共同打造印度電商巨擘 Midweek dinners and a job switch

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal started their ecommerce company Flipkart in a Bangalore bedroom in 2007. Friends since their student days at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, the two — un-related despite sharing a surname — were bored with their jobs providing back-end IT services for Amazon in its home market. Restless, they decided to start their own business catering to India’s domestic consumers.

2007年，薩欽•班薩爾(Sachin Bansal)與賓尼•班薩爾(Binny Bansal)在班加羅爾的一間臥室創建了自己的電子商務公司Flipkart。同姓但無親緣關係的兩人在著名的印度理工學院(IIT)德里校區上學時就是好友，他們對自己爲亞馬遜(Amazon)在其本土市場提供後臺IT服務的工作感到厭倦，於是決定創建自己的公司，迎合印度國內消費者的需求。

Since then, Flipkart has grown from a tiny online bookstore into India’s biggest online shopping platform. Still based in the tech hub of Bangalore, and considered by customers as the “Amazon of India”, it ships about 8m packages a month, containing anything from apparel to electronics and home appliances, to cities and towns across India.

自創建以來，Flipkart已經從一家小型網上書店成長爲印度最大的網絡購物平臺。總部依舊設在科技中心班加羅爾的Flipkart，被消費者視爲“印度的亞馬遜”，每月向印度全國的大小城鎮寄出約800萬個包裹，從服裝、電子產品到家用電器，各種商品無所不包。

Now it is going head-to-head against the company its founders once emulated — and a clutch of other rivals — as all vie for supremacy in India, the world’s biggest untapped ecommerce market.

如今，Flipkart正在與其創始人曾經模仿的公司（以及大批其他同行）進行激烈競爭，各家電商競相要在印度這個世界最大的尚未充分挖掘的電商市場確立領先優勢。

In January, the co-founders un-veiled a management reshuffle — with Binny taking over as chief executive from Sachin, whose new role is executive chairman — in order to manage better the many tasks at hand.

今年1月，爲了更好地管理當下的諸多工作，兩位聯合創始人進行了一次管理層重組——由賓尼接替薩欽擔任首席執行官，而薩欽出任執行董事長。

In a hotel conference room on a recent visit to New Delhi, 34-year-old Sachin, in a fleece pullover, jeans and sports shoes, insists he is not losing sleep over the competition or the fact that Flipkart has yet to turn a profit.

34歲的薩欽在最近一次出差新德里期間堅稱，他並未因競爭或是Flipkart至今還未盈利而失眠。在酒店的會議室，他身穿羊毛套衫、牛仔褲，腳上搭配一雙運動鞋。

“Eight years ago, we absolutely had no chance of even thinking about competing with anyone of any size,” he says. “In terms of market share, funding and the brand we have been able to build up in a very short amount of time — all that gives us confidence that we are sitting on a very good base to build on.”

“8年前，我們想都想不到自己可以與任何規模的對手競爭，”他說，“就市場份額、資金以及我們在非常短的時間內打造起來的品牌而言——所有這些都讓我們相信，我們的公司建立在一個非常好的基礎上。”

Powered by affordable smartphones, India is on the cusp of an ecommerce revolution, with online merchandise sales forecast by Morgan Stanley to reach $100bn in 2020, up from $11.5bn in 2015. As an early mover, Flipkart is at the forefront of this trend. It is India’s largest ecommerce company, by sales and valuation, which was a heady $15bn last year, although one of its investors, Morgan Stanley, recently revalued it at the more muted $11bn.

在廉價智能手機的推動下，印度即將迎來一場電子商務革命。摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)預測，印度在線商品銷售額將從2015年的115億美元升至2020年的1000億美元。作爲行業先行者，Flipkart處在這一趨勢的最前沿。不論是按銷售額還是按估值算，Flipkart都是印度最大的電商公司。去年，該公司的估值達到令人頭暈的150億美元，儘管其投資者之一——摩根士丹利最近給出了更加保守的110億美元的估值。

Conventional wisdom holds that India’s online shoppers are fickle, and will look around to buy from whichever site offers the best deals. Flipkart, which has raised more than $3bn, and Amazon, now ploughing $2bn into India, are believed to have spent considerable sums to lure customers with deep discounts. But Sachin says his company’s biggest investments will be in improved technology and physical infrastructure and that will allow it to offer reliable services to win loyal customers. Flipkart has developed a phone app that loads fast even on India’s rickety mobile networks, and is now investing heavily in warehouses and logistics to ensure it can handle growing orders and ship goods quickly to consumers even in far-flung corners of the country.

