价值观和信念
商业需要追求盈利，但不能受制于盈利。当公司建立了正确的核心价值观，优秀的公司文化便会随之而来。Zoho在发展历程中从不抛开核心价值观，也不高高挂起，而是让它渗透到公司运营的每个瞬间。
重新定义资本
Zoho对资本的定义非常宽泛，远远超越资产负债表或资产分类账这些概念。Zoho真正的资本包括共同遵循的文化、员工的工作技能和对企业的奉献精神，它们始终贯穿于Zoho组织内部的各个部分。
重新定义资本
Most companies—especially large companies with shareholders and major investors—approach everything they do through the lens of traditional capital growth. Every decision boils down to "Will this increase the monetary assets of the organization?" That brass-tacks monetary thinking is so ubiquitous that it seems like the only way to survive in today's economy.
But when business success is only measured by numbers on a spreadsheet, or the price of the stock, employees become assets to be optimized. In this capital-centric approach, everything is reduced to its monetary value, completely invalidating other, larger, longer-term goals in the process.
Embracing a broader understanding of capital
We reject that limited definition of capital and the even more limited business models that it produces. We see capital as the capability of a group or individual to meet their own economic needs. In this light, we've committed to building skills internally, rather than outsourcing core functions.
For example, rather than hosting our apps on the public cloud, we learned how to build and maintain our own data centers. Rather than hiring outside marketing firms to handle our branding and advertising, we do everything in-house. In both of these cases, we've prioritized the building of long-term knowledge capital over short term costs or speed-to-market expediency.
When your notion of capital becomes expansive rather than restrictive, you start to see opportunity everywhere. While roadmaps and milestones help along the way, truly building a successful business is about stretching the limits of your imaginative powers.
克制对指标的冲动
衡量公司是否成功不仅仅是收入、趋势和KPI。有些事情不能, 也不应被量化。我们需要克制对指标和数字的冲动，才能使我们所重视的无形资产不会被遗忘。
克制对指标的冲动
We live in the age of metrics and big data, where anything that can be measured and optimized will be. But just because something can be measured doesn't mean it should be. Software can provide innumerable insights into how to improve your operations, but it can't capture everything. You can't put a score on an individual's passion to succeed.
Similarly, the value of a company's culture cannot be quantified. You can look at things like headcount, or revenue, or customer growth to judge the success of company culture, but the intangible will still remain.
Intangible value rather than financial valuation
How can you calculate the worth of a team that's worked together for decades? How can you measure the value of trust between colleagues? How can you quantify loyalty or dedication or commitment to a shared vision? The answer: you can't.
However, these immeasurable elements are just as imperative to our success as any number on a spreadsheet. We're far more interested in building a vibrant, thriving company culture than in calculating market caps and valuations. Not everything can be translated into a number, nor should it be.
保持自主经营
几乎没有跨国公司能够不把控制权出让给投资者或股东。Zoho是个例外。26年来坚持自主和私有，我们唯一需要服务是客户和员工。
保持自主经营
We've been bootstrapped and profitable from day one, a result of smart spending, hard work, and a bit of luck. We've had buyout offers, but politely declined. We didn't get into this business in the hopes that we would go public. We build software because it's what we love to do.
The last decade has seen hundreds of new tech companies rise (and fall) on the valuations of venture capitalists. But taking on investors would've meant letting go of the freedom to take big risks. So we've never taken a dime of funding, a distinction that we wear as a badge of honor. We only make money from what our customers pay us, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
By staying private we've also stayed nimble. We're guided by what will best serve our customers, not the stock price. This allows us to make investments in projects that might not pay out until the next quarter or the next year. Some of our best products are the culmination of years of work that wouldn't have been possible with a "growth at all costs" mentality.
研发比市场和销售优先
客户不会因为你的营销能力或者销售团队而购买产品，他们最终决定购买，只是因为你的产品能够解决他们的问题。这就是Zoho长期以来100%致力于研发的原因。
保护客户隐私是我们坚守的原则
自始至终，Zoho视客户隐私为道德问题，而不仅是法律问题。我们站在保护客户数据隐私的前沿阵地，在监管层面要求这么做之前，已经开展强有力的隐私保护。
研发比市场和销售优先
We aren't in the business of marketing, we're in the business of developing software. So what does this mean in practice? That we spend twice as much on R&D as we do on sales and marketing. That Zoho runs entirely on Zoho, and that we are our own largest beta testers. This is one of the reasons we can release new products at such a fast clip; when we see the need in our own operations, we create something to meet it.
That commitment is how we've managed to build a suite from the ground up, rather than growing our portfolio through acquisition. Some SaaS providers plug the holes in their offerings by buying stand-alone products and grafting them into their product ecosystem. When we find a gap, we start coding.
R&D isn't always a linear process. Sometimes products have to be completely rethought, or scrapped. Some products take months to build, some years (or decades). But with patience and persistence, we move ahead. And by developing it ourselves, we save money, we grow our employees' skill sets, and we increase the value of the product delivered to the customer. It's a win for everyone.