如何才能創辦一家公司 然後讓它被科技巨擘收購

I’ll start with one of my favorite thoughts, by Alex Haley in his essay “The Shadowland of Dreams”:

我想用我最喜歡的一個人的想法作爲開頭，這段話來自亞歷克斯o哈里的文章《夢想的陰暗之面》（Shadowland of Dreams）：

Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there’s a big difference between “being a writer” and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at the typewriter. “You’ve got to want to write,” I say to them, “not want to be a writer.”

“許多年輕人對我說他們想當一名作家。我經常給予他們鼓勵，同時也告誡他們‘當一名作家’與寫作完全是兩碼事。大多數懷抱作家夢的年輕人其實只爲追名逐利，殊不知那打字機前的寫作過程是如此漫長而孤獨。‘你要有寫作的慾望。’我告訴他們，‘而不是隻想着當一名作家。’”

The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune, there are thousands more whose longing is never requited. Even those who succeed often know long periods of neglect and poverty. I did.

“其實，寫作是一項需要孤軍奮戰，報酬甚微的工作。受到幸運之神眷顧、一舉成名的作家僅是少數，更多的人壯志難酬。即便最成功的作家也會經歷一段默默無聞和生活窘困的時期。我便是其中一位。”

When the startup economy booms, like it did in 1999 and like it is again in 2014, many people suddenly discover they want to “be an entrepreneur.” Newly-minted MBAs who otherwise would have joined Goldman Sachs or McKinsey instead head west to San Francisco. Big company lifers from Oracle or HP abruptly jump ship, not wanting to “miss out” on the next gold rush.

1999年和2014年，我們經歷過兩次創業潮，許多人突然發現他們“想做一名創業者”。剛畢業的MBA學生本可以加入高盛或麥肯錫，但他們卻選擇前往舊金山。甲骨文或惠普等大公司裏的元老突然跳槽，原因是他們不希望與下一次淘金熱“失之交臂”。

Too often, these folks quickly find a like-minded co-founder who also wants to join the “startup scene”, brainstorm a few ideas, pick one that seems plausible, hack up a product, then buy a wheelbarrow they can use to take their money to the bank when the acquisition offers start to roll in.

這些人往往很快就能找到志同道合的人，他們都懷揣創業夢想，一番頭腦風暴之後產生一些想法，從中選出看起來合理的創意，據此設計一款產品，然後買一輛手推車，靜等着收購要約蜂擁而至的時候，將大把的錢運到銀行。

They almost never need that wheelbarrow. Starting a company is as Alex Haley described writing: the best companies are usually not started by people who want to “be an entrepreneur.” They are started by people who are knowledgable and passionate about a specific problem, are driven to solve it, and then get busy building a company to bring it to life. They rarely go to tech conferences, can’t be found at launch parties, and they certainly don’t have a quick acquisition as their primary goal.

但許多人的希望都會落空。創業就像亞歷克斯o哈里描述的寫作一樣：由一心想“成爲創業者”的人創立的公司往往做不到最好。最好的創業者通常對某個具體問題有見地並充滿激情，有解決這個問題的動力，他們會全身心投入到公司建設，只想着讓其發展壯大。他們很少會參加技術會議，公司成立派對上也看不到他們的身影，迅速被收購也不是他們的主要目標。

In contrast, those who want to get rich by “being an entrepreneur” often come up with ideas that don’t really reflect any proprietary insight or interest. They’ll launch an undifferentiated e-commerce site with few barriers to entry, or they’ll read a Gartner report about a new enterprise market predicted to be worth billions, and they’ll jump into it with a me-too product. When they hit the inevitable bumps in the road, they may not have the drive to power over them, or they may not have the proprietary insight to outsmart competitors.