傳統觀點認爲，印度的網上購物者沒有什麼品牌忠誠度，他們會四處瀏覽，然後從提供最優惠價格的網站購買商品。據信，已經籌得30多億美元的Flipkart與正向印度投入20億美元的亞馬遜都燒了大筆資金，利用折扣吸引消費者。但薩欽說，Flipkart最大的投資將用於提升技術和改善實體基礎設施，使公司通過提供可靠的服務贏得忠實客戶。Flipkart研發了一款在印度不穩定的移動網絡覆蓋範圍內也能夠快速加載的手機應用，並且正在大舉投資於倉庫與物流，以確保公司能夠處理不斷增多的訂單，將貨物快速遞送至消費者手中，哪怕他們住在印度的偏遠角落。

“Cash is not going to become a reason for success or failure,” he says. “What will define our success and failure will be our ability to differentiate.”

“資金不會成爲成功或失敗的原因，”他說，“決定成功與失敗的將是我們實現差異化的能力。”

It has been a tumultuous journey from a Bangalore bedroom to a multibillion-dollar business. But Sachin and Binny, as they are widely known in-side the company and by the public, remain close, or even closer. “[In] a lot of start-ups, the founders after three or four years have very different points of view,” Binny says, speaking later by phone from Bangalore. “One common thread that holds us together is the grand ambition we have for Flipkart.”

從班加羅爾的一間臥室成長爲一家數十億美元的公司的歷程並不平坦。但薩欽與賓尼——如同在公司內部以及爲公衆所熟知的那樣——仍保持着密切的關係——甚至成了更鐵桿的盟友。“（在）很多初創企業，三、四年之後，創始人之間就會產生很大的分歧，”賓尼後來從班加羅爾通過電話說道，“維繫我們在一起的主線是我們對Flipkart抱有的宏偉雄心。”

The two agree that Sachin is an intuitive, creative thinker, who sees the big picture, while Binny is more practical and detailed-oriented, and that their skills are complementary: “At different times, we have needed different skills,” says Binny. “At times, we needed to think big, and at times we needed to really execute. We’ve been able to look at what is needed and let the right person take the calls accordingly.”

兩人一致認爲，薩欽是一名有直覺力和創造力的思考者，能夠統攬全局，而賓尼更加務實，注重細節，他們的技能具有互補性：“在不同時期，我們需要不同的技能，”賓尼說。“有時我們需要有大思維，有時我們需要專注於執行。我們能夠看到需要什麼，然後讓合適的人擔當重任。”

Initially, the co-founders worked side by side, with just a few employees. When investors demanded a formal designation of CEO, they analysed their respective strengths and weaknesses, and Sachin took the job. “We would have both been very happy with the other person doing it,” he says.

最初，兩位聯合創始人在工作中不分彼此，手下只有幾名員工。當投資人要求他們指定一名正式的首席執行官時，他們分析了各自的優勢和劣勢，並讓薩欽出任首席執行官一職。“不論兩人中誰擔任這一職務，我們都會非常高興，”他說。

The frantic pace at which Flipkart ad-ded sellers and customers brought chal-len-ges, including communication breakdowns. “What emerged was that the left hand wasn’t talking to the right,” says Binny.

Flipkart增添賣家和顧客的迅猛速度帶來了挑戰，包括溝通不暢。“出現了自己人溝通不暢的問題，”賓尼說。

They began having dinner together midweek, to ensure they remained in sync. “When we reached 100 people, we said, this is becoming too big — we need to talk more often,” says Sachin.

