The Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learn
April 2006 (This essay is derived from a talk at the 2006 Startup School .) The startups we've funded so far are pretty quick, but they seem quicker to learn some lessons than others.
2006 年 4 月（本文摘自 2006 年创业学校的一次演讲。） 到目前为止，我们资助的初创公司发展速度相当快，但他们似乎比其他公司更快地吸取教训。
I think it's because some things about startups are kind of counterintuitive.
我认为这是因为初创公司的某些事情有点违反直觉。
We've now invested in enough companies that I've learned a trick for determining which points are the counterintuitive ones: they're the ones I have to keep repeating.
我们现在已经投资了足够多的公司，我学会了一个技巧来确定哪些点是违反直觉的：它们是我必须不断重复的点。
So I'm going to number these points, and maybe with future startups I'll be able to pull off a form of Huffman coding.
因此，我将对这些点进行编号，也许在未来的初创公司中，我将能够实现某种形式的霍夫曼编码。
I'll make them all read this, and then instead of nagging them in detail, I'll just be able to say: number four!
我会让他们都读一下这篇文章，然后我不会详细地唠叨他们，而是只能说：第四！
1.
1.
Release Early.
尽早发布。
The thing I probably repeat most is this recipe for a startup: get a version 1 out fast, then improve it based on users' reactions.
我可能重复最多的事情是这个初创公司的秘诀：快速推出版本 1，然后根据用户的反应改进它。
By "release early" I don't mean you should release something full
我所说的“尽早发布”并不是说你应该发布完整的东西
of bugs, but that you should release something minimal.
错误，但你应该释放一些最少的东西。
Users hate bugs, but they don't seem to mind a minimal version 1, if there's more coming soon.
用户讨厌 bug，但他们似乎并不介意最小版本 1（如果即将推出更多版本）。
There are several reasons it pays to get version 1 done fast.
快速完成版本 1 的成本有几个原因。
One is that this is simply the right way to write software, whether for a startup or not.
一是这就是编写软件的正确方法，无论是否是初创公司。
I've been repeating that since 1993, and I haven't seen much since to contradict it.
自 1993 年以来我一直在重复这一点，此后我没有看到太多反驳的内容。
I've seen a lot of startups die because they were
我见过很多初创公司倒闭，因为他们
too slow to release stuff, and none because they were too quick.
发布东西太慢，而且没有因为它们太快了。
[ 1 ] One of the things that will surprise you if you build something popular is that you won't know your users.
[ 1 ] 如果你构建了一些流行的东西，会让你感到惊讶的事情之一就是你不会了解你的用户。
<a href="http://reddit.com">Reddit now has almost half a million unique visitors a month.
<a href="http://reddit.com">Reddit 现在每月有近 50 万独立访问者。
Who are all those people?
这些人都是谁？
They have no idea.
他们不知道。
No web startup does.
没有任何网络初创公司会这样做。
And since you don't know your users, it's dangerous to guess what they'll like.
由于您不了解您的用户，因此猜测他们会喜欢什么是危险的。
Better to release
最好释放一下
something and let them tell you.
一些事情，让他们告诉你。
Wufoo took this to heart and released their form-builder before the underlying database.
Wufoo 牢记这一点，并在底层数据库之前发布了他们的表单构建器。
You can't even drive the thing yet, but 83,000 people came to sit in the driver's seat and hold the steering wheel.
你甚至还不能驾驶这辆车，但有 83,000 人来坐在驾驶座上并握住方向盘。
And Wufoo got valuable feedback from it: Linux users complained they used too much Flash, so they rewrote their software not to.
Wufoo 从中得到了宝贵的反馈：Linux 用户抱怨他们使用了太多 Flash，因此他们重写了他们的软件。
If they'd waited to release everything
如果他们等待释放一切
at once, they wouldn't have discovered this problem till it was more deeply wired in.
直到这个问题变得更加根深蒂固之前，他们才会发现这个问题。
Even if you had no users, it would still be important to release quickly, because for a startup the initial release acts as a shakedown cruise.
即使没有用户，快速发布仍然很重要，因为对于初创公司来说，初始发布就像一次试运行。
If anything major is broken-- if the idea's no good, for example, or the founders hate one another-- the stress of getting that first version out will expose it.
如果有任何重大问题——例如，如果这个想法不好，或者创始人互相憎恨——推出第一个版本的压力就会暴露它。
And if you have such problems
而如果你有这样的问题
you want to find them early.
你想早点找到他们。
Perhaps the most important reason to release early, though, is that it makes you work harder.
不过，提早发布的最重要原因可能是它会让你更加努力地工作。
When you're working on something that isn't released, problems are intriguing.
当你正在开发一些尚未发布的东西时，问题就会很有趣。
In something that's out there, problems are alarming.
现有的一些问题令人担忧。
There is a lot more urgency once you release.
一旦你释放了，就会有更多的紧迫感。
And I think that's precisely why people put it off.
我认为这正是人们推迟的原因。
They know they'll have to work a lot harder once they do.
他们知道一旦这样做，他们将不得不更加努力地工作。