Name: Let's Do It: 兩個大學朋友如何讓塞雷娜-威廉姆斯和烏森-博爾特支持他們的事業 (Let's Do It: How two college friends got Serena Williams and Usain Bolt to back their business)
Uploaded: 2021-10-18T18:40:30.000Z
Duration: 8 min 32 s

Whether its running, cycling or swimming, group sports are making a comeback.

無論是跑步、騎自行車還是游泳，團體運動正在捲土重來。

And that's something that Alex Rose and Sam Browne were counting on,

而這正是亞歷克斯-羅斯和薩姆-布朗所指望的東西。

as the founders of online sports events booking platform Let's Do This.

作為在線體育賽事預訂平臺Let's Do This的創始人。

They claim that it is the world's largest marketplace for mass participation sports

他們聲稱，這是世界上最大的大眾參與體育的市場

and have already drawn in  investment from sporting stars 

並且已經吸引了體育明星的投資。

像塞雷娜-威廉姆斯和烏森-博爾特。

I think we're a bit of a rarity in starting a tech company as two non-technical people.

我認為我們作為兩個非技術人員創辦科技公司是有點罕見的。

Rose and Browne knew each other from childhood, but became good friends

羅斯和布朗從小就相互認識，但後來成為好朋友

while studying at the U.K.'s University of Cambridge.

Both keen runners and cyclists, they founded Let's Do This in July 2017

他們都是熱衷於跑步和騎行的人，在2017年7月成立了Let's Do This公司

following a conversation at the pub about how difficult it was to find and sign up for races.

在酒館進行了一次關於尋找和報名參加比賽有多困難的談話之後。

Browne was already working in the sports industry,

布朗當時已經在體育行業工作。

having co-founded adventure travel company IGO Adventures,

曾與人共同創辦了探險旅遊公司IGO Adventures。

while Rose was working as an associate at a management consultancy.

當時羅斯在一家管理諮詢公司擔任助理。

When did you decide to quit your full-time jobs?

你們是什麼時候決定辭去全職工作的？

And what gave you the confidence to take the plunge to do that?

又是什麼給了你信心，讓你敢於這樣做？

We probably sort of set about it with a combination of naivety and overconfidence.

我們可能是懷著天真和過度自信的心態來做這件事。

And I think looking back on it, if we knew half the things we knew now

我認為回顧過去，如果我們知道我們現在所知道的一半的事情

about the obstacles, you know, that you have to overcome to start a business,

關於障礙，你知道，你必須克服創業的障礙。

I wonder whether we would have quit our jobs to do it.

我想知道我們是否會辭去工作來做這件事。

I think it also caught me at a point where I knew I really hated the job

我想這也是在我知道自己非常討厭這份工作的時候抓住了我。

that I had at the moment. And suddenly the obstacles

這是我此刻所擁有的。而突然間，障礙

in starting a new company suddenly didn't seem so terrifying.

創辦一家新公司的過程中，突然看起來並不那麼可怕了。

So, they decided to set up Let's Do This. The one-stop platform enables people

是以，他們決定成立 "讓我們這樣做"。這個一站式的平臺使人們能夠

to find information on and book onto endurance events across the U.K.

查找有關英國各地耐力活動的資訊並進行預訂。

To cover the initial start-up costs, the pair raised £150,000

為了支付最初的啟動費用，這對夫婦籌集了15萬英鎊。

from a network of London-based angel investors, mostly amateur athletes.

來自倫敦的天使投資人網絡，大部分是業餘運動員。

However, they soon realized that this wouldn't be enough to cover the costs

然而，他們很快意識到，這不足以支付費用。

of hiring software engineers to build the initial platform,

僱用軟件工程師來建立最初的平臺。

so they raised a further £1 million, mostly from the same group of investors.

所以他們又籌集了100萬英鎊，主要來自同一批投資者。

You had to talk to a lot of people to, you know, to find people who were interested.

