The Hardware Renaissance
<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 2012 One advantage of Y Combinator's early, broad focus is that we see trends before most other people.
</td> 2012 年 10 月 Y Combinator 早期广泛关注的优势之一是我们比大多数其他人更先看到趋势。
And one of the most conspicuous trends in the last batch was the large number of hardware startups.
而上一批最显着的趋势之一就是硬件初创公司的大量涌现。
Out of 84 companies, 7 were making hardware.
84 家公司中，有 7 家生产硬件。
On the whole
整体而言
they've done better than the companies that weren't.
他们比其他公司做得更好。
They've faced resistance from investors of course.
当然，他们面临着投资者的阻力。
Investors have a deep-seated bias against hardware.
投资者对硬件有着根深蒂固的偏见。
But investors' opinions are a trailing indicator.
但投资者的意见是一个追踪指标。
The best founders are better at seeing the future than the best investors, because the best founders are making it.
最好的创始人比最好的投资者更善于预见未来，因为最好的创始人正在创造未来。
There is no one single force driving this trend.
没有单一的力量推动这一趋势。
Hardware <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/pebble-smartwatch-tops-out-at-10-million-on-kickstarter/">does
硬件<a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/pebble-smartwatch-tops-out-at-10-million-on-kickstarter/">确实
well on crowdfunding sites.
在众筹网站上表现良好。
The spread of <a href="http://paulgraham.com/tablets.html">tablets makes it possible to build new things controlled by and even incorporating them.
平板电脑的普及使得构建由平板电脑控制甚至合并的新事物成为可能。
Electric motors have improved.
电动机得到了改进。
Wireless connectivity of various types can now be taken for granted.
现在可以认为各种类型的无线连接是理所当然的。
It's getting more straightforward to get things manufactured.
制造东西变得越来越简单。
Arduinos, 3D printing, laser cutters, and more accessible CNC milling are making hardware easier to prototype.
Arduino、3D 打印、激光切割机和更易于使用的 CNC 铣削使硬件更容易制作原型。
Retailers are less of a bottleneck as customers increasingly buy online.
随着顾客越来越多地在网上购物，零售商不再是一个瓶颈。
One question I can answer is why hardware is suddenly cool.
我可以回答的一个问题是为什么硬件突然变得很酷。
It always was cool.
总是很酷。
Physical things are great.
物质方面的东西很棒。
They just haven't been as great a way to start a <a href="growth.html">rapidly growing business as software.
它们只是不像软件那样是启动快速增长业务的好方法。
But that rule may not be permanent.
但该规则可能不是永久的。
It's not even that old; it only dates from about 1990.
它甚至没有那么老；它的历史只能追溯到1990年左右。
Maybe the advantage of software will turn out to have been temporary.
也许软件的优势只是暂时的。
Hackers love to
黑客喜欢
build hardware, and customers love to buy it.
制造硬件，客户喜欢购买它。
So if the ease of shipping hardware even approached the ease of shipping software, we'd see a lot more hardware startups.
因此，如果硬件运输的便利性甚至接近软件运输的便利性，我们就会看到更多的硬件初创公司。
It wouldn't be the first time something was a bad idea till it wasn't.
这并不是第一次有什么事情是坏主意，直到它不是。
And it wouldn't be the first time investors learned that lesson from founders.
这并不是投资者第一次从创始人那里吸取教训。
So if you want to work on hardware, don't be deterred from doing it because you worry investors will discriminate against you.
因此，如果您想从事硬件工作，请不要因为担心投资者会歧视您而不敢这样做。
And
并且
in particular, don't be deterred from <a href="http://ycombinator.com/apply.html">applying to Y Combinator with a hardware idea, because we're especially interested in hardware startups.
特别是，不要因为<a href="http://ycombinator.com/apply.html">有硬件想法就申请 Y Combinator，因为我们对硬件初创公司特别感兴趣。
We know there's room for the next Steve Jobs .
我们知道下一个史蒂夫·乔布斯还有空间。
But there's almost certainly also room for the first <Your Name Here>.
但几乎可以肯定，第一首《这里是你的名字》也有空间。
Thanks to Sam Altman, Trevor Blackwell, David Cann, Sanjay Dastoor, Paul Gerhardt, Cameron Robertson, Harj Taggar, and Garry Tan for reading drafts of this.
感谢 Sam Altman、Trevor Blackwell、David Cann、Sanjay Dastoor、Paul Gerhardt、Cameron Robertson、Harj Taggar 和 Garry Tan 阅读本文的草稿。