但是，有一些投资费尽艰难才完成，最后却成为难以置信的成功者。在过去一年里，我们的投资组合中有一些公司就是如此，虽然风险投资市场的扩张期资本（C和D轮）已经收缩。我们看到公司需要6至9个月的时间来完成融资，我们看到创始人和CEO在这一过程中被50多个投资者拒绝。

　　I like to tell them the story of USV 2004. I believe Brad and I got over 100 rejections during that process. Rejection hurts but it is part of the game, particularly when you have a hard raise.

　　我喜欢告诉他们USV 2004的故事。我相信Brad和我在这个过程中收到了超过了100次的拒绝。拒绝当然让人受伤，但它是游戏的一部分，特别是当你融资艰难的时候。

　　One of the reasons hard raises can turn into great performers is that they often mean you are doing something others aren’t doing, you are early to an opportunity and others don’t see it. That certainly was the case with USV 2004. That’s the contrarian bet in action.

　　融资艰难的公司最后成为优秀公司的原因之一是，这意味着他们做的事情是别人没在做的。你可能处于一个机会的早期，而别人没有看到它。USV 2004就是这样的情况。这是逆向下注。

　　Another reason hard raises can turn into great performers is that you learn something from all of that rejection. Brad and I learned that we weren’t explaining the opportunity clearly and crisply enough. We went and read Carlota Perezon a friend’s suggestion and she helped us frame the “second wave” argument in a much cleaner and clearer way. And once we started investing the capital, we had a framework, influenced by Carlota’s work, that we could execute against. The fundraising process, and all of that rejection, helped harden our investment thesis to great effect.

　　另一个原因是，通过这些拒绝，你可以学到东西。Brad和我发现，我们没有能足够清楚和简单地解释机会。按一个朋友的建议，我们去读了Carlota的书。她帮我们用一个更干净和清晰的方式阐述了“第二次浪潮”的论点。我们开始投资以后，受影响于Carlota，我们建立了投资框架，得以按照它去执行。募资的过程，直播，以及所有的拒绝，都帮助我们打磨和大大提升了我们的投资主旨。

　　It is this second reason that I am seeing in action in our portfolio. As these expansion stage companies struggle to raise capital, they are forced into a cathartic (and at times painful) process of self reflection. What is their sales process? Is it efficient? What is their unique value proposition? Is it really unique? What kind of company are they building? Will it be large enough to justify all of this investment?

　　这个第二个原因，我同样在我们投资组合公司中见到了。当这些扩张阶段的公司艰难募集资金的时候，他们被迫进入一种导泻般（有时是痛苦的）的自我反思过程。他们的销售过程是什么？它是高效吗？他们独特的价值主张是什么？它真的很独特吗？他们要建立什么样的公司？它是否足够大，能够值得所有这些投资？

　　And as a result, these companies are coming out of these hard raises with better businesses, better operating models (lower burn rates!!), and bigger visions to go execute against.

　　因此，这些公司经历了融资艰难以后，脱胎而出的是一个更好的业务、更好的运营模式（更低的烧钱速度！！）和更大的愿景。

　　And I suspect that many of these rounds that have taken six to nine months to get done are going to turn into really strong performers for the investors who have ultimately decided to get behind them. We are using these opportunities to “lean into” these investments with our funds. We are always deeply reserved for our portfolio and believe in doubling down on investments when we have conviction. And, as an investor, you should always be open to having conviction around an investment that is having a hard time getting done. Because they can, at times, be among the strongest performing investments out there.