此轮融资由 Split RockPartners 领投。Sparkcentral 向企业提供一系列工具，帮助他们经由社交渠道对客户提供支持。
在此之前，Sparkcentral 已经募集资金 560 万美元 ，其中包括在 2013 年 10 月份完成的 450 万美元 A 轮融资。鉴于上一轮融资是在 15 个月前完成的，Sparkcentral 的 B 轮融资也处于正常的融资周期内。
我向 Sparkcentral 提了一个问题，即为何决定在 B 轮融资中募集资金 1200 万美元，因为在当前资本环境下，这一融资额只能算适中，即便参照以往的标准衡量。Sparkcentral 首席执行官达维·克斯滕斯（Davy Kestens）对此表示，1200 万美元融资额“符合公司增长曲线，”也是基于 Sparkcentral 在扩充团队规模和功能集时所需要的资金做出的一个决定。
同科技行业其他没有进入“死亡漩涡”（death spiral）的公司一样，Sparkcentral 也正在招募人才。该公司预计 2015 年员工数量将从现在的 30 人增至 60 人。Sparkcentral 的业务目前在美国和比利时两地同时展开。
Sparkcentral 究竟是做什么业务的？为此，我采访了 Sparkcentral 联合创始人马特·芬尼兰（Matt Finneran），他表示 Sparkcentral 曾经是一家专注于客户服务的社交媒体公司，现在则将自己定位于一家专注社交媒体的客户服务公司。在芬尼兰看来，Sparkcentral 不同于社交媒体管理领域的其他公司，比如总部设在芝加哥的 SproutSocial，因为它的业务重点并不在市场营销方面。
我本希望 Sparkcentral 能提供一下详细的最新财务数据，但该公司只是给出了比较数据，而非绝对数据。这样一来，我们只能对 Sparkcentral 最近的财务状况有个大概的了解。据 Sparkcentral 介绍，该公司 2014 年营收比 2013 年增长 320%。同期，Sparkcentral 客户数量增长了 100%。这两项数据表明，Sparkcentral 的客户数量日渐增多，而当前客户的合同价值也不断增长。
我又提到了有关财务的话题，让 Sparkcentral 谈一谈它如何实现增长和开支的平衡—— Box 对未来的收入增长进行了大规模投资 ，而不是将如何扭转短期亏损放在第一位，这种策略曾在 公开市场引发疑虑 。克斯滕斯表示，重要的是拥有“增长路线图”，但不从“悬崖上猛地掉下来”同样关键。
Sparkcentral 之所以不同于其他软件即服务（SaaS）公司，原因是由于有些客户属于 Delta 这样的大公司，月度经常性收入（MRR）与年度经常性收入（ARR）之比可能超出了正常标准范围——换句话说，我估计 Delta 不是按月向 Sparkcentral 支付购买软件的费用。克斯滕斯表示，鉴于此，该公司在追踪自家财务表现时更注重季度数据，也就不足为奇了。
在一个拥挤但增长迅速的科技细分市场，Sparkcentral 取得了飞速发展。该公司拥有实现发展计划所需要的资金，现在的问题是这些计划能否得到执行。我会在未来几个季度继续关注这家公司，看一看能否弄到最新的营收数据。
Social Customer Service Firm Sparkcentral Locks Up A $12M Series B
Sparkcentral, a company that provides tools to help businesses conduct customer support over social channels, has raised a $12 million Series B round of funding, led by Split Rock Partners.
The company previously raised a total of $5.6 million, including a $4.5 million Series A round of capital in October of 2013, or around 15 months ago. That places the company’s Series B round inside of a normal raising schedule.
I asked Sparkcentral why it decided to raise $12 million for its Series B — in the current capital climate, the sum is slightly modest, even if standard by historical norms. The company’s CEO Davy Kestens indicated that the sum “fit [the company’s] growth curve,” and was predicated on how much money Sparkcentral would need to expand both its staff, and feature set.
