Treehouse融资475万美元，押注四天工作制能战胜职业倦怠

做的是什么生意

Treehouse sold monthly subscriptions to video courses teaching web design and development: example videos, online quizzes and badges aimed at people who wanted to build websites, web apps and iPhone apps, filmed in its own Orlando studio.

启动资金：A $600K seed round in October 2011, then a $4.75M Series A announced 2012-04-18 from Chamath Palihapitiya's Social+Capital and Greylock's Discovery fund.

起因

Ryan Carson co-founded Treehouse to teach web development and design; TechCrunch dated the company to late 2011, after a $600K seed round that October, with primary offices in Portland, Oregon, and an expanded film studio in Orlando, Florida, where it shot its video lessons.

经过

By April 2012 Treehouse had 34 full-time staff, was profitable at a $3M+ annual revenue run rate and growing fast, while working Monday to Thursday, 9 to 6, on full salaries. Carson argued the four-day week made recruiting and retention easy — one employee courted by Facebook asked whether the suitor offered four days — boosted morale, and gave him three days a week with his children. On 2012-04-18 TechCrunch reported the $4.75M round from Chamath Palihapitiya's Social+Capital and Greylock's Discovery fund, joining seed angels Kevin Rose, Reid Hoffman and Mark Suster; the money was earmarked for content expansion, faster feature iteration and experiments with revenue models, with hiring teachers named as the biggest constraint.

结果

The round closed and Treehouse stayed on its four-day week while scaling: 34 people, profitable at a $3M+ revenue run rate at announcement, planning to hire 10–15 more and expand content. Still live and growing as of 2012-04-24.

可借鉴之处

Treehouse将四天工作制作为招聘和留人的武器：全额工资和投资者可见的成果——盈利能力、300万美元运行率和475万美元融资。工时不是产品。