Tristan Walker: The Visible Man
He is posted up in the vestibule of the Fox Theatre in Redwood City, California, where the hottest venture-capital firm in Silicon Valley, Andreessen Horowitz, has just hosted a screening of a new documentary starring the rapper Nas.
他被安排在加利福尼亚州雷德伍德城福克斯剧院的前厅，硅谷最热门的风险投资公司安德森·霍洛维茨刚刚在这里放映了一部由说唱歌手纳斯主演的新纪录片。
Nas is here, too, but from the way Tristan Walker works the crowd of nearly 1,000, you’d think it was his premiere.
纳斯也在这里，但从特里斯坦·沃克 (Tristan Walker) 在近 1,000 名观众面前表演的方式来看，你可能会认为这是他的首演。
Sporting a light-gray Bailey fedora and a speckled charcoal sweatshirt bearing the logo of his new startup, Walker & Company Brands, the debonair 30-year-old dives into the masses, vanishes, reemerges in a corner deep in conversation, and makes introductions all around, exclaiming, “You two should meet!” During a stationary second, a young black man who can’t be more than 20 years old walks over.
这位 30 岁的温文尔雅的年轻人戴着浅灰色的贝利软呢帽，穿着印有他的新创业公司 Walker & Company Brands 标志的斑点木炭运动衫，一头扎进人群中，然后消失，又重新出现在一个角落里，深入交谈，向周围做介绍，大声喊道：“你们两个应该见面！”静止的一瞬间，一个不到二十岁的年轻黑人走了过来。
“I’ve been following your moves,” he says.
“我一直在关注你的举动，”他说。
“And I’ve been really inspired by you.”
“我真的受到了你的启发。”
Walker is a celebrity in Silicon Valley, known primarily for his success and creativity as head of business development at Foursquare, which he joined in 2009 and left in 2012.
沃克是硅谷的名人，主要因其担任 Foursquare 业务开发主管时的成功和创造力而闻名，他于 2009 年加入该公司，并于 2012 年离开。
Foursquare was one of the original location-based “check-in” apps, and Walker put the startup on the map by landing hundreds of partnerships with merchants and brands such as American Express and BravoTV.
Foursquare 是最早的基于位置的“签到”应用程序之一，沃克通过与美国运通和 BravoTV 等商家和品牌建立了数百个合作伙伴关系，使这家初创公司名声大噪。
His regular appearances at South by Southwest, on television, and on Twitter–where he’s garnered an audience of nearly 300,000 followers–promoted both Foursquare and Walker himself.
他定期出现在西南偏南、电视和 Twitter 上（他在 Twitter 上吸引了近 30 万粉丝），从而宣传了 Foursquare 和沃克本人。
By the time he left to become entrepreneur-in-residence at Andreessen Horowitz, everyone wondered, “What’s next for Tristan?” Walker’s hustle and charisma aren’t the only reasons for his fame.
当他离开并成为安德森·霍洛维茨基金的常驻企业家时，每个人都想知道“特里斯坦的下一步是什么？”沃克的忙碌和魅力并不是他成名的唯一原因。
Walker is black.
沃克是黑人。
In Silicon Valley, even in 2014, a visible, successful African-American is big news.
在硅谷，即使在 2014 年，一位引人注目的成功非裔美国人也是大新闻。
The technology industry ‘s lack of minority representation is deplorable.
科技行业缺乏少数族裔代表，这一点令人遗憾。
Venture capitalists, startup founders, and big-time CEOs like to brag that the tech business is a color-blind meritocracy, but their boasts don’t reflect the facts.
风险投资家、初创公司创始人和大牌首席执行官喜欢吹嘘科技行业是一个不分肤色的精英政治，但他们的吹嘘并不能反映事实。
The truth hit like cannon blasts this past summer, when tech’s largest firms released figures on the racial and ethnic makeup of their companies.
去年夏天，当最大的科技公司发布了有关其公司的种族和民族构成的数据时，真相就像一声炮响。
They’d kept this data hidden for years, insisting that it was a “trade secret,” but they finally yielded under pressure from civil rights activist Rev.
他们将这些数据隐藏了多年，坚称这是“商业秘密”，但最终在民权活动家 Rev. Rev. 的压力下屈服了。
Jesse Jackson Sr. and others.
老杰西·杰克逊等人。
Google was the first, revealing that out of its 46,000 employees, just 2%–and just 1% of its technology workforce–are black.
谷歌是第一个，它透露，在其 46,000 名员工中，只有 2%（以及其技术员工队伍中的 1%）是黑人。
Next up was Yahoo : 12,300 employees, 1% of its tech workforce, are black.
其次是雅虎：有 12,300 名员工，占其科技员工的 1%，是黑人。
Facebook?
Facebook？
You guessed it: 1%.
你猜对了：1%。
Apple’s total workforce is 7% black–but, of course, Apple has 425 retail locations.
Apple 的员工总数中黑人占 7%，但 Apple 拥有 425 个零售点。
In case you were wondering, blacks make up 13% of the U.S. population.
如果您想知道的话，黑人占美国人口的 13%。
“The fact of the matter is, there are a lot of qualified people of color out there, who can and should be working in the tech industry,” says David Drummond , senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer at Google.
“事实是，有很多合格的有色人种，他们可以而且应该在科技行业工作，”谷歌企业发展高级副总裁兼首席法务官戴维·德拉蒙德 (David Drummond) 表示。
“Releasing the numbers creates the opportunity for us to make this more visible, and to do something about it.”
“公布这些数字为我们创造了让这一问题更加明显并采取行动的机会。”
While Drummond is, arguably, the highest-ranking black executive at a major company in the Valley, Walker is its highest-profile African-American startup founder and CEO.
德拉蒙德可以说是硅谷一家大公司级别最高的黑人高管，而沃克则是该公司最引人注目的非裔美国初创公司创始人兼首席执行官。
And he has set Walker & Co. on a decidedly unorthodox course for a Silicon Valley enterprise.
他让沃克公司走上了一条对于硅谷企业来说绝对非正统的道路。
As he tries to turn this startup into what he considers a great company, Walker will face all the usual obstacles that confront a young entrepreneur.
当沃克试图将这家初创公司变成他认为的伟大公司时，他将面临年轻企业家所面临的所有常见障碍。
But he will also be carving out a narrative with unique challenges.
但他也将讲述一个充满独特挑战的故事。
More often than not, the tech industry’s heroes are boyish white males from wealthy suburban enclaves–the Zuckerbergs, Dorseys, and Systroms.
通常，科技行业的英雄是来自富裕郊区飞地的孩子气的白人男性——扎克伯格家族、多尔西家族和希斯特罗姆家族。
Despite the fact that African-Americans have risen to the highest levels of every other aspect of business and popular culture, not a single black entrepreneur has attained that level of success and influence in tech.
尽管非裔美国人在商业和流行文化的各个其他方面都达到了最高水平，但没有一个黑人企业家在科技领域取得了如此程度的成功和影响力。
Against considerable odds, Walker is working to rewrite that playbook, even if his startup has a modest $9.3 million in funding.
尽管困难重重，沃克仍在努力改写剧本，尽管他的初创公司只有 930 万美元的资金。
If Walker can build a world-changing business, he will serve as an extraordinary role model for younger African-Americans.
如果沃克能够打造一家改变世界的企业，他将成为年轻非洲裔美国人的非凡榜样。
And perhaps he will prove to those who hold the keys to the Valley’s kingdom that those coming behind him, and those who haven’t benefited from the kind of exposure he has garnered, are worthy of much more than the cursory glance they are now given.
也许他会向那些掌握着硅谷王国钥匙的人证明，那些追随他的人，以及那些没有从他所获得的曝光中受益的人，比他们现在粗略地看一眼更值得。
As if proof should be necessary.
好像证据是必要的。
Walker’s challenge is multiplied by his unusual goal for his company.
沃克的挑战因他为公司制定的不同寻常的目标而倍增。
Walker & Co. isn’t an app; it won’t make you instantly famous for kooky videos; it doesn’t even automate anything in your life.
Walker & Co. 不是一个应用程序；而是一个应用程序。它不会让你因为古怪的视频而立即出名；它甚至不会使你生活中的任何事情自动化。
Instead, Walker & Co. aims to be the “Procter & Gamble for people of color.” While the company is armed with Silicon Valley money and infused with Silicon Valley concepts of design and startup culture, it will try to create health and beauty products for minorities, solving problems overlooked by the reigning consumer-goods giants.
相反，沃克公司的目标是成为“有色人种的宝洁公司”。尽管该公司拥有硅谷的资金，并融入了硅谷的设计理念和创业文化，但它将努力为少数族裔创造健康和美容产品，解决消费品巨头忽视的问题。
Its first product is a single-blade razor system, called Bevel, which makes it possible for men with coarse or curly hair–the kind that I and most other black men have–to shave without developing razor bumps or other skin irritation.
它的第一个产品是一种单刀片剃须刀系统，称为 Bevel，它使头发粗糙或卷曲的男性（我和大多数其他黑人都有的那种）剃须时不会出现剃须肿块或其他皮肤刺激。
Can a razor be the foundation of a great business?
剃须刀可以成为伟大企业的基础吗？
Can it lure young black men and women to Silicon Valley?
它能吸引年轻的黑人男女来到硅谷吗？
Can it be a catalyst for real change?
它能成为真正变革的催化剂吗？
Walker knows that his every move will be closely dissected, given his status.
沃克知道，鉴于他的地位，他的一举一动都将受到密切关注。
While he is adept at turning on the networking charm when necessary, he is not naturally at ease with such public attention.
虽然他善于在必要时发挥网络魅力，但他自然对公众的关注感到不安。
“Man, that is not my scene,” Walker says, slowing to a red light on a desolate highway after we leave the Nas screening.
“伙计，那不是我的场景，”沃克在我们离开纳斯放映后在一条荒凉的高速公路上减速到红灯时说道。
“I don’t really go to those events by myself, unless I’m accepting an award or coming out to show support.
“我不会亲自去参加这些活动，除非我要接受奖项或出来表示支持。
Or if I’m with my friends.
或者如果我和我的朋友在一起。
What am I going to talk to people about?”