恰恰相反，那些希望“成爲創業者”而一夜暴富的人，所提出的想法沒有真正反映出獨有的洞察力或興趣。他們成立的電子商務網站大同小異，幾乎沒有准入門檻，或者他們在高德納公司的報告中讀到，一個新的市場預計會達到數十億的規模，然後便拿一款山寨產品一頭扎進去。他們一定會遭遇無力越過的障礙，或者沒有獨到的洞察力去打敗競爭對手。

The best entrepreneurs work on ideas that grow out of their personal experiences and aptitudes. Their ideas often are counter-intuitive and don’t seem likely to work at first. I highly recommend this essay by Paul Graham: How to Get Startup Ideas. One of Paul’s best thoughts is:

最優秀的創業者，其創業靈感都源自個人的經歷和天資。他們的想法往往有違直覺，最初看來似乎不可能實現。建議大家一定要讀讀保羅o格雷厄姆的經典之作——《如何獲得創業靈感》。他最好的一個看法就是：

The verb you want to be using with respect to startup ideas is not “think up” but “notice.” At YC we call ideas that grow naturally out of the founders’ own experiences “organic” startup ideas. The most successful startups almost all begin this way.”

“創業的點子是被‘發現’的，而不是被‘發明’的。在 YC創業營，我們會把從創始人自身經歷當中自然產生的靈感叫做‘內生的’創業靈感。最成功的創業公司幾乎都是這樣發展起來的。”

Now, many of these “organic” founders also want to get rich, as do their investors and the employees who join them, but they also expect to spend years toiling away with lots of setbacks and trial and error. They know that if they get rich it will be because they are working on an idea where they have an edge in terms of knowledge and enthusiasm, not because they have joined a lucrative profession called “being an entrepreneur.”

現在，許多內生型創始人也希望獲得財富，他們的投資者和員工同樣想獲得回報，但他們也會用數年時間應付可能遇到的挫折，進行反覆嘗試。他們知道自己能夠獲得財富，這是因爲他們在知識與熱情方面具有優勢，而不是因爲從事了一種有利可圖的職業——“創業者”。

All that being said, I would never discourage someone who truly is interested in startups from pursuing one – I’d certainly rather have them here in Silicon Valley rather than send them back to Wall Street. Startup life can provide a career full of accelerated learning, great camaraderie and teamwork, and it will at least leave you with some great stories. If you really want to enter the startup world, and not only for a quick acquisition, you could try:

儘管如此，對於真正有興趣創業的人，我從來不會潑冷水——而且我寧願他們來到硅谷，而不是回到華爾街。在創業過程中，你會加速學習，收穫深厚的友誼和團隊精神，你至少能積累一些了不起的經歷。如果你真的希望創業，而不是單純爲了迅速被收購，你可以做以下嘗試：

o Get awesome at something. Become a great engineer. Designer. Product manager. Marketer. Sales rep. Growth hacker. It is hard to start or join a great company if you aren’t great at a job that most startups need done.

o 在某件事上做到極好。成爲一名偉大的工程師、設計師、產品經理、營銷專家、銷售代表或所謂的增長黑客(Growth hacker)。如果大多數初創公司都需要的工作，你做不到出類拔萃的話，不論是創業還是加入一家出色的公司都很難。

o Go deep in an industry. Many of the best companies are started by founds with proprietary knowledge in a specific field, like ad technology, insurance, supply chain management, information security, or many others.

o 深入研究一個行業。許多最好的公司最初都掌握了某個特定領域的專有知識，如廣告技術、保險、供應鏈管理、信息安全等。

o Join a great startup. If you don’t have an idea where you have proprietary knowledge or passion, follow founders who do. Join the team early, contribute however you can, learn as much as you can, and it may lead to your founding your own company in the future as you get exposed to more people and ideas.

o 加入一家出色的初創公司。如果你還不知道自己在哪方面擁有專項知識或激情，那就追隨一位已經確立自身專長的公司創始人。儘早加入團隊，做出儘可能多的貢獻，不斷學習，等你接觸到更多的人和想法的時候，你未來或許便能創立自己的公司。

Good luck!

祝你好運！