你必須與很多人交談，你知道，要找到感興趣的人。

But if you can find a problem that people are passionate about then, you know,

但如果你能找到一個人們熱衷的問題，那麼，你知道。

there are always people who are willing to back exciting ideas.

總有一些人願意支持令人興奮的想法。

In 2018, Rose and Browne moved to Palo Alto, in California,

2018年，羅斯和布朗搬到了加利福尼亞州的帕洛阿爾託。

to complete the prestigious Y Combinator start-up accelerator program,

以完成著名的Y Combinator創業加速器項目。

along with another six members of the team.

Y Combinator has been the launching pad for major names like Airbnb and Reddit.

Y Combinator已經成為Airbnb和Reddit等大公司的啟動平臺。

That's when things really began to take off.

那是事情真正開始起飛的時候。

Then this guy, Pete Flint, led a $5 million seed funding round

然後這個人，皮特-弗林特，上司了一輪500萬美元的種子融資

for the company in August 2018. Flint is general partner for

2018年8月，為該公司。弗林特是以下公司的普通合夥人

venture capital firm NFX and is known for being the co-founder

他是風險投資公司NFX的創始人之一。

of online real estate marketplace Trulia, which was bought by its competitor Zillow in 2015.

在線房地產市場Trulia的負責人，該公司於2015年被其競爭對手Zillow收購。

Tennis legend Serena Williams and Olympic gold-medalist Usain Bolt

網球傳奇人物塞雷娜-威廉姆斯和奧運會金牌得主烏森-博爾特

That came about because Serena is married to a guy called Alexis Ohanian,

這是因為塞雷娜嫁給了一個叫亞歷克西斯-奧哈尼安的人。

who was one of the co-founders of Reddit, and was part of a very, very early batch of Y Combinator.

他是Reddit的聯合創始人之一，也是Y Combinator非常、非常早期的一批成員之一。

He actually got in touch with us halfway through in one of those emails

實際上，他在其中一封郵件中，中途與我們取得了聯繫

that you can't quite believe you've received, you know, coming from,

你不能完全相信你已經收到，你知道，來自。

without a doubt one of the most famous, well-connected alumni of the program,

毫無疑問，他是該項目最著名、關係最密切的校友之一。

saying that he'd just done his first Spartan Race and loved what we were building,

他說，他剛剛參加了他的第一次斯巴達比賽，並喜歡我們正在建造的東西。

and would be really interested to hear more.

And then at the end of Y Combinator, when you pitch to investors,

然後在Y Combinator的最後，當你向投資者推銷時。

he got back in touch about the opportunity to invest.

他就投資的機會再次取得了聯繫。

And at that point, I think we went back to him and said,

在這一點上，我認為我們回到了他身邊，並說。

'look, we'd obviously love to take investment from you,

聽著，我們顯然很願意接受你的投資。

but you also happen to be married to one of, if not the greatest female sports women ever.'

但你也碰巧嫁給了有史以來最偉大的女運動員之一，如果不是的話。

The Usain investment was another story where Sam, my co-founder,

烏森的投資是另一個故事，我的聯合創始人山姆。

I think, had seen that he was in London opening a bar,

我想，已經看到他在倫敦開了一家酒吧。

and actually went to the bar opening himself and managed to corner Usain Bolt

實際上是自己去酒吧開業，並設法將烏森-博爾特逼到牆角

and persuade him to have dinner with him, and pitch the idea to him then, and it went from there.

並說服他與他共進晚餐，然後向他提出這個想法，然後就這樣開始了。

A real example of hustling your way into the right investor meeting.

一個喧賓奪主進入正確的投資者會議的真實例子。

Since Rose and Browne set up Let's Do This, the company has raised just over $31 million.

自羅斯和布朗成立Let's Do This以來，該公司已經籌集了略高於3100萬美元的資金。

The London-based company now has 65 employees, up from about 25 members of staff in early 2021.

