And a big advantage of being a student,
而学生这个群体要创业
one of the two biggest advantages is that
自身也有好多优势,其中之一就是,
you probably have better intuition about which markets are likely to start growing rapidly than older people do
相较于老年人,学生对于哪种市场能快速增长有更准确的直觉判断
Another thing that students usually don't understand,
但有一点,很多学生创业者并不理解
or at least takes a while you cannot create a market that doesn't want to exist.
或者说,至少要花一阵时间才会体会到没有“市场”的市场是不值得投入精力的
You can basically change everything in a startup but the market.
创业中,唯一不能左右的就是市场
So you should actually do some thinking, to be sure or at least as sure as you can be,
所以大家一定要考虑要确信
that the market your going after is going to grow and be there.
自己要进入的市场会有发展前景
There are a lot of different ways to talk about the right kind of market.
要讨论挑选市场的问题也有很多方式
For example, surfing someone else's wave or stepping into an up elevator or being part of a movement.
比方说,追随成功者的脚步,加入发展势头正猛的行列
But all of this is just a way of saying you want a market that's going to grow really quickly.
所有这些就是说,大家要进入的市场必须能够快速增长
It may seem small today.
可能现在看来市场规模不大
It may be small today.
现在市场很小没关系
But you know, and other people don't that it's gonna grow really fast.
只要你知道这个市场能够快速增长,而别人都还没发现,就可以了
So think about where this is happening in the world.
大家要想一下市场环境
You need this sort of a tail wind to make a startup successful.
要创业成功,也需要一个顺利的大环境
The exciting thing is there are probably more of these tail winds now than ever before.
值得我们庆幸的是,现在的环境,是越来越有利于创业了
As Mark Andreessen says, software is eating the world.
马克·安德森曾经说过,软件正在蚕食世界
It's just everywhere.
现在各种软件随处可见
There are like, so many great ideas out there
有很多好创意
and you just have to pick one, and find one that you really care about.
大家要做的就是找到最感兴趣的那个
Another version of this, that would,
或者说
gets down to the same idea, is Sequoia's famous question.
我们还是回到红杉资本的那个老问题
Why now?
为什么要现在创业?
Why is this the perfect time for this particular idea and to start this particular company?
对于这个创意来说,为什么现在最合适创业?为什么要建立这样一个公司?
Why couldn't it have been done two years ago?
两年前开始不可以吗?
And why will two years in the future be too late?
又或者说,两年之后再做不可以吗?
For the most successful startups we've been involved with,
纵观各种创业成功的例子
they've all had a great idea, great answer to this question.
创业团队都有非常棒的创意,都很好地回答了这个问题
And if you don't, you should be at least somewhat suspicious about it.
如果大家不能明确给出答案,关于创业还是要谨慎考虑
In general, it's best if you're building something that you yourself need.
总的来说,最好是开发自己需要的产品
You'll understand it much better than if you have to understand it
这样一来,在开发产品原型时
by talking to a customer to build the very first version
你对产品的了解比通过用户交流来得更有效
If you don't know it yourself and you're building something that someone else needs,
如果你自己都不明白这种产品,只是为别人生产一种产品
realize that you're at a big disadvantage and get very, very close to your customers.
这对你来说是一个大弊端,必须要紧密联系消费者
Try to work in their office if you can.
如果可以的话,去客户的办公场所
And if not, talk to them multiple times a day.
如果不可以,多跟顾客交流也是有帮助的