他們開始在週三共進晚餐，以確保能夠保持同步。“當我們的員工達到100人時，我們說，公司變得太大了——我們需要更經常地交流，”薩欽說。

The recent job switch was a consensus decision taken after long consideration. Flipkart had reached a scale where it needed more clarity over who was the final authority on operational issues. “Everybody — investors and employees — saw us as being one entity almost. We saw the need to have one clear voice on the operating side,” says Binny.

兩人近期的職務調整是一項經過長時間考慮作出的共識決策。Flipkart已經達到的規模意味着，對於運營事項需要更清晰地界定誰是最終權威。“大家（投資者和員工）幾乎都把我們視爲一個整體。我們知道運營方面需要一個清晰的聲音，”賓尼說。

But they also felt they must look outwards to address wider policy issues in the Indian tech and start-up ecosystem, and to manage relations better with investors and other partners. Flipkart’s long-term prospects, especially being able to hire the best people, depend on a range of factors beyond its own operations, they believe: from the quality of local engineering colleges to government policies to the professionalism and prospects of other Indian start-ups.

但他們也認爲，必須放寬眼界，應對印度科技及創業生態系統中存在的更廣泛的政策問題，並且要更好地維護與投資人及其他合作伙伴的關係。Flipkart的長期前景——特別是能夠招攬到最優秀的人才——取決於公司運營範疇外的一系列因素，他們認爲，這些因素既包括地方理工學院的質量、政府政策，也包括印度其他初創企業的專業化水平和前景。

Trying to influence the broader clim-ate for the business will be Sachin’s responsibility. “We believe Flip-kart cannot be successful just by focusing on ourselves,” he says. “If the whole ecosystem becomes attractive, the whole world will start coming to us . . .  emp-loy-ees, engineers, investors, partners.”

薩欽將肩負起試圖影響整體營商環境的責任。“我們相信，Flipkart無法僅靠專注自身而獲得成功，”他說，“如果整個生態系統變得更具吸引力，全世界都會來找我們……僱員、工程師、投資人、合作伙伴”。

The co-founders do not think alike on every issue. Disagreements are thrash-ed out privately, or within a close circle, and resolved through reason and persuasion, they say. “We yell at each other all the time, but that is part of the process, when we are brainstorming or dis-agreeing,” says Binny.

兩位聯合創始人並非在每件事上都想法一致。他們說，他們之間的分歧通常在私下或小範圍內拋出，並通過理性分析、說服彼此來解決。“我們經常彼此大喊大叫，但那是我們進行頭腦風暴或者出現分歧時，解決過程的一部分，”賓尼說。

Both have used some of their new wealth to invest in Indian tech start-ups trying to tackle some of India’s pressing social and economic challenges. “The only way to really lift the standard of living in the country is by start-ups with innovative local solutions to the local problems, leveraging technology in different ways,” says Binny.

兩人都拿出了一些新獲得的財富投資於印度的科技初創企業，這些企業正在嘗試解決該國一些緊迫的社會和經濟挑戰。“唯一能夠真正提升這個國家生活水平的途徑就是依靠初創企業——以不同的方式借用科技的力量，爲當地問題尋找創新的當地解決方案，”賓尼說。

Yet Sachin is worried by the rivalries he sees in some young start-up teams, with individuals vying for the limelight rather than focusing on developing their businesses.

然而，薩欽對他看到的一些年輕創業團隊中的惡性競爭現象有些擔憂，在這些團隊中，一些個人熱衷於爭奪個人名利，而非專注於發展企業。

“We never bothered about who is the CEO or who is not the CEO, or ‘are you talking to the press more than me’,” says Sachin. “We are so focused on business success all this stuff doesn’t really matter. But in some of the early-stage investments I’ve made, people are already talking about this stuff.”

“我們從不爲誰擔不擔任CEO或者‘你接受的採訪比我多’而感到煩惱，”薩欽說，“我們如此專注於企業成功，以至於名利對我們根本無所謂。但在我作了早期投資的一些公司中，有人已經在談論名利了。”