創始人該不該賣掉自己的公司

Dean Hoyle sold his greetings card business for ￡400m in 2010. It is now listed on the stock market and worth more than ￡1bn. Does he have any regrets? “None at all,” the co-founder of UK retail chain Card Factory says. “What can you do with ￡1bn that you cannot do with ￡400m?”

2010年，迪恩?霍伊爾(Dean Hoyle，見上圖)以4億英鎊價格賣掉了自己的賀卡公司。如今這家公司上市了，市值超過10億英鎊。他後悔嗎？“一點也不，”英國連鎖零售店Card Factory的這位聯合創始人表示，“如果你有4億英鎊都不知道做什麼，那麼你又拿10億英鎊做什麼呢？”

Mr Hoyle, 50, is lucky to feel so sanguine. Many entrepreneurs find it hard to leave their “baby” behind. Some are forced to remain for a time as part of the sales agreement because buyers want to ensure the company does not collapse without the founder’s guiding force. Others insist on staying, simply because they are not ready to go.

50歲的霍伊爾能這樣樂觀是幸運的。很多企業家都覺得要離開他們的“寶貝公司”很難。作爲公司轉讓協議的一部分，一些企業家會被迫留下一段時間，因爲買家希望確保在沒有創始人指引的情況下公司不會破產。還有一些創始人自己堅持要留下，只是因爲他們不想離開。

Research by Coutts, the private bank, in 2012 found that only a quarter of UK entrepreneurs retire following the sale of their business. The rest pursued a number of roles: 74 per cent advised another business, 65 per cent invested in one and half undertook philanthropy. More than half go on to start another business of their own.

私人銀行Coutts在2012年所做的研究發現，只有四分之一的英國企業家會在出售公司後退休。其他人尋求做各種事情：74%擔任另一家公司的顧問，65%投資於一家公司，有一半的人會去做慈善。超過一半的人會再創辦一家自己的公司。

The sale of Card Factory, which Mr Hoyle started with his wife Janet in 1997, to private equity allowed him to concentrate on his other loves: his three children and Huddersfield Town football club, which he owns and chairs. “I took the business from a ￡10,000 loan into a ￡60m ebitda business. Over those 12 years I saw very little of my children. They were with their grandparents at the weekend. I needed a work-life balance.”

霍伊爾與妻子珍尼特(Janet)在1997年創建了Card Factory，把公司出售給私人股本投資公司，讓他得以把精力放在自己的其他愛好上：他有3個孩子，還有一家Huddersfield Town足球俱樂部。他是俱樂部的所有者，也是董事長。“Card Factory剛成立時貸款了1萬英鎊，我把它發展成了一家ebitda利潤爲6000萬英鎊的公司。那12年裏，我看到孩子的機會很少。他們週末與祖父母度過。我需要獲得工作與生活的平衡。”

He remained non-executive chairman after the sale to Charterhouse Capital Partners. When it floated the business in 2014 he stepped down to become a non-executive director. He no longer has shares in or any role at the Card Factory, although he confesses to a twinge of pride when he passes a store. “It still has the same simple logo. I remember being sat in my living room designing it.”

把公司出售給Charterhouse Capital Partners後，他仍擔任公司的非執行董事長。2014年公司上市後，他轉而擔任非執行董事。他如今不再持有Card Factory任何股份，也不再擔任任何職位，不過他承認每次經過門店時都會有一種驕傲感。“它仍然是那種簡單的標識。我記得我是坐在客廳裏設計它的。”

Sometimes founders and companies realise they made a mistake in parting company. Silicon Valley already has a tradition of founder comebacks. Steve Jobs returned to save Apple from bankruptcy in 1997. Michael Dell left his eponymous computer maker in 2004 but returned three years later and in 2013 bought the company back from the public market.

有時，創始人和公司意識到，離開公司是錯的。硅谷已經有創始人迴歸的傳統。1997年，史蒂夫?喬布斯(Steve Jobs)回到蘋果公司(Apple)，讓它避免了破產的命運。2004年，邁克爾?戴爾(Michael Dell)離開了他的同名電腦公司，但3年後迴歸，2013年從公開市場回購了公司。

Rather than exit the business, many entrepreneurs decide to take an equity injection and carry on at the helm. This allows them to take some cash, diversifying risk, and receiving money for expansion. But with private equity usually wanting a return within five to seven years there is pressure to find fresh investors or accept a full sale.

很多企業家不願離開公司，而是決定引進股權投資，自己則繼續執掌公司。這樣他們可以拿到一些收益、分散風險並獲得資金用於擴張。但私人股本投資公司通常希望在5到7年內獲得回報，因此他們有找到新的投資者或接受整體收購的壓力。

Reluctance to move on after a sale might be misguided, however. “Founder-CEOs who are able to conduct a personal skills analysis and let go of their leadership roles when needed give their companies the greatest chance at long-term success,” says Suren Dutia, a fellow at the Kauffman Foundation in the US, which researches and advises on entrepreneurship.

然而，在公司出售後還不願放手可能是錯誤的。美國考夫曼基金會 (Kauffman Foundation)研究員蘇倫?杜蒂亞(Suren Dutia)表示：“能夠對個人能力加以分析、必要時能放棄領導崗位的創始人兼首席執行官將賦予他們的公司取得長期成功的最大機會。”該基金會從事企業家精神方面的研究並提供相關諮詢。

Mr Hoyle had no such misgivings and has made a comeback as chairman of stationery, books and gift chain The Works. With his children older, he has time for another job and wants to demonstrate the high street has a future.

霍伊爾沒有這種顧忌，他再度出山，擔任文具、圖書和禮品連鎖店The Works的董事長。隨着孩子們長大，他有時間做一份新的工作，他還希望證明零售業是有前途的。

“Opportunities like The Works do not come up every day. It is a business where I can replicate what I have done and it suits my skill set. I think you go through stages in life. I have got cash in the bank, I have done the holiday villa and time with the family. I’m ready to work.”

“The Works這樣的機會可不是每天都有的。我可以在這裏做我以前做過的事情，這符合我的能力。我認爲一個人要度過人生的不同階段。我在銀行有存款，我有了度假別墅，也有了和家人共度的時光。我準備工作了。”