Like quite literally every company in technology that isn’t entering some sort of deathspiral, Sparkcentral is hiring. The firm, which splits its operation between the United States and Belgium, expects to double its current 30 person employee base in 2015.
So, what is Sparkcentral? I spoke to its co-founder Matt Finneran, who indicated that the company was once a social media company focusing on customer service, but now thinks of itself as a customer service firm that focuses on social media. In the view of Finneran, Sparkcentral is different from other players in the social media management space because it does not have a marketing focus, like the Chicago-based Sprout Social.
I asked the company to detail is recent financial performance, and it responded with comparative, and not absolute data. That weakens the dataset. Still, according to Sparkcentral, its revenue grew 320 percent in 2014, when compared to the year prior. During that same period, its customer based expanded 100 percent. Those two figures imply that the company is landing increasingly large clients, that it is seeing increasing contract value among current customers, or some combination of the two.
Continuing the financial theme, I asked the company how it weighed a balance between growth, and spend — Box famously invested heavily in future revenues, only to see its short-term losses spook the public markets. Kestens indicated that it is important to have a “roadmap for growth,” but that it is also critical to not “drive off a cliff” at full clip.
Sparkcentral is different from other SaaS companies in that, given that some of its clients are large firms like Delta, its ratio of monthly recurring revenue to annual recurring revenue (MRR v. ARR) is likely outside of the norms — I presume that Delta isn’t paying for much software on a monthly basis, in other words. Kestens said that his firm is, given that, unsurprisingly more focused on quarterly data when it comes to tracking its own performance.
SparkCentral has grown quickly inside of an expanding, if crowded technology market category. It has the capital to pull off its plans, so now the question is execution. I’ll check in with the firm in a few quarters, and see if I can scare up some new revenue numbers.
IMAGE BY FLICKR USER DANIEL DIONNE. UNDER CC BY 2.0 LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN CROPPED)
来源：techcrunch
企业级匿名分享应用 Memo：为员工之间坦诚交流架起桥梁
在过去的一年，我们看到大量匿名应用在手机上纷纷出现，允许用户与附近的人或是社交圈子里的人分享信息。但到目前为止，其中大多数匿名应用都专注于消费者市场。
一款名为 Memo 的新应用希望可以从企业级市场分得一杯羹，让公司员工可以与同事匿名、私下分享信息。
Memo 由纽约市一家名为 Collectively 的公司开发，该公司寻求以全新的方式“让工作变得更具人性化”。Memo 背后的创意与其他众多匿名分享应用的创意一样，即只要不让用户在帖子中暴露自己的身份，他们会更为坦诚地分享在实名状况下不敢公开的事情。
为了保证用户确实在某家公司工作，Memo 要求他们在注册时必须提供公司的电子邮箱地址，或是通过 LinkedIn 来验证他们的雇员身份。在身份验证步骤完成以后，Memo 会向用户提供唯一识别代码，但除此之外，不会保存其他任何身份信息。
一旦上述步骤全部完成，用户可以在公司内网与其他员工在私下交流。他们也可以与其他用户公开分享信息，但必须由 任职单位“ 验明正身”。
Collectively 首席执行官莱恩·延森（Ryan Janssen）表示，Memo 的目标是让公司的员工之间进行更坦诚的交流。他认为，不少大公司的高管经常不与普通员工接触。
延森在接受我电话采访时说：“一些企业之所以陷入困境，是因为他们不倾听员工的声音。”但他也暗示，员工们也不敢分享他们对发生在公司内一些事情的看法。
延森说：“管理层具有双重角色…一方面，他们被认为应该为公司内的交流提供便利，但另一方面，他们还决定着员工们的命运。这两种角色恰恰存在着矛盾。”
为了测试这种假设，Collectively 去年秋天首先面向惠普、IBM、亚马逊和花旗集团等大公司的员工推出 Memo。该应用被数千名员工下载到手机，当作私密移动留言板在这些公司中使用，如今 Memo 已经完全开放，所有人都能下载。
Memo 没有权限访问在这些私密留言板上进行的任何对话。Collectively 希望采用的商业模式是，推出一系列管理层可以使用的工具，包括分析工具、情绪分析工具，以及能对员工之间分享的消息作出回复的解决方案。
即便如此，有些公司仍然对员工在 Memo 上面匿名分享的事情感到不满。延森说，已有两家员工使用 Memo 的公司向 Collectively 发来“停止通知函”（cease-and-desist order），另外该公司还收到了其他多家企业发来的“措辞强烈”的电子邮件。
此外，延森告诉我，还有三家公司的员工“收到了一份备忘录，警告他们不要使用 Memo，这种做法真是具有讽刺性”。延森表示，他并未看到这些备忘录，只是通过 Memo 的信息反馈栏听说的。
有些公司还试图通过拦截身份验证电子邮件或是发自员工收件箱的邀请函，不让本公司员工使用 Memo。不过，延森认为企业的这种反应其实是件好事。在收到这种电子邮件以后，延森可以与一些公司坐下来谈一谈，找到更好的合作办法，同时研究 Collectively 应该推出哪些工具，帮助这些企业对员工在 Memo 中反映的事情作出回应。