我要和人们谈论什么？”
Age: 30 Childhood home: South Jamaica Houses, Queens, New York Current home: Palo Alto Education: New York City public schools Hotchkiss School, 1998–2002 SUNY Stony Brook, 2002–2005, class valedictorian Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2008–2010, MBA
年龄：30 岁 童年住所：纽约州皇后区南牙买加豪斯 现在住所：帕洛阿尔托 教育背景：纽约市公立学校 Hotchkiss 学校，1998–2002 年 纽约州立大学石溪分校，2002–2005 年，毕业生致辞 斯坦福大学商学院，2008–2010 年，MBA
Professional experience: Intern, Twitter, 2009 Director of business development, Foursquare, 2009–2012 Entrepreneur-in-residence, Andreessen Horowitz, 2012–2013 Founder and CEO, Walker & Company Brands, 2013–present
专业经历： Twitter 实习生，2009 年 Foursquare 业务开发总监，2009–2012 年 Andreessen Horowitz 驻场企业家，2012–2013 年 Walker & Company Brands 创始人兼首席执行官，2013 年至今
Power advisers: Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz (mentor, investor) Ron Johnson, former CEO of JCPenney, SVP of retail ops at Apple (investor) Dennis Crowley, cofounder and CEO of Foursquare Charles Hudson, partner at SoftTech VC Mark Suster, partner at Upfront Ventures (investor, confidant)
权力顾问：Andreessen Horowitz 的 Ben Horowitz（导师、投资者） Ron Johnson，JCPenney 前首席执行官、苹果零售运营高级副总裁（投资者） Dennis Crowley，Foursquare 联合创始人兼首席执行官 Charles Hudson，SoftTech VC 合伙人 Mark Suster，Upfront Ventures 合伙人（投资者、知己）
Inside an appropriately hip, appropriately spare coworking space in San Francisco’s Mission District, a young Asian woman named Misa is addressing an audience assembled by Code2040 , a not-for-profit Walker cofounded in 2012 with a former business-school classmate, Laura Weidman Powers.
在旧金山 Mission District 一个时髦、闲适的联合办公空间内，一位名叫 Misa 的年轻亚裔女性正在 Code2040 组织的听众发表演讲，Code2040 是沃克于 2012 年与前商学院同学劳拉·魏德曼·鲍尔斯 (Laura Weidman Powers) 共同创立的非盈利组织。
(The organization’s name nods to the fact that current demographic trends suggest that the U.S. will have more “minorities” than whites by 2040.) Its mission is to connect young black and Latino engineers with tech companies such as Facebook, Jawbone, and LinkedIn.
（该组织的名称反映了这样一个事实：当前的人口趋势表明，到 2040 年，美国的“少数族裔”数量将超过白人。）其使命是将年轻的黑人和拉丁裔工程师与 Facebook、Jawbone 和 LinkedIn 等科技公司联系起来。
Misa, who works for the global design firm Ideo, is hosting a session on ways to close the diversity gap.
供职于全球设计公司 IDEO 的米萨正在主持一场关于如何缩小多元化差距的会议。
She begins with slides of products that Ideo has helped to develop, ranging from Apple’s first mouse to a simpler, safer vegetable peeler.
她首先展示了 IDEO 帮助开发的产品的幻灯片，从苹果公司的第一款鼠标到更简单、更安全的蔬菜削皮器。
“We came to all of these solutions by using design thinking,” she says, referring to one of Silicon Valley’s favorite approaches to solving problems, which Ideo popularized in the early 2000s.
“我们通过使用设计思维来找到所有这些解决方案，”她说，她指的是硅谷最喜欢的解决问题的方法之一，Ideo 在 2000 年代初期普及了这种方法。
She then turns to the audience: “So we’ve brainstormed some reasons why minorities are not more represented in tech, and I wanted to ask you for a few thoughts on why that is.” She can barely finish the sentence before a woman at the back of the room blurts out, “WHITE RACISM!!!” The room goes silent.
然后她转向观众：“所以我们集思广益了少数族裔在科技领域代表性不足的一些原因，我想请你们对此有何看法。”她刚把这句话说完，房间后面的一个女人就脱口而出：“白人种族主义！！！”房间里一片寂静。
Misa stammers for a few seconds before asking for other opinions.
米萨结巴了几秒钟，然后询问其他意见。
The outspoken attendee isn’t wrong, but the answer to Misa’s query is more complex, of course.
这位直言不讳的与会者并没有错，但米萨问题的答案当然更加复杂。
“Racism, sexism, and other forms of exclusionary behavior are in and of themselves nuanced and multilayered,” says Freada Kapor Klein, a prominent advocate for tech diversity and founder of the not-for-profit Level Playing Field Institute.
“种族主义、性别歧视和其他形式的排斥行为本身是微妙且多层次的，”科技多样性的著名倡导者、非营利性公平竞争研究所的创始人弗雷达·卡普尔·克莱因 (Freada Kapor Klein) 表示。
“We don’t have intentional bigots, but we have very smart, well-meaning, creative people who are systematically engaging in biased behavior.” It is racist, for example, to approach a recruiting firm with the mandate to fill an engineering position only with someone from one particular Ivy League school, where blacks comprise a single-digit percentage of the student population.
“我们没有故意的偏执狂，但我们有非常聪明、善意、有创造力的人，他们系统性地从事有偏见的行为。”例如，一家招聘公司只要求来自某所常春藤盟校的人来填补工程职位，这是种族主义行为，而在该校，黑人占学生人数的比例仅为个位数。
It is racist to rely on employee referrals for hires, when the typical social network of a white American is 1% black.
当美国白人的典型社交网络中只有 1% 是黑人时，依靠员工推荐来招聘是种族主义行为。
And it is racist to impose standards of “culture fit”–the absurd notion that employees must behave (and sometimes appear) in a way that makes others feel comfortable–on job candidates.
对求职者强加“文化契合度”标准是种族主义行为，这是一种荒谬的观念，即员工的行为（有时是表现）必须让其他人感到舒服。
These are typical, and convenient, hiring practices of startup founders.
这些是初创公司创始人典型且方便的招聘做法。
Under enormous pressure to grow their companies fast, they feel entitled to dismiss niceties such as an HR department that might seek out minority candidates.
在公司快速发展的巨大压力下，他们觉得有权忽视人力资源部门可能会寻找少数族裔候选人等细节。
But their very inaction is a manifestation of extreme bias, even if it’s subconscious.
但他们的无所作为就是极端偏见的表现，即使这是潜意识的。
The problem does go that deep, into our subconscious and our collective history.
这个问题确实深入到我们的潜意识和我们的集体历史中。
After the Ideo presentation, the audience breaks into groups.
Ideo 演示结束后，观众分成几组。
One proposes that kids might be encouraged to pursue a tech career by Fleer-like Silicon Valley trading cards featuring images of role-model engineers instead of basketball or baseball players.
有人提出，类似弗莱尔（Fleer）的硅谷交易卡可能会鼓励孩子们从事科技职业，这些交易卡上有模范工程师的图像，而不是篮球或棒球运动员的图像。
They certainly would have been a different kind of inspiration for young Tristan Walker, who, like many African-American boys, idolized sports figures on magazine covers, dreaming of living their lives.
对于年轻的特里斯坦·沃克来说，它们无疑是一种不同的灵感，他像许多非裔美国男孩一样，崇拜杂志封面上的体育人物，梦想着过上自己的生活。
This was partly because he was a good athlete, but mostly because musicians, entertainers, and sports heroes tend to be the most visible models of black success for young African-Americans.
部分原因是他是一名优秀的运动员，但主要是因为音乐家、艺人和体育英雄往往是年轻非裔美国人最明显的黑人成功典范。
He claims not to have even known of Silicon Valley until he moved there.
他声称在搬到硅谷之前根本不知道硅谷。
Walker was raised in a couple of the roughest neighborhoods of Queens in New York City.
沃克在纽约市皇后区几个最简陋的社区长大。
He was one of the 50% of black children in the U.S. who grow up in fatherless homes–his was shot and killed when Walker was only 4 years old.
他是美国 50% 在没有父亲的家庭中长大的黑人儿童之一——沃克在年仅 4 岁时就被枪杀。
“Me being introverted is partly a function of my upbringing,” Walker says of his generally reserved demeanor.
“我性格内向，部分原因是我的成长经历，”沃克在谈到他一贯内向的举止时说道。
“You couldn’t go outside as much, out of fear of what might happen.” Walker’s brother, Sean, who is 14 years his senior, filled in as a father figure, pushing him to excel in sports.
“你不能经常出去，因为担心会发生什么。”沃克的哥哥肖恩（Sean）比他大 14 岁，他扮演了父亲的角色，推动他在体育领域取得优异成绩。
His mother, Bettie, worked two jobs, six days a week–as an administrative assistant at the New York Housing Authority from 8 a.m.
他的母亲贝蒂 (Bettie) 做两份工作，每周工作六天，从早上 8 点到晚上 8 点在纽约住房管理局担任行政助理。
to 4 p.m., then at Time Warner Cable from 5 p.m.
下午 5 点至下午 4 点，然后在时代华纳有线 (Time Warner Cable) 下午 5 点开始
to 9 p.m.–and enrolled Walker in an after-school program at the Boys Club of New York.
到晚上 9 点——并为沃克报名参加了纽约男孩俱乐部的一个课后项目。
In eighth grade, he tried out for a basketball team that played against a variety of prep schools around New England.
八年级时，他参加了一支篮球队的选拔，该队与新英格兰各地的多所预科学校进行比赛。
He didn’t make it, but one of the coaches knew that Walker was a straight-A student and suggested he take the SSAT and apply to one of the boarding schools the team played.
他没能成功，但其中一位教练知道沃克是一名全优学生，建议他参加 SSAT 考试并申请球队所在的一所寄宿学校。
He did, and one day found himself with a full scholarship to Hotchkiss, a prep athletic powerhouse perched aside bucolic Lake Wononscopomuc in Connecticut.
他做到了，有一天，他发现自己获得了霍奇基斯的全额奖学金，霍奇基斯是一位位于康涅狄格州田园诗般的沃农斯科波穆克湖畔的预科运动强国。
Hotchkiss features prominently in F.
霍奇基斯在《F.
Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise , and boasts such alumni as Henry Luce, former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, and the scions of Henry Ford.
斯科特·菲茨杰拉德 (Scott Fitzgerald) 的《天堂的这一面》(This Side of Paradise) 拥有亨利·卢斯 (Henry Luce)、前最高法院法官波特·斯图尔特 (Potter Stewart) 以及亨利·福特 (Henry Ford) 的后裔等校友。
It bears little resemblance to the housing projects of Queens.
它与皇后区的住房项目几乎没有相似之处。
Walker readily acknowledges that attending Hotchkiss gave him an experience that was “markedly different from a lot of folks.” He calls his time there the “four most transformative years” of his life.
