Zuora创始人兼首席执行官：成功三分靠自身，七分靠环境

    20世纪70年代，左轩霆的父母从台湾移民到美国，而且很快就在布鲁克林安顿了下来。在左轩霆的记忆中，当时的布鲁克林还不是如今的潮人天堂，聚居在此的主要是移民和一些黑帮（小时候他被抢过两次）。但他还是考上了康内尔大学（Cornell University），还拿到了电气工程学士学位。在学校里，左轩霆发现自己对应用软件开发很感兴趣。随后，他在甲骨文公司（Oracle）工作了六年。

    为了到斯坦福（Stanford）大学念MBA，左轩霆离开了甲骨文。后来，他在客户关系管理解决方案供应商Salesforce.com工作了九年，成为这家公司的首席营销官兼首席策略官。2007年，左轩霆组建了自己的企业软件公司。今天，他的计费和支付系统公司Zuora有350多名员工，业务内容是帮助Boz、Zendesk、Dollar Shave Club和Docusign等公司管理它们的订阅式服务。Salesforce.com首席执行官马克•贝尼奥夫自然是Zuora的天使投资人。

    46岁的左轩霆接受了《财富》（Fortune）杂志的采访。

    1. 在科技界你最欣赏的人是谁？为什么？

    我欣赏的不是某一个人。我会试着从每个人那里汲取灵感。对我有影响的一个人是马克•贝尼奥夫。我和他共事了九年。现在我对策略和营销的了解有很多都是拜他所赐。能在他构建Salesforce.com的过程中跟他一起工作是一次很棒的经历，也让我学到了相当多的东西。马克是个大好人。许多企业创始人都不是那么友善，但马克很慷慨，心胸也非常宽广。

    2. 哪个科技领域最让你激动？

    如果现在让我去组建公司，那一定会是一家纯粹的移动应用开发商。我观察过我的孩子们和科技的互动。我女儿今年4岁，使用智能手机和平板电脑的能力远远超过电脑。未来属于这些产品。我们这些大人很难想象如果这些东西没了键盘会出现什么样的情况，但这恰恰是创新的方向，也是今后五年科技的发展方向。

    In the 1970s, Tien Tzuo’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan and promptly settled in Brooklyn. He recalls the place differently from the hipster paradise that it is today: It was a borough of mostly immigrants and some gangs. (As a child, Tzuo was mugged twice.) But he found his way to Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. While in school, Tzuo realized that he had a passion for building software applications. He went to work for Oracle ORCL -0.09% for the next six years.

    Tzuo left Oracle to earn his MBA from Stanford. He eventually landed at Salesforce.com CRM 2.61% , where he stayed for nine years and became the company’s chief marketing officer and chief strategy officer. In 2007, he set off to start his own enterprise software company, and today, he runs 350-person-strong Zuora, which aims to help businesses like Boz, Zendesk, Dollar Shave Club, and Docusign manage their subscription-based services. Naturally, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff is an angel investor.

    Tzuo, 46, spoke with Fortune.

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

    It’s not one person. I try to draw inspiration from any number of people, but one of the people who has influenced me is Marc Benioff. I worked with him for nine years. He taught me a lot of what I know today about strategy and marketing. To be able to be at his side as we built Salesforce.com was an amazing experience, and I learned quite a bit. Marc is also just a genuinely good person. A lot of founders just aren’t that nice; but Marc is generous and has a great big heart.

    2. Which area of technology excites you most?

    If I were to start a company today, it would definitely be a mobile-only application. I look at the way my kids interact with technology. My 4-year-old’s ability to use smart phones and tablets far, far exceeds her ability to use a computer. The future is going to be these devices. It’s hard for those of us who are adults to imagine what will happen if we don’t have devices with keyboards anymore, but that’s where innovation is going and that’s where technology is going to be in five years.