Startup = Growth
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<img src="http://www.virtumundo.com/images/spacer.gif" height=15 width=1> 想要创业吗？
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获得 Y Combinator 的资助。
</td > September 2012 A startup is a company designed to grow fast.
</td> 2012 年 9 月 初创公司是一家旨在快速成长的公司。
Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup.
新成立本身并不意味着公司就成为初创公司。
Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit." The only essential thing is growth.
初创公司也没有必要致力于技术、获得风险投资或某种形式的“退出”。唯一重要的是成长。
Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.
我们与初创公司联系在一起的其他一切都源于增长。
If you want to start one it's important to understand that.
如果你想开始，了解这一点很重要。
Startups are so hard that you can't be pointed off to the side and hope to succeed.
创业是如此艰难，你不能被指指点点并指望成功。
You have to know that growth is what you're after.
你必须知道，成长才是你所追求的。
The good news is, if you get growth, everything else tends to fall into place.
好消息是，如果你实现了增长，其他一切都会水到渠成。
Which means you can use growth like a compass to make almost every decision you face.
这意味着你可以像指南针一样使用成长来做出你面临的几乎每一个决定。
Redwoods Let's start with a distinction that should be obvious but is often overlooked: not every newly founded company is a startup.
让我们从一个应该显而易见但经常被忽视的区别开始：并非所有新成立的公司都是初创公司。
Millions of companies are started every year in the US.
每年有数百万家公司在美国成立。
Only a tiny fraction are startups.
只有一小部分是初创公司。
Most are service businesses — restaurants, barbershops, plumbers, and so on.
大多数是服务业——餐馆、理发店、水管工等等。
These are not startups, except in a few unusual cases.
除了一些不寻常的情况外，这些都不是初创公司。
A barbershop isn't designed to grow fast.
理发店并不是为了快速发展而设计的。
Whereas a search
而搜索
engine, for example, is.
例如，发动机是。
When I say startups are designed to grow fast, I mean it in two senses.
当我说初创公司旨在快速成长时，我的意思有两个意思。
Partly I mean designed in the sense of intended, because most startups fail.
我的部分意思是在有意的意义上进行设计，因为大多数初创公司都会失败。
But I also mean startups are different by nature, in the same way a redwood seedling has a different destiny from a bean sprout.
但我也想说，初创公司本质上是不同的，就像红杉树苗和豆芽有不同的命运一样。
That difference is why there's a distinct word, "startup," for companies designed to grow fast.
这种差异就是为什么有一个独特的词“初创公司”来形容那些旨在快速发展的公司。
If all companies were essentially
如果所有公司本质上都是
similar, but some through luck or the efforts of their founders ended up growing very fast, we wouldn't need a separate word.
类似，但有些通过运气或创始人的努力最终发展得非常快，我们不需要单独的词。
We could just talk about super-successful companies and less successful ones.
我们可以只讨论超级成功的公司和不太成功的公司。
But in fact startups do have a different sort of DNA from other businesses.
但事实上，初创公司确实拥有与其他企业不同的 DNA。
Google is not just a barbershop whose founders were unusually lucky and hard-working.
谷歌不仅仅是一家理发店，其创始人异常幸运且勤奋。
Google was different from the beginning.
谷歌从一开始就与众不同。
To grow rapidly, you need to make something you can sell to a big market.
为了快速增长，你需要制造出可以销往大市场的产品。
That's the difference between Google and a barbershop.
这就是谷歌和理发店的区别。
A barbershop doesn't scale.
理发店没有规模。
For a company to grow really big, it must (a) make something lots of people want, and (b) reach and serve all those people.
一家公司要真正发展壮大，必须（a）生产很多人想要的东西，（b）接触并服务所有这些人。
Barbershops are doing fine in the (a) department.
(a) 部门的理发店生意很好。
Almost everyone needs their hair cut.
几乎每个人都需要剪头发。
The problem for a barbershop, as for any retail
对于理发店和任何零售店来说都是这个问题
establishment, is (b).
成立，是(b)。
A barbershop serves customers in person, and few will travel far for a haircut.
理发店亲自为顾客服务，很少有人会长途跋涉去理发。
And even if they did, the barbershop couldn't accommodate them.
即使他们这样做了，理发店也无法容纳他们。
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