沃克欣然承认，参加霍奇基斯学院给了他一种“与很多人明显不同的经历”。他称在那里的时光是他一生中“最具变革性的四年”。
Instead of navigating the shoals of New York City’s public school system, he went to a place where the average class had just 14 students.
他没有去纽约市公立学校系统的浅滩，而是去了一个平均班级只有 14 名学生的地方。
Computers and other technologies were plentiful and up-to-date, and classes are offered in AP statistics, microeconomics, and computer science, along with Java programming and robotics.
计算机和其他技术丰富且最新，提供 AP 统计学、微观经济学和计算机科学以及 Java 编程和机器人学课程。
“I got to see how the other half lived,” Walker says.
“我必须看看另一半是如何生活的，”沃克说。
Walker would learn much more than math and science at Hotchkiss.
沃克在霍奇基斯学院学到的不仅仅是数学和科学。
The air among his peers, mostly offspring of the economically elite, could easily become racially charged.
他的同辈大多是经济精英的后代，他们的气氛很容易充满种族色彩。
“Sometimes it felt like we were part of a social experiment for rich white kids,” says Ajene Green, who became close friends with Walker at Hotchkiss, and who is now a senior account executive at Spongecell, an ad-tech firm in New York City.
“有时候，我们感觉就像是针对富有的白人孩子的社会实验的一部分，”阿杰内·格林 (Ajene Green) 说，她在霍奇基斯 (Hotchkiss) 与沃克成为了亲密的朋友，现在是纽约市一家广告科技公司 Spongecell 的高级客户主管。
When Green and Walker would show up sporting Sean John or Rocawear–popular urban fashion for teens in the early 2000s–there were snickers from the crowd wearing Abercrombie & Fitch and Birkenstock sandals.
当 Green 和 Walker 穿着 Sean John 或 Rocawear（2000 年代初期青少年流行的都市时尚）出现时，穿着 Abercrombie & Fitch 和 Birkenstock 凉鞋的人群会发出窃笑声。
Students asked to borrow the pair’s clothes as costumes for “Spirit Week.” Green remembers one student’s post to the school’s online forum, questioning why, in light of a “no hats” rule, black students were allowed to wear do-rags (meant to maintain cornrows or the wavy texture of military-style cuts), and Jewish students their yarmulkes.
学生们要求借用两人的衣服作为“精神周”的服装。格林记得一名学生在学校的在线论坛上发帖，质疑为什么根据“不戴帽子”的规定，黑人学生可以穿破布（旨在保持玉米辫或军装风格剪裁的波浪纹理），而犹太学生则可以戴圆顶小帽。
Walker wasn’t the type to protest these types of incidents.
沃克不是那种会抗议此类事件的人。
“I was able to compete,” he says, “not only athletically, but academically.”
“我能够参与竞争，”他说，“不仅在运动方面，而且在学术方面。”
It was during these years that Walker would develop and hone something widely considered a requirement for the survival, and success, of young black professionals in a white-dominated environment: the ability to be, essentially, two people at once, allowing one’s true self to coexist with an “other” self that is just authentic enough to be unthreatening and to avoid unwarranted stereotypes.
正是在这些年里，沃克发展并磨练了一些被广泛认为是年轻黑人专业人士在白人主导的环境中生存和成功的要求：本质上同时成为两个人的能力，允许一个人的真实自我与“另一个”自我共存，这个“另一个”自我足够真实，不具有威胁性，并避免不必要的刻板印象。
Walker has a more euphemistic way of explaining this.
沃克对此有一种更为委婉的解释。
“I’ve been given so many experiences to understand how to weave in and out of different social group types,” he says.
“我获得了很多经验来了解如何融入和融入不同的社会群体类型，”他说。
“That’s where I [first] learned how to do that.”
“这就是我[第一次]学会如何做到这一点的地方。”
After graduating from Hotchkiss and then excelling at Stony Brook University in New York, Walker landed on Wall Street through SEO, an organization that offers training and internship programs to underrepresented minorities in business.
从 Hotchkiss 毕业并在纽约石溪大学取得优异成绩后，沃克通过 SEO 登陆华尔街，SEO 是一家为商界代表性不足的少数族裔提供培训和实习项目的组织。
He traded stock for Lehman Brothers and J.P.
他交易雷曼兄弟和 J.P. 的股票。
Morgan, and dreamed up any number of moneymaking schemes over long lunches with Green, who worked near him at L’Oréal.
摩根，并在与格林（格林，他在欧莱雅公司与他一起工作）的长时间午餐中梦想着许多赚钱的计划。
Nothing clicked.
没有点击。
These were dark days for the Street.
对于华尔街来说，这是黑暗的日子。
Walker decided to try to develop his entrepreneurial skills at Stanford Business School.
沃克决定尝试在斯坦福商学院发展他的创业技能。
He was accepted just after losing his job in the first round of layoffs during the 2008 financial crisis.
2008年金融危机期间，他在第一轮裁员中失业后不久就被录用了。
Coming from the literal depression of Wall Street, Walker was struck by the vibrant, inspiring environment of the Bay Area.
沃克来自华尔街的真正萧条，他对湾区充满活力、鼓舞人心的环境感到震惊。
“I thought it was the most amazing place in the world because there were other 24-year-olds not only making millions of dollars but also changing the world,” he says.
“我认为这是世界上最神奇的地方，因为其他 24 岁的人不仅赚了数百万美元，而且还改变了世界，”他说。
“I knew I wanted to be a part of that.”
“我知道我想成为其中的一部分。”
As had been true of Hotchkiss, Stanford presented more than just a classic education.
正如霍奇基斯一样，斯坦福大学提供的不仅仅是经典教育。
Walker may have learned the most from a particularly unlikely class, an elective called Acting With Power, in which students would perform scenes to help them become “more comfortable with different hierarchical organizational roles.” “One of the first things actors learn is how to get into character,” says psychologist Deborah Gruenfeld, who developed and taught the class.
沃克可能从一门特别不可能的课程中学到了最多的东西，这是一门名为“权力表演”的选修课，学生们将在其中表演场景，以帮助他们“更适应不同等级的组织角色”。 “演员学习的第一件事就是如何进入角色，”开发并教授该课程的心理学家黛博拉·格伦菲尔德 (Deborah Gruenfeld) 说。
“How to show up physically and psychologically, as people who they are not.
“如何在身体和心理上表现出他们不是的人。
It gives students permission to access parts of themselves they aren’t so familiar with.”
它允许学生接触他们自己不太熟悉的部分。”
Toward the end of his first year in business school, Walker sent an email to David Hornik, a partner at August Capital, and asked to stop by his office and pick his brain.
在商学院第一学年即将结束时，沃克给 August Capital 的合伙人戴维·霍尼克 (David Hornik) 发了一封电子邮件，要求到他的办公室来听听他的想法。
“He was incredibly charming,” says Hornik.
“他非常有魅力，”霍尼克说。
“[People] come to Silicon Valley to make money and engage in transactions, rather than to build relationships.
“[人们]来到硅谷是为了赚钱和进行交易，而不是为了建立关系。
His goal is not to optimize the economic value of any given relationship, but to meet smart, interesting people.
他的目标不是优化任何特定关系的经济价值，而是结识聪明、有趣的人。
If it provides value to him in the long run, it’s a lucky circumstance.” Hornik, who knows Twitter cofounder Ev Williams , helped Walker land an internship at Twitter.
如果从长远来看这能为他带来价值，那么这是一个幸运的情况。”霍尼克认识 Twitter 联合创始人埃夫·威廉姆斯 (Ev Williams)，他帮助沃克在 Twitter 获得了实习机会。
Walker spent the next five months leading a team of other Stanford grad school students performing market research on how Twitter could be used for business applications.
在接下来的五个月里，沃克领导了一个由其他斯坦福大学研究生组成的团队，对如何将 Twitter 用于商业应用程序进行市场研究。
The project formed the foundation of what is now the “Twitter 101” section of the platform’s site for corporate users.
该项目奠定了现在该平台网站上面向企业用户的“Twitter 101”部分的基础。
But Walker’s career didn’t really take off until the following summer, when he emailed Dennis Crowley, cofounder and CEO of Foursquare, eight times asking for a job.
但沃克的职业生涯直到第二年夏天才真正起飞，当时他八次向 Foursquare 联合创始人兼首席执行官丹尼斯·克劳利 (Dennis Crowley) 发送电子邮件寻求工作。
After Crowley half-seriously offered to meet him, Walker hopped on a flight to New York the next day and showed up at their offices, laptop in hand.
克劳利半认真地提出要与他见面后，沃克第二天就搭上了飞往纽约的航班，手里拿着笔记本电脑出现在他们的办公室。
Stunned, Crowley and cofounder Naveen Selvadurai challenged him to sign up 30 small businesses as Foursquare merchant partners within a month.
克劳利和联合创始人 Naveen Selvadurai 震惊不已，要求他在一个月内与 30 家小企业签约成为 Foursquare 商业合作伙伴。
He found 300 in a little over a week.
他在一周多一点的时间里找到了 300 个。
After that, he was asked to become the company’s first director of business development.
此后，他被任命为公司首任业务发展总监。
Hotchkiss, Wall Street, Stanford, Twitter , and now Foursquare: Bit by bit, Walker had been accepted by an establishment he could never have imagined accessing as a child.
霍奇基斯 (Hotchkiss)、华尔街、斯坦福大学、Twitter，以及现在的 Foursquare：一点一点地，沃克被一个他小时候无法想象的机构所接受。
Nonetheless, if it was easy for Crowley to offer Walker the job, it was hard for Tristan’s wife, Amoy, to understand why he would even consider it.
尽管如此，如果克劳利很容易向沃克提供这份工作，特里斯坦的妻子艾米就很难理解他为什么会考虑这份工作。
Walker met Amoy, whose family had emigrated from Jamaica to New York City, while at Stony Brook.
沃克在石溪遇到了艾米，他的家人从牙买加移民到了纽约市。
Her first move was to “poke” him on Facebook.
她的第一个举动就是在脸书上“戳”他。
“He was like, ‘Could you send me a close-up pic?'” she says, cupping her hands on her very pregnant belly.
“他说，‘你能给我发一张特写照片吗？’”她一边说，一边把手放在怀孕的肚子上。
“I called my best friend into my room to take the pic and told her, ‘He is so good-looking!
