紐約市一個頂級吃貨的遞送食品創業史

Joe Ariel is a New York City transplant who opened up shop in San Francisco with his startup Goldbely. The idea is simple: a food delivery service.

喬·埃里爾屬於紐約市外來人口，他的初創型公司Goldbely在舊金山設有門店。業務思路很簡單：遞送食品。

That's not new, of course. But the company distinguishes itself by finding locally sourced gourmet foods from around the country and delivering them to a person's doorstep. And not just so-called gourmet food, either: Think cannolis from Carlo's Bake Shop -- of "Cake Boss" fame -- in New Jersey, sourdough bread from Boudin in the Bay Area, Blue Bell ice cream from Texas, or a pastrami and corned beef sandwich from Katz's Delicatessen in New York City.

這當然不是什麼新事物。但Goldbely的與衆不同之處在於，它在美國各地尋找當地生產的精美食品，然後把它們送到人們的家門口。而且並不僅僅是一般所謂的精美食品，想想看：新澤西州Carlo's Bake Shop製作、因爲電視真人秀節目蛋糕大王（Cake Boss）而名聲大噪的奶油甜餡煎餅卷；舊金山灣區的Boudin酵母麪包；來自得克薩斯州的Blue Bell冰激凌；還有紐約市Katz's Delicatessen的五香薰牛肉和醃鹹牛肉三明治。

Ariel, 37, wants to help local purveyors gain a national audience. He calls it "democratizing the food industry." And lest you think he is just one more in a long line of trendy food entrepreneurs, Ariel insists that he dislikes the pretension of the word "foodie" (preferring to call himself a "food explorer") and simply wants to share the best that America has to offer.

37歲的埃里爾希望幫助當地食品供應商獲得全美國消費者的關注。他把這稱爲“食品行業民主化”。爲了避免人們只是把它看成流行食品創業者大軍中的普通一員，埃里爾堅持說他不喜歡“美食家”這個詞帶來的自負感（他更願意把自己稱爲“食品探索者”），而且他只是希望和別人分享美國最好的東西。

Ariel is a serial entrepreneur -- he was once the CEO of and -- and holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Vanderbilt University. He spoke with us.

埃里爾已經連續多次創業，他曾是食品快遞網站和美食網站的首席執行官。他在範德堡大學（Vanderbilt University）獲得了經濟學學士學位。他和我們的談話如下：

1. Who in technology do you admire most? Why?

1. 你在技術領域最欣賞的人誰？爲什麼？

Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos. They're all entrepreneurs who play by their own rules. For Jobs, it's his vision and true emphasis on design. For Branson, creativity and wildness. For Bezos, it's building for the long term and being unapologetic about it; that idea is very freeing for entrepreneurs who are trying to build their own business. As a marketer, I also admire Hugh Hefner. He's created his own reality. He saw something that he wanted to build and marketed it like no one else could. I feel the same way about Goldbely.

史蒂夫?喬布斯、理查德?布蘭森和傑夫?貝佐斯。他們都是按自己的規則行事的企業家。對於喬布斯，我欣賞的是他的眼光和對設計的真正重視。至於布蘭森則是因爲他的創造性和無拘無束。對於貝佐斯，則是他的長期投入和無怨無悔。對於正在設法構建自身事業的創業者來說，這個想法非常自由。作爲推廣者，我還欣賞休?海夫納。他創造了自己的現實。他發現了自己想要的東西，而且用唯我獨尊的方式進行推廣。我對Goldbely有同樣的感覺。

2. Which companies do you admire? Why?

2. 你欣賞哪些公司？爲什麼？

One company that I admire is Y Combinator for realizing that there's a new economy coming. It's one thing for investors to make investments for financial gain, but it's another to actively help thousands of entrepreneurs build out their dreams and give them a better chance to succeed. We're fortunate to have been a part of the program, and I admire a lot of what they do. In the e-commerce space, I admire Amazon and Zappos for pretty obvious reasons. With Zappos, the "customer service first" focus is something we instill deeply in our team, and Amazon's ambitiousness is inspiring.

我欣賞的公司是Y Combinator，原因是它意識到了一種新經濟的到來。投資者爲了金融收益而投資是一件事，但去積極地幫助數千名創業者實現自己的夢想、幫助他們提高獲得成功的機率則是另外一件事。我們很幸運能參與這項活動，對他們所做的許多工作我都很讚賞。在電子商務領域，我欣賞的是亞馬遜（Amazon）和鞋類網站Zappos，原因很明顯。Zappos以“客戶服務至上”爲重點，這一點深植在我們的夢想裏。亞馬遜的遠大抱負讓人很受啓發。

3. What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you do?

3. 你對那些希望從事你這樣工作的人有什麼建議？

Travel, eat, repeat! When I was planning this venture, I knew it had to be something that I was super-passionate about. But at the same time, you can have ideas that you're really passionate about that at the end of the day don't align with your skill set. So, find the intersection of what you love and what you're good at and identify any and every potential opportunities in the market. Once you find the sweet spot, dig in like you never have before.

