Since starting Podium, I’ve heard two misconceptions about startups from opposite ends of the spectrum. One is that running startup is so grueling that you can say goodbye to any type of life outside of it. The second is that once you gain initial traction, it’s smooth sailing to startup glory and freedom. I’ve found neither of these to be entirely true, and have repeatedly come across other misconceptions about the startup world:

自從Podium公司創辦以來，我在創業方面已經聽說了兩個截然相反的極端誤區。一種看法認為，創業是一個極端痛苦而疲勞的過程，你基本上 可以與創業以外的所有其他生活說拜拜了；另一種看法是，只要你起初能一炮打響，通往榮耀和財富自由的道路就將是一帆風順的。我認為這兩種看法都不是全然正確的。另外我在創業的過程中，也反復遇到過許多其他思維誤區：

詞匯解析：

misconception    誤區     

grueling  痛苦的

smooth sailing 一帆風順的

If you build it, they will buy it.

只要把產品做出來，用戶就會蜂擁而至

I think there’s often a perception by those in the technology world that if you build an app and put it on Product Hunt (whichis a curation site for web-based products), all of the sudden you will have a massive business. In reality, this works for very few companies—there’s no magic formula. Most startup success comes from building something people truly want and need, and then putting blood, sweat, and tears into selling it day in and day out.

科技界的創業者往往有這樣一種思維誤區：只要你做出一個App，然后把它放在Product Hunt這樣的精選應用網站上，幾乎一夜之間，你就會擁有一個巨大的用戶群。然而實際上，這種情形只會發生在極少數公司身上。成功是沒有秘方的。大多數成功的創業者之所以會成功，是因為他們首先做出了某種人們真正想要和需要的產品，其次是因為他們把大量的血汗和淚水灑在了日復一日的銷售和推廣上。

詞匯解析：

perception 觀念；看法     

formula  公式；方案

sweat 汗水；苦干

We used Paul Graham’s essays as a framework for building our startup. One of the crucial lessons was that you only need to focus on two things: First, build something people want. And second, get customers. At the end of the day, those are the only two things that matter. We didn’t do anything unless it helped us acquire new customers or improve our product. That execution methodology has made all the difference.

在構建我們的這家創業公司時，我們在保羅?格雷厄姆的論文的基礎上奠定了公司的基本框架。在創業過程中，我們學到了一個至關重要的經驗，那就是你只需要關注兩件事：第一，打造人們想要的產品；第二，拉到客戶。說一千道一萬，只有這兩件事對創業者是最重要的。我們不會做任何與吸引新客戶或改進產品無關的事。現在這種執行方針已經顯現出了明顯的效果。

詞匯解析：

methodology 方法論；方法