创业成功之谜

    根据尤因•马里恩•考夫曼基金会（Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation）的一项研究，只有11%的初创企业是由“用户型企业家”创立的，但在创立五年或者更长时间的成功企业中，这类创始人的比例几乎达到了50%。

    这个现象说明：以解决问题为出发点的创业者通常要比那些单纯以赚钱为出发点的人更有优势。该研究将用户型企业家定义为“为了满足自己所需研发创新产品或服务、随后创立企业对这些产品和服务进行商业化操作的人”。

    考夫曼基金会政策研究员、报告撰稿人之一的里迪称：“用户型企业家和其他企业家不同。很明显，这些企业家在进入业务领域时拥有更明确的理念、创新方法和客户群来打造一家成功的企业。”

    这份报告还援引医疗设备制造商美敦力公司（Medtronic）作为例证。美敦力公司创始人心脏外科医师沃尔顿•来里赫和他的发明家好友厄尔•贝根就是用户型企业家。上世纪五十年代，一位病人因断电而丧失生命，为此，他们发明了第一台安装电池的心脏起搏器。美敦力现在已成为全球最大的医疗设备制造商，也是财富五百强公司之一，市场价值高达400亿美元。

    里迪说：“很明显，这些企业家进入各自的业务领域时拥有更切实的理念、创新以及客户群来打造一家成功的企业。”他补充说，这项调查都是“第一手”分析材料。

    译者：李玫晓/汪皓

    Only about 11% of startups are launched by "user entrepreneurs," but such founders represent nearly half of startups that last five years or more, according to a study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

    The lesson: an entrepreneur who sets out to solve a problem often has an advantage over an entrepreneur who sets out simply to make money. The study defines user entrepreneurs as "those who have created innovative products or services for their own use, then subsequently founded firms to commercialize them."

    "User entrepreneurs are different from other entrepreneurs," said E.J. Reedy, Kauffman Foundation research and policy fellow and co-author of the report, in a statement. "It is clear that these entrepreneurs are coming into their businesses with more tangible ideas, innovations or customers to build a successful firm."

    The report cites the medical-device maker Medtronic (MDT) as an example of a company started by user entrepreneurs -- in this case, the heart surgeon C. Walton Lilliehei and his inventor pal Earl Bakken. When a patient died after a power outage in the '50s, they invented the first battery-powered pacemaker. Medtronic today is the world's largest medical-device maker, a Fortune 500 company with a market cap of $40 billion.

    "It is clear that these entrepreneurs are coming into their businesses with more tangible ideas, innovations or customers to build a successful firm," said Reedy, who added that the study represents a "first pass" at analysis.