Five Founders

April 2009 Inc recently asked me who I thought were the 5 most interesting startup founders of the last 30 years.

April 2009 Inc 最近问我，过去 30 年来最有趣的 5 位初创公司创始人是谁。

How do you decide who's the most interesting?

你如何决定谁是最有趣的？

The best test seemed to be influence: who are the 5 who've influenced me most?

最好的测试似乎是影响力：对我影响最大的 5 个人是谁？

Who do I use as examples when I'm talking to companies we fund?

当我与我们资助的公司交谈时，我会以谁为例？

Who do I find myself quoting?

我发现自己引用了谁的话？

1.

1.

Steve Jobs I'd guess Steve is the most influential founder not just for me but

史蒂夫·乔布斯 我猜史蒂夫不仅是对我来说也是最有影响力的创始人

for most people you could ask.

对于大多数人来说，你可以问。

A lot of startup culture is Apple culture.

很多创业文化都是苹果文化。

He was the original young founder.

他是最初的年轻创始人。

And while the concept of "insanely great" already existed in the arts, it was a novel idea to introduce into a company in the 1980s.

虽然“疯狂伟大”的概念在艺术界已经存在，但在 20 世纪 80 年代引入公司还是一个新颖的想法。

More remarkable still, he's stayed interesting for 30 years.

更值得注意的是，30 年来他一直很有趣。

People await new Apple products the way they'd await new books by a popular novelist.

人们等待苹果新产品就像等待流行小说家的新书一样。

Steve may not literally design them, but they wouldn't

史蒂夫可能不会真正设计它们，但他们不会

happen if he weren't CEO.

如果他不是首席执行官，就会发生这种情况。

Steve is clever and driven, but so are a lot of people in the Valley.

史蒂夫很聪明，也很有进取心，但硅谷的很多人也是如此。

What makes him unique is his sense of design .

他的独特之处在于他的设计感。

Before him, most companies treated design as a frivolous extra.

在他之前，大多数公司都将设计视为无足轻重的额外内容。

Apple's competitors now know better.

苹果的竞争对手现在更清楚了。

2.

2.

TJ Rodgers TJ Rodgers isn't as famous as Steve Jobs, but he may be the best writer among Silicon Valley CEOs.

TJ Rodgers TJ Rodgers 的名气不如史蒂夫·乔布斯，但他可能是硅谷 CEO 中最好的作家。

I've probably learned more from him about the startup way of thinking than from anyone else.

我从他那里学到的关于创业思维方式的知识可能比从其他人那里学到的还要多。

Not

不

so much from specific things he's written as by reconstructing the mind that produced them: brutally candid; aggressively garbage-collecting outdated ideas; and yet driven by pragmatism rather than ideology.

与其说是来自他所写的具体事物，不如说是通过重建产生这些事物的思想：残酷的坦诚；积极收集垃圾的过时想法；但其驱动力是实用主义而非意识形态。

The first essay of his that I read was so electrifying that I remember exactly where I was at the time.

我读到的他的第一篇文章是如此令人振奋，以至于我清楚地记得当时我在哪里。

It was High Technology Innovation: Free Markets or Government Subsidies?

这是高科技创新：自由市场还是政府补贴？

and I was downstairs in the Harvard Square T Station.

我当时在哈佛广场地铁站楼下。

It felt as if

感觉好像

someone had flipped on a light switch inside my head.

有人打开了我脑子里的电灯开关。

3.

3.

Larry & Sergey I'm sorry to treat Larry and Sergey as one person.

拉里和谢尔盖 我很抱歉将拉里和谢尔盖视为一个人。

I've always thought that was unfair to them.

我一直认为这对他们不公平。

But it does seem as if Google was a collaboration.

但谷歌似乎确实是一种合作。

Before Google, companies in Silicon Valley already knew it was important to have the best hackers.

在谷歌出现之前，硅谷的公司就已经知道拥有最好的黑客非常重要。

So they claimed, at least.

至少他们是这么声称的。

But Google pushed this idea further than anyone had before.

但谷歌比以往任何人都更进一步推动了这一想法。

Their

他们的

hypothesis seems to have been that, in the initial stages at least, all you need is good hackers: if you hire all the smartest people and put them to work on a problem where their success can be measured, you win.

假设似乎是，至少在最初阶段，你所需要的只是优秀的黑客：如果你雇用所有最聪明的人并让他们解决一个可以衡量他们的成功的问题，那么你就赢了。

All the other stuff—which includes all the stuff that business schools think business consists of—you can figure out along the way.

所有其他的东西——包括商学院认为商业包含的所有东西——你可以一路弄清楚。

The results won't be perfect, but they'll be optimal.

结果不会是完美的，但会是最佳的。

If this was their hypothesis, it's now been verified experimentally.

如果这是他们的假设，现在已经得到实验验证。

4.

4.

Paul Buchheit Few know this, but one person, Paul Buchheit, is responsible for three of the best things Google has done.

保罗·布赫海特 (Paul Buchheit) 很少有人知道这一点，但保罗·布赫海特 (Paul Buchheit) 是 Google 所做的三件最好的事情的负责人。

He was the original author of GMail, which is the most impressive thing Google has after search.

他是GMail的原作者，GMail是Google继搜索之后最令人印象深刻的东西。

He also wrote the first prototype of AdSense, and was the author of Google's mantra "Don't be evil." PB made a point in a talk once that I now mention to every startup we fund: that it's better, initially, to make a small number of

他还编写了 AdSense 的第一个原型，并且是 Google 口号“不作恶”的作者。 PB 在一次演讲中提出了一个观点，现在我向我们资助的每一家初创公司提到：最好是一开始就制作少量产品

users really love you than a large number kind of like you.

真正爱你的用户比喜欢你的人还要多。

If I could tell startups only ten sentences , this would be one of them.

如果我只能告诉初创公司十句话，这就是其中之一。

Now he's cofounder of a startup called Friendfeed.

现在他是一家名为 Friendfeed 的初创公司的联合创始人。

It's only a year old, but already everyone in the Valley is watching them.

虽然只有一年的时间，但硅谷的每个人都在关注他们。

Someone responsible for three of the biggest ideas at Google is going to come up with more.

负责谷歌三个最伟大想法的人将会想出更多。

5.

5.

Sam Altman I was told I shouldn't mention founders of YC-funded companies in

Sam Altman 有人告诉我不应该提及 YC 资助的公司的创始人

this list.

这份清单。

But Sam Altman can't be stopped by such flimsy rules.

但山姆·奥尔特曼无法被如此脆弱的规则所阻止。

If he wants to be on this list, he's going to be.

如果他想出现在这个名单上，他就会出现。

Honestly, Sam is, along with Steve Jobs, the founder I refer to most when I'm advising startups.

老实说，萨姆和史蒂夫·乔布斯一样，是我在为初创公司提供咨询时最常提到的创始人。

On questions of design, I ask "What would Steve do?" but on questions of strategy or ambition I ask "What would Sama do?" What I learned from meeting Sama is that the doctrine of the elect

在设计问题上，我问“史蒂夫会做什么？”但在战略或野心问题上，我会问“萨玛会做什么？”我从与萨玛的会面中学到的是，选民的教义

applies to startups.

适用于初创公司。

It applies way less than most people think: startup investing does not consist of trying to pick winners the way you might in a horse race.

它的应用远比大多数人想象的要少：创业投资并不包括像赛马一样试图挑选获胜者。

But there are a few people with such force of will that they're going to get whatever they want.

但也有少数人意志力如此强大，他们想要什么就得到什么。