Before the Startup

<img src="http://www.virtumundo.com/images/spacer.gif" height=15 width=1> Want to start a startup?

<img src="http://www.virtumundo.com/images/spacer.gif" height=15 width=1> 想要创业吗？

Get funded by Y Combinator .

获得 Y Combinator 的资助。

</td > October 2014 (This essay is derived from a guest lecture in Sam Altman's <a href="http://startupclass.samaltman.com/">startup class at Stanford.

</td> 2014 年 10 月（本文摘自 Sam Altman 在斯坦福大学的<a href="http://startupclass.samaltman.com/">创业班的客座讲座。

It's intended for college students, but much of it is applicable to potential founders at other ages.) One of the advantages of having kids is that when you have to give

它是针对大学生的，但其中大部分内容也适用于其他年龄段的潜在创始人。）有孩子的好处之一是，当你必须付出时

advice, you can ask yourself "what would I tell my own kids?" My kids are little, but I can imagine what I'd tell them about startups if they were in college, and that's what I'm going to tell you.

建议，你可以问自己“我会告诉我自己的孩子什么？”我的孩子还小，但我可以想象如果他们在大学我会告诉他们关于初创公司的事情，这就是我要告诉你的。

Startups are very counterintuitive.

初创公司是非常违反直觉的。

I'm not sure why.

我不知道为什么。

Maybe it's just because knowledge about them hasn't permeated our culture yet.

也许只是因为有关它们的知识尚未渗透到我们的文化中。

But whatever the reason, starting a startup is a task where you can't always trust your instincts.

但无论出于何种原因，创业都是一项你不能总是相信自己直觉的任务。

It's like skiing in that way.

这就像滑雪一样。

When you first try skiing and you want to slow down, your instinct is to lean back.

当您第一次尝试滑雪并且想要放慢速度时，您的本能是向后倾斜。

But if you lean back on skis you fly down the hill out of control.

但如果你向后靠在滑雪板上，你就会失控地从山上飞下来。

So part of learning to ski is learning to suppress that impulse.

所以学习滑雪的一部分就是学会抑制这种冲动。

Eventually you get new habits, but at first it takes a conscious effort.

最终你会养成新习惯，但一开始需要有意识的努力。

At first there's a list of things you're trying to remember as you start down the hill.

首先，当您开始下山时，您会尝试记住一系列事情。

Startups are as unnatural as skiing, so there's a similar list for startups.

初创公司就像滑雪一样不自然，因此有一个类似的初创公司列表。

Here I'm going to give you the first part of it — the things to remember if you want to prepare yourself to start a startup.

在这里，我将向您介绍第一部分——如果您想为创业做好准备，需要记住的事情。

Counterintuitive The first item on it is the fact I already mentioned: that startups are so weird that if you trust your instincts, you'll make a lot of mistakes.

违反直觉 第一条是我已经提到过的事实：初创公司是如此奇怪，如果你相信自己的直觉，你就会犯很多错误。

If you know nothing more than this, you may at least

如果你只知道这些，你至少可以

pause before making them.

做之前先暂停一下。

When I was running Y Combinator I used to joke that our function was to tell founders things they would ignore.

当我运行 Y Combinator 时，我常常开玩笑说我们的功能是告诉创始人他们会忽略的事情。

It's really true.

这是真的。

Batch after batch, the YC partners warn founders about mistakes they're about to make, and the founders ignore them, and then come back a year later and say "I wish we'd listened." Why do the founders ignore the partners' advice?

YC 的合作伙伴一批又一批地警告创始人他们将要犯的错误，而创始人却忽略了他们，然后一年后回来说“我希望我们能听听”。为什么创始人不理会合伙人的建议？

Well, that's the

嗯，那就是

thing about counterintuitive ideas: they contradict your intuitions.

关于反直觉的想法：它们与你的直觉相矛盾。

They seem wrong.

他们似乎错了。

So of course your first impulse is to disregard them.

所以你的第一反应当然是忽略它们。

And in fact my joking description is not merely the curse of Y Combinator but part of its raison d'etre.

事实上，我开玩笑的描述不仅仅是 Y Combinator 的诅咒，也是其存在理由的一部分。

If founders' instincts already gave them the right answers, they wouldn't need us.

如果创始人的直觉已经给了他们正确的答案，他们就不需要我们了。

You only need other people to give you advice that surprises you.

你只需要其他人给你令你惊讶的建议。

That's

那是

why there are a lot of ski instructors and not many running instructors.

为什么滑雪教练很多，跑步教练不多。

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