He may sound crazy, but there’s a method to his madness. Itay Adam is already well-funded and staffed to create “the next big thing.” All that remains is to come up with an idea.
他或许是一个疯子，不过这种疯狂行为看上去自有其道理。伊泰·亚当（Itay Adam）眼下既不缺人也不缺钱，只等一个好创意，就可以动手去创造“下一个大事件”。On a memorable episode of the hit 1990s sitcom Seinfeld, NBC executives meet Jerry after his nightclub act and ask him to come up with an idea for a TV series. His friend George decides he can be a sitcom writer and comes up with the idea of it being “a show about nothing,” and it worked! Run with it.
上世纪90年代红极一时的情景喜剧《宋飞传》（Seinfeld）有这样一集让人难以忘怀：NBC电视台高管在杰瑞结束夜总会的表演之后与他碰面，并请他为一部电视剧出个主意。他的朋友乔治（George）觉得他可以当编剧，并想到可以把这部戏的主题定为“一个没有主题的节目”，之后大获成功！就照它来吧。
Itay Adam is an outgoing chutzpah-filled Israeli, a lifelong entrepreneur and a huge Seinfeld fan. In his 22 years of online marketing, after funding many ventures, both successful and not, Adam went on (much like on Seinfeld) to raise money for a company about nothing.
心情开朗又敢作敢为的以色列人伊泰·亚当，一辈子都致力于创业。另外他还是《宋飞传》的忠实粉丝。在亚当从事网络营销的22年中，他投资过很多初创公司，其中有成功的也有不成功的，而他这次又在为一家没有主题的公司（很像《宋飞传》）筹集资金。
Recently, Adam closed a seed round of $2 million with a private equity firm based in London, Brazil and Colombia. His entire pitch consisted of one simple, 40-minute, five-slide presentation. One brave man in jeans and a T-shirt, five basic slides, 18 jokes, but no product. His first slide was simply a quote taken straight out of Seinfeld: “This is a show about nothing.”
最近，亚当刚刚从一家总部位于伦敦、巴西和哥伦比亚的私募股权投资公司筹集到200万美元的种子投资。他的整个宣传仅包括五张幻灯片，时长40分钟。这位勇敢的男人，身着牛仔裤和T恤，展示了五张幻灯片，讲了18个笑话，不过就是没展出实实在在的产品。他的第一张幻灯片是直接摘自《宋飞传》的一条语录，“这是个没有主题的节目。”But how did he do it? Adam explains it was all about philosophy, experience, age and passion. In fact, he even hired a professional screenwriter for his self-described 40-minute stand-up comedy act to pitch to the private equity firm, which he practiced for a week. Then he gave them the best show possible. For Adam, entertainment is everything: standup = startup.
但他是怎么做到的呢？亚当解释，所有的一切只关乎理念、经验、年龄和激情。事实上，为了吸引这家私募，它甚至专门请专业的编剧给他编写了一段长达40分钟以自述为主的喜剧脱口秀，并且练习了整整一周。之后，他的演出或许取得了成功。对于亚当来说，娱乐就是一切：单人喜剧表演=创业。A few days later, they signed a $2 million round with no product, just a smart and rather simple, yet very real belief: “Look,” Adam explains, “nobody knows what the next big thing is going to be, it’s all just speculation. My goal is to build a team of five to six people, all veterans with a proven track record, all over the age of 35, to create that next big thing, whatever it may be.”
几天之后，他们就200万美元的融资达成协议，即便没有产品，仅是一个明智的、非常简单但很真实的信念，“瞧，”亚当解释说，“没有人会知道下一个大事件将会是什么，这一切都只是推测。我的目标就是创建一个由五六个人组成的团队，所有这些人必须经验丰富、成绩过硬、年龄均在35岁上下，他们将去创造下一个大事件，不管最后会怎样。”“When you ask the common entrepreneur who is his role model is,” Adam continues, “ I bet most of them will say Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. Mine is Bob Parsons, the founder of GoDaddy. He turned a boring domain registry into one of the sexiest services online today. Hell, buying a 30-second commercial with 90% of what’s left in your company’s bank account is what I call an ‘all in’ move. Sometimes, that’s the only way to make a dramatic change — for better or for worse. Status-quo is a b****.”
“当你问那些普通的创业者，他的榜样是谁，”亚当继续说，“我敢打赌，其中，很多人会说是史蒂夫·乔布斯（Steve Jobs）或者比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）。我的榜样却是GoDaddy公司的创始人鲍勃·帕森斯（Bob Parsons）。他把一家平淡无奇的域名注册公司改造成为当今网络最具吸引力的服务之一。见鬼，把你银行里的钱拿出90%去买一条30秒的广告就是我称之为的‘全力以赴’。有时候，那是进行巨大转变的唯一方法，无论结果好坏。维持现状是可耻的。 ”Experience Over Youth
更看重经验，而不是年轻Although his thinking is logical, Adam’s ideas are bucking the trend — especially in startups that tend to hire mostly young people.
虽然亚当的思维条理清楚，不过他的想法却是特立独行，尤其是对于通常喜欢聘请年轻人的初创公司。“Most startups hire 20-year-old kids who are willing to work day and night at the office,” Adam says. “I don’t believe in that. I’d much rather hire an older, more experienced employee to work a regular eight-hour workday and who will get more done in that time than an inexperienced 20-year-old kid would in week!”
