合伙也是一种婚姻【从零到一 Zero to One 05A】

FOUNDING MATRIMONY

When you start something, the first and most crucial decision you make is whom to start it with. Choosing a co-founder is like getting married, and founder conflict is just as ugly as divorce. Optimism bounds at the start of every relationship. It’s unromantic to think soberly about what could go wrong, so people don’t. But if the founders develop irreconcilable difference, the company becomes the victim.

In 1999, Luke Nosek was one of my co-founders at PayPal, and I still work with him at Founders Fund. But a year before PayPal, I invested in a company Luke started with someone else. It was his first startup; it was one of my first investments. Neither of us realized it then, but the venture was doomed to fail from the beginning because Luke and his co-founder were a terrible match. Luke is a brilliant and eccentric thinker; his co-founder was a MBA type who didn’t want to miss out on the ‘90s gold rush. They met at a networking event, talked for a while, and decided to start a company together. That’s no better than marring the first person you meet at the slot machines in Vegas: you might hit the jackpot, but it probably won’t work. Their company blew up and I lost my money.

Now when I consider investing a startup, I study the founding teams. Technical abilities and complementary skill sets matter, but how well the founders know each other and how well they work together matter just as much. Founders should share a prehistory before they start a company together --- otherwise they’re just rolling dice.

Keywords & phrases

1)       matrimony   n. 结婚，婚姻

2)       ugly   adj. 丑陋的

3)       optimism  

4)       abound   v. 充满，丰富；be abundant or plentiful

5)       unromantic   adj. 不浪漫的

6)       sober   adj. 头脑清醒的，冷静的；v. （使）冷静，（使）清醒

7)       irreconcilable  adj. 不可调和的，不相容的

8)       venture   n. 企业，商业风险项目； v. 冒险，探险

9)       be doomed to   命中注定的，难逃一死的，（一般指坏结局）

10)    eccentric   adj. 古怪的，异常的

11)    miss out on   错过，错过…机会

12)    gold rush   淘金热

13)    slot   n. 硬币投币口；狭槽

14)    slot machines   老虎机

15)    jackpot   赌注，头奖，累计的赌金

16)    hit the jackpot   中大奖

17)    blow up   爆炸，摧毁

18)    complementary  adj. 互补的，补充的

19)    roll dice   扔骰子