這家位於倫敦的公司現在有65名員工，比2021年初的約25名員工有所增加。

And a passion for sport is deeply engrained in the company's culture,

而對體育的熱情也深深地紮根於公司的文化之中。

with Olympic gold-medal  rower Constantine Louloudis 

與奧運金牌賽艇運動員康斯坦丁-盧盧迪斯合影

working as vice president of  sales and business operations.

But growing the business hasn't been without its issues.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the U.K. to go into lockdown in 2020 and 2021,

冠狀病毒大流行迫使英國在2020年和2021年進入封鎖狀態。

shutting down mass participation events like marathons and triathlons.

關閉馬拉松和鐵人三項等大眾參與的活動。

That dealt a blow to Let's Do This, which at the time listed 18,000 of these kinds of endurance events,

這對 "我們這樣做 "造成了打擊，當時它列出了18,000項這類耐力活動。

making its money from commission on the tickets that are sold through the platform.

賺取通過平臺銷售的門票的佣金。

The firm saw revenues crash  at the start of the pandemic, 

該公司在大流行病開始時看到收入崩潰。

prompting Rose and Browne  cut their own pay by 70%,

促使羅斯和布朗將他們自己的工資削減了70%。

as well as asking employees to take a 20% reduction in salary.

They were also forced to close down their office in San Francisco.

他們還被迫關閉了在舊金山的辦公室。

What impact did the coronavirus pandemic have on the business?

冠狀病毒大流行對企業有什麼影響？

It's sort of hard to overstate the impact that it had on the business.

它對業務的影響有點難以誇大。

It was, you know, it was pretty dramatic when it happened.

這是，你知道，當它發生時，這是相當戲劇性的。

The whole market that we operate in had to stop.

我們所經營的整個市場不得不停止。

Overnight there was suddenly no bookings coming from the platform,

一夜之間，突然沒有來自平臺的預訂。

revenue dropped to zero. But I think to be honest with you

收入下降到零。但我認為對你說實話

our concern at the time was almost more for the market that we were in

我們當時關注的幾乎更多的是我們所處的市場。

and the organizers that we're working with, than it was for us.

和與我們合作的組織者，比起我們來。

We were lucky enough to have done our series A round of funding

a few months before the pandemic happened. And therefore we knew we had cash, you know,

在大流行病發生前的幾個月。是以，我們知道我們有現金，你知道。

a bank account full of cash that would see us through,

一個充滿現金的銀行賬戶，可以讓我們度過難關。

but it was much more about what was, you know, what was this going to do to the market?

但它更多的是，你知道，這對市場會有什麼影響？

So, in a move that kept the business going, they pivoted into virtual event sign ups.

是以，在保持業務持續發展的行動中，他們轉向了虛擬活動的報名。

Over the summer of 2021, group sports events returned

在2021年夏天，團體體育活動迴歸

as the U.K. government lifted coronavirus social distancing measures.

由於英國政府取消了冠狀病毒的社會疏遠措施。

As a result, Let's Do This has seen a rebound in business,

是以，"讓我們這樣做 "已經看到了業務的反彈。

with 15,000 events now listed on the platform

and ticket sales doubling week-on-week for a period of around six months.

和門票銷售在大約六個月的時間裡每週翻一番。

Rose is confident this growth will continue as outdoor exercise remains popular beyond the pandemic.

羅斯相信這種增長將繼續下去，因為戶外運動在大流行之後仍然很受歡迎。

Lockdown has shifted how people exercise. You've seen such a huge shift to, you know,

鎖定已經改變了人們的鍛鍊方式。你已經看到這樣一個巨大的轉變，你知道。

at home connected fitness. If you look at the sales around, you know,

在家連接健身。如果你看一下週圍的銷售情況，你就知道了。

whether it's trainers, sneaker sales or bikes, you know, they are,

無論是培訓師、運動鞋銷售還是自行車，你知道，他們是。

you can't buy a roadbike at the moment, they're all sold out.

你現在買不到公路自行車，它們都賣完了。

There's never been so much demand. And so whilst I think there's still some

從來沒有這麼多的需求。是以，雖然我認為仍有一些