虽然 Memo 迈出了不错的第一步，但很显然，在企业接受了有关员工在公司内部匿名分享信息的创意之前，Memo 还有很长的路要走。
Memo Brings Anonymous Group Sharing To The Enterprise
Over the last year, we’ve seen a bunch of anonymous (or anonymish) apps crop up on mobile phones, allowing users to share messages with people nearby or those in their social circles. To date, though, most of those apps have been focused on the consumer market.
A new app called Memo hopes to capture some of the enterprise market, enabling employees to share anonymously and privately with their coworkers.
Memo was created by a New York-based group called Collectively, which is looking for new ways to “help make work more human.” The theory behind Memo, like that behind many other anonymous sharing apps, is that by removing a user’s identity from a post they would be much more honest with the things they chose to post.
In order to ensure users work at a certain organization, Memo requires them to sign up with a company email address or verify their employment by connecting through LinkedIn. After that verification takes place, Memo provides users with a unique user ID but doesn’t save any other identifiable information.
Once that’s all done, users can share privately with other employees within their company’s network. They can also share publicly to any other users, but they are identified only by the company they work for.
For CEO Ryan Janssen, Memo’s goal is to open up more honest communication within an organization. All too often, he believes, senior management in many big companies is out of touch with the average worker.
“Companies are suffering because they aren’t listening to their employees,” Janssen told me in a phone interview. But he suggests employees are afraid to share what they really think about what’s happening in their organizations.
“Managers have this bifurcated role… On the one hand they are supposed to facilitate communication throughout the company, but they also determine employees’ futures. Those roles are in opposition to each other,” Janssen said.
To test out this hypothesis, the company made Memo available to employees within organizations like HP, IBM, Amazon, and Citigroup last fall. The app was downloaded by thousands of employees and used as a private mobile message board in those companies, and now it’s being opened up so that anyone can download it.
Memo doesn’t have access to any of the conversations that happen within those private boards. The business model it hopes to employ is to roll out tools that management can use that could include analytics tools, sentiment analysis, and ways to respond to messages that employees share.
That said, some companies aren’t happy about the things their employees have been sharing anonymously on Memo. Janssen says he’s received two cease-and-desist orders from companies with employees on Memo and some “strongly worded” emails from a few other organizations.
In addition, he told me employees at three other companies “received a memo not to use Memo, which is a little ironic.” Janssen says he hasn’t actually seen those memos, just heard about them through the app’s feedback form.
While some companies have tried to shut down use of Memo by blocking verification emails or email invites from hitting employee inboxes, Janssen thinks the backlash is actually a good thing. As a result of the emails he’s received, Janssen has been able to set up meetings with a few companies to figure out how he can better work with them and which tools he could implement to help them respond to employee feedback in the app.
It’s a good first step, but there’s obviously a long road ahead before companies get comfortable with the idea of anonymous sharing in the enterprise.
来源:techcrunch
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