“我把我最好的朋友叫到我的房间拍照，并告诉她，‘他真好看！
This is going to be my husband!'” We are in the Walkers’ dining room on a warm August afternoon, and Tristan is cringing as his wife goes on.
这将是我的丈夫！’”八月一个温暖的下午，我们在沃克家的餐厅里，特里斯坦在妻子继续说下去时感到畏缩。
Amoy, a seventh-grade humanities teacher at a private girls’ school, is every bit the extrovert that Walker isn’t.
艾米是一所私立女子学校七年级的人文教师，她与沃克完全不同。
She is humorous, quick-witted, and outspoken, always at the ready to vocalize the things that he won’t.
她幽默、机智、直言不讳，总是准备好说出他不会说的话。
“I didn’t get it,” Amoy says about Walker’s decision to accept the gig at Foursquare, where he took only a $1,000 stipend for the first couple of months, and to turn down a lucrative offer from the well-established Boston Consulting Group.
“我不明白，”沃克在谈到沃克决定接受 Foursquare 的工作时说道，他在前几个月只拿到了 1,000 美元的津贴，并拒绝了知名波士顿咨询集团提供的丰厚报酬。
She turns toward him and says, “I remember, babe, because for a long time that annoyed me.” Turning back to me, she continues: “As a black man, you don’t take risks like that.
她转向他说：“我记得，宝贝，因为很长一段时间这让我很恼火。”她转身对我继续说道：“作为一个黑人，你不会冒这样的风险。
You don’t get your good degrees and go work at a company that makes no sense.
你没有获得好的学位，就去一家毫无意义的公司工作。
You just don’t do that!” Amoy adds that Walker cried when he left the company for Andreessen Horowitz in 2012.
你就是不这样做！” Amoy 补充道，2012 年沃克离开公司加入 Andreessen Horowitz 时哭了。
Walker cringes again.
沃克再次畏缩。
To this day, Amoy struggles to explain to her mother what, exactly, it means to work in Silicon Valley, where a black entrepreneur bucks the safety and prestige of becoming a doctor or lawyer, for example, to compete with a cozy network of white men who don’t feel a historical responsibility to pull their entire family into a new level of economic security.
直到今天，艾莫伊仍在努力向她的母亲解释在硅谷工作到底意味着什么，在那里，一名黑人企业家不顾成为医生或律师的安全和声望，与一个舒适的白人网络竞争，而白人并不觉得自己有历史责任将整个家庭带入新的经济安全水平。
“When she came out here to visit,” Amoy continues, “she was like, ‘Why don’t you guys have a new car?’ And I’m like, ‘Don’t you understand that my husband goes to work and gambles every day?’ She just could not understand why someone as smart as Tristan would live his life in this way.” Amoy herself has come around, although she does like to note that if she’d had it her way in the beginning, he’d have taken the consulting gig and they’d have moved to Atlanta.
“当她来这里拜访时，”艾莫伊继续说道，“她说，‘你们为什么不买一辆新车？’我说，‘你们难道不明白我丈夫每天都去上班和赌博吗？’她只是不明白为什么像特里斯坦这样聪明的人会过这样的生活。”淘本人也改变了态度，尽管她确实想指出，如果她一开始就按自己的方式行事，他就会接受咨询工作，而他们就会搬到亚特兰大。
“We would have fit into Atlanta like a hand fits into a glove,” she says.
“我们会像手适合手套一样融入亚特兰大，”她说。
The Valley is nothing like Atlanta.
硅谷与亚特兰大完全不同。
One afternoon, in between interviews, I grab a coffee from the Coupa Café, a venue so famous for business deals that its signature, colorful to-go cup made a cameo during the deposition given by Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) in the movie The Social Network .
一天下午，在采访间隙，我在 Coupa 咖啡馆喝了一杯咖啡，这家咖啡馆因商业交易而闻名，其标志性的彩色外带咖啡杯在马克·扎克伯格（杰西·艾森伯格饰演）在电影《社交网络》中的证词中客串。
I’m not able to discern any pitch meetings, but I am treated to another spectacle that’s a bit less welcome: As I head over to the counter to get some cream for my red-eye, a woman sitting nearby snatches her purse from the chair closest to me, making it pretty clear that I don’t strike her as a regular at the Coupa.
我看不到任何推销会议，但我看到了另一个不太受欢迎的景象：当我走到柜台去拿一些治疗红眼的霜时，坐在附近的一位女士从离我最近的椅子上抢走了她的钱包，这很清楚地表明我并不是 Coupa 的常客。
Walking the block back to Walker’s three-bedroom condo, I wonder what it must be like to work and live in an environment that is still uneasy with his arrival.
沿着街区回到沃克的三居室公寓，我想知道在他的到来仍然令人不安的环境中工作和生活会是什么样子。
When he and Amoy bought their apartment two years ago, he was surprised to find that the real estate agent, with whom he had been negotiating only via phone, had already checked “White/Caucasian” for Walker’s race on the final paperwork.
两年前，当他和淘购买公寓时，他惊讶地发现，他一直通过电话谈判的房地产经纪人已经在最后的文件中检查了沃克的种族“白人/高加索人”。
“So I said, ‘Well, this is wrong,'” Walker remembers, grinning.
“所以我说，‘好吧，这是错误的，’”沃克笑着回忆道。
In a cutthroat world like Silicon Valley, having a support system of others navigating a similar professional journey is crucial.
在硅谷这样残酷的世界里，拥有一个由其他人共同经历类似职业旅程的支持系统至关重要。
I meet many in Walker’s network at his 30th birthday celebration, a crab boil held at the house of Faith and Tyler Scriven.
在沃克的 30 岁生日庆祝活动中，我在他的社交网络中认识了许多人，庆祝活动是在费斯和泰勒·斯克里文 (Faith and Tyler Scriven) 家举办的煮螃蟹活动。
Tyler is chief of staff at Palantir Technologies, a data-analysis company backed by the CIA and cofounded by Peter Thiel, who also helped launch PayPal.
泰勒是 Palantir Technologies 的幕僚长，该公司是一家由 CIA 支持的数据分析公司，由 Peter Thiel 共同创立，Peter Thiel 还帮助推出了 PayPal。
The party is a wormhole to an undocumented dimension of the Valley.
该派对是通往硅谷未记录维度的虫洞。
For the first time, I am witnessing a sizable, concentrated group of black technology executives.
我第一次目睹了规模庞大、集中的黑科技高管群体。
The couple dozen attendees include Marlon Nichols, an associate director and VC at Intel Capital; Erin Teague, director of product at Yahoo; Tony Gauda, cofounder of the “Dropbox-for-enterprise” startup Bitcasa (and another data-protection service, ThinAir); and his wife, Jaimel, who runs Walker & Co.’s customer support.
数十名与会者包括英特尔投资公司副总监兼风险投资人马龙·尼科尔斯 (Marlon Nichols)；艾琳·蒂格 (Erin Teague)，雅虎产品总监； Tony Gauda，“企业版 Dropbox”初创公司 Bitcasa（以及另一家数据保护服务 ThinAir）的联合创始人；他的妻子 Jaimel 负责 Walker & Co. 的客户支持。
There’s music, a feast of succulent seafood, exchanges of top-five lists, and jokes about everyone’s reluctance to connect to the Scrivens’ Wi-Fi for fear that the NSA will snoop on their phones.
有音乐、美味的海鲜盛宴、前五名名单的交流，还有关于每个人都不愿意连接斯克里文夫妇的 Wi-Fi 的笑话，因为担心国家安全局会窥探他们的手机。
There’s a palpable, familial vibe.
有一种明显的家庭氛围。
Everyone, including Walker, seems more himself or herself than they usually would be with other professionals.
包括沃克在内的每个人都比其他专业人士显得更加真实。
Here, Walker doesn’t have to be “on.” His charisma relaxes into goofiness as he greedily hoards a pile of crab legs from his friends or causes a spontaneous eruption of laughter.
在这里，沃克不必“在场”。当他贪婪地从朋友那里囤积一堆蟹腿时，或者引起自发的笑声时，他的魅力就会变得愚蠢。
He also feels comfortable enough to slip back into his introversion as he pleases, observing everyone else while pecking away at stubborn hangnails.
他也感觉足够舒服，可以随心所欲地恢复内向，一边观察其他人，一边啄掉顽固的倒刺。
Not too long into the festivities, I’m struck: Here is one of the most popular figures in mainstream tech, and yet not a single white person is celebrating his birthday.
庆祝活动刚开始不久，我就震惊了：这是主流科技界最受欢迎的人物之一，但没有一个白人庆祝他的生日。
I cannot help asking Gauda how this could be.
我忍不住问高达这是怎么回事。
He encourages me to pose my question to the group and calls everyone’s attention to me.
他鼓励我向小组提出问题，并引起大家的注意。
“Well, I’m just curious,” I begin.
“嗯，我只是好奇，”我开始说道。
“Why aren’t there any white people here?” Not a single person responds; instead, eyebrows raise.
“这里怎么没有白人？”没有一个人回应；相反，眉毛扬起。
There’s silence, with one exception: Gauda is chuckling away, thoroughly amused at having set me up for such an uncomfortable moment.
四周一片寂静，但有一个例外：高达咯咯地笑着，为让我陷入如此不舒服的时刻而感到非常好笑。
Later, I catch Walker staring at the sky, and I ask what he’s thinking about–partly out of curiosity, but mostly to make sure I haven’t embarrassed him or ticked him off with my observation.
后来，我发现沃克盯着天空，我问他在想什么——部分是出于好奇，但主要是为了确保我的观察没有让他尴尬或惹恼他。
“I’m chillin’, man,” he casually responds.
“我很冷静，伙计，”他漫不经心地回答道。
“You need to decompress sometimes, you know?
“有时候你需要减压，你知道吗？
It’s good to have these folks here.
有这些人在这里真是太好了。
This is a safe place.” He’s comforted, but I’m disheartened, even though I can empathize.
这是一个安全的地方。”他很安慰，但我很沮丧，尽管我可以理解。
In an industry that deems itself progressive, innovative, liberal, and “color-blind,” it still feels “safer” for blacks to turn inward socially, rather than risk judgment from a world that has often been less than embracing.
在一个自认为进步、创新、自由和“色盲”的行业中，黑人在社交方面转向内向仍然感觉“更安全”，而不是冒着来自一个往往不那么包容的世界的评判的风险。
After Walker left Foursquare, a slew of venture-capital firms offered him positions as their entrepreneur-in-residence.