“大多数初创公司都愿意雇20来岁的小屁孩，他们愿意在办公室夜以继日的工作。”亚当说，“我就不信这个邪。我宁可去找个年纪稍大，经验更丰富的员工，每天工作8个小时，他们在这段时间可以完成的工作，比20来岁的毛头小子用一周时间完成的工作都要多！”He cites the example of single mothers, explaining how they come to work at 8 a.m. sharp, make their cup of coffee, sit at their work stations and don’t get up till 3 p.m. when they have to leave to go pick up their kids. In those seven hours, they manage to get more work done than most other employees simply because they need to be more efficient with their time. Those are the types of workers Adam is looking for.
他列举了单身母亲的例子，并解释他们如何在早上8点整来工作，冲咖啡，坐在办公室，直到下午三点该去接他们的孩子的时候，才会离开。在这七个小时，他们要比其他员工完成更多的工作，完全是因为他们必须充分利用自己工作时间。这正是亚当正在寻找的员工。Team First, Then Product
团队第一，产品第二After a career of marketing more than 1,000 different products, Adam decided that he would not build a single web page unless he was backed with the right money to build the right team to research, test, and find the “golden angle.” Now that his venture has been generously funded, Adam has assembled the best team he can find: a handpicked team of hard-working, experienced and passionate people who want to build things. For Adam, at the end of the day, it’s all about the team. As for what that team will create, well, that remains to be decided.
在成功营销1000余种不同的产品之后，亚当下定决心，除非能先获得一大笔资金去创建一支给力的团队，来研究、测试和寻找“黄金角”，否则的话，哪怕是连一个简单的网页他也不会动手制作。由于他的初创公司获得了一笔可观的资金，亚当已经组建了他能够找到的最优秀团队：由一群吃苦耐劳、经验丰富、充满热情和想要闯出一番名堂的员工组成，这些人都是由他精心挑选的。对于亚当而言，到头来，成败都取决于这支团队。那么关于这支团队将会创造些什么，好吧，让我们拭目以待。Looking For Funds In All The Wrong Places
寻找资金要反其道而行之Adam did share one very key insight he picked up along the way: Stop looking for funding where everyone else is looking. Seek your money where the VCs seek theirs.
亚当要分享的核心观点是：在寻找资金时，不要随大流。要到风投去寻找资金的地方筹钱。“Everybody looks for funding in the same old places, with the same old VCs,” Adam shakes his head. “Open your mind and look elsewhere. Be unique. If you’re building a product that’s unique, the place where you seek funding should be unique, too. Ask yourself where those VCs get their money and go there.”
“所有筹集资金的人，走的都是同一条老路，总是去敲那几家风投的门，”亚当摇头说，“放开你的思想，去别处寻找。做到独一无二。如果你正在打造一款独一无二的产品，那么你获取资金的地方也应该是独特的。问问你自己，那些风投会在哪里获得资金，又会投向何处。”Adam raised his funding from a private equity based in South America. According to Adam, South America is loaded with money and is seeking new opportunities.
亚当从一家总部位于南非的私募股权投资公司筹到过钱。据亚当说，南非那个地方不差钱，而且正在寻找新的机会。“Follow my advice,” Adam adds. “If you want money from investors, give them a great show! Hire a screenwriter if you have to, just like I did. Make sure you’re putting on a great act with your pitch! For me, watching a lot of Louis C.K. stand-up comedy performances turned out to be a great investment.”
“就按照我的建议，”亚当又说，“如果你想要从投资者那里获得资金，就给他们演出好戏！如果不得已，那么和我一样，聘请一位编剧。确保你将要上演的好戏，与你的宣传保持一致！我看了许多路易斯·C.K.（Louis C.K.）的脱口秀喜剧电影，而这最后变成了一项了不起的投资。”BetaPopcorn – Entertaining Internet
BetaPopcorn——网络娱乐Adam has one definite thing to say about his not yet defined company — it will be entertaining. According to Adam, if you can entertain, you are providing a service that is in-demand, plain and simple. In his view, if a product is not entertaining, it has no justified validation.
对于他这家还没有明确主题的公司，亚当有一样事情是确定的——它将是有趣的。亚当说，如果你可以娱乐大众，那么你就是在提供一款受欢迎、简单明了的服务。在他看来，如果一款产品无法取悦大众，那么它就会失去了成立的根本。Adam makes a valid point. Nowadays everything new aims to simplify our lives rather than make them harder. Expectations for new products are high, and they must work with us, not against us. If you manage to build something that makes people’s lives easier (Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.), you’ve managed to entertain.
亚当的这个出发点是有道理的。当前，所有新兴事物旨在简化我们的生活，而不是让它们更复杂。大众对新产品期望很高，而它们必须要顺着大家的意，而不是唱对台戏。如果你成功打造了让人们生活变得更加轻松的东西，比如Facebook、Twitter、谷歌（Google），你已成功地带给了别人欢乐。Adam calls his new think tank BetaPopcorn because when you think “entertainment” you think of popcorn, where he and his “dream team” will seek out the next big thing, whatever that may be, and then go out and build it.
亚当之所以称其新智库为“BetaPopcorn”，是因为如果你想到“娱乐”，你就会联想到“爆米花”，而他和他的“梦之队”将挖掘出“下一个大事件”，无论它是什么，然后努力并实现它。Itay Adam may not have an idea, product or concept yet, but he does have a team, a direction and a unique vision — plus $2 million in his pocket — which is a lot more than most other startups can say.
伊泰·亚当现在或许还没有一个创意、产品或者概念，然而他还有一支团队、一个方向和一个独一无二的愿景——再加之他口袋里的200万美元——这不是大多数其他初创公司可以具备的。