据The Information 网站报道，Jawbone已在破产清算，首席执行官侯赛因·拉赫曼则转向一家新创办的公司，名叫Jawbone健康。

向来高调又不缺钱，还受到硅谷行家们追捧的Jawbone就此倒掉，自然会议论纷纷。还好我一年前就写好评论了，其实当时Jawbone的挣扎之势已经明显。我如此判断是有理由的：

科技孵化器Y Combinator创始人保罗·格雷汉姆表示，创业公司倒闭无非两个原因。要么没钱，要么创始人放弃。

创业公司没钱时一般会人尽皆知，因为会发生得很突然。但一夜之间倒闭的例子很少。创业公司的死法一般很痛苦，而且会拖很久，因为保罗·格雷汉姆指出的第二种原因，即创始人选择放弃往往很难做到。选择创业需要巨大的勇气和决心。即便是最基础的工作，例如募集资本，搭建团队，开发产品和找客户等等都需要很多运气。著名成功创业家“英雄历险”般的神话故事里，往往会提到创始人不理会别人的质疑。

这也解释了为何别人都清楚公司不行了，创始人还是会苦苦支撑很久。

现成的例子就是Jawbone。17年里这家公司获得过很多成就。首先，融到了上亿美元资金，很少公司能做到；开发了一些很成功的消费产品，包括Jambox无线音箱，同样起名为Jawbone的蓝牙头盔，还有Up健康手环。但近年来这家“明星”公司却接连出现产品开发迟滞，高管更迭等问题，苹果、Fitbit等同行的竞争越发激烈，跟供应商和Fitbit打官司花费不菲，此外又赶上融资低潮估值腰斩。总之从外人角度看，情况非常糟糕。

很多熟悉创始人兼首席执行官侯赛因·拉赫曼的人可能都劝过他及早回头，体面退出。然而他还是带着公司挣扎求生。此处就能看出拉赫曼的决心：哪怕Jawbone最后失败了，也不能因为他选择放弃。

如今虽然在清盘，拉赫曼也没争取所谓的体面退出。据Information报道：

知情人士透露，Jawbone联合创始人兼首席执行官侯赛因·拉赫曼成立了一家新公司，名叫Jawbone健康中心，制造健康相关的硬件并提供相关服务。该人士表示，Jawbone很多员工今年早些时候已经转去了新公司。该人士还透露，2015年曾向Jawbone 提供3亿美元资金的投资公司贝莱德在新公司里有一部分持股，成为诸多债主中唯一成功上岸的。

拉赫曼在新公司里保留了Jawbone的名字（也保留了一个原股东），似乎笃定了要将前公司的某种血脉延续下去。是的，Jawbone没钱了，但是创始人并未言弃。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审稿：夏林

Jawbone is liquidating itself and Founder and CEO Hosain Rahman is moving to a new company he started called Jawbone Health, according to The Information.

The demise of a company as high-profile, well-funded, and beloved by the Silicon Valley cognoscenti as Jawbone will launch a thousand thinkpieces. Lucky for me, I wrote mine a year ago, when Jawbone’s struggles were already widely apparent. The premise holds up:

There are two reasons startups fail, according to Y Combinator founder Paul Graham. They run out of money, or the founders give up.

We know when the former happens because it’s usually sudden. But overnight failures are rare. Instead, startups often die painful, drawn-out deaths, because Paul Graham's second reason for failure—giving up—goes against the nature of most entrepreneurs. It takes a lot of grit and determination to start a company. Even the basics—raising capital, building a team, launching a product, and signing customers—require overcoming monumental odds. The “hero’s journey” mythology of famous, successful founders always describes the way they ignored everyone who said their idea would never work.

That explains why so many startup founders hang on to their dreams long after everyone else knows they’re doomed.

Exhibit A is Jawbone. The company has achieved many impressive feats in its 17 years of existence. It has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, something very few companies do, and it created and launched a number of successful consumer products, including the Jambox wireless speaker, its namesake wireless Bluetooth headsets, and the Up fitness band. But in recent years the “can't-miss” company has struggled with product delays; executive reshufflings; increased competition from Apple and Fitbit, costly lawsuits with its supplier, and Fitbit; and a down round that cut the company’s valuation in half. From the outside, it all adds up to an ugly picture.

Plenty of people close to founder and CEO Hosain Rahman have probably advised him to give up and make a graceful exit. Instead, his company continues to fight for its life. It’s the sort of thing that shows Rahman’s determination: If Jawbone fails, it won’t be because he gave up.

Even in liquidation, Rahman isn't making a so-called graceful exit. From The Information's report:

Jawbone co-founder and CEO Hosain Rahman has founded a new company called Jawbone Health Hub that will make health-related hardware and software services, according to the person. Many employees of Jawbone moved to the new firm earlier this year, the person said. Jawbone Health will service Jawbone’s devices going forward, said the person. BlackRock, which loaned Jawbone $300 million in 2015 and is the only secured creditor, received a stake in the new firm, the person said.

By keeping the Jawbone name (and one shareholder) at his new effort, Rahman appears determined to make some version of his company live on. Jawbone is out of money. But it's founder isn't giving up.