沃克离开 Foursquare 后，许多风险投资公司向他提供了常驻企业家的职位。
Ben Horowitz, the partner at Andreessen Horowitz who made his firm’s successful pitch, has become a friend and mentor to Walker.
安德森·霍洛维茨 (Andreessen Horowitz) 的合伙人本·霍洛维茨 (Ben Horowitz) 为他的公司带来了成功，现在他已成为沃克的朋友和导师。
He confesses to being “suspicious” of the quantity and swiftness of offers Walker received.
他承认对沃克收到的报价的数量和速度感到“怀疑”。
“Diversity is kind of a funny thing, in that–” he pauses, searching for the right words, as we often do when grappling with the thorny issue of race “–many people look at numbers and perceptions.
“多样性是一件有趣的事情，因为——”他停顿了一下，寻找合适的词语，就像我们在处理棘手的种族问题时经常做的那样——“很多人都会关注数字和看法。
For somebody as talented as Tristan, for him to go into a place that doesn’t fully understand him and utilize him, but just likes the idea or perception of being associated with him .
对于像特里斯坦这样有才华的人来说，让他进入一个不完全理解他并利用他的地方，但只是喜欢与他联系的想法或感觉。
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I was just concerned.” To put things bluntly, Horowitz is saying that he worried Walker would be used as PR to counter the Valley’s image as a fraternity of white guys.
我只是担心。”坦率地说，霍洛维茨表示，他担心沃克会被用作公关，以对抗硅谷作为白人兄弟会的形象。
Horowitz, who has been called Silicon Valley’s “most inclusive investor,” is himself a case study in the complications of America’s great national disgrace.
霍洛维茨被称为硅谷“最具包容性的投资者”，他本人就是美国国家耻辱的复杂性的一个案例研究。
His father, David, is a former Marxist turned hard-right-winger who has been excoriated for books and speeches advocating what some call racist positions.
他的父亲大卫是一位前马克思主义者，后来转为极右翼分子，因倡导某些人所谓的种族主义立场的书籍和演讲而受到严厉批评。
Ben, whose wife, Felicia, is black, loves hip-hop so much that he leads his Andreessen Horowitz blog posts with choice verses, has rapped on a VH1 TV special, and reportedly dubbed a Brooklyn artist named Divine the “official Andreessen Horowitz rapper.” He knows what he’s talking about, and is unlikely to ever slip up the way Y Combinator president Sam Altman recently did on Twitter , when he attributed Wu-Tang Clan’s classic “C.R.E.A.M.
Ben 的妻子 Felicia 是黑人，他非常热爱嘻哈音乐，以至于他在 Andreessen Horowitz 的博客文章中都用精选的诗句作为开头，他在 VH1 电视特别节目中说唱，据报道称布鲁克林艺术家 Divine 为“官方 Andreessen Horowitz 说唱歌手”。他知道自己在说什么，并且不太可能像 Y Combinator 总裁 Sam Altman 最近在 Twitter 上那样犯错误，当时他将 Wu-Tang Clan 的经典歌曲《C.R.E.A.M.
(Cash Rules Everything Around Me)” to Wyclef Jean–and even got the title wrong.
（现金统治着我周围的一切）”对怀克莱夫·吉恩来说，甚至把标题写错了。
Horowitz has dedicated time and resources to the success of black tech talent–he sits on the board of Code2040 and has led Andreessen Horowitz into investments in black-run startups, including AgLocal (which was featured in the November issue of Fast Company) and Bitcasa.
Horowitz 为黑人科技人才的成功投入了时间和资源——他是 Code2040 的董事会成员，并带领 Andreessen Horowitz 投资了黑人创业公司，包括 AgLocal（《Fast Company》11 月号专题报道）和 Bitcasa。
As his own profile has risen, Horowitz has used it to loop celebrities like Nas into Silicon Valley, which could, celebrity be damned, help to create a bigger pool of people who understand and invest in minority entrepreneurs.
随着自己知名度的提高，霍洛维茨利用它把像纳斯这样的名人引入了硅谷，这可能有助于培养更多了解少数族裔企业家并对其进行投资的人，尽管名人该死。
(Nas is an investor in Walker & Co. and Proven, another A.H.
（Nas 是 Walker & Co. 和 Proven 的投资者，Proven 是另一位 A.H.
portfolio company that functions as a job-search app and was cofounded by Pablo Fuentes, a Chilean immigrant.)
投资组合公司是一款求职应用程序，由智利移民巴勃罗·富恩特斯 (Pablo Fuentes) 共同创立。）
Horowitz gets a fair share of criticism for his public persona.
霍洛维茨因其公众形象而受到不少批评。
Several articles from Valleywag, including one titled “Ben Horowitz Is Desperate for You to Think He’s Cool,” drew Horo­witz into an epic Twitter feud with the writer.
Valleywag 的几篇文章，其中一篇题为“本·霍洛维茨迫切希望你认为他很酷”，让霍洛维茨与这位作家在推特上展开了一场史诗般的争执。
Some people still find it awkward to watch a white man freely express himself in ways they feel they can’t.
有些人仍然觉得看到白人以他们无法表达的方式自由地表达自己的想法很尴尬。
“With the utmost respect, it’s easy for Ben Horowitz to tweet rap lyrics, but I have to think twice and three times before I tweet rap lyrics,” says Kanyi Maqubela, who has backed Walker & Co. in his role as partner at Collaborative Fund , a seed investor for “mission-based” companies.
坎尼·马库贝拉 (Kanyi Maqubela) 表示：“本·霍洛维茨 (Ben Horowitz) 在推特上发布说唱歌词很容易，但在发布说唱歌词之前，我必须三思而行。”坎尼·马库贝拉 (Kanyi Maqubela) 是沃克公司 (Walker & Co.) 的合伙人，也是“使命型”公司的种子投资者。
“We both like rap lyrics just as much.
“我们都同样喜欢说唱歌词。
When this Ferguson situation was coming apart at the seams,” he continues, referring to the killing of a young, unarmed black man by a police officer in that St. Louis suburb, “there were levels of outrage and betrayal in my [Twitter] stream, which I wanted to retweet.
当弗格森事件分崩离析时，”他继续说道，指的是圣路易斯郊区一名警察杀害一名手无寸铁的年轻黑人男子，“我的 [Twitter] 信息流中充满了愤怒和背叛，我想转发这些信息。
But I don’t want to be an ‘angry black man.’ I don’t want to be pigeonholed to the stereotype.”
但我不想成为一个‘愤怒的黑人’。我不想被束缚在刻板印象中。”
Whatever this says about Horowitz, he was an effective sounding board for Walker as he used his months as entrepreneur-in-residence to figure out what kind of startup to launch.
不管霍洛维茨的说法如何，他都是沃克的有效参谋，因为沃克利用自己作为常驻企业家的几个月时间来弄清楚要创办什么样的初创公司。
Walker came up with several ideas, including a service to connect truck drivers to more freight jobs and a financial service for people who don’t have checking or savings accounts.
沃克提出了几个想法，包括为卡车司机提供更多货运工作的服务，以及为没有支票或储蓄账户的人提供金融服务。
Horowitz vetoed them all–not because they weren’t good, he says, but because he sensed Walker was too focused on creating something that looked typical of Silicon Valley.
霍洛维茨否决了所有这些——他说，并不是因为它们不好，而是因为他感觉到沃克过于专注于创造看起来典型的硅谷的东西。
“There are things that almost no venture capitalist knows that Tristan knew,” Horowitz says.
“有些事情几乎没有风险投资家知道，但特里斯坦知道，”霍洛维茨说。
He pushed Walker to create something unique.
他推动沃克创造一些独特的东西。
“But he was very hesitant to do it,” says Horowitz.
“但他非常犹豫是否要这样做，”霍洛维茨说。
“Could he end up being the guy who failed while trying to build an infinitesimal company?
“他最终会成为那个在试图建立一家无限小公司时失败的人吗？
That would be the worst.” In fact, Walker’s very first brand idea, inspired by the Warby Parker try-by-mail model, was a direct-to-consumer service providing hair extensions–a $250 million business in the U.S. “A couple of days went by, and he said, ‘A black man, doing a weave company in the Valley?'” says Amoy.
那将是最糟糕的。”事实上，受 Warby Parker 邮寄试穿模式的启发，沃克的第一个品牌理念是提供直接面向消费者的接发服务，这在美国是一项价值 2.5 亿美元的业务。“几天过去了，他说，‘一个黑人，在硅谷开了一家编织公司？’”Amoy 说。
“[He] ultimately decided that if he started it and failed, people were going to say it wasn’t intellectual to begin with, so he walked away.”
“[他]最终决定，如果他开始做却失败了，人们会说这从一开始就不够理智，所以他就走开了。”
But then he came up with the idea for Walker & Co., a concept both he and Horowitz believe could grow over time into something big.
但后来他提出了沃克公司的想法，他和霍洛维茨都相信这个概念随着时间的推移会发展成为大事。
The largest American consumer-goods companies have focused on the largest domestic market, and in so doing have neglected the different needs of minorities.
美国最大的消费品公司都专注于最大的国内市场，而忽视了少数族裔的不同需求。
African-Americans have grown accustomed to limited, second-class options when it comes to the health and beauty category.
在健康和美容领域，非裔美国人已经习惯了有限的、二等的选择。
For men, these include depilatory creams and powders like Magic Shave.
对于男性来说，这些产品包括脱毛膏和脱毛粉，例如 Magic Shave。
Its copper-colored branding and packaging–often the hue chosen for products targeting black buyers, which generally reside together on what’s come to be known as the “black shelf” or “black section” of a drugstore aisle–is nearly identical to what it looked like when it was created in 1901.
它的铜色品牌和包装——通常是针对黑人买家的产品所选择的色调，这些产品通常集中在药店过道的“黑色货架”或“黑色区域”——与 1901 年创建时的外观几乎相同。
Then there are the desultory products created to combat razor bumps, a problem that, according to Walker, arises for around 80% of black consumers when they use three- and four-blade systems like the ones popularized by Gillette and Bic.
此外，还有一些杂乱无章的产品是为了对抗剃须刀碰撞而设计的，根据沃克的说法，大约 80% 的黑人消费者在使用吉列和比克推广的三刀片和四刀片系统时都会遇到这个问题。
Those razors can cut beneath the skin, leading to irritation for customers, especially African-American men, when their coarse or curly follicles start to grow back.
