Treetop Companies With Weak Sales Rule the Online Video Ecosystem
众所周知，任何行业的大多数公司都会随着时间的推移而失败. 在过去的20年里，数字媒体领域有数百家公司, 很多都有风险投资, 已经上涨了, faltered and ultimately failed.
Companies have many different challenges: they are underfunded; their products can be underwhelming; they are mismanaged; they started in the market at the wrong time; they fail to take advantage of sea changes in the market; or just simply fail from a myriad of other problems, many of which can simultaneously happen.
另一方面，有些公司就像火箭飞船一样成功，真的很出彩. 新闻 outlets love to talk and write about Akamai, 潘多拉, 网飞公司, or any unicorn company that is leading their category. 他们的高管, people like Reed Hastings, make for a lot of clicks; their personalities and stories are inspirational, and they are a beacon for many entrepreneurs.
Tree-Topper公司
However, there is a cohort of companies that rarely get talked about. 事实上，这一群体构成了数字媒体领域或其他领域的绝大多数公司.
这些公司已经起步，但在原地踏步，没有任何进展. Their revenues are flat or feebly increasing, the market leader is far, 遥遥领先, the team tends to be paid below market, and they can’t get close to an exit. 通常情况下，团队和与他们在一起太久的投资者都累了，想要退出.
The people involved have poured their hearts, 的身体, and finances into something, but can’t quite figure out how to move it forward beyond a certain point.
我们称这些公司为“树顶”公司:想象一架直升机漂浮在树的正上方，你会有正确的视觉.
树顶公司总是有掉到树上并崩溃的风险. 它们挣扎着，偶尔会赶上上升气流，但从未真正自由飞翔.
What Causes Companies to Tree-Top?
There are many factors that can cause tree-topping to occur, 但最主要的问题往往是，公司起步时采用的策略，不一定与推动公司向前发展和扩大增长的策略相同. The category could have attracted many new competitors, and the market is now crowded with undifferentiated products. It’s now a race to the bottom.
It’s one thing when the team is very small, the product is narrowly focused, and the market is expanding for all players; it is quite another when you suddenly have to put a real marketing plan in place, raise significant institutional capital to accelerate growth, and then manage sophisticated shareholders and complex product planning, as well as build and execute on go-to-market strategies. And this gets even more difficult as markets mature.
另一个原因可能是该公司现有的管理团队本身可能已经达到顶峰, 天赋, but many people lack the introspection and proper feedback channels, or recognize they need new blood with more experience. 创始人往往忠于那些在早期做过繁重工作的人，这是可以理解的.
第三，也可能是公司的主要产品并没有那么吸引人. “Me-too” products don’t dominate markets and earn super high valuations. 我曾经与一家公司合作，这家公司告诉我，他们希望“在技术上不像Akamai那么好”, 但是便宜多了.“这家公司确实进行了首次公开募股，市值达数亿美元, but Akamai’s market cap at the same time was 50X larger. That’s a non-trivial difference.
较低的估值限制了资本化的机会，并使现有股东付出麻烦的稀释代价，这可能反过来限制资本筹集，从而限制公司的增长能力.
在你的市场中，没有成为行业领导者也会让你更难招到最优秀的人才, as the flywheel motion hasn’t kicked into gear to drive momentum forward.
可以做些什么?
Face reality and pick your heads up and look around. For many leaders, this is easier said than done.
Check status and get help. 第一个, 公司领导应该向了解这个行业但没有直接关系的人寻求建议, vested interest in the company. This should include financial as well as technical advisors. 你是否与众不同，是否有足够的百家乐软件和资金来领导你的行业? 从本质上讲，公司需要先了解自己所处的位置，然后才能找到前进的方向. Is the company generating $1 million in a $10 billion market?
Understand team dynamics and capabilities. Maybe the team is tired and has reached the limits of its abilities. 该团队已经在启动和发展业务方面取得了一些成就，这绝非易事. Starting a company and managing one are two different skill sets; the team needs to evolve or move on. 考虑在公司这个阶段引进经验更丰富的管理人员.
Reevaluate required resources and funding.如果没有大量的财政百家乐软件，加速增长很少会发生. Once a company is in treetop mode, it disincentives new investment. This is a double whammy and a tough situation to be in. Without fundamental changes in product strategy, 市场增长, 而管理方式将极难筹集到所需资金. 这就是为什么树顶公司最终会从现有投资者那里以小额增量筹集资金的原因.
Make tough decisions and execute the new plan. 有时，公司需要采取孤注一掷的行动来摆脱低迷. There is no magic bullet to do this, but often it’s a combination of team, 产品重新定义, and updated market segmentation to regain a leadership position.
例如，在Abacast，该公司最初销售的是一种点对点直播流媒体产品.
When the price of bandwidth plummeted in 2008 with the recession, the value of the core peer-to-peer product rapidly diminished. When I took over as CEO in late 2010, the company had an ad platform that wasn’t core; rather Abacast was relying on bandwidth sales.
我们很快意识到，没有办法在带宽上竞争，很明显，广告盈利最终将占据中心位置. So, 尽管带宽仍然是我们收入的重要组成部分, we stopped calling ourselves a CDN, 相反，我们改变了我们的故事，以反映通过我们的广告平台的盈利.
This major change allowed us to gain key strategic financing, 这反过来使我们能够将开发百家乐软件集中在大规模的广告平台更新上.
除了, 我们重组了我们的团队，引进了广告盈利方面的专家来补充我们的核心团队. 我们还改组了董事会，聘请了行业专家，帮助我们在新世界中前行.
这些团队的巨大变化和广告盈利的转变为我们赢得了几个关键客户, and eventually our company was acquired by WideOrbit, an industry leading ad solution provider.
结论
花点时间分析当前阶段所需的最佳方案, and know that this may be comprised of not a perfect answer, but a set of choices each with its own positives and negatives. Take a comprehensive look at the changing market, 竞争形势, 新的机遇, and how your team maps to the new reality.
Regardless, when the time comes to take action, do it.
对公司和团队负责，共同做出决定. 祝你好运.
[This is a contributed byline from WorksMachine.com. 流媒体 accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our audience.]
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