姐弟创业传奇

    《财富》杂志撰稿人贝丝•科维特忙里偷闲，为鲍登学院的校友刊物《鲍登杂志》( Bowdoin Magazine)撰写了一篇人物特写，主人公是一对同在纽约创业的姐弟。与阿琳和埃里克•戴维奇姐弟一样，作者也毕业于这家位于缅因州布伦瑞克市的文理学院。本文源自2013年秋季号的《鲍登杂志》，未作任何删改。

    同样毕业于鲍登学院的《财富》杂志总编辑苏安迪为同一期杂志撰写了一篇关于旧金山市长李孟贤的报道。

    对于戴维奇姐弟来说，创业实属偶然。在鲍登学院(Bowdoin)，两人学的都是音乐专业，从来没有上过经济类课程。然而，尽管他们在各自公司的创建历程中都遵循同一条路径，最终却抵达了迥然不同的目标。

    由于家中有两位创业者，戴维奇一家人的家庭聚会有时候更像是商务会议。今年母亲节那天，吃过早午餐后，埃里克在一旁演练即将给他的父母和姐姐阿琳展示的产品介绍。最近一次冬季滑雪之旅期间，一家人在科罗拉多州住宅的餐桌周围搭建起了一个临时办公室，其实就是一堆杂乱无章的笔记本电脑、iPhone手机和iPad。

    决定创业那一瞬间，这种全天候工作状况就成了阿琳和埃里克主动选择的生活方式。阿琳在曼哈顿创办了PayPerks公司。这是一家培养中低收入消费者理财能力、同时给予他们奖励的平台。阿琳亲自出任CEO。在东河对岸的皇后区长岛市，埃里克在他参与创建的Songza公司担任首席内容官，提供经过策划的流媒体音乐服务。

    两人是在新泽西州兰多夫市长大的，白手起家的父母早早就鼓励孩子们要敢于开创一番事业。“他们给我们灌输了一种观点，就是说，变化是不可避免的，”阿琳说。“所以说，那些最灵活的人往往能够收获最大的成功。”爸爸开了一家牙科诊所，妈妈帮助他打理经营事务，同时不断地引进最先进的设备。在他们居住的那个社区内，他们一直是最精通电脑的家长。

    然而，戴维奇姐弟走上创业之路实属偶然。在鲍登学院，两人学的都是音乐专业，从来都没有上过经济类课程。然而，尽管他们在各自公司的创建历程中遵循同样一条路径，最终却迈向了迥然不同的目标。于埃里克而言，Songza是一种不必经历潦倒的音乐人生活，也是一个能影响音乐界的途径。另一方面，通过创办自己的公司，阿琳发现她有能力创造一种新事物，同时自己做自己职业生涯的主人。姐弟俩的行业或许没有重叠，但他们身处同一个创业世界。正是这样一种巧合，促使他们不断比较、分享各自跌宕起伏的创业感悟。

    早在14岁时，埃里克•戴维奇就展现出了正处于萌芽状态的创业潜质。他拥有一个雄心勃勃的职业理想——他要成为一位摇滚明星。所以，他死缠烂打地恳求父母给他购买了一套录音设备。他随后制作了一张光盘，还成功地在学校餐厅把它卖了出去。

    埃里克把这种商业头脑带到了鲍登学院。他在这所大学攻读音乐专业期间竭尽全力，尽可能多地吸收行业相关知识。“我一直在努力学习音乐产业的方方面面，因为我当时真的认为我能够建立一个音乐王国，”他说。正是在这种理想的驱使下，他先后在《公告牌》杂志(Billboard )和大西洋唱片公司( Atlantic Records)当实习生，还在大四那年参与了一个被他视为首次创业经历的毕业生荣誉项目——为一个40人的乐团作曲，同时负责料理制作这个曲目的后勤工作。

    Beth Kowitt took a break from her day job as a writer at Fortune to profile Arlyn and Eric Davich, siblings who both work in the New York City startup scene, for Bowdoin Magazine, Bowdoin College's alumni publication. The Davich siblings and Kowitt are all graduates of the Brunswick, Maine-based liberal arts school. The following is the entirety of the story from Bowdoin Magazine's Fall 2013 issue.

    Fortune managing editor (and fellow Bowdoin graduate) Andy Serwer wrote about San Francisco mayor Ed Lee for the same issue.

    At Bowdoin, Arlyn Davich and her brother Eric were music majors who never took an economics course. Yet, in founding their own companies, they've followed a common route to take them toward very different goals.

    With two entrepreneurs in the family, get-togethers at the Davich household can sometimes resemble business meetings. Mother's Day this year involved a post-brunch session of Eric rehearsing an upcoming presentation in front of his parents and sister, Arlyn. During a recent winter ski trip, the family set up an ad-hoc office around the kitchen table of their Colorado home -- a mishmash of dueling laptops, iPhones, and iPads.

    Being "on" 24/7 is part of the life that Arlyn and Eric signed up for when they decided to build their careers in startups. Arlyn is founder and CEO of Manhattan-based PayPerks, a financial capability and rewards platform for low- and middle-income consumers. Across the East River in Long Island City, Queens, Eric works as chief content officer for Songza, a company he co-founded that offers a streaming music service of curated playlists.

    The two grew up in Randolph, New Jersey, with parents who were themselves entrepreneurial and encouraged the same spirit in their kids. "They instilled in us this idea that change is inevitable," Arlyn says, "so the people who are the most flexible are the people who are going to be the most successful." Their mom runs the business side of their dad's dental practice, which has consistently had the most up-to-date equipment. They were always the most computer-savvy parents on the block.

    But entrepreneurship was accidental for the Davich siblings. At Bowdoin they were music majors, who never took an economics course. Yet, in founding their own companies, they've followed a common route to take them toward very different goals. For Eric, Songza was a way to impact the music industry without living the life of a struggling artist. By starting her own company, Arlyn discovered she could create something and take control of her own career. Their industries may not overlap, but they share that same startup world -- a coincidence that keeps them comparing notes on a professional existence that can be punctuated with extreme highs and extreme lows.

    Even at age fourteen, Eric Davich exhibited the early signs of a budding entrepreneur. He had ambitious career aspirations -- he wanted to be a rock star -- so he finagled his parents into buying him recording equipment, made a CD, and sold it in the school cafeteria.

    Eric carried that business savvy to Bowdoin where as a music major he absorbed as much as he could about the industry. "I was always trying to learn every part of the business because I really thought I could make my own music empire," he says. That meant internships at Billboardmagazine and Atlantic Records, along with a senior year honors project that he views as his first startup -- writing a composition for a forty-person ensemble and handling the logistics of producing it.