这些剃须刀会切到皮肤下面，当顾客的粗糙或卷曲的毛囊开始重新长出来时，就会刺激顾客，尤其是非洲裔美国男性。
So the “black shelf” is also home to Bump Fighter disposable razors, made by the American Safety Razor Co.–which was bought by Energizer (yes, the bunny battery company)–and aftershave creams such as Bump Patrol, by the M&M Products Co. “I personally haven’t experienced any brands that I felt proud to support,” says Walker.
因此，“黑架子”上还摆放着美国安全剃须刀公司生产的 Bump Fighter 一次性剃须刀（该公司已被 Energizer（是的，兔子电池公司）收购）和 M&M Products Co 生产的 Bump Patrol 等须后霜。“我个人还没有体验过任何让我感到自豪的品牌，”沃克说。
What ultimately solidified his idea for the Bevel shaving system was a visit to the high-end retail chain the Art of Shaving, which touts customer experience as its defining trait.
最终巩固了他对 Bevel 剃须系统的想法的是对高端零售连锁店 Art of Shaving 的访问，该连锁店将客户体验视为其决定性特征。
“Every time I went in there, I’d say, ‘I’m a black man, I have to deal with this razor-bump issue, what should I use?'” he says.
“每次我去那里时，我都会说，‘我是一名黑人，我必须处理剃刀碰撞问题，我应该用什么？’”他说。
“And every single time, they’d suggest these off-brand safety razors.”
“每次，他们都会推荐这些非品牌安全剃须刀。”
While African-American women also share the “black shelf,” it’s possible that they could have even more troubling issues that are off the radar of mainstream health and beauty companies.
虽然非裔美国女性也有同样的“黑架子”，但她们可能会遇到主流健康和美容公司忽视的更令人不安的问题。
During one of my office visits, I spot a cluster of sample shampoos and leave-in conditioners on Walker’s desk.
在一次拜访办公室期间，我在沃克的办公桌上发现了一堆洗发水和免洗护发素样品。
After some needling, he texts me a link to a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology that shows a strong correlation between the harsh chemicals in hair relaxers–commonly used by women of color–and the development of uterine fibroids, which can lead to infertility and miscarriage.
经过一番针刺后，他给我发了一条《美国流行病学杂志》上的一项研究的链接，该研究表明，有色女性常用的直发剂中的刺激性化学物质与子宫肌瘤的发展之间存在很强的相关性，子宫肌瘤可能导致不孕和流产。
“It’s sad, and it pisses me off,” Walker says, explaining that he didn’t understand this issue until Amoy became pregnant.
沃克说：“这很悲伤，也让我很生气。”他解释说，直到淘怀孕后，他才明白这个问题。
“If it actually is a lot more prevalent than we think it is, someone should be effecting change on that.”
“如果它实际上比我们想象的要普遍得多，那么就应该有人对此做出改变。”
There seemed a need for Walker & Co.–and an opportunity, especially if the company could eventually customize products for a range of minorities.
沃克公司似乎有需要，也有机会，特别是如果该公司最终能够为一系列少数族裔定制产品的话。
The trick was conveying this need to Silicon Valley’s customary pod of investors.
诀窍在于将这种需求传达给硅谷惯常的投资者群体。
“Pitching to a VC is already a tough experience,” says Erin Teague, a close friend, “but it’s even harder if none of them can really relate to the problem you’re describing.
“向风险投资人推销已经是一次艰难的经历，”我的好朋友艾琳·蒂格 (Erin Teague) 说，“但如果他们都不能真正理解你所描述的问题，那就更难了。
It requires that much more courage.” In one meeting, a white venture capitalist announced to Walker that another black person told him that razor bumps weren’t a real problem for men of color.
这需要更大的勇气。”在一次会议上，一位白人风险投资家向沃克宣布，另一位黑人告诉他，剃须刀肿块对于有色人种男性来说并不是真正的问题。
This inability (and in some cases, unwillingness) to relate helps explain why just 1% of venture-backed startups founders are black.
这种无法（在某些情况下，不愿意）建立联系有助于解释为什么只有 1% 的风险投资支持的初创公司创始人是黑人。
While Walker is thrilled to have made it into that tiny cohort, his company’s funding pales next to that accorded Harry’s, a shaving startup that uses a multiblade razor and targets a broader consumer market.
虽然沃克很高兴能跻身这一小众行列，但他的公司的资金与哈利公司的资金相比相形见绌，哈利公司是一家使用多刀片剃须刀并瞄准更广泛消费市场的剃须初创公司。
Ten months after its founding, Harry’s had raised $126.5 million in seed funding.
成立十个月后，Harry's 已筹集 1.265 亿美元的种子资金。
Ten months after Walker & Co. was founded, it had raised $2.4 million in seed funding.
Walker & Co. 成立十个月后，已筹集了 240 万美元的种子资金。
Silicon Valley wants its founders to shoot for the biggest customer base possible, but in so doing they risk missing a chance to back companies that might very profitably rule a strong minority niche.
硅谷希望其创始人尽可能争取最大的客户群，但这样做时，他们可能会错失支持那些可能会非常有利地统治强大的少数利基市场的公司的机会。
Late last year, Nielsen published a report on the spending habits and media consumption of African-Americans, urging corporations to “think and behave differently toward valuing African-Americans and their economic impact.” The report indicated that black consumers, whose buying power is estimated at $1 trillion, spend nine times as much on products in the “ethnic hair and beauty aids” category than other groups.
去年年底，尼尔森发布了一份关于非裔美国人的消费习惯和媒体消费的报告，敦促企业“以不同的方式思考和行为，以重视非裔美国人及其经济影响”。该报告指出，黑人消费者的购买力估计为 1 万亿美元，他们在“民族美发和美容用品”类别产品上的花费是其他群体的九倍。
In other words, it’s a lucrative market that deserves much more than copper-tone boxes on a shelf.
换句话说，这是一个利润丰厚的市场，值得比货架上的铜色盒子更多的东西。
“Okay, let me take a look,” Walker says, as I lift my head toward the ceiling of his guest bathroom.
“好吧，让我看看，”沃克说，我抬起头看向他客用浴室的天花板。
He’s teaching me how to use Walker & Co.’s Bevel razor, but he’s also teaching me how to shave.
他教我如何使用 Walker & Co. 的斜角剃须刀，同时也教我如何刮胡子。
(It’s my first time–since I don’t grow a thick beard, I just use electric clippers when I need to remove unwanted scruff.) The most important thing, he keeps reminding me, is to shave with the natural grain of my hair–not against.
（这是我第一次——因为我没有长出浓密的胡须，所以当我需要去除不需要的颈毛时，我只是使用电动推剪。）他不断提醒我，最重要的事情是顺着头发的自然纹理刮胡子，而不是逆着刮胡子。
“That’s very clearly ‘down,'” he says, analyzing my neck to see how the hair grows.
“这显然是‘向下’，”他一边说，一边分析我的脖子，看看头发是如何生长的。
“It’s not moving in too crazy a direction.
“它并没有朝着太疯狂的方向发展。
You’ve got it easy!”
你就轻松了！”
Walker finally founded Walker & Company Brands in spring 2013.
Walker 最终于 2013 年春季创立了 Walker & Company Brands。
The company shipped its first Bevel last February.
该公司于去年二月发货了第一台 Bevel。
Through the brand’s website, customers purchase a $59.95 starter kit, which includes the Bevel razor, brush, and an initial 30-day supply of shaving cream, priming oil, and restoring balm.
顾客可以通过该品牌的网站购买价值 59.95 美元的入门套件，其中包括斜角剃须刀、刷子以及最初 30 天的剃须膏、底油和修复膏。
Ongoing subscribers pay a monthly fee of $29.95 and receive a steady supply of replenishments.
持续订阅者每月支付 29.95 美元的费用，并获得稳定的补充。
(If you’re thinking that this sounds expensive, you’re not alone–as this story went to press, Walker told me he is reexamining Bevel’s pricing strategy.)
（如果您认为这听起来很昂贵，那么您并不孤单 - 在这篇文章付印时，沃克告诉我他正在重新审查 Bevel 的定价策略。）
Walker guides me through the whole morning routine.
沃克引导我完成整个早上的例行公事。
First, he instructs me to insert the blade into the razor.
首先，他指示我将刀片插入剃须刀。
It’s a single double-sided blade–none of that three- or four-blade stuff for me.
这是一个双面刀片——对我来说，三刀片或四刀片的东西都不适合。
Then, he shows me how to spread an olive oil–based liquid called “priming oil” on my face, which he says will let the razor glide across my skin easily.
然后，他向我展示了如何将一种名为“底油”的橄榄油基液体涂抹在我的脸上，他说这会让剃须刀轻松地滑过我的皮肤。
Finally, I apply the shaving cream, which is made with shea butter, white tea, and aloe vera.
最后，我涂上由乳木果油、白茶和芦荟制成的剃须膏。
“Remember, no pressure!” he reminds me.
“记住，没有压力！”他提醒我。
“A lot of people say that audible feedback is good,” he says, and I do indeed hear the hair coming off on the blade.
“很多人说声音反馈很好，”他说，我确实听到刀片上毛发脱落的声音。
There’s an excitement in Walker’s voice when he describes the Bevel’s design.
当 Walker 描述 Bevel 的设计时，他的声音里充满了兴奋。
“Think about the winged edge of our razor,” he says, which sheaths the blade on the sides, protecting men from nicks during replacement.
“想想我们剃须刀的带翼边缘，”他说，它把刀片包在侧面，保护男士在更换过程中免受划伤。
“It’s about being thoughtful of someone who’s never even used a razor.” He worked with the New York design firm Bone & Black to ensure that the aluminum razor’s handle had a matte finish for a nice grip and that the head feels a bit heavy, to ease the task of maintaining the razor at a 30-degree angle while shaving.
“这是为了体贴那些从未使用过剃须刀的人。”他与纽约设计公司 Bone & Black 合作，确保铝制剃须刀的手柄采用哑光处理，以提供良好的抓握感，并且头部感觉有点重，以减轻剃须时将剃须刀保持在 30 度角的任务。
Right down to the tea-tree oil in the “restoring balm,” which is applied after shaving for a cooling sensation, he believes he has come up with a bevy of little surprises to delight users.
就连剃须后使用的“修复膏”中的茶树油带来清凉感，他相信自己已经想出了一系列小惊喜来取悦用户。
“I think you’re good, man!” he says as I mow the last patch of hair from my face.
“我觉得你很好，伙计！”当我剪掉脸上最后一根头发时，他说道。
Amoy peeps her head in to ask, “Tristan, did you make sure he exfoliated!?” (I did.) The next day, she checks to make sure I didn’t develop any razor bumps.
