????巴爾扎克曾說(shuō)過(guò)，“每一筆巨大的財(cái)富背后都隱藏著罪惡?！?/p>

????在過(guò)去的幾周里，我們已經(jīng)聽(tīng)說(shuō)了有關(guān)Facebook和Twitter的一系列惡性傳言。據(jù)這些傳言稱(chēng)，F(xiàn)acebook的創(chuàng)始人盜用了美國(guó)一對(duì)奧運(yùn)會(huì)選手?jǐn)伾值艿膭?chuàng)意，又從做木板生意的騙子那里弄到了2,000美元的第一桶金，隨后，他還使得向他提供過(guò)發(fā)展資金的哈佛同窗的發(fā)財(cái)夢(mèng)化為泡影。而Twitter就像是那個(gè)歪門(mén)邪道的創(chuàng)業(yè)者的私生子。他告訴最早的投資人Twitter一文不值。這樣，他就能自我標(biāo)榜英雄一般以成本價(jià)回購(gòu)Twitter的股份。而在此以后，他又向人們展示Twitter真正的價(jià)值，奇怪的是，即便他們死命地想要重新投資，這個(gè)創(chuàng)始人卻根本沒(méi)有讓他們?nèi)缭傅拇蛩?。哦，忘了提一句，他不但炒掉了Twitter真正的創(chuàng)始人，而且具有奧威爾式（Orwellian）諷刺意味的是，他在媒體采訪(fǎng)中假裝從沒(méi)有這樣一個(gè)人存在過(guò)。

????我不知道這些故事哪怕有半句屬實(shí)。坦白地說(shuō)，我倒不在乎，而且，我也相信，任何沒(méi)有真正牽扯其中的人除了“八卦?xún)r(jià)值”之外，都無(wú)需太在意它們的真實(shí)性(不過(guò)也許“八卦?xún)r(jià)值”本身就是一種矛盾修飾法的表達(dá)方式。)也會(huì)有一些人堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為這些事件的真實(shí)性直指兩位創(chuàng)始人的道德品行，甚至可能是這兩家公司的企業(yè)文化，因此公眾必須知道真相。我認(rèn)為這太荒謬了，這就是本文所抨擊的。

????如果要我用一個(gè)形容詞來(lái)描述所有極度成功的創(chuàng)業(yè)人士，那就是“離經(jīng)叛道”。要?jiǎng)?chuàng)辦一家公司，重新定義一個(gè)行業(yè)，或是像Facebook那樣重新定義社會(huì)的大部分，就需要這種特質(zhì)。這絕非君子可為。表面看來(lái)，其膽大妄為，且顛覆常理，又荒誕可笑。創(chuàng)業(yè)者必須堅(jiān)持不懈(頑固不化)，具有說(shuō)服力(靈活應(yīng)變)并且立志高遠(yuǎn)(癡心妄想)。

????請(qǐng)不要把這些話(huà)看作是對(duì)真正的犯罪或不道德行為的辯護(hù)。我們絕不會(huì)和一個(gè)真道德淪喪的壞家伙共同創(chuàng)業(yè)。而且，可以肯定的是，如果所有有關(guān)Facebook和Twitter的惡意指控都是真的，它們的創(chuàng)始人將面臨更多的質(zhì)問(wèn)。如果要查看一個(gè)創(chuàng)業(yè)者的背景資料，我絕對(duì)是會(huì)重點(diǎn)了解他的道德品行。這對(duì)于我而言極其重要，因?yàn)檫@樣我就能完全相信那些和我在同一戰(zhàn)壕并肩作戰(zhàn)的伙伴。

????話(huà)雖如此，我卻痛苦地意識(shí)到，這個(gè)世界充滿(mǎn)了“灰色地帶”。所以，除了追求創(chuàng)業(yè)者優(yōu)秀的個(gè)人特質(zhì)之外，我還希望他們能夠和我團(tuán)結(jié)一心。坦白說(shuō)，假如一個(gè)我非常敬重的企業(yè)家突然跑過(guò)來(lái)說(shuō)要按照原價(jià)收購(gòu)我的股份，讓我退出他獨(dú)自單干，我是一定不會(huì)答應(yīng)的，絕對(duì)不會(huì)。

????投資人給我錢(qián)，是希望我能幫他們生錢(qián)，我從來(lái)沒(méi)想過(guò)要把股份賣(mài)給創(chuàng)始人（不過(guò)出于其他的原因，有時(shí)候我會(huì)收購(gòu)一些創(chuàng)始人愿意出售的股份）。再進(jìn)一步來(lái)說(shuō)，當(dāng)我打電話(huà)調(diào)查他們的背景的時(shí)候，我有時(shí)會(huì)聽(tīng)到一些看似很糟糕的事情。不過(guò)我會(huì)往好的方面去理解。比如，“約翰有一個(gè)壞習(xí)慣，向客戶(hù)承諾根本不存在的事情，然后抓狂似地去兌現(xiàn)承諾”，“吉爾交代你做事的時(shí)候非常苛刻，不達(dá)目的誓不罷休?！庇只蛘?，“賽斯對(duì)自己的手下要求很多，有時(shí)會(huì)讓一些實(shí)力欠佳的員工崩潰累趴?！?/p>

