As I start to get more known in my personal and professional circles for starting a company, I’ve been approached for advice many times on when/if one should start a company.
随着我的创业经历越来越丰富，有越来越多的人开始向我寻求创业的建议，比如“我该不该创业”、“我什么时候创业比较好”等等。
My answers have changed over the years as my experiences have changed. In the beginning, I’d encourage people to take the jump, but now I don’t.
I love being a founder. I love our company and, while it’s been hard and tiring, I would do it all over again 100 times if I could. When I first started getting these questions I would answer with enthusiasm.
I assumed anyone could do it. I assumed people could handle the pressure, the emotional commitment, the time commitment. I assumed people could handle the hard work — hell, I assumed people liked the hard work. I assumed that the work wouldn’t be hard for them, just well, hard work. I guess I assumed hard work wasn’t hard in-and-of-itself but more just something that required elbow grease. Willpower. Fortitude.
I can relate it best to running (back when I did that…). Running isn’t hardper-se, as in, it’s not a hard problem. The steps to becoming a decent runner are obvious — what seemingly isn’t obvious is that you actually have to do them in order to become a decent runner. Shoes, pants, shorts, headbands, jackets, and/or apps contribute almost nothing to your running ability. The hardest problems—for me at least — in running are:
That means you’re the only one to blame if you don’t start and you’re the only one to blame if you stop. There are no external factors here. No excuses. If you do #1 three times a week and #2 as long as you possibly can than you’ll become a decent runner.
Being an entrepreneur is much like running. There are two things that make you fail. The first is not starting. The second is stopping. Giving up is not entrepreneurial. Giving up just means you’ve wasted all the opportunity cost you’ve forgone to start in the first place. You have to keep going when you’re tired. You have to keep going when you don’t want to. You have to keep going.
When people asked me if they should start a business I used to say, “yeah do it”. Now I try and convince them not to.
I tell them about everything that can go wrong. I tell about everything they will miss out on. I tell them about how they will become a terrible friend, husband, father, or mother. I tell them how they will have to make choices that will make them feel awful. I tell them that they will be envious of the ones who didn’t start a company. They will wish they had weekends or that they had time to enjoy life itself. I tell them that they’ll feel defeated at the end of every day and that, to make it, they’ll have to get up before everyone else.
I tell them that their idea needs a lot of work. That the business model will need changing (if there is one — p.s. there should be one). That they might not be the right person for the job. I’ll tell them everything they’ve done so far is more or less useless and wont matter.
I do everything I can to try and get them to give up right in front of me. I do everything possible to get them to admit that they don’t really want to start a company — That it is not worth the trouble.
If I can convince them over one beer to stop, then they would have given up anyways. Something else would have made them stop, just much later on. I’m just saving them money, time, and their life.
我喜欢做一个创业者。我深爱着我一手创办起来的公司，虽然这其中付出了很多艰辛。就算让我重来一百次，我也还是会选择这么做。所以，当我最开始被问到关于创业的建议时，我会说：“Just do it！创业是一件很美妙的事情，虽然很辛苦，但绝对值得。” 我这么说，是因为我对于人们有一些预判和假设，但后来事实证明这些假设都是错的。
我假设每个人都可以承受创业过程的压力、情绪的波动、花费大量的时间；我假设大家能够完成这其中种种细碎繁重的工作，我竟然还假设大家都喜欢这样工作；我假设工作本身对于他们来说并没什么难的，而真正难的是这样的工作需要毅力和坚持。
这就好像跑步一样。跑步本身并没什么难的，要成为一个还不错的 runner 所要做的事情也是显而易见的，而人们往往会舍本逐末，忽视最重要的东西。很多人在开始跑步前先配齐一套装备：运动鞋、运动衣、发带、手环、app 一应俱全。其实，这些在帮助你成为一个好的 runner 方面几乎没有帮助。跑步最关键的事情就是两点：
1、早起，或者找晚上下班以后的时间，认认真真的跑步。
2、当你在跑步的时候，不要停，坚持！
这意味着，如果你今天没能早起跑步，或者你跑了几天就坚持不了了，你能怪的只有你自己，找不到其它借口了。如果你能坚持一星期里跑上 3 次，然后每次都坚持跑完你的目标，你迟早会成为一个好的 runner。
但是，仅仅是第一步，就能吓退很多人。很多人甚至都不去尝试。还有些人，花了 200 刀买了一套漂亮的运动服后，就完全忘记了自己其实是为了跑步才买的。
第二步则能够把真正的 runner 精萃出来。当你在跑步的时候，如果你一感到累了之后就马上停下来改为走路，那么你就失败了。跑步所蕴含的精神力量应该远远多过这个。当你累了的时候，坚持跑下去所耗费的能量其实并不多，很多时候是薄弱的意志力在作祟。
做一个创业者和跑步是很相似的。有两件事会导致你的失败：第一件事，你压根没有开始；第二件事，你停下了，放弃了。放弃绝对是创业者精神中的大忌。放弃意味着你把你从鼓起勇气起步时到现在的所有机会都浪费了。当你觉得累的时候你得坚持下去，当你觉得你不想干了的时候，你还得坚持下去。总之，你必须坚持下去。
为什么坚持这么难？这种难并不是体力或脑力上的匮乏，而完全是情绪上的。你的身体有多好，或者你有多聪明都不重要，这不关乎于你的思考能力、学习能力、工作能力，也不关乎于你的计划有多完美、梦想有多诱人，这完全就取决于你的内心有多大的决心来做这件事情。
创业就是一个逐步前行的过程，每前行一小步都不容易。所以，你需要真心的投入这个过程，而非太过执着于最后的产品和结果。正因为如此，当人们问我是否应该去创业时，我的答案已经从原来的“Just do it”变成了“No！”
我告诉他们，一个创业者都可能会面临什么样的状况：任何事情都有可能出错；你也许会变成一个很糟糕的朋友、老公、老爸、或老妈；你也许时常会不得不做出一个让你自己感到百爪挠心的决定；你也许会被还没开始创业的人羡慕，你实际上没什么好羡慕的；你会很希望能有一个周末，或者能好好度个假；也许每一天结束的时候你都会充满挫败感；糟糕的一天结束后，你在第二天仍然需要早早起床工作。
我也告诉他们，一个想法距离真正被实现出来还有着大量的工作要去做。比如，商业模式时刻需要调整（当然，首先你得有一个商业模式）；也许你不是最适合来完成这件事情的人（强求自己去做一件不擅长的事情往往会很痛苦）；也许你到现在做的所有的事情都是无足轻重的，用处不大。
我竭尽全力的去劝说我的朋友们放弃他们创业的想法，让他们意识到其实自己并不是那么想去创业，或者说没有那么大的决心去创业。如果一个人能在一扎啤酒下肚的功夫里放弃自己的创业梦想，那我真是帮了个忙，因为他们迟早会放弃的。即使有的人没有被说服，当他们开始创业，也一定会遇到我之前所说到的种种状况，然后再选择放弃。我真的想帮他们节省一些时间和金钱，还有生命。
当然，如果有人真的足够疯狂和执着，能在创业的路上一直走下去，那这顿酒我请了，因为他们真的很需要喝一顿......
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