艾莫伊探进头问道：“特里斯坦，你确定他去角质了吗！？” （我做到了。）第二天，她检查以确保我没有出现任何剃刀肿块。
(I hadn’t.)
（我没有。）
Walker is now building his ideal company, slowly, with all the care that he put into teaching me how to shave.
沃克现在正在慢慢地建立他理想的公司，他全身心地教我如何刮胡子。
Walker & Co. is housed in a smallish, open-layout, street-level property just a five-minute walk from his apartment.
沃克公司 (Walker & Co.) 位于一处小型、开放式、临街的房产内，距离他的公寓仅 5 分钟步行路程。
The day I visit, a mid-volume Spotify playlist runs down hip-hop and R&B classics including “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” by Missy Elliott and Cheryl Lynn’s “Got to Be Real.” Walking beside me, Walker whispers as if he has a secret no one has discovered yet.
我参观的那天，中等音量的 Spotify 播放列表播放着嘻哈和 R&B 经典歌曲，包括 Missy Elliott 的《The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)》和 Cheryl Lynn 的《Got to Be Real》。沃克走在我身边，低声说道，仿佛他有一个尚未被人发现的秘密。
“If you just look at the team,” he says, “this isn’t typical of Silicon Valley.” He’s right–it’s not exclusively white and Asian, for one thing, and it’s truly diverse, for another.
“如果你只看团队，”他说，“这不是典型的硅谷。”他是对的——一方面，这不仅仅是白人和亚洲人，另一方面，它确实是多元化的。
Marketing is run by Michael Plater, a dapper, light-skinned, young black man who is standing at his computer barefoot, checking the performance of online Bevel ads.
营销部门由迈克尔·普拉特 (Michael Plater) 负责，他是一位衣着整洁、肤色浅的年轻黑人，赤脚站在电脑前，检查在线 Bevel 广告的效果。
The engineering team is comprised of Isaac Elias, who is Latino, and Rachel Heaton, a purple-haired white woman.
工程团队由拉丁裔艾萨克·埃利亚斯 (Isaac Elias) 和紫发白人女性雷切尔·希顿 (Rachel Heaton) 组成。
Cassidy Blackwell is a black woman who writes content for the company’s website.
卡西迪·布莱克威尔 (Cassidy Blackwell) 是一位黑人女性，为该公司的网站撰写内容。
Fulfillment operations are run by Mir Anwar, a Pakistani-American who recently left another supply-chain position at DIY–electronics manufacturer littleBits.
履行业务由巴基斯坦裔美国人米尔·安瓦尔 (Mir Anwar) 负责，他最近辞去了 DIY 电子产品制造商 LittleBits 的另一个供应链职位。
Tom Hanley, who is white and enjoys Hawaiian-patterned shirts, is the company’s “lead architect” and Walker’s first employee.
汤姆·汉利 (Tom Hanley) 是一名白人，喜欢夏威夷图案的衬衫，他是该公司的“首席建筑师”，也是沃克的第一位员工。
Walker randomly tweeted one day that he needed to learn how to code, and Hanley, who tweeted back and offered lessons, eventually quit his job at the camera startup Lytro to join the company.
有一天，沃克随机发推文说他需要学习如何编码，而汉利回复了推文并提供了课程，最终辞去了相机初创公司 Lytro 的工作，加入了该公司。
When D’Angelo’s version of “Cruisin'” wafts through the speakers, Hanley comments that he likes the original Smokey Robinson track better.
当扬声器中传来 D’Angelo 版本的“Cruisin”时，Hanley 评论说他更喜欢 Smokey Robinson 的原曲。
Mishearing him, Walker pauses our interview and exclaims, “Hold up, you don’t like Smokey Robinson?!?” Then he turns to me: “Quote that!” This sounds like Walker from the crab boil.
沃克听错了他的话，暂停了我们的采访并惊呼道：“等等，你不喜欢斯莫基·罗宾逊？！？”然后他转向我：“引用一下！”这听起来就像煮螃蟹的沃克。
Building a team that looks like this doesn’t come easy just because Walker is African-American.
仅仅因为沃克是非裔美国人，建立一支看起来像这样的球队并不容易。
Walker specifically asks investors and other contacts to first consider candidates diverse in race and gender when he’s looking for leads to fill new positions.
沃克特别要求投资者和其他联系人在寻找填补新职位的线索时，首先考虑种族和性别不同的候选人。
“In my mind I was like, On behalf of humanity, thank you,” says Romy Macasieb, Walker & Co.’s senior product manager.
“我心里想，代表人类，谢谢你们，”Walker & Co. 的高级产品经理 Romy Macasieb 说道。
“Because what could have happened was, Tristan could have hired all black men.”
“因为可能发生的情况是，特里斯坦可以雇用所有黑人。”
If you believe the existing research, Walker & Co.’s diversity could prove an enormous asset as the company moves forward.
如果您相信现有的研究，那么随着公司的发展，Walker & Co. 的多元化可能会成为一笔巨大的资产。
Professor Ronald S.
罗纳德·S.教授
Burt at the University of Chicago pioneered an aspect of network science called “brokerage,” which has shown that individuals connected to disparate “clusters” of people have more creative ideas than those with homogenous, closed social networks.
芝加哥大学的伯特开创了网络科学的一个方面，即“经纪”，它表明，与不同“群体”有联系的个人比那些拥有同质、封闭社交网络的人有更多的创造性想法。
In his book The Difference , Scott Page, a professor at the University of Michigan, went so far as to create a statistical model that showed how diversity can trump even skill when people work in a group to solve a problem.
密歇根大学教授斯科特·佩奇在他的著作《差异》中甚至创建了一个统计模型，该模型展示了当人们在团队中解决问题时，多样性如何胜过技能。
Despite this, and despite the fact that blacks overrepresent on many technology indices–for instance, 22% of black Internet users are on Twitter, versus 16% of whites–most Silicon Valley startups don’t make a conscious effort to tap into the existing pool of minority tech talent.
尽管如此，尽管事实上黑人在许多科技指数中所占比例过高（例如，22% 的黑人互联网用户使用 Twitter，而白人的这一比例为 16%），但大多数硅谷初创公司并没有有意识地努力利用现有的少数族裔科技人才库。
“The majority of employees, managers, and engineers in tech agree that innovation and creativity is served by diversity, but a majority are not in favor of company-wide practices to increase diversity,” says Kapor Klein, referring to a 2011 survey of tech firms, called the Tilted Playing Field, conducted by her not-for-profit.
卡普尔·克莱因 (Kapor Klein) 表示：“科技行业的大多数员工、经理和工程师都认为，多样性可以促进创新和创造力，但大多数人不赞成在全公司范围内采取增加多样性的做法。”她指的是 2011 年由她的非营利组织开展的一项名为“倾斜的竞争环境”的科技公司调查。
“So that disconnect explains the problem.
“所以这种脱节就解释了问题。
The starting place is, ‘The system is a meritocracy as it is, and if we tinker with it, we’re introducing bias.’ That needs to be flipped on its head.” For now, Silicon Valley likes the idea of more Tristan Walkers, but doesn’t want to have to work too hard to make that happen.
出发点是，‘这个制度本质上是一个精英制度，如果我们对其进行修补，我们就会引入偏见。’这需要彻底改变。”目前，硅谷喜欢更多特里斯坦·沃克的想法，但不想为了实现这一目标而付出太多努力。
“They very much are rooting for Tristan,” says Walker & Co.’s Plater.
“他们非常支持特里斯坦，”沃克公司的普拉特说。
“But I always feel there’s that butting of heads, where, okay, yeah, you want this guy to win: But is it really because you don’t want your industry to look that way, or do you actually care?
“但我总觉得有一些冲突，好吧，是的，你希望这个人获胜：但这真的是因为你不希望你的行业看起来像那样，还是你真的在乎？
They want to be able to point at Tristan and say, ‘Look, that’s an example.’ ”
他们希望能够指着特里斯坦说，‘看，这就是一个例子。’ ”
Walker and his diverse team are not even close to being able to declare victory.
沃克和他的多元化团队距离宣布胜利还差得很远。
In so many ways, he’s another first-time company founder trying to find his way.
从很多方面来说，他都是另一位首次创办公司并试图找到自己出路的人。
“You can win on customer experience in a whole bunch of ways,” he says, guiding me over to a dry-erase wall in the office, “from overnight shipping to video chats to shipping blades to their destination if they don’t get past TSA.” On the wall is a replica of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s famous “flywheel” approach to revenue growth–an interweaving chain that shows how starting with customer satisfaction helps drive site traffic, which helps drive distribution, which generates cash, which helps lower fulfillment costs, and so on.
“你可以通过多种方式赢得客户体验，”他边说边引导我走到办公室的一面干擦墙前，“从隔夜运送到视频聊天，再到如果刀片未通过 TSA 将刀片运送到目的地。”墙上挂着亚马逊首席执行官杰夫·贝索斯著名的收入增长“飞轮”方法的复制品，这是一条相互交织的链条，展示了如何从客户满意度开始帮助推动网站流量，从而帮助推动分销，从而产生现金，从而帮助降低履行成本，等等。
Next to the flywheel are lists of hypothetical models of Bevel customers.
飞轮旁边是 Bevel 客户的假设模型列表。
Walker gives the rundown on one, Jamal, who’s 27, lives in Chicago, and works as a marketing executive making $80,000.
沃克简要介绍了其中一个人，贾马尔，27 岁，住在芝加哥，担任营销主管，年薪 8 万美元。
His 51-year-old mom, Janet, just bought an Android phone, makes $35,000, and listens to the Steve Harvey Morning Show religiously.
他 51 岁的妈妈珍妮特 (Janet) 刚刚买了一部 Android 手机，赚了 35,000 美元，并且虔诚地收听史蒂夫·哈维早间秀 (Steve Harvey Morning Show)。
“If she wants to gift him a subscription, what does that look like?” Walker says.
“如果她想给他一份订阅礼物，那会是什么样子？”沃克说。
Walker says Bevel is doing well, that subscriptions are growing an average of 50% month over month, with more than 90% of customers returning.
Walker 表示，Bevel 做得很好，订阅量平均每月增长 50%，回头客率超过 90%。
(He’s got an app on his phone that sets off a ka-ching sound every time there’s a new Bevel sale or replenishment.) One long-term hope is that white customers too will gravitate to Walker & Co. products, drawn by their sheer excellence.
