我为何鼓起勇气拒绝Google工作机会？

    当谷歌收购我担任首席执行官的初创公司PostRank时，这家科技巨头也给我提供了一个在加州工作的极好机会。我的收入会有所提高，能得到期权，还有一笔丰厚的留任奖金。想到自己能来到美国最美丽的地区之一，为一家非常成功的跨国公司工作，并在简历里添上一块“荣誉勋章”，这感觉十分美妙。谁不想为谷歌工作呢？但到最后，我的直觉告诉我，这样做不对。于是，我谢绝了谷歌，转而加入了第4家初创公司，开启了另一段不安稳且不可预知的职业生涯。

    这项决定是基于直觉做出的，不够理性，但它却是正确的选择。我的直觉告诉我要做自己最擅长的事情——捕捉处于萌芽阶段的创意，让它发展成为一件伟大的杰作。我之前一直在空余时间指导在线学习公司Axonify的创始人，而我的直觉告诉我，他们的创意足以成长为一家拥有颠覆性力量的公司。人们觉得我疯了。在线学习公司？真的吗？你得有多无聊？但我知道那就是我应该做的，那是个巨大的市场。我可以预见，如果我们方法得当，就能开辟一条新道路，成为这一领域的领军者。这太让我兴奋了。这家公司肯定有风险，但正是这种风险让我兴奋。我觉得自己需要在工作中冒险才能感到快乐，而这种风险比大多数人愿意承担的都要大。

    成为一名企业家意味着你必须不断做出决策。有时，正确的决定也最具风险性，而通常情况下，“正确”或“错误”决定的界限并不明显。从理性角度来看一些决定是正确的，但从直觉上看它们可能会是错的。对你的公司有利的决定，却未必对你自己有利。如果说我从自己企业家的生涯中学到了什么的话，那就是在做出艰难决定时，平衡好直觉和事实十分重要。

    从我的经验来看，市场对初创公司命运的影响要超过创业者的预期。相信只要灵光一闪，构想出伟大创意，其他事情就水到渠成，自然十分美妙。同样，一些人想当然地认为，只要拥有完美的产品和强大的技术，成功就是囊中之物。可惜的是，事实并非如此。

    想要建立一家成功的公司，你得找到一个足够大的目标市场。你还需要深刻了解这个市场及其竞争格局、动态和趋势。一个规模庞大但日渐萧条的市场和一个小市场没什么区别。决定进入哪个市场，是一名企业家首先要做的最基础的决定之一，他不仅要能洞察数据中的奥秘，还得有敏锐的直觉。

    在建立公司的整个过程中，创始人都需要专注于严谨的研究。决定要建立什么样的公司之后，应当尽可能多地积累信息，从各个角度抨击你的假设和想法。当你在产品、营销和战略上做出决策时，保持这种做法。作为一名领袖，你的工作就是每天都在大体正确的轨道上保持前进，而不是在一些大问题上跑偏，或是发现自己深陷错误的推断中难以自拔。

    我见过太多企业家太过于专注某个创意或投资自己的某项产品，以至于他们不愿意听从自己的直觉，面对残酷的现实。一点点偏执是可贵的财富，它能让你时刻把握市场趋势和信号。然而，最大的挑战并不在于收集那些信息，而在于诠释它们。不要低估你的本能，它能综合考虑事实并告诉你哪种决策最好。

    最后，下一个杰作绝不仅仅是个绝妙的主意。这代表着一家公司进入了一个大型目标市场，响应市场需求，比对手更快地吸引顾客。还不止这些。这意味着一家公司的领导者或团队知道何时倾听自己直觉。在直觉的驱使下，他们努力追求伟大的事物，并利用所有的经验和理性的信息将自身想法变成现实。

    直觉就像一张引导企业家穿过迷宫的鸟瞰图，甚至当他们拥有一张路线图的时候，也是如此。它会帮助你更快地作出决策，克服那些阻碍初创公司发展的自我怀疑。用事实来检验你的直觉，并用你的直觉来检验事实。

    作者卡罗尔•利曼是在线学习公司Axonify的首席执行官。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    审校：任文科

    When Google bought PostRank, the last startup in which I was CEO, the company also offered me a fantastic job opportunity in California, which came with a pay increase, options and a significant retention bonus. It was pretty cool to think I could move to a beautiful part of the U.S., work for a global and massively successful company, and basically add a “badge of honor” to my resume. Who wouldn’t want to work for Google? But, in the end, it didn’t feel right in my gut. So, I declined, opting for the insecurity and unpredictability of embarking on a fourth startup instead.

    This was not the rational decision, but it was the intuitive one—and the right one. My intuition was calling me to do what I know I’m best at—taking an idea in its early stages and building it into something great. I had been advising the original founders of e-learning company, Axonify, in my spare time and my intuition was telling me that the grains of their original idea could transform an area of the corporate enterprise that was ripe for disruption. People thought I was crazy. Corporate learning? Really? How boring can you get? But I just knew it was what I needed to do, and that the market was gigantic. I visualized blazing a trail and being a category leader if we did it right. And that totally excited me. It was risky, but that was also what excited me. I think I need a level of risk in my work to be happy—more risks than most people are willing to take.

    Being an entrepreneur means you constantly have to make decisions. Sometimes the right choices are the riskiest and there is often no clear “right” or “wrong” choice to make. The right choice from a rational perspective could be the wrong one from an intuitive one, or what is right for your company may not be what is right for you. If I’ve learned anything from my entrepreneurial career, it is the importance of balancing intuition with fact when making tough decisions.

    In my experience, markets have a more powerful impact on the fate of a startup than entrepreneurs anticipate. It is nice to believe that brilliant, innovative ideas arrive in a “eureka” moment and the rest falls into place. It is also nice to think that having the perfect product and strong technology is a recipe for success. However, neither of these notions is true.

    The desire to build a successful company requires finding a large addressable market. It also requires a deep understanding of that market and its competitive landscape, as well as the dynamics and trends at play. A large but dying market is no better than a small one. Deciding which market to go after is one of the first and most fundamental decisions an entrepreneur makes, requiring insight from data as well as intuition.

    Founders should commit themselves to rigorous research throughout the entire process of building a company. When deciding what to build, gather as much information as you possibly can and attack your assumptions and ideas from all angles. Then, keep this up as you make decisions about product, marketing, and strategy. As a leader, your job is to be generally correct everyday and make incremental progress, rather than being specifically wrong about big things and find yourself stuck in false assumptions.

    I’ve seen many entrepreneurs who are so dedicated to an idea or invested in the product they’ve built that they are unwilling to listen to their gut and face harsh realities. A little paranoia can actually be a great asset because it keeps you hyper-tuned into the signs and signals of the market. However, the biggest challenge is not in gathering that information, but in interpreting it. Don’t undervalue your intuition’s capacity to synthesize the facts at hand to tell you which decision is the best one.

    Ultimately, the next big thing is not just a brilliant idea. It is a company that tackles a large addressable market, responds to market trends, and grabs customers faster than anyone else. But it is also more than that. It is a company led by an individual or team who knows when to listen to their gut; who are driven by an intuitive sense that they are on to something big and can channel all the empirical, rational information into making their vision a reality.

    Intuition is like the bird’s eye view that guides entrepreneurs through a maze, even when they have a map. It will help you make decisions faster and overcome self-doubt that stops startups in their tracks. Use facts to check your intuition, and intuition to check your facts.

    Carol Leaman is CEO of Axonify.