以朋友身份，说说猝然离世的桑德伯格丈夫是个什么样的人

    戴夫•戈德伯格上周五突然去世，年仅47岁。今后几天，你会听到人们用这些词描述他：朋友、父亲、丈夫、兄弟、美国中西部人、企业家、扑克爱好者、正人君子、投资者、创业导师。

    毫不夸张地说，戈德伯格是硅谷最受敬爱的成功人士之一。他的家乡在明尼苏达州，从小聪明过人。从哈佛大学毕业后，他远赴洛杉矶投身音乐行业。由于将一手成立的音乐公司卖给了雅虎，戈德伯格在业内声名鹊起。之后他还留在公司管理过一段时间，时任雅虎CEO是特里•塞梅尔。

    戈德伯格认识谢莉尔•桑德伯格时，桑德伯格是风头正劲的谷歌高管，他自己在业内也颇有声名。两人结为伉俪后，戈德伯格最终选择北上硅谷。随后，戈德伯格领导的投资集团收购了非常赚钱的网络调查服务公司SurveyMonkey，并开创了“免费增值”商业模式，这种模式如今盛行于Evernote、Dropbox和Eventbrite等新一代软件公司。

    【2013年，我曾为《财富》杂志写过一篇有关戈德伯格的报道。当时，戈德伯格选择发债来推迟让公司上市。前不久他带领下的SurveyMonkey推出了一项新的标杆性服务，我也写了文章。戈德伯格是第一个向我解释为何免费增值模式前途无量的人。】

    回到正题，让我们来听听人们如何评价戈德伯格：即便当初没与硅谷最有名的女性结婚，他也会作为硅谷最成功的企业家之一为人所知。我与戈德伯格相识多年，身为雪莉•桑德伯格的丈夫这一事实从未对他有一丝一毫困扰。他很清楚地知道自己是谁。几年前，我们曾一起吃过一顿午餐，因为有人建议他邀请我加入SurveyMonkey。我花了大概一分钟礼貌地解释，我对当时手头的工作非常满意。他迅速心领神会，因为他对自己的事业也有同感。那次午餐剩下的时间，我们都在讨论自己有多么幸运：工作忙碌又充实，还能有很多时间花在家庭中，当好父亲和丈夫。

    戈德伯格熟知音乐产业和硅谷的种种过往，对业内的微妙关系了如指掌。他有一种天赋，能将复杂的商业交易解释得清晰透彻。硅谷好几笔交易中，他都悄无声息地做了天使投资人，有时以个人身份，有时则通过一些风投基金。而风投之所以邀他参与，多是看中他的眼光和人脉。他总能看透事情本质，如果看不清也会坦然相告。

    戈德伯格对个人成功非常低调，在朋友圈中是谦和大度的核心人物。每年CES国际消费电子产品展期间，他和在洛杉矶做企业的兄弟罗伯特都会组织晚宴，邀请众多科技界和娱乐界的朋友参加。往来嘉宾中既有业界大腕也有他私交甚笃的好友，而且来宾往往兼具这两个身份，这点应该让戈德伯格感到骄傲吧。（回忆起他，就不能漏掉酷爱玩扑克牌这一点，他经常玩到深夜。而且有可靠消息人士向我透露，他算牌能力超强，所以经常赢。）

    三天前，我曾发电邮向戈德伯格求助。一小时后他就给我打来电话，可我没接到。周四上午，他打过来。我们说话的时候，他和桑德伯格正赶往机场准备周末出游。身为记者，同时也身为戈德伯格的朋友，这种场景经常出现而且很有趣：我能听到，电话那头他身边的桑德伯格正在打工作电话，口气直接干练。另一边，戈德伯格也迅速解决了我的问题：介绍了一个可能帮得上忙的朋友给我。他就是这样乐于助人。

    在这个世界上，你很难碰到既才华出众、事业有成、聪明友善，又谦逊、广受敬仰和喜爱的人物。而戈德伯格就是这样的人。

    这一刻，言辞已无法形容对他的怀念。（财富中文网）

    译者：Pessy

    审校：夏林

    Here are some of the descriptions you’ll be hearing in coming days about Dave Goldberg, who died suddenly Friday at 47: friend, dad, husband, brother, Midwesterner, entrepreneur, poker player, mensch, investor, mentor.

    It is with no hyperbole to say Goldberg was one of the most beloved among the truly successful people in Silicon Valley. He was a bright kid from Minnesota who graduated from Harvard and landed in Los Angeles working in the music industry. He made his bones selling a music startup to Yahoo, where he stayed on for a time as an executive in the Terry Semel era.

    He was already a big deal when he met a big-deal executive at Google, Sheryl Sandberg. He eventually moved north when they became a couple. Goldberg went on to lead the investment group that bought SurveyMonkey, the cash-generating online company that pioneered the “freemium” business model so popular today with next-generation software companies like Evernote, Dropbox, and Eventbrite.

    (I wrote about SurveyMonkey in Fortune when Goldbergraised debt in 2013 as a way of delaying an IPO and again just recently when he debuted a new benchmarking service. Dave is the first person who explained to me that “freemium” was going to be a big deal. He also was a natural manager, and he spoke about talent in 2013 at Brainstorm Tech in Aspen. Check out the now poignant Q&A he did right before the conference. )

    Let’s cut straight to the chase about what everyone said about Dave Goldberg: Had he not been married to one of the most famous personalities in Silicon Valley, he would have been known first as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the Valley. I’ve known Goldberg for years, and being known as Sheryl Sandberg’s husband never bothered him in the least. He knew exactly who he was. A handful of years ago we had lunch because someone had suggested to him that he might hire me to work at SurveyMonkey. It took me about a minute to politely explain why I was fantastically happy doing what I was doing, which he understood immediately because he felt the same way about what he was doing. We spent the next part of lunch comparing notes about how blessed we were to be busy, fulfilled people who managed to spend plenty of time being dads and husbands too.

    Goldberg had an encyclopedic knowledge of the history and nuanced relationships in the music industry and Silicon Valley. He had a talent for explaining the relevant fact in business transactions that were more complex than they needed to be. He was a quiet “angel” investor in multiple Silicon Valley deals, both individually and through VC funds that wanted access to his smarts and his contacts. He tended always to know what was going on, and if he didn’t he was the kind of guy who said he didn’t know.

    Goldberg was humble about his success, and he also was a gracious and generous connector. Every year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas he and brother Rob, a Los Angeles entrepreneur, hosted a dinner for their many, many friends in the technology and entertainment industries. I think Dave took great pride in knowing that the guest list was a combination of A-list industry players and his close personal friends. Often they were the same person. (No true recollection of Goldberg could fail to mention that he loved to play poker, often late into the night. He possessed a keen mathematical mind, and I’m told by reliable sources he usually won.)

    I reached out by email to Goldberg for help on a story three days ago. He called an hour later, but I missed his call. He tried me again Thursday morning, and we spoke as he and Sandberg were on their way to the airport for a weekend getaway. As a journalist and a friend, it was a classic and amusing moment for me. I could hear Sandberg next to him doing business on the phone in her direct, businesslike manner. Goldberg did exactly what I asked him to: He made a helpful connection to a friend of his who might be helpful to me. That’s the kind of guy he was.

    You just don’t meet many people who are talented, successful, bright, kind, humble, and universally admired and liked.

    Words can’t begin to describe how much Dave Goldberg will be missed.