When Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna met as twentysomethings on their first day at Harvard Business School they had no plans to create a global beauty business. They had more pressing concerns as they had almost immediately to co-ordinate a spring holiday to Mexico for 50 of their classmates.
当凯蒂娅·比彻姆(Katia Beauchamp)和海利·巴尔纳(Hayley Barna)在进入哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)的第一天碰面时，她们还只是二十几岁的年轻人，从没想过要创办一家国际化妆品公司。当时她们手头有更急迫的任务——两人几乎必须马上为50位同学协调安排一次赴墨西哥的春游。
Organising the holiday served a purpose. It helped the women to realise they worked well together as a team, “but we didn’t necessarily want to start a business together”, says Ms Barna, now 29, a management consultant before going to HBS.
筹备这次假期旅行产生了一个成果。这两位年轻女性意识到俩人作为一个团队工作起来非常合拍。巴尔纳表示：“但我们并没有因此想要共同创立一个公司。”巴尔纳现年29岁，在进入哈佛商学院之前是一位管理咨询师。
That all changed less than a year later, when Ms Beauchamp and Ms Barna became the co-founders of Birchbox. Each month the New York-based company sends a box filled with beauty samples to subscribers in the US, the UK, Spain and France.
但不到一年之后就发生了巨大的变化，比彻姆和巴尔纳成为了Birchbox公司的联合创始人。这家总部位于纽约的公司每个月都会向美国、英国、西班牙和法国的订购客户们寄送一个装满化妆品小样的盒子。
From a tiny venture in 2010, Birchbox has now grown to 300,000 worldwide subscribers who receive a box for ·13, 13 or $10 depending on location. One box includes four to five cosmetics samples such as mascara or hand lotion, some in larger sizes.
2010年时还只是一家小型企业的Birchbox现已在全球范围内拥有30万名订购客户。这些订购客户根据所在地区的不同分别交纳13英镑、13欧元或者10美元的费用，即可收到一盒产品。盒中装有四至五样化妆品小样，例如睫毛膏或护手霜等，部分产品则可能为较大容量包装。
On the Birchbox website users can see how to incorporate the beauty products into a daily routine, as well as buy regular sizes of the samples. To date the company has secured $11.9m in venture-capital investment.
在Birchbox的网站上，用户们可以学到如何把美妆产品融合到自己的日常生活中，以及购买与小样对应的正规包装产品。到目前为止该公司已经获得了1190万美元的风险投资。
Rather than starting a business in parallel to their studies, Ms Beauchamp and Ms Barna integrated their beauty business idea into their courses in their last semester.
比彻姆和巴尔纳没有选择成立一个与自己研究方向一致的公司，而是将自己经营化妆品业务的想法融入到了最后一学期的课程学习中。
“We would negotiate with the professors where the final project would always be about Birchbox,” says Ms Beauchamp, 30, who worked in commercial real-estate investment banking before going to HBS.
比彻姆表示：“我们会与教授们协商，使课程的终期项目总是与Birchbox有关。”比彻姆今年30岁，在进入哈佛商学院以前曾从事与商业地产有关的投资银行业务。
One class really stood out. Harvard professor Clay Christensen’s course on disruptive innovation encouraged the two founders to think of a big idea that is an industry game-changer. “One of our first insights was that the beauty industry – in terms of marketing and retail – had not experienced significant innovation for many years,” says Ms Beauchamp.
有一门课程给比彻姆和巴尔纳留下了深刻印象。在哈佛大学教授克雷·克里斯坦森(Clay Christensen)有关“颠覆性创新”(disruptive innovation)的课程启发下，两位创始人产生了一个可能改变行业规则的宏大构想。比彻姆表示：“我们最初的一大感悟是，美妆行业已经连续多年未曾经历过重大创新了——无论是在市场营销手段还是零售模式方面。”
“That concept ties directly [to] what we learnt about examples of successful disruption in established industries.”
“这个想法与我们所学的成熟行业中获得成功的破坏性创新案例有直接关联。”
The two women were placed second in an HBS business-plan competition, which helped them build more confidence in the concept.
比彻姆和巴尔纳在哈佛商学院的商业计划大赛中取得了第二名，这增强了她们对自身构想的信心。
The VCs offered the co-founders money but they turned it down because the company was still in its infancy, says Ms Barna. Instead, they favoured launching a lean start-up with minimum means. Going through the process “helped crystallise our approach”, Ms Beauchamp adds.
风险投资基金向这两位创始人表达了注资意向，但遭到了拒绝。巴尔纳解释称，这是由于Birchbox仍然处于初创阶段。与之相反，她们更倾向于依靠尽可能少的资源发展一家小型创业企业。比彻姆补充称，经历整个创业过程“有助于使我们形成一整套的方法”。
They used their student status as a way to get their foot in the door at some of the largest beauty brands. “We were able to credibly present [the concept] as a test that we were exploring while in business school to potential partners,” Ms Beauchamp says.
凭借自己的学生身份，她们获得了向某些大型化妆品品牌展示自身构想的机会。比彻姆表示：“我们得以向潜在投资者有说服力地阐述我们的商业概念，以此检验我们在商学院就读期间所做探索的结果。”
The winter break of their second year turned into back-to-back appointments as the partners presented their idea to beauty companies in New York.
