職場雙語:創業靈感源自何處(2)
Founder and CEO, Trunk Club
Trunk Club創始人兼首席執行長Head Into the Weird Places
去古怪的地方走走
For entrepreneurs to stretch their brains, they should seek out the unusual.
創業者要想拓展思路，就應該去尋找非同尋常的東西。Watch and listen to weird stuff. I enjoy watching obscure documentaries and listening to unusual podcasts. It's thrilling to find cool ideas lurking just a few clicks away.
看一看、聽一聽古怪的東西。我喜歡看晦澀難懂的紀錄片，喜歡聽不同尋常的播客。點擊幾下鼠標就能找到很酷的創意讓人興奮不已。Walk in weird places. I take walks in hidden suburban neighborhoods, department stores, community colleges. When you're walking with no purpose but walking, you see things in fresh ways, because you have the luxury of being in the present.
到古怪的地方走一走。我會在城郊隱祕的街區、百貨商場和社區學院裏散步。當你漫無目的地散步時，你會以全新的方式看待事物，因爲你擁有寶貴的當下。Talk to weird people. Striking up conversations with people who are different from you can be powerful. I still remember random conversations with strangers from decades ago, and how they shaped me.
與怪人交談。與和你不同的人攀談會帶來強大的力量。我至今還記得幾十年前與陌生人隨意交談的情形，記得他們是如何對我產生影響的。Victor W. Hwang
維克多·W. 黃(Victor W. Hwang)Co-founder, CEO and managing director, T2 Venture Capital
T2 Venture Capital聯合創始人、首席執行長、董事總經理Search for a Better Way
尋找更好的方式As one goes about their daily life, it is useful if they routinely ask themselves, 'Isn't there a better way?' You would be surprised at how frequently the answer is, 'Yes.' Other sources of inspiration for me are existing products. One should never feel that just because there is a product out there similar to yours that you can't execute it and market it better.
在日常生活中，經常問自己“難道沒有更好的方式嗎”是很有用的。你會爲“有”這個答案出現頻率之高而驚訝。我的其他靈感來源是現有產品。絕不應該僅僅因爲市場上有與你類似的產品就覺得自己不可能在產品製作和營銷上比別人更勝一籌。Liz Lange
利茲·蘭格(Liz Lange)Fashion designer
時裝設計師Think Big
樹立遠大目標There are several factors an entrepreneur should consider when choosing a business idea or opportunity.
創業者在選擇商業構想或機會時應該考慮幾項因素。Go big or go home: There are opportunities to make money by building businesses that marginally improve on existing products or services, but the real thrill sets in when the decision is made to go after an enormous idea that seems slightly crazy.
要麼做大要麼不做：我們有機會通過建立對現有產品或服務略加優化的企業來賺錢，但真正令人興奮的是決定追求略顯瘋狂的宏大構想的時刻。Make the world a better place: The best kind of entrepreneur pursues a business that simplifies or improves the lives of many people. He or she repeatedly asks 'what if' when thinking about how the world works and how the status quo could be dramatically improved.
讓世界更美好：最偉大的創業者追求的是簡化或改善許多人的生活。他/她在思考世界如何運轉，如何顯著改善現狀時會反覆問“假如……會如何”。Fail fast: As overall startup costs decline and markets move much more quickly, it has become easier to test ideas without devastating consequences of failure.
快速失敗：由於初創公司總體成本下降，市場運轉速度大大加快，在不產生災難性失敗後果的情況下檢驗創業構想變得更容易了。Pivot quickly: Many of the most successful companies exist in a form that is entirely different from how they were first envisioned. A successful entrepreneur will realize when a company is moving in the wrong direction or is missing a much larger opportunity.
快速轉型：有很多最成功的企業，其運作形式已與最初設想的完全不同。成功的創業者會在公司發展方向錯誤或錯過良機時有所覺察。Kevin Colleran
凱文·科萊朗(Kevin Colleran)Venture partner, General Catalyst Partners
General Catalyst Partners投資合夥人Taking It to Market
接受市場的檢驗It is important to look at an idea in two ways: first, to consider the initial inspiration for the business, and second, the often very different concept that ends up being executed to create the new company. We typically think of these ideas as the thing that sets these great entrepreneurs on the path of success. However, an idea is only that until you do something with it. Great entrepreneurs also discover the strategies to deliver the new innovative solution to the market.
一個創意應該從兩方面來看：一是考慮其對企業的初步啓示，二是考慮最終如何通過執行創意來創建新企業，這通常是兩個截然不同的概念。我們一般認爲偉大的企業家是憑藉這些創意走上成功之路的。然而，創意只有付諸實踐纔有意義。偉大的企業家還會探索能爲市場帶來新潁解決方案的策略。Ellen Rudnick
埃倫·魯德尼克(Ellen Rudnick)Clinical professor of entrepreneurship and executive director of the Michael P. Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
芝加哥大學布斯商學院(University of Chicago Booth School of Business)邁克爾·P. 波爾斯基創業和創新中心(Michael P. Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation)創業臨牀教授、執行理事Listen to People Who Know
傾聽顧客和一線員工的聲音Entrepreneurs come up with great ideas in a number of ways. Here are some of the best.
創業者的靈感來源有很多。以下是一些最佳來源。Get customer feedback: Listen to customers and create products and services that give them more of what they like and/or remove what they dislike.
獲取顧客反饋：傾聽顧客的聲音，創造一些產品和服務，爲顧客提供更多他們喜歡的東西以及/或者去除他們討厭的東西。Listen to front-line employees: The workers who manufacture the widgets, interact with customers and so on see what takes too long to accomplish, what is too expensive, what causes problems. Talk to those workers, or even do those jobs yourself.
