年輕創業者的黃金時代

My journey as an entrepreneur began when I was fired from a consulting job and then had a minor falling out with the start-up I had joined as the second employee. I was 28, with no mortgage, wife, nor children then, and little to lose. I could afford to take a risk and start my own company. Just do it, I told myself. The result was .
我的創業之路始於從一份諮詢工作被解僱，然後與我作爲第二位員工加入的初創公司鬧得有點不愉快。那時我28歲，沒有抵押貸款，沒有妻兒，沒什麼可失去的。我能承擔風險，創立自己的公司。我告訴自己，想做就做。結果就有了。

Looking back, 28 is not such a young age to set out on an entrepreneurial career. Last month I was pitched a business idea by two 14-year-olds; the week before I launched a competition at my old school for ideas for education technology start-ups.
回頭看，28歲對於踏上創業生涯來說已不是一個年輕的歲數。上月，兩名14歲的小朋友向我推銷一個商業創意；之前一週，我在母校發起了一場關於教育科技初創企業創意的競賽。

We are now familiar with the concept that good ideas can come from anywhere: any age as well as any place or background. Young thinkers may be more inclined to see opportunities than constraints, and a splash of naive optimism is a good, perhaps even essential, quality in an entrepreneur.
我們現在已經認識到，好的創意無處不在：可以來自任何年齡、任何地方或者背景。年輕的思想者可能更善於看到機會，而非種種限制；激情四射、天真的樂觀主義是創業者的優秀（甚至可能是必不可少的）品質。

When Martha Lane Fox and I recall our early days at we often say that if we had known about all the barriers we would have to overcome in challenging incumbent operators we would never have started.
當瑪莎•萊恩•福克斯(Martha Lane Fox)和我回憶起我們創建的早期時光，我們常說，如果事先知道挑戰現有運營商必須要克服的所有障礙，我們絕不會開始創業。

For us, as for many founders, the key was to dive in and get on with it. Neither of us had any formal business education and we learnt by trial and error, trusting we would make enough good decisions to outweigh the bad.
對我們（也是對許多創業者）來說，關鍵是要“一頭扎進去”，並堅持做下去。我們兩人中誰也沒有受過任何正規的商科教育，我們通過試錯學習，而且相信我們會做出足夠多的正確決策，來壓倒那些錯誤決策。

Part of the trick, as in poker, lies in the assessment of risk. So how can we help our aspiring entrepreneurs master this skill and improve their chances of creating sustainable businesses? The key is to introduce our children to entrepreneurial thinking early. We need more initiatives that teach business skills, the importance of lateral thinking and logic — and, most importantly, that business done well should be fun and purposeful.
如同玩撲克一樣，部分的訣竅在於對風險的評估。那麼，我們怎樣才能幫助有抱負的創業者掌握這一技能，並提高他們創立可持續發展企業的機率呢？關鍵是要讓我們的孩子儘早瞭解創業思維。我們需要更多行動，傳授商業技能，告訴他們橫向思維和邏輯的重要性，而最重要的是，做得好的事業應該是有趣而且有意義的。

My own ambitions were inspired by entrepreneurs in my family and an outsider’s desire to challenge the establishment. My first encounter with business skills came in running a club at school. There was no entrepreneurship society; today that is the most Popular club in many schools. Then at Oxford, 25 years ago, I entered the university’s first business plan competition, and came second. I also took over running a French club and enjoyed turning it from a free membership of 50 to a paid one of 500, and attracting sponsorship from L’Oréal and Société Générale.
我個人的雄心是受到家族中的創業者的啓發，也源於我作爲一個圈外人挑戰權威的渴望。我第一次接觸商業技巧來自於在學校開辦一個俱樂部。那時候還沒有創業社團；如今，這已是許多學校最受歡迎的俱樂部。後來，25年前在牛津大學(Oxford)，我入圍了學校第一屆商業計劃競賽，並獲得第二名。我還接手經營一家只有50名免費會員的法國俱樂部，將其發展成了擁有500名收費會員的俱樂部，並吸引了歐萊雅(L’Oréal)和法國興業銀行(Société Générale)的贊助。

Since my time as a student, there has been a dramatic change in attitudes to entrepreneurship by the young and a host of initiatives to encourage it. I am an adviser to MyKindaCrowd, a platform for corporates to set business challenges to students. It taps into the creative surplus at schools and universities and gives young people a way of getting close to business.
從我的學生時代起，對年輕人創業的態度就有了巨大轉變，還有各種鼓勵年輕人創業的措施。我是MyKindaCrowd的顧問，它是一個讓企業爲學生設立商業挑戰的平臺。它能夠發掘中學和大學裏旺盛的創造性，給年輕人一條接近商業的途徑。

Bizworld, founded by renowned venture capitalist Tim Draper in 1997, provides a fun, project-based way for schoolchildren to learn business and entrepreneurship basics and has reached more than 500,000 children.
著名風險投資家蒂姆•德雷珀(Tim Draper) 1997年創建的Bizworld，爲學齡兒童提供了一種有趣的、基於項目的方式去學習商業和創業基礎知識，超過50萬名兒童已經接受了這樣的培訓。

I have been struck by the impact it has on the most academically troubled kids. For many of them it generated a new enthusiasm about school and turned around their academic performance. The transformative power of entrepreneurial ambition is evident in Bejay Mulenga, who credits his tuck shop business success with reigniting his interest in school and getting his grades up. His Supa Tuck teaches GCSE-age students how to run a tuck — or food — shop. This summer, he is launching an ambitious scheme in which 500 teenagers will invest £30,000 into a pop-up tuck shop, with the aim of turning it into half a million.
我被這些培訓對學習上最有困難的孩子的影響所震驚。對他們中的許多人來說，它帶來了對學校新的熱情，並使他們的學習成績轉好。創業雄心的改造力量在柏傑•穆倫加(Bejay Mulenga)身上體現得很明顯，他認爲在經營小吃店上的商業成功，幫他重新燃起對學習的興趣，讓他的成績得到提升。他的Supa Tuck向中學階段的學生傳授如何運營一家小吃店。今年夏天，他將推出一項雄心勃勃的計劃：由500名青少年向一家小吃“快閃店”(Pop-up shop)投資3萬英鎊，目標是將它變成50萬。

Further afield, the Steve Case-backed non-profit UP Global is an inspiring example of stimulating grassroots entrepreneurship internationally. A merger of Startup America and Startup Weekend, its events have attracted more than 100,000 aspiring founders.
在更遠的地方，史蒂夫•凱斯(Steve Case)支持的非營利的UP Global是一個在全球激勵草根創業的鼓舞人心的例子。UP Global將創業美國(Startup America)和創業週末(Startup Weekend)合併，其活動已經吸引了超過10萬名有抱負的創業者。

For young graduates in the UK, there are plenty of opportunities to develop skills and network such as those offered by New Entrepreneurs Foundation, a charity supported by business. I would like to see many more such organisations and believe it is an area where incentives from government could be effective.
對於英國年輕的畢業生來說，他們有很多發展技能、拓展關係網的機會，例如由企業支持的慈善機構——新創業者基金會(New Entrepreneurs Foundation)所提供的。希望能看到更多這樣的組織，而且我認爲在這一領域，來自政府的激勵可能會很有成效。

Now that I am a parent, it is a delight to watch my daughters drive out the competition in the Loomband wars with a limited time price undercutting strategy. They are lucky to be growing up in an age when entrepreneurialism is more accessible than ever before. As digital natives with no baggage they are ideally placed to just get on with it.
現在，我是一名家長，很高興看到我的女兒用限時削價戰略在“橡皮筋手環大戰”中獲勝。她們很幸運地成長在這個時代，如今，創業家精神比以往任何時候都更容易被感受到。作爲沒有精神包袱的數字原住民，他們具有天然的創業優勢。

Brent Hoberman (@brenthoberman) is co-founder of , , Founders Forum and
布蘭特•霍伯曼(Brent Hoberman, @brenthoberman)是、、Founders Forum 以及的聯合創始人