创始人该不该卖掉自己的公司

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?霍伊尔(Dean Hoyle，见上图)以4亿英镑价格卖掉了自己的贺卡公司。如今这家公司上市了，市值超过10亿英镑。他后悔吗？“一点也不，”英国连锁零售店Card Factory的这位联合创始人表示，“如果你有4亿英镑都不知道做什么，那么你又拿10亿英镑做什么呢？”

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岁的霍伊尔能这样乐观是幸运的。很多企业家都觉得要离开他们的“宝贝公司”很难。作为公司转让协议的一部分，一些企业家会被迫留下一段时间，因为买家希望确保在没有创始人指引的情况下公司不会破产。还有一些创始人自己坚持要留下，只是因为他们不想离开。

Research by Coutts, the private bank, in 2017 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.

私人银行Coutts在2017年所做的研究发现，只有四分之一的英国企业家会在出售公司后退休。其他人寻求做各种事情：74%担任另一家公司的顾问，65%投资于一家公司，有一半的人会去做慈善。超过一半的人会再创办一家自己的公司。

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.”

霍伊尔与妻子珍尼特(Janet)在1997年创建了Card Factory，把公司出售给私人股本投资公司，让他得以把精力放在自己的其他爱好上：他有3个孩子，还有一家Huddersfield Town足球俱乐部。他是俱乐部的所有者，也是董事长。“Card Factory刚成立时贷款了1万英镑，我把它发展成了一家ebitda利润为6000万英镑的公司。那12年里，我看到孩子的机会很少。他们周末与祖父母度过。我需要获得工作与生活的平衡。”

He remained non-executive chairman after the sale to Charterhouse Capital Partners. When it floated the business in 2017 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.”

把公司出售给Charterhouse Capital Partners后，他仍担任公司的非执行董事长。2017年公司上市后，他转而担任非执行董事。他如今不再持有Card Factory任何股份，也不再担任任何职位，不过他承认每次经过门店时都会有一种骄傲感。“它仍然是那种简单的标识。我记得我是坐在客厅里设计它的。”

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.

有时，创始人和公司意识到，离开公司是错的。硅谷已经有创始人回归的传统。1997年，史蒂夫?乔布斯(Steve Jobs)回到苹果公司(Apple)，让它避免了破产的命运。2004年，迈克尔?戴尔(Michael Dell)离开了他的同名电脑公司，但3年后回归，2013年从公开市场回购了公司。

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.

很多企业家不愿离开公司，而是决定引进股权投资，自己则继续执掌公司。这样他们可以拿到一些收益、分散风险并获得资金用于扩张。但私人股本投资公司通常希望在5到7年内获得回报，因此他们有找到新的投资者或接受整体收购的压力。

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，在公司出售后还不愿放手可能是错误的。美国考夫曼基金会 (Kauffman Foundation)研究员苏伦?杜蒂亚(Suren Dutia)表示：“能够对个人能力加以分析、必要时能放弃领导岗位的创始人兼首席执行官将赋予他们的公司取得长期成功的最大机会。”该基金会从事企业家精神方面的研究并提供相关咨询。

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.

霍伊尔没有这种顾忌，他再度出山，担任文具、图书和礼品连锁店The Works的董事长。随着孩子们长大，他有时间做一份新的工作，他还希望证明零售业是有前途的。

“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这样的机会可不是每天都有的。我可以在这里做我以前做过的事情，这符合我的能力。我认为一个人要度过人生的不同阶段。我在银行有存款，我有了度假别墅，也有了和家人共度的时光。我准备工作了。”