演員兼企業家傑西卡·阿爾芭談名人融資

Actress Jessica Alba co-founded The Honest Company in 2011, to make eco-friendly baby and home products. Three years later, the company just announced $70 millionin new funding at nearly a $1 billion valuation, and is looking toward an initial public offering. Alba, one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2012, spoke with Fortune about Honest Co. and what it’s like to raise money from venture capitalists as a celebrity.

2011年，著名女演員傑西卡o阿爾芭參與創辦了誠實公司(The Honest Company)，專門生產環保的嬰兒用品和家庭用品。3年後的今天，這家公司剛剛宣佈融資7,000萬美元，公司估值約爲10億美元，並計劃上市。阿爾芭曾被評爲2012年《財富》（Fortune）最具影響力的女創業家（Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs）。她對《財富》雜誌講述了她創建誠實公司的心路歷程，以及如何以名人的身份向風險投資家融資。

Edited excerpts:

以下爲經過編輯的訪談內容摘錄：

What goal did you set out to accomplish when you founded the company?

在創建這家公司的時候，你希望實現怎樣的目標？

I really found a problem that needed to be addressed and no one was out there doing it, but it makes so much sense. It makes sense to have safe, healthy non-toxic products. All my friends were at an age where they were thinking about starting a family and a lot of them had a difficult time getting pregnant. There are a lot of hormone disruptors in cleaning products and things that are off-putting to your hormones. Then it was like this ripple effect of people not wanting to be sick and wanting inexpensive products that looked good and worked well.

我當時發現一個亟待解決的問題，但市場上卻沒有公司關注，而這件事卻有着重要的意義。那就是爲消費者提供安全、健康無毒的產品。我的朋友現在都到了結婚生子的年齡，但很多人卻很難懷孕。因爲清潔用品中含有大量的荷爾蒙干擾物，以及其他影響荷爾蒙分泌的東西。人們不希望得病，同時還希望買到既便宜、又美觀而且實用的產品，但很難買到，這就像連鎖反應。

Did you ever think your idea would grow into a brand worth nearly $1 billion?

有沒有想到自己的想法會成長爲一個價值10億美元的品牌？

I really didn’t put a dollar amount to it. My goal was to reach as many people globally [as possible] and really redefine the idea of a family brand. I didn’t have any values or limitations on the possibility of what that was.

我其實並沒有從金錢的角度來衡量它。我的目標是將這種理念儘可能地傳導給全世界更多的人，重新定義家庭用品品牌。對於公司未來發展的可能性，我當初並沒有任何價值目標或限制。

How do you think your role at the company would change after a potential IPO?

你認爲，即將進行的IPO完成後，你在公司內的角色會發生怎樣的變化？

I am still quite hands-on and I still micro-manage probably a little too much. The details are what set us apart and me being meticulous about the details matters. It makes us feel different to everyone else out there. As long as I am the customer, I am going to be involved in marketing, packaging and design. I don’t see my role changing a whole lot, but I guess I won’t be packing boxes anymore. In the beginning, we were packing our own boxes and doing initial product tests by throwing them around in a parking lot to see if they would break. Now we have people to do those things properly. (Laughs)

我依舊會親自參與公司運營，我還是會進行微觀管理，而且我對細節的關注甚至有一點過分。細節讓我們獨樹一幟，而我又是一個對細節一絲不苟的人。這讓我們感到與衆不同。只要我還在使用公司的產品，我就會參與市場營銷、包裝和設計。我沒有感覺在公司的角色發生了任何變化，不過我想我不會再親自參與產品包裝。最初，我們會自己包裝產品並進行初期產品測試，測試的方法就是在一個停車場裏亂扔，看包裝會不會碎。現在我們有專人通過正規的方式做這些事情。（大笑）

Do you think your celebrity status helped you or hurt you when you went out to raise funds for Honest Co.?

你覺得，當你出去爲誠實公司融資時，你的名人身份有益還是有害？

When I go into rooms and talk to venture capitalists, I approach it really as a mom and as a consumer. I have a decent amount of knowledge on ingredients and toxic chemicals. I can dive deep on it and I have the day-to-day of having two kids. We are a lifestyle brand that is catering to customers like me. I am the millennial mom. It makes sense when I am in the room talking about the brand and the product. A lot of [venture capitalists] are men and have wives and they say, “My wife does the exactly the same thing.” They can all relate to the needs and desires and what was out there and having a brand that really spoke to me as a modern woman.

我會以一位媽媽和一名消費者的身份，與風險投資家磋商。對於產品成分和有毒化學物，我也有一定的瞭解。我可以深入談論這個話題，而且我還有兩個孩子。我們是一家生活方式品牌，目標客戶正是與我一樣的消費者。我是80後媽媽。所以，我去和風投談論我們的品牌和產品，是講得通的。許多風險投資者都是已婚男士，他們會說：“我妻子的情況和你的完全一樣。”通過交談，他們都能聯想到消費者的需求和渴望、市場現狀，以及一個真正能夠吸引現代女性的品牌。

What about when it comes to marketing the brand?

