????問：你認為你的這些見解能夠給年輕的創業者們帶來哪些幫助？

????答：相比職責明確的專業人士，創業者必須應對更多不確定性。由于這些不確定性，他們往往會禁不住誘惑，試圖尋找各種指引，比如傳統的商學院案例研究，更有可能的是，被視為競爭對手的公司最近的舉動等。根據競爭對手的舉動做出反應，至少可以讓你知道應該做什么。我們早已習慣于發展道路上的競爭，以至于創業者之間會迅速陷入日益激烈的競爭，而他們本身幾乎都沒有意識到這一點。但是，通過競爭對手來確定自己的發展方向，意味著放棄了創業最重要的理由：你可以做一些世界上前所未有、如果沒有你就不可能出現的東西。

????問：除了發明一臺時間機器，他們如何才能更快深刻體會這些智慧？

????答：我不知道。如何教會人們去做從未有人做過的事情，是一個無解的謎題。正是由于學校往往教導學生遵從某種流程，我才為那些希望在真實世界中學習如何創業的年輕人創辦了獎學金——只有這樣，他們才能盡早規劃自己的發展道路。

????我在斯坦福任教也是出于同樣的原因——因為我想告訴學生，他們不需要接受學校教育或競爭對手給他們鋪設的道路。從根本上來說，一個人的人生應該由他自己去規劃。

????問：有哪些事情是你現在已經知道，但很慶幸當時并不知道的？

????答：如果我知道創新如此艱難，尤其是在支付行業，我恐怕不會創建貝寶。這也是為什么經驗豐富的銀行從業者中，沒人做這件事情。你需要足夠天真地認為一件新事物能夠成功。結果證明了我的觀點：貝寶取得了成功。而如果我積累了更多經驗，我肯定會避開風險，從事一些更無聊的事情。所以，現在的年輕人有一種奇怪的技術優勢，因為他們沒有被洗腦，不會認為現有的方法是不可避免的。

????問：你對有抱負的創業者最好的建議是什么？

??? 答：最重要的事情很簡單：先從小市場開始，占領這個市場。大的市場固然充滿誘惑，看起來滿是機遇，但大多數機會都會面臨許多競爭者。創業者應該聚焦某個特定的問題，集中精力做出一個絕對出色的解決方案。（財富中文網）

????為了更簡便易讀，采訪內容經過編輯。

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

????Q: How do you think young entrepreneurs might benefit from this insight?

????A:An entrepreneur must deal with more uncertainty than a professional with a well-defined role. Because of that uncertainty, there’s always a temptation to reach out for some kind of guide, whether it’s old business school case studies, or, more likely, the most recent moves of the firms that you perceive to be competitors. Reacting to them can at least give some idea of what to do. We’re so used to competing on tracks that entrepreneurs can quickly get caught up in incremental battles with each other, almost without realizing it. But defining yourself by a competitor means giving up the most important reason to be an entrepreneur: You can do something new in the world that won’t be done unless you are the one to do it.

????Q: Besides inventing a time machine, how might they realize this wisdom sooner?

????A: I don’t know. How to teach people to do what hasn’t been done is a great riddle. It’s because schools tend to breed a kind of process-oriented conformity that I started a fellowship for young people who want to learn by getting something done in the real world — precisely so they can begin charting their own path as early as possible.

????I taught a class at Stanford for the same reason — because I wanted to tell students that they don’t have to accept the paths laid down by their schooling or by their competitors. But fundamentally it’s something people have to figure out for themselves.

????Q: What are you glad you didn’t know then that you know now?

????A:If I had known how hard it would be to do something new, particularly in the payments industry, I would never have started PayPal. That’s why nobody with long experience in banking had done it. You needed to be naive enