精听英语视频号商务英语第111期：决定企业成败的五大因素

片段背景：Bill Gross是一位具有传奇色彩的商界精英，他从12岁便开始创业，到目前为止共创办了100多家公司，覆盖了各行各业，他曾发明造就谷歌今日成功的商业模式；他还有个闻名硅谷的 IdeaLab，基本可把后者看成是“创新工场”原型。可以毫不夸张地说，他是历史上最成功的企业家之一。片段取自2015年他在上的TED演讲。

Bill Gross TED演讲中英对照：

1–I’m really excited to share with you some findings that really surprised me.很高兴能和你们分享一些令我惊讶的发现
2–About what makes the companies succeed the most,影响公司成功的最大因素是什么，
3–what factors actually matter the most for startup success.什么因素对创业公司的成功最重要。

注解： matter这个词的用法非常灵活，这里是用作动词 要紧, 有关系，写作口语想表达重要与否可以多用这个表达显得更为地道不落俗
4–I believe that the startup organization我相信创业组织
5–is one of the greatest forms to make the world a better place.是让世界变得更美好的最好方式之一。
6–If you take a group of people如果你召集一群人
7–with the right equity incentives and organize them and start up用正确的股权激励，把他们组织起来并开始创业、

注解：equity incentives股权激励，也称期权激励，是企业为了激励和留住核心人才而推行的一种长期激励制度，是目前最常用的激励员工的方法之一。股权激励主要是通过附条件给予员工部分股东权益，使其具有主人翁意识，从而与企业形成利益共同体，促进企业与员工共同成长，从而帮助企业实现稳定发展的长期目标。

8–you can unlock human potential in a way never before possible.你可以以一种前所未有的方式释放人类的潜能。

注解：unlock开锁，开启；不仅可以打开实际上的锁，也可指打开释放关闭已久的无形的东西，unlock human potential 释放潜能，也可以说成bring out the potential，英语学习过程的词汇可以多尝试跳脱死板的书面语。
9–You get them to achieve unbelievable things.你让他们完成不可思议的事情。
10–But if the startup organization is so great, why does so many fail?但如果创业公司如此优秀 为什么会有这么多人失败呢
11–That’s what I wanted to find out.这正是我想知道的。
12–I wanted to find out what actually matters most for startup success.我想找出对创业成功最重要的因素。
13–And I wanted to try to be systematic about it,我想对它系统化地分析，
14–avoid some of my instincts and maybe misperceptions I have避免我的一些直觉和可能的误解
15–from so many companies I’ve seen over the years.来源于这些年来我见过的很多公司。
16–I wanted to know this我想知道这个
17–because I’ve been starting businesses since I was twelve years old,因为我从12岁就开始创业了，
18–when I sold candy at the bus stop in Junior High School.我初中的时候在公共汽车站卖糖果。
19–To high school, when I made solar energy devices上高中的时候，我做太阳能设备生意
20–to college, when I made loudspeakers上大学的时候，我做扩音器生意
21–when I graduated from college, started software companies我大学毕业后，开了几家软件公司
22–and twenty years ago, I started Idealab.20年前，我创立了创意实验室。
23–And in the last twenty years, we started more than one hundred companies,在过去的二十年里，我们创办了一百多家公司，
24–many successes and many big failures.许多成功了，也有许多失败案例。
25–We learned a lot from those failures.我们从这些失败案例中学到了很多。
26–So I tried to look across what factors所以我试着去看看是什么因素
27–accounted the most for company success and failure.是公司成败的决定性因素。

注解：account for：占….比例；对…负有责任；对…做出解释；说明……的原因；英语写作中遇到图表数据题目，尤其是饼图，这个词组非常的实用
28–So I looked at these five,所以我研究这五个，
29–First, the idea, I used to think that the idea was everything,首先，创意，我曾经认为创意就是一切，
30–I mean, I named my company Idea Lab for how much I worship我的意思是，我把我的公司命名为创意实验室，是因为我非常崇拜它
31–the “aha!” moment when you first come up with the idea.当你第一次想到点子的“啊哈”时刻。
32–But then over time, I came to think that maybe the team, the execution,但随着时间的推移，我开始想，也许是团队，执行力，
33–adaptability that mattered even more than the idea.或者适应性比创意更重要。
34–I never thought I’d be quoting boxer Mike Tyson on the TED stage,我从没想过我会在TED舞台上引用拳王迈克·泰森的话，
35–but he once said.但是他曾经说过。
36–“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”“每个人都有一个计划，直到他们被打了脸。”
37–And I think that’s so true about business as well.我认为这也适用于商业
38–So much about a team’s execution.团队的执行力很重要
39–Is its ability to adapt to getting punched in the face by the customer,就是它能适应被客户打击的能力，
40–the customer is the true reality, and that’s why I 顾客就是真理，这就是为什么我
41–I came to think that the team maybe was the most important thing.我开始觉得团队才是最重要的。
42–Then I started looking at the business model然后我开始研究商业模式
43–Does the company have a very clear path generating customer revenues公司是否有一条非常清晰的获取客户收入的途径

注解：商务英语说盈利一般用generate revenue
44–that started rising to the top.并且一直升值。
45–In my thinking about maybe what mattered most for success.在我看来，成功最重要的是什么。
46–Then I looked at the funding, sometimes companies received intense amount of funding,我研究了资金，有时候公司会得到大量的资金，

注解：intense多指紧张的，还有强烈的；热情的；非常的意思，和amount of搭配，等同于a large amount of大量的，intense feeling强烈的感觉；这个词不同的语境意思相差甚远，一定要注意
47–maybe that’s the most important thing. And then, of course, to timing.也许这才是最重要的。然后，当然，还有时机。
48–Is the idea way too early, and the world’s not ready for it这个想法是不是太早了，世界还没有准备好
49–is it early?是不是早了吗?
50–meaning you’re in advance and you have to educate the world,也就是说你超前了，不得不指导世界，
51–is it just right or is it too late and there’s already too many competitors.是刚刚好，还是太晚了?竞争对手已经太多了。
52–So I tried to look very carefully at these five factors across many companies.所以我在很多公司里仔细研究了这五个因素。
53–And I looked across all hundred Idealab companies我调查了所有的Idealab公司
54–and hundred non-Idealab companies以及数百家非创意实验室公司
55–to try and come up with something scientific about it.试图提出一些科学的东西。
56–So first on these Idealab companies, the top five companies.首先来看Idealab公司，排名前五的公司。
57–Citysearch, CarsDirect, GoTo, NetZero, Tickets.com城市搜索, 汽车直销, GoTo, 网络零点, 一票通
58–those all became billion dollar successes.这些都取得了数十亿美元的成功。
59–And the five companies on the bottom下面的五家公司
60–Z.com, Insider Pages, MyLife, Desktop Factory, PeoplelinkZ.com，内幕页面，我的生活，桌面工厂，人链
61–we all had high hopes for, but didn’t succeed.我们都有很高的期望，但没有成功。

注解：have high hopes for寄予厚望，相应的词汇有expectation，have expectations of (对…)抱有期望，英语的词汇多多举一反三，对英语的词汇量是非常有帮助的！
62–So I tried to rank across all of those attributes,所以我试着对所有这些属性进行排序，
63–how I felt, those companies scored on each of those dimensions.我的感觉是，这些公司在各自这些方面都取得了成绩。
64–And then for Non-Idealab companies, I looked at wild successes然后，对于非创意实验室的公司，我看了一些极其成功的例子

注解：第一次看到也有点小吃惊，wild还可以这么用，英语学习没有那么死板，切莫太过局限于词汇本身的书面意思，发散思维
65–like Airbnb and Instagram and Uber and Youtube and Linked in.比如Airbnb Instagram Uber Youtube和Linked in
66–And some failures, Webvan, Kozmo, Pets.com,Flooz and Friendster.还有Webvan, Kozmo, Pets.com, florez和Friendster的一些失败案例。
67–The bottom companies had intense funding.底下的这些公司有大量资金。
68–They even had business models in some cases, but they didn’t succeed.当中一些案例甚至有商业模式，但他们没有成功。
69–I tried to look at what factors actually accounted the most我试着研究哪些因素是最重要的
70–for success and failure across all these companies,在所有这些成功和失败的公司中，
71–and the results really surprised me.结果真的让我很吃惊。
72–The number one thing was timing.最重要的是时机。
73–Timing accounted for 42% of the difference between success and failure.决定成功与失败中时机影响占比有42%，
74–Team and execution came in second,团队和执行力排名第二，
75–and the idea, the differentiability of the idea, the unique idea然后是创意，这个创意的差异性，独特性
76–that actually came in third,实际上排在第三，
77–Now this isn’t absolutely definitive, it’s not to say that the idea isn’t important.这并不是绝对确定的 并不是说创意不重要
78–But it very much surprised me that the idea wasn’t the most important thing.但让我非常惊讶的是，创意并不是最重要的。
79–Sometimes it mattered more when it was actually timed.有时，当它被实际的，它更重要。
80–The last two, business model and funding, made sense to me actually,最后两个，商业模式和资金，对我来说意义深远，
81–I think business model makes sense to be that low,我认为商业模式不那么重要，
82–because you can start out without a business model因为你可以在没有商业模式的情况下创业
83–and then add one later if your customers are demanding what you’re creating.如果你的客户对你所创造的东西有需求，就更是如此了。
84–And funding, I think as well, if you’re underfunded at first,还有资金，我想，如果你一开始资金不足，
85–but you’re gaining traction,但你的吸引力越来越大

注解：gaining traction直译牵引力；实际指获得关注，支持，多见于商务英语和相应的正式场合
86–especially in today’s age, it’s very, very easy to get intense funding.特别是在今天这个时代，非常非常容易获得大量雄厚的资金。
87–So now let me give you some specific examples about each of these.现在我给大家举几个具体的例子
88–So take a wild success like Airbnb, everybody knows about,所以，就拿Airbnb大家耳熟能详的大获成功的公司来说，
89–well, that company was famously passed on by many smart investors,好吧，这家公司一开始被许多聪明的投资者忽视了，这是出了名的，
90–because people thought因为人们认为
91–“No one’s going to rent out a space in their home to a stranger.”“没有人会把自己家里的空间租给一个陌生人。”
92–of course, people prove that wrong,当然，人们证明这是错的，
93–but one of the reasons it succeeded,但它成功的原因之一是，
94–aside from a good business model, a good idea, great execution除了好的商业模式，好的想法，出色的执行力之外
95–is the timing是时机
96–that company came out right during the height of the recession.那家公司正好在经济衰退最严重的时候出现了。

注解：the height of the recession经济衰退的高度，指经济衰退最严重的时候；at the height of 在…顶点；在…的顶峰或鼎盛时期
in the height of 在…的高潮中，在…的顶峰
97–When people really needed extra money,当人们真的需要赚点外快时，
98–and that maybe help people这可能帮助人们
99–overcome their objection to renting out their own home to a stranger.克服他们对把自己的房子租给一个陌生人的障碍。
100–Same thing with Uber, Uber came out ,incredible company,优步也是一样，优步出现了，一个了不起的公司，
101–incredible business model, great execution, too.不可思议的商业模式，出色的执行力。
102–But the timing但是时机
103–was so perfect for their need to get drivers into the system,但他们需要拉司机进入这个体系时，时机是那么的完美
104–drivers were looking for extra money. It was very, very important.司机们在寻找额外的收入。这是非常非常重要的。
105–Some of our early successes,我们早期的一些成功案例，
106–Citysearch, came out when people needed web pages.城市搜索，在人们需要网页的时候出现。
107–GoTo.com, which we announced actually at TED in 1998,GoTo.com，我们在1998年的TED上宣布的，
108–was when companies were looking for cost effective ways to get traffic.当时公司都在寻找成本效益高的方式来获得流量。
109–We thought the idea was so great,我们觉得这个创意很棒，
110–but actually the timing was probably maybe more important.但实际上时间可能更重要。
111–And then some of our failures.还有我们的一些失败案例。
112–we started a company called Z.com, it was an online entertainment company我们成立了一家名为Z.com的公司，是一家在线娱乐公司
113–we were so excited about it,我们都很兴奋，
114–we raised enough money, we had a great business model.我们筹集了足够的资金，有了很好的商业模式。
115–We’d even signed incredibly great Hollywood talent to join the company.我们甚至签下了非常优秀的好莱坞人才加入公司
116–But broadband penetration was too low in 1999-2000.但1999-2000年宽带普及率过低。

注解：penetration商务高频用词，渗透；market penetration 市场渗入；行销渗透
117–It was too hard to watch video content online,在网上看视频太难了，
118–you had to put Codecs in your browser and do all this stuff,你需要在浏览器里放上多媒体数字信号编解码器，
119–and the company eventually went out of business in 2003,该公司最终在2003年倒闭，
120–Just two years later, when the codec problem was solved by Adobe Flash.仅仅两年后 AdobeFlash解决了编解码器的问题
121–And when broadband penetration cross 50% in America.当美国的宽带普及率超过50%时
122–Youtube was perfectly time, great idea,Youtube来的正好，好创意，
123–but unbelievable timing,但令人难以置信的时机,
124–and in fact, Youtube didn’t even have a business model when it first started,事实上，Youtube刚开始的时候甚至没有一个商业模式，
125–it wasn’t even certain that that would work out它甚至不确定这是可行的
126–but that was beautifully beautifully timed.但时间安排得很好
127–So what I would say, in summary,总之 我想说的是
128–Is execution definitely matters a lot, the idea matters a lot,执行力很重要,创意很重要
129–but timing might matter even more,但时机可能更重要，
130–and the best way to really assess timing is to really look评估时机的最好方法就是仔细观察
131–whether consumers are really ready for what you have to offer them.消费者是否真的准备好接受你提供给他们的东西。
132–And to be really, really honest about it,必须实事求是
133–not be in denial about any results that you see,不要否认你看到的任何结果，
134–because if you have something you love, you want to push it forward,因为如果你有喜欢的东西，你就会想把它向前推进，
135–but you have to be very, very honest about that factor on timing.但你必须非常、非常诚实地对待时机这个因素。
136–As I said earlier,就像我之前说的，
137–I think startups can change the world to make the world a better place.我认为创业可以改变世界，让世界变得更美好。
138–I hope some of these insights can maybe help you have a slightly higher success ratio我希望这些见解能够帮助你获得更高的成功率
139–and thus make something great come to the world that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.从而创造出一些原本不会发生的伟大事物。
140–Thank you very much. My great audience.非常感谢 我的听众