????要知道，說(shuō)出上述之言的，是和一個(gè)企業(yè)家結(jié)了婚，而且和一個(gè)企業(yè)家合伙創(chuàng)業(yè)的人（謝天謝地，這兩個(gè)企業(yè)家不是同一個(gè)）。我自己就是一家公司的創(chuàng)始團(tuán)隊(duì)成員之一。我在大學(xué)期間同住的10個(gè)男生幾乎全都自己開(kāi)了公司，或是和別人合伙創(chuàng)業(yè)了。也許我的工作最好的地方就在于能夠和那些超出常人效率的多面手共事(我投資的那些公司的首席執(zhí)行官們)。但我們也應(yīng)該坦誠(chéng)地面對(duì)改變世界所需要的力量。不僅是咄咄逼人的強(qiáng)勢(shì)，而是巴爾扎克那樣的境界。

????本文作者馬特·哈里斯（Matt Harris）是Village Ventures的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人和公司董事合伙人。Village Ventures是一家初期風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司，旗下管理著1.75億美元的資金。

????翻譯：C.Z.

????As Balzac once said, "Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."

????In the past few weeks, we have been treated to scandalous-if-true stories about the foundings of Facebook and Twitter. Allegedly, Facebook was founded by the guy who stole the idea from a set of Olympian twins, ripped off a wood-chip dealing fraudster for his first $2k of investment and then screwed the college buddy who provided him with additional growth capital. Twitter was the bastard child of a devious founder, who convinced his early investors that it was worthless so he could look like a hero for buying them back at cost, only then to reveal the true glory of the product and, oddly, not even let most of them invest back in later when they tried their damndest to do so. Oh, he also fired the real founder and, in an Orwellian turn, pretends the guy never existed in press interviews.

????I have no idea if these stories are even partially true. Frankly, I don't care, and am pretty sure anyone who isn't actually involved shouldn't care much either, beyond gossip value (though perhaps "gossip value" is an oxymoron). There will be those who insist that the veracity of these claims goes directly to the moral fiber of the founders, and hence perhaps the culture of these companies, and that therefore we all have to know the truth. I think that take is ridiculous, and that's the thrust of this post.

????If I had to pick one adjective that describes all radically successful founders, it would be "transgressive." That trait is what it takes to start a company that attempts to redefine an industry, or, like Facebook, redefine large parts of society. It is not a polite thing to do. It is audacious, disruptive and preposterous on the face of it. Founders have to be persistent (bullheaded), persuasive (flexible with the truth) and visionary (delusional).

????Please don't take this as a defense of actually criminal, or even unethical, behavior. We would never work with a founder who was guilty of what we considered an actual ethical lapse, and surely if all of the allegations regarding Twitter and Facebook are true, those founders have a lot to answer for. When I'm checking references on a founder, I definitely focus about integrity and ethics. It's incredibly important to me that I can implicitly trust the people I'm in a foxhole with.

????Having said that, I'm painfully aware that the world is full of gray areas. So what I always pursue, in addition to positive character references, is 100% alignment. To be honest, if an entrepreneur I really respected came to me and offered to buy me out for 1X my money, and said he was going to carry on with the project without me, I WOULD ALWAYS SAY NO. Always.

????I don't get paid to return 1X to my investors, and I never want to sell when one of my founders is buying (although occasionally I do buy when they are selling, for other reasons.) Further, when I'm doing these reference calls, I sometimes hear things that seem bad, but I interpret as good: "John had a bad habit of promising things to the client that didn't exist, then scrambling like mad to backfill those capabilities;" "When Jill wants something, she can be pretty hard to deal with until she gets what she's after;" or "Seth asked a lot of his people, and would occasionally burn some of his weaker performers out."

????You should know that all of this comes from a guy who is married to an entrepreneur, and started a firm with one (different people, thankfully). I am a charter member of the cult of the founder. Of the 10 guys I lived with in college, nearly all have started a company or been on a founding team. Perhaps the best part of my job is getting to spend time with people who do 10 impossible things before breakfast (i.e., my portfolio company CEOs). But we should be honest about what it takes to change the world. It takes more than chutzpah. It takes Balzac.

????Matt Harris is co-founder and Managing General Partner of Village Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm with over $175M under management.