（他的手机上有一个应用程序，每次有新的 Bevel 销售或补货时，它都会发出“咔嚓”的声音。）一个长期的希望是，白人顾客也会被 Walker & Co. 的产品所吸引，被其卓越的品质所吸引。
But Walker has got a tendency to reach for the stars when he needs to focus on the day-to-day.
但当沃克需要专注于日常事务时，他就会倾向于追求明星。
(“I don’t want to crush his dream,” says Hanley, “but I also want to make sure we keep him realistic about what can happen.
（“我不想粉碎他的梦想，”汉利说，“但我也想确保我们让他对可能发生的事情保持现实。
It’s like when you’re a kid that gets a big plate of ice cream–you want to eat with your eyes.”) The longer it takes Walker to make Bevel a household name in the black community, the longer P&G and Gillette have to thwart his ambitions.
这就像当你还是个孩子时，拿到一大盘冰淇淋，你想用眼睛吃。”）沃克让贝弗尔成为黑人社区家喻户晓的名字所需的时间越长，宝洁和吉列就越需要阻止他的野心。
It is unlikely that they will soon develop Walker’s feel for his target market.
他们不太可能很快就发展出沃克对目标市场的感觉。
Bevel’s marketing reflects a mix of his online savvy and his African-American heritage.
贝弗尔的营销反映了他的网络悟性和非裔美国人血统的结合。
Its Instagram profile features daily style tips and slick yet gritty professional photography of cityscapes, vintage album covers, and, of course, the Bevel razor and kit.
它的 Instagram 个人资料包括日常时尚技巧、光滑而坚韧的城市景观专业摄影、复古专辑封面，当然还有斜角剃须刀和套件。
The Bevel Twitter feed might offer followers an Arthur Ashe quote or a retweet of a satisfied customer.
Bevel Twitter 源可能会向关注者提供阿瑟·阿什 (Arthur Ashe) 的名言或满意客户的转发。
(“When I get that new suit and power it up with @bevel, I’m putting society on notice,” reads a recent one.) Bevel Code, its online men’s magazine, is full of brand ambassadors including musicians, star athletes, business executives, and, most important of all, barbers.
（“当我拿到那套新西装并用 @bevel 给它加电时，我就让社会注意到了，”最近的一篇文章写道。）Bevel Code 是其在线男士杂志，里面到处都是品牌大使，包括音乐家、明星运动员、企业高管，最重要的是，还有理发师。
Yep, barbers.
是的，理发师。
“People believe that this culture leads culture,” Walker says, referring to a study that found 73% of whites and 67% of Hispanics feel blacks influence American mainstream culture.
“人们相信这种文化引领着文化，”沃克说道，他指的是一项研究发现，73% 的白人和 67% 的西班牙裔认为黑人影响着美国主流文化。
“A lot of times that culture starts in barbershops and salons.” Walker & Co. has enrolled 20 barbershops across the country in a referral program, in which barbers use Bevel on customers and receive a commission if the customer later goes online to purchase the product.
“很多时候，文化始于理发店和沙龙。” Walker & Co. 已在全国范围内的 20 家理发店参加了一项推荐计划，其中理发师为顾客使用 Bevel，如果顾客随后上网购买该产品，理发师将获得佣金。
And this fall, the company plans to take over barbershops in cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, and New York for events.
今年秋天，该公司计划接管芝加哥、亚特兰大和纽约等城市的理发店举办活动。
Walker & Co. will moderate Q&As, play music, and host food vendors, all while allowing members of these communities to touch and feel the product, ideally while getting their hair cut.
Walker & Co. 将主持问答、播放音乐并接待食品摊贩，同时允许这些社区的成员触摸和感受产品，最好是在理发的同时。
In the long run, Walker & Co. may open its own retail locations.
从长远来看，Walker & Co. 可能会开设自己的零售店。
But for now, finding a permanent home for its razors (and its upcoming set of electric clippers) would be a big win for the company.
但就目前而言，为其剃须刀（以及即将推出的电动剪刀）找到一个永久的归宿将是该公司的一大胜利。
Another focus for Walker is men in the armed forces.
沃克的另一个关注点是武装部队中的人员。
Today’s military is 30% nonwhite, a number that has risen in the past two decades.
今天的军队中有 30% 是非白人，这个数字在过去二十年里有所上升。
With this strategy, Walker is borrowing from Gillette’s company founder, the irrepressible King Gillette, who, during World War I, got a contract to become the exclusive supplier of razors and blades to young soldiers.
沃克借鉴了吉列公司创始人吉列国王的这一策略，吉列国王在第一次世界大战期间获得了一份合同，成为年轻士兵剃须刀和刀片的独家供应商。
They continued to use the product when they came home, and they encouraged their sons to do so as well.
他们回家后继续使用该产品，并鼓励儿子也这样做。
Great companies can flourish as a result of such small but clever moves.
伟大的公司可以通过这些小而聪明的举措而蓬勃发展。
In a quaint park in Walker’s neighborhood, he’s shooting hoops alone on an asphalt court with a netless goal, wearing one of the many Foursquare T-shirts I’ve seen him in–today’s is in Chinese.
在沃克附近的一个古色古香的公园里，他独自在沥青球场上投篮，球门没有网，穿着我见过的众多 Foursquare T 恤中的一件——今天的 T 恤是中文的。
“Hopefully someone will drive by and see him and stop,” says Amoy, perched beside me on a blanket next to Walker’s black Jambox, wishing her husband could get a game.
“希望有人开车经过，看到他并停下来，”艾米说，她坐在我旁边的毯子上，旁边是沃克的黑色 Jambox，希望她的丈夫能玩一场游戏。
I inform her that his first opponent won’t be me, since whatever athletic gene my family may have once possessed stopped with my dad.
我告诉她，他的第一个对手不会是我，因为我的家族曾经拥有的任何运动基因都在我父亲那里消失了。
Eventually, Walker comes over and plops down beside us on the blanket.
最终，沃克走了过来，扑通扑通地坐在我们旁边的毯子上。
“It took me finally realizing that it’s good not to give a shit what people think about me,” he tells me, when I ask him how he overcame the pressure to build the next great social media network.
当我问他如何克服建立下一个伟大的社交媒体网络的压力时，他告诉我：“我终于意识到，不在乎别人对我的看法是件好事。”
“I didn’t think I could build as great a company with those other ideas as I could with this one.”
“我不认为我可以用其他想法建立像我用这个想法一样伟大的公司。”
Silicon Valley is obsessed by the concept of a “great company.” One less-noted fact about the Valley’s breakthrough companies is that they can spawn new networks of entrepreneurs hell-bent on creating yet another one.
硅谷痴迷于“伟大公司”的概念。关于硅谷突破性公司的一个鲜为人知的事实是，它们可以催生新的企业家网络，这些企业家一心想创建另一个网络。
The foremost example of this is the famed “PayPal Mafia,” the group of tight-knit employees that were assembled by cofounders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin but dispersed after the company was bought by eBay.
最重要的例子就是著名的“PayPal 黑手党”，这是一群关系紧密的员工，由联合创始人 Peter Thiel 和 Max Levchin 组建，但在公司被 eBay 收购后就分散了。
Helped in part by the fact that they invest in one another’s startups, the collective value that the group members–which include the founders of YouTube, Elon Musk , LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman , and “super angel” investor Dave McClure–generated through their own ventures has dwarfed the value of that sale.
部分得益于他们投资彼此的初创公司这一事实，该集团成员——包括 YouTube 创始人埃隆·马斯克、LinkedIn 创始人里德·霍夫曼和“超级天使”投资者戴夫·麦克卢尔——通过自己的企业创造的集体价值使这笔交易的价值相形见绌。
(There is some overlap between that group and Walker’s budding network of black friends.
（该群体与沃克新兴的黑人朋友网络之间存在一些重叠。
Scriven, of Palantir, and Chris Martinez, who cofounded the data-based fertility app Glow with Levchin–both entrepreneurs of color–are associated with both the PayPal network and the group of professionals who make up the Walkers’ circle.) If Walker & Co. is successful, its ripple effect will be large and transformative, Walker hopes.
Palantir 的 Scriven 和与 Levchin 共同创立了基于数据的生育应用程序 Glow 的 Chris Martinez 都是有色人种企业家，他们与 PayPal 网络和构成 Walkers 圈子的专业人士群体都有联系。）Walker 希望，如果 Walker & Co. 成功，其连锁反应将是巨大且具有变革性的。
“I believe Code2040 and Walker & Co. have the exact same mission, one is just for-profit and the other is not,” Walker later tells me.
“我相信 Code2040 和 Walker & Co. 有着完全相同的使命，一个只是为了盈利，另一个则不是，”沃克后来告诉我。
“The changing demographic in this country is the greatest economic opportunity of my lifetime,” Walker says.
“这个国家不断变化的人口结构是我一生中最大的经济机会，”沃克说。
“There’s an inevitability to this, and I think some of the greatest companies that will be built in the next 50 years will keep that in mind.” Presumably, it will be easier for them to “keep that in mind” if they come from the rising portions of that demographic shift.
“这是不可避免的，我认为未来 50 年内将建立的一些最伟大的公司将牢记这一点。”想必，如果他们来自人口结构变化的上升部分，他们会更容易“牢记这一点”。
If Walker & Co. endures, it could help lead the way for Silicon Valley to embrace a larger group of diverse entrepreneurs to serve this larger pool of diverse customers.
如果沃克公司能够坚持下去，它可能会帮助硅谷引领更多多元化的企业家群体，为更大的多元化客户群提供服务。
In such a future, being a black entrepreneur in Silicon Valley will no longer be remarkable in and of itself.
在这样的未来，成为硅谷的黑人企业家本身将不再是了不起的事情。
Speaking in July of his yet-to-be-born son, Walker said, “If he realizes sooner rather than later the importance of not only being a consumer but also a producer, I’ll be a very proud father.
沃克在七月份谈到他尚未出生的儿子时说：“如果他早日意识到不仅是消费者而且是生产者的重要性，我将成为一个非常自豪的父亲。
Create for the world, right?”
为世界创造，对吧？”
On September 26, Walker and Amoy welcomed Avery James into the world at 6 pounds 13 ounces.
9 月 26 日，沃克和淘迎来了体重 6 磅 13 盎司的艾弗里·詹姆斯 (Avery James) 降生。
Between his parents and the Glow fertility calendar app they used to help conceive him, he is already a product of his environment.
在他的父母和他们用来帮助怀上他的 Glow 生育日历应用程序之间，他已经是他的环境的产物。