旅行、品嚐，反覆這樣做！籌劃這家公司時，我知道它必須能引起我極大的熱情。但同時，你可以有這樣的想法，那就是你真正熱衷的東西最終並不和你的技能相匹配。所以，要在你所熱愛的東西和你所擅長的東西之間找到交叉點，同時發現市場中所有的潛在機遇。只要找到了最佳結合點，就用前所未有的力量進行發掘。

4. What is the best advice you ever received?

4. 別人給你的最佳建議是什麼？

As an entrepreneur, Paul Buchheit -- who is one of the partners at Y Combinator and the creator of Gmail -- always said build something that a few people absolutely love rather than build something that a lot of people just kind of like. For any startup entrepreneur those are some of the wisest words because it's easy to push out something that's kind of good, but it's really, really hard to push out something that's amazing. That's what you should strive for.

身爲創業者，Y Combinator合夥人之一、Gmail之父保羅?布赫海特總是說，要做出有些人絕對熱愛的東西，而不是許多人僅僅有些喜歡的東西。這對任何一位創業者來說都是最高明的建議，因爲拿出較好的東西很容易，但要拿出令人叫絕的東西真的、真的很難。那就是我應該爲之奮鬥的目標。

5. What's the next big project you want to tackle?

5. 你打算着手的下一個大項目是什麼？

I think we've really hit on something with the convergence of content and commerce in food, specifically in the way we tell the stories of the products and artisans we showcase. We view ourselves equally as an e-commerce company as we do storytellers. Video has always been a fascinating medium for me, and we've just started delving further into video-based content. Photography has always been core to our user experience, but I think there's an exciting opportunity for us to use video to take our content far deeper.

我想，我們真的已經在食品領域找到了把內容和商業結合在一起的東西，特別是通過我們講述產品的故事以及對那些製作者的介紹。我們覺得自己既是電子商務公司，又是講故事的人。我一直覺得視頻是一種奇妙的媒介。攝影一直是我們用戶體驗的核心，但我想我們可以藉助視頻把我們的內容深入到遠遠超過現在的深度，這是一個令人興奮的機遇。

6. What challenges are facing your business right now?

6. 你的公司目前面臨着哪些挑戰？

We're fortunate in that we're growing pretty quickly. The challenge with that is continuing to grow at a fast pace, and at the same time maintain focus on culture and quality of hiring, while at the same time building for speed. If there's one thing that keeps me up at night, it's that. Making sure we find the right spot.

很幸運，我們增長得相當迅速。由此帶來的挑戰是繼續高速增長，同時保持對文化和招聘質量的關注，而且還要爲增長速度搞好積累。如果說有什麼讓我夜不能寐，那就是這件事——確保我們找到了正確的位置。

7. What is one goal -- either personal or professional -- that you would like to accomplish during your lifetime?

7. 無論是個人方面，還是職業方面，你希望自己能夠實現的終身目標是什麼？

Building an industry-changing business. To create something that not only serves millions of consumers, but also empowers an entire industry of producers would be something really special. I think Etsy has done this for the crafts industry, and that is something I admire. There's a lot of symmetry with what we're doing for gourmet and specialty food. It's exciting to create a platform that uplifts an entire industry.

打造一家能改變整個行業的公司。一個人創造的東西不僅能服務於數百萬消費者，還能賦予整個行業的生產者一些能力，確實是件很特別的事。我認爲手工藝品交易網站Etsy已經爲手工產品製造者做到了這一點，對此我很欣賞。我們正在爲精美食品和招牌食品所做的工作和Etsy極爲相似。創建一個能提升整個行業的平臺讓人很振奮。

8. What do you do to live a balanced life?

8. 你怎樣平衡自己的生活？

Since I was a kid, if I don't run around or play a sport and work up a sweat, I get antsy. If I go a few days without exercise, I have a hard time focusing. It can be anything from playing tennis or basketball to going for a run or a hike. The gym is super-important for me.

從小時候起，如果不到處跑，如果不參加體育活動，出一身汗，我就會坐立不安。如果有幾天不運動，我就難以集中精力。可以是任何運動，網球、籃球、跑步或者騎自行車都行。體育館對我來說超級重要。

9. What was the last book you read?

9. 你最近讀了哪本書？

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. I love his books in general with the intersection of psychology and business and history. This one in particular talks about the advantages of being an underdog. In my world, that means a startup, and it's very inspiring to hear historical takes about little upstarts that can do amazing things.

馬爾科姆?格拉德韋爾的《大衛與歌利亞》（David and Goliath）。他的書把心理、商業和歷史交織在一起，我都很喜歡。這本書特別談到了處於下風時的優勢。在我的世界裏，處於下風就意味着建立一家初創型企業，聽聽歷史上初出茅廬的小人物所成就的了不起的大事非常讓人受啓發。

10. What is one unique or quirky habit that you have?

10. 你有什麼獨特或者奇怪的習慣嗎？

I feed people constantly and love to see their reaction to trying something new. I think I get it from my father, who has always loved cooking and feeding people. Especially when there's a new product that I've sampled that I know is just amazing -- I just need to share it. So much of what we do is spread happiness through food. A dish can be so nostalgic and bring back such great memories. Getting to facilitate these moments and share these experiences with people is really special.

我經常請人吃飯，而且喜歡看他們在嘗試新食品時的反應。我覺得這個習慣來自我父親，他總喜歡做飯，請人吃飯。特別是在我嘗試了新產品，發現它讓人讚不絕口的時候——我就是需要和別人分享。我們很大一部分工作就是通過食品來傳播幸福。一道菜也能很懷舊，讓人重溫美好的回憶。幫助人們更容易地找到這樣的時刻，同時和別人分享這樣的經歷，這確實是件很特別的事情。