如何才能創辦一家公司，然后讓它被科技巨擘收購？

????回答者：邁克爾?沃爾夫。他創辦了五家初創公司，且數量仍在增加。

????我想用我最喜歡的一個人的想法作為開頭，這段話來自亞歷克斯?哈里的文章《夢想的陰暗之面》（Shadowland of Dreams）：

????“許多年輕人對我說他們想當一名作家。我經常給予他們鼓勵，同時也告誡他們‘當一名作家’與寫作完全是兩碼事。大多數懷抱作家夢的年輕人其實只為追名逐利，殊不知那打字機前的寫作過程是如此漫長而孤獨。‘你要有寫作的欲望。’我告訴他們，‘而不是只想著當一名作家。’”

????“其實，寫作是一項需要孤軍奮戰，報酬甚微的工作。受到幸運之神眷顧、一舉成名的作家僅是少數，更多的人壯志難酬。即便最成功的作家也會經歷一段默默無聞和生活窘困的時期。我便是其中一位。”

????1999年和2014年，我們經歷過兩次創業潮，許多人突然發現他們“想做一名創業者”。剛畢業的MBA學生本可以加入高盛或麥肯錫，但他們卻選擇前往舊金山。甲骨文或惠普等大公司里的元老突然跳槽，原因是他們不希望與下一次淘金熱“失之交臂”。

????這些人往往很快就能找到志同道合的人，他們都懷揣創業夢想，一番頭腦風暴之后產生一些想法，從中選出看起來合理的創意，據此設計一款產品，然后買一輛手推車，靜等著收購要約蜂擁而至的時候，將大把的錢運到銀行。

????但許多人的希望都會落空。創業就像亞歷克斯?哈里描述的寫作一樣：由一心想“成為創業者”的人創立的公司往往做不到最好。最好的創業者通常對某個具體問題有見地并充滿激情，有解決這個問題的動力，他們會全身心投入到公司建設，只想著讓其發展壯大。他們很少會參加技術會議，公司成立派對上也看不到他們的身影，迅速被收購也不是他們的主要目標。

????恰恰相反，那些希望“成為創業者”而一夜暴富的人，所提出的想法沒有真正反映出獨有的洞察力或興趣。他們成立的電子商務網站大同小異，幾乎沒有準入門檻，或者他們在高德納公司的報告中讀到，一個新的市場預計會達到數十億的規模，然后便拿一款山寨產品一頭扎進去。他們一定會遭遇無力越過的障礙，或者沒有獨到的洞察力去打敗競爭對手。

????最優秀的創業者，其創業靈感都源自個人的經歷和天資。他們的想法往往有違直覺，最初看來似乎不可能實現。建議大家一定要讀讀保羅?格雷厄姆的經典之作——《如何獲得創業靈感》。他最好的一個看法就是：

????“創業的點子是被‘發現’的，而不是被‘發明’的。在 YC創業營，我們會把從創始人自身經歷當中自然產生的靈感叫做‘內生的’創業靈感。最成功的創業公司幾乎都是這樣發展起來的。”

????現在，許多內生型創始人也希望獲得財富，他們的投資者和員工同樣想獲得回報，但他們也會用數年時間應付可能遇到的挫折，進行反復嘗試。他們知道自己能夠獲得財富，這是因為他們在知識與熱情方面具有優勢，而不是因為從事了一種有利可圖的職業——“創業者”。

????Answer by Michael Wolfe, Five startups and counting

????I’ll start with one of my favorite thoughts, by Alex Haley in his essay “The Shadowland of Dreams”:

????Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there’s a big difference between “being a writer” and writing. In most cases these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at the typewriter. “You’ve got to want to write,” I say to them, “not want to be a writer.”

????The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune, there are thousands more whose longing is never requited. Even those who succeed often know long periods of neglect and poverty. I did.

????When the startup economy booms, like it did in 1999 and like it is again in 2014, many people suddenly discover they want to “be an entrepreneur.” Newly-minted MBAs who otherwise would have joined Goldman Sachs or McKinsey instead head west to San Francisco. Big company lifers from Oracle or HP abruptly jump ship, not wanting to “miss out” on the next gold rush.

????Too often, these folks quickly find a like-minded co-founder who also wants to join the “startup scene”, brainstorm a few ideas, pick one that seems plausible, hack up a product, then buy a wheelbarrow they can use to take their money to the bank when the acquisition offers start to roll in.

????They almost never need that wheelbarrow. Starting a company is as Alex Haley described writing: the best companies are usually not started by people who want to “be an entrepreneur.” They are started by people who are knowledgable and passionate about a specific problem, are driven to solve it, and then get busy building a company to bring it to life. They rarely go to tech conferences, can’t be found at launch parties, and they certainly don’t have a quick acquisition as their primary goal.

????In contrast, those who want to get rich by “being an entrepreneur” often come up with ideas that don’t really reflect any proprietary insight or interest. They’ll launch an undifferentiated e-commerce site with few barriers to entry, or they’ll read a Gartner report about a new enterprise market predicted to be worth billions, and they’ll jump into it with a me-too product. When they hit the inevitable bumps in the road, they may not have the drive to power over them, or they may not have the proprietary insight to outsmart competitors.

????The best entrepreneurs work on ideas that grow out of their personal experiences and aptitudes. Their ideas often are counter-intuitive and don’t seem likely to work at first. I highly recommend this essay by Paul Graham: How to Get Startup Ideas. One of Paul’s best thoughts is:

????The verb you want to be using with respect to startup ideas is not “think up” but “notice.” At YC we call ideas that grow naturally out of the founders’ own experiences “organic” startup ideas. The most successful startups almost all begin this way.”

????Now, many of these “organic” founders also want to get rich, as do their investors and the employees who join them, but they also expect to spend years toiling away with lots of setbacks and trial and error. They know that if they get rich it will be because they are working on an idea where they have an edge in terms of knowledge and enthusiasm, not because they have joined a lucrative profession called “being an entrepreneur.”