两人利用商学院第二学年寒假的时间进行了一连串会面，把自己的构想展示给纽约的一些化妆品公司。
“We had three very intense days in walking to boardrooms with prototypes,” Ms Beauchamp says. Cosmetics companies including Keihl’s, Nars and Benefit signed, giving Birchbox credibility with other large beauty companies. Having a tangible box to show companies was important.
比彻姆表示：“我们度过了非常紧张的三天，带着构思赶赴一个又一个会议室。”与她们签约的化妆品公司包括科颜氏(Keihl's)、纳斯(Nars)以及贝玲妃(Benefit)等等。这使她们在与其他大型化妆品公司洽谈时更具说服力。拥有一盒看得见摸得着的样品以供展示非常重要。
“We had to come in there with something more than just an idea.”
“我们必须展示出比单纯的一个想法更加实际的东西。”
Without waiting until there was a more concrete plan in place, they used the flexibility of their last business school semester to dive in and start the company in its test phase. Impromptu strategy sessions took place before class. “We would wake up every morning, emailing each other about how to make it work,” Ms Beauchamp says.
她们没有等到形成一个更加具体的方案，而是利用了商学院最后一学期空闲较多的条件一头扎进了项目，成立了公司并进入试运营阶段。她们每天在上课之前就公司的经营策略展开即兴讨论。比彻姆表示：“我们每天早晨醒来以后，都会发邮件和对方讨论如何推动公司运转。”
Taking two years away from the workforce was key in helping the business grow quickly, say the classmates.
两人表示，为期两年的脱产学习对于帮助Birchbox快速成长至关重要。
“Being on campus was a huge benefit [allowing us] to have the time to start something,” Ms Beauchamp adds.
比彻姆补充称：“身处校园的这段时间使我们受益良多，我们得以有时间去开创一番自己的事业。”
“By the time we were [graduating], we were not just an idea on paper.”
“到我们毕业的时候，我们所拥有的不再仅是停留在纸面上的一个构想了。”
Three years later they have 140 employees and Birchbox is growing quickly. However Ms Beauchamp is keen to retain the company’s start-up culture as a means of spurring more innovation. One of the biggest challenges Birchbox is facing is “growing up and showing our team that we are progressing,” she says.
创业三年后，Birchbox现已拥有员工140人，并且公司本身正在快速成长。但比彻姆仍然喜欢保留公司的创业文化，把这作为激发更多创新的一种方式。她表示，Birchbox目前所面临的最大挑战之一是“不断壮大并使团队看到自身的进步”。
Since Birchbox’s launch at least half a dozen imitators have come on to the market but its monthly box remains one of the most affordable.
自从Birchbox创立以来，市场中至少已经出现了6家模仿者，但Birchbox每月提供的礼盒相对而言仍是最价廉物美的。
Global growth is one strategy helping the company stay ahead. Last September Birchbox acquired JolieBox, a Paris-based competitor, allowing the partners to move into the European market. Expanding worldwide “is a huge focus right now,” says Ms Beauchamp.
拓展全球市场是帮助该公司保持市场领先地位的策略之一。去年9月，Birchbox收购了一家总部位于巴黎的竞争对手JolieBox，这使比彻姆和巴尔纳得以进军欧洲市场。比彻姆表示，全球化扩张是该公司“目前的关注重点”。
“Many of our beauty brands are global, so it’s the same thing for the customers.”
“我们代理了很多国际性美妆品牌，因此我们的客户群体也应该是国际性的。”
They are also expanding the samples. Last year Birchbox started offering Birchbox Man, a $20 box filled with men’s grooming samples and lifestyle products.
比彻姆和巴尔纳目前还在扩充产品种类。去年Birchbox开始提供一款名为“Birchbox Man”的礼盒，这款定价为20美元的礼盒内含适合男士使用的洗漱用品小样以及时尚产品。
In December the company also tested a limited edition “home box” for $58 containing products such as sea salt, a spatula set and cocktail napkins for the holidays. When it comes to participating brands not all make the cut and products are tested in-house before being boxed and posted, the founders say.
去年12月，该公司还尝试推出了一款名为“home box”的限量礼盒，这款定价58美元的礼盒内含海盐、抹刀组合以及假日使用的餐巾纸等产品。两位创始人表示，不是所有合作品牌的产品都能达到Birchbox的标准，产品在被装盒付运以前都先通过了公司的内部检测。
So far Birchbox has been an attractive proposition for brands eager to stretch their marketing budgets. Allowing consumers to test samples is a more hands-on approach to acquiring new customers. As a marketing strategy, the company allows brands to offer sample products “rather than paying for expensive print and advertising campaigns”, says Ms Beauchamp.
到目前为止，对于急于提高自身市场营销预算效果的品牌而言，与Birchbox合作一直是一个颇有吸引力的选择。允许消费者试用样品是一种更具实效的吸引新顾客的手段。比彻姆指出，Birchbox使品牌能把提供小样作为营销手段，“而不是仅仅支付昂贵的印刷以及广告宣传费用”。
“It’s a way [brands] can get close to consumers.”
“通过这种方式，品牌能够贴近客户。”