傾聽一線員工的聲音：負責生產的工人以及與顧客溝通的員工瞭解哪些工作要花太長時間才能完成，哪些產品太貴，哪些東西會產生問題。與這些員工交談，甚至可以親手做做這些工作。Reverse assumptions: Many great entrepreneurs come up with ideas by reversing assumptions. For example, the old assumption was that a bank needed to have tellers and branch locations. The ATM concept asked: How can we offer banking services without having a branch location and tellers?
逆向假設：許多偉大企業家的創意是通過逆向假設產生的。比方說，舊的前提假設是，銀行應該有櫃員，還應該設立分行。而自動取款機(ATM)概念則提出了這樣一個問題：我們怎樣才能在沒有分行和櫃員的情況下提供銀行服務呢？Dave Lavinsky
戴夫·拉溫斯基(Dave Lavinsky)Co-founder and president, Growthink Inc.
Growthink Inc.聯合創始人兼總裁Get Inspired by History
從歷史中汲取靈感You often hear about the pursuit of the new new thing. But I believe entrepreneurs have a lot to gain by looking into history for inspiration.
你常常會聽人說要追求新新事物。但我相信，從歷史中汲取靈感會讓創業者收穫多多。In the mid-'90s, some beer enthusiasts and experts called us heretics for brewing beers with ingredients outside of the 'traditional' water, yeast, hops and barley. So, I started researching ancient brewing cultures and learned that long ago, brewers in every corner of the world made beer with whatever was beautiful and natural and grew beneath the ground they lived on.
在20世紀90年代中期，一些啤酒愛好者和專家把我們稱爲異端分子，因爲我們採用水、酵母、啤酒花和大麥等“傳統”原料以外的東西釀造啤酒。於是我開始研究古代釀酒文化，我在研究中發現，很久以前，世界各地的釀酒人是用一切美好、天然、在他們腳下的土壤中生長的東西釀製啤酒的。We now make a whole series of Ancient Ales inspired by historic and molecular evidence found in tombs and dig sites.
如今，我們的整個古法麥芽酒(Ancient Ales)系列都是在來自墓地和考古挖掘現場的歷史和分子證據啓發下釀製的。Sam Calagione
薩姆·卡拉卓尼(Sam Calagione)Founder and president, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Inc.
狗鯊頭工藝釀酒廠(Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Inc.)創始人兼總裁Be Prepared to Shift Gears
爲轉向做好準備Entrepreneurs need to understand two things. For one thing, their first (or second or third) idea is often not the real opportunity. In fact, it might stink. They have to be on the lookout for why it stinks and be willing to shift course.
創業者應該瞭解兩件事。首先，他們的第一個（或者第二個第三個）構想通常不會帶來真正的機遇。這些構想甚至可能是餿主意。他們必須尋找這些構想不可行的原因，並且願意轉變路線。But they also need to understand that even if their idea has problems, there's often a good opportunity buried within it. They need to talk to people and continue tweaking and transforming it. In the process, they encounter setbacks, rethink their approach, try again and redefine what they're doing.
但創業者還應該瞭解，即便他們的構想存在問題，其背後通常也蘊藏着良機。他們應該與別人討論，對其不斷調整和改造。在這一過程中，他們會遭遇挫折，會反思自己的方法，會再次嘗試和重新定義他們所做的事情。For all that, the idea may fail─it's happened to many successful entrepreneurs. But they weren't deterred by failure. They kept at it and were better positioned to recognize and shape the next idea into something truly great.
即便如此，他們的構想還是有可能失敗──這在許多成功的創業者身上都發生過。但他們不會因失敗而止步。他們會堅持下去，更好地確證和塑造下一個創意，使其成爲真正偉大的東西。Donna Kelley
唐娜·凱利(Donna Kelley)Associate professor of entrepreneurship and Frederic C. Hamilton chair of free enterprise, Babson College
巴布森學院(Babson College)創業學助理教授、弗雷德裏克·C. 漢密爾頓(Frederic C. Hamilton)自由企業研究項目主席You Can't Rush the Brain
激發靈感不可操之過急I don't know where great ideas come from. I am not sure anyone does. I am not even sure how I come up with my ideas. The brain does its thing, and out pops an idea.
我不知道偉大的創意來自哪裏。我也不確定有沒有人知道。我甚至不確定我的創意是怎樣產生的。讓大腦做自己的事情，創意自然會迸發出來。While you are waiting for the brain to get its act together, do what you can do. Do the doable. Meet with people, schmooze, have a laugh or two. Build mock-ups and prototypes. At the very least, collect other people's problems. That's always a guaranteed doable.
在你等待大腦閃現靈光時，做些力所能及的事情。做你能做的事。與人會面、閒聊、笑一笑。創建模型和樣本。最後，收集其他人存在的問題。這些都是肯定可以做的事情。The deep idea here is that action has a creative aspect distinct from thinking. And thinking need not come first. Mostly it doesn't.
這其中一個深刻的道理是，行動中的創造力與思考時的創造力是截然不同的。思考不一定要先於行動。實際情況大都也是如此。Saras D. Sarasvathy
薩拉斯·D. 薩拉斯瓦西(Saras D. Sarasvathy)Isidore Horween research associate professor of business administration, University of Virginia's Darden School of Business
弗吉尼亞大學達頓商學院(University of Virginia's Darden School of Business)伊西多爾·霍溫(Isidore Horween)工商管理學研究助理教授What Not to do
有些事情不要做One thing that isn't a rich vein of entrepreneurship gold: reading a market forecast from a big-name consulting firm and deciding to create a product to serve that need.
下面這件事對創業沒什麼幫助：讀了著名諮詢公司發佈的市場預測之後，決定創造一種滿足相關需求的產品。
