硅谷创新大师：创业者是疯子

    日前，在硅谷一个拥挤的研讨会会场中，作家史蒂夫•布兰克向观众们提问说，有谁想创办自己的公司。几十个人举起了手。布兰克接着说：“好消息是，十年后你们当中会有一个人身家1亿美元。”今年3月，布兰克的第二本书《初创企业家手册》（The Startup Owner's Manual）上架了。坏消息是，剩下的人如果在沃尔玛（Walmart）工作，也许会过得更好。

    布兰克从不怯于表达自己的观点。他的第一本书《四步顿悟》(The Four Steps to the Epiphany）无意中冒犯了风险投资家和商学院学者。（现在人们普遍认为这本书帮助开创了精益创业运动。）自那以来，布兰克在其他重要的创业领域也颇多建树，特别是客户发展方面。他同时还在斯坦福大学（Stanford）、加州大学伯克利分校（U.C. Berkeley）和哥伦比亚大学（Columbia）授课。日前，《财富》杂志（Fortune）采访了这位曾8次创业的创业家。下面是略经编辑的采访记录：

    你说过创业者都是“疯子”。为什么这么说？

    大多数时候（创始人）实际上是在幻想，偶尔才称得上是远见。他们有近乎疯狂的动力，希望将想法转化为现实。他们必须如此，因为从无到有需要付出这样艰辛的努力。创始人在一块白布上创作；创始人更像是艺术家，而不是工程师，也不是商人。他们要让事情发生。而且，他们需要这样的坚持和固执来推动自己跨越这些障碍，因为正常来说，付出劳动就该获得报酬。

    年轻创业者们犯的最大错误是什么？

    仅仅是因为创业很酷就想当一名创业者。“嗨，我朋友在做这个，”或者“看看马克•扎克伯格”。这就像因为你感觉这很酷，就玩彩票或者寄望自己成为NBA篮球明星一样。怎么说这都是一件苦差事。创业是体力活，其中的挣扎痛苦、举步维艰和身心俱疲难以尽述。听起来光鲜，但年轻创业者犯的最大错误是将创业与工作混为一谈。创业不是工作。

    顿悟对创业者影响很大。您能讲讲顿悟与白日梦有何不同吗？

    In a crowded seminar room in Silicon Valley recently, author Steve Blank asked the audience who among them wished to start their own company. A few dozen hands shot up. "The good news," said Blank, whose second book, The Startup Owner's Manual, hit shelves in March, "is that one of you will be worth $100 million in 10 years. The bad news: the rest of you would have been better off working at Walmart."

    Blank has never been shy about his opinions. His first book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany, unintentionally vilified both venture capitalists and business school scholars. (It is now widely credited for helping to kick off the lean startup movement). Blank has since established credibility in other areas of entrepreneurial importance, most notably his work on customer development, and teaches business classes at Stanford, U.C. Berkeley and Columbia. Fortune caught up with the eight-time serial entrepreneur. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

    You've said that entrepreneurs are "crazy." Why do you think that?

    As it turns out most of the time, (founders) are actually hallucinating, and every once in a while they're actually visionaries. They are insanely driven to bring that thing they see to fruition. And they need to be because of the amount of travails they go through in making something out of nothing. Founders create on a blank canvas; founders are closer to artists than they are to engineers or business people. They make things happen. And they need this perseverance and tenacity and resilience to drive them through those obstacles, because rationally, it would make a lot more sense to just exchange your labor for money.

    What is the biggest mistake that young entrepreneurs make?

    Wanting to become an entrepreneur because it's cool. 'Gee, my friends are doing it,' or 'look at Mark Zuckerberg.' It's like wanting to play the lottery or wanting to become an NBA basketball star because you think it's cool. With all due respect, this is a press problem. Being an entrepreneur is a dirty, finger nail-breaking, hard, backbreaking, exhausting job. It looks good on paper, but the biggest mistake young entrepreneurs make is confusing it with a job. It's not.

    Epiphanies can have a powerful impact on an entrepreneur. How can you tell the difference between an epiphany and a daydream?