如何進行品牌營銷？

I get free marketing. I have an authentic relationship with media. When I go onThe Tonight Show or Ellen or some other show, I have already been on there seven or eight times so it is nice to be able to have that relationship with media and I do have that connections so it has saved on costs.

我獲得了免費的市場營銷。我與媒體的關係一直不錯。我已經上過七八次《今夜秀》（The Tonight Show）或《艾倫秀》（Ellen Show），能與媒體保持良好關係確實是好事，這種關係爲我節省了大量成本。

How do you juggle Honest Co. with your acting career and your family?

在誠實公司和你的演藝事業與家庭之間，你如何實現平衡？

It’s an imperfect balance and I am not sure if I do it very well. I spend most of my time at the office, but my kids’ health and well-being is my priority. I talk to my [business] partners about my responsibility with my children. I have worked around board meetings and conferences. With email, I am still involved in the process of design and it is easy to share files with Dropbox. I can still work on product development that way.

我無法達到完美的平衡，我也不確定自己是否做得足夠好。我的大多數時間都在辦公室裏度過，但對我來說，孩子的健康快樂永遠是最重要的。我與商業夥伴談論過我需要對孩子承擔的責任。我要參加董事會議和各種其他形式的會議。通過電子郵件，我依舊可以參與到設計過程當中，而且有了Dropbox，分享文件變得容易得多。我還可以通過這種方式參與產品開發。

What’s it like to shoot a movie while running a company?

一邊運營一家公司，一邊拍攝電影，那是一種什麼樣的感覺？

I have a movie out now called Sin City. You shoot it for six days over five months. That is all it took. Movies don’t really take that much time. I can go for a week and come back. It is really not time-consuming like a television show where you are on set 14 hours a day, five days a week for ten-and-a-half months. It is a difficult balance and I feel a bit crazy sometimes.

我拍攝過一部電影叫《罪惡之城》（Sin City）。你可能在5個月內只需要拍攝6天，僅此而已。拍電影花費的時間並不是很多。我可以拿出一週時間來拍攝，然後回到公司。拍電影並不像電視劇一樣耗時很久，拍電視劇的時候，你可能要每週5天、每天14個小時在片場拍攝，而且這樣的狀態可能要持續10個半月。實際上，你很難實現兩者的平衡，有時候我會覺得有一點瘋狂。

What is one of the biggest misconceptions people have about you and the company?

人們對你和你的公司最大的誤解之一是什麼？

People think we are a baby company. We are a lifestyle company and it is about living a healthy life. A lot of journalists think we are a baby company just because we sell diapers and wipes, but we are really expanding into categories that are really adult focused.

人們認爲我們是一家嬰兒用品公司。實際上，我們是一家生活方式公司，我們關注的是如何健康生活。許多媒體之所以認爲我們是一家嬰兒用品公司，是因爲我們出售紙尿褲和柔溼巾，但事實上我們正在增加針對成年人的產品。

Is turning the company into a lifestyle brand one of your goals with the latest round of funding?

將公司變成一個生活方式品牌，是你最近一輪融資的目標之一嗎？

Definitely. We want to get into beauty and skin care and we are also looking into home. We are exploring building out our deck and thinking about how we can build these products in an affordable price points in all these categories. We are also thinking about international expansion and going into China and Europe.

當然。我們希望涉足美容護膚行業，家居也是我們的目標之一。我們正在研究擴建平臺，以及如何以更實惠的價格生產各種類別的產品。我們也在考慮海外擴張，並計劃進入中國和歐洲市場。

What’s the best advice you got along the way when building Honest Co.?

在創建誠實公司的過程中，你得到的最好建議是什麼？

If you are going to fail, fail fast and move on. Learn from your failures and move on. There are several failures that we had along the way. We didn’t even test our website when we launched. We didn’t have the technology to really change orders in the first month or two. What you got is what you got, if you didn’t like it you got a full refund. We learned through our mistakes. Luckily, there hasn’t been anything that we haven’t been able to learn and move and grow from.

如果你即將面臨失敗，不妨迅速了結，然後繼續前進。從失敗中總結教訓，然後繼續前進。一路走來，我們也遭遇過許多次失敗。我們的網站剛上線時，甚至沒有進行測試。在前一兩個月，網站甚至都不能提供訂單修改的功能。消費者一旦下訂單便無法更改訂單，如果不喜歡可以全額退款。我們從錯誤中不斷學習總結。幸運的是，到現在爲止，還沒有我們學不會的東西，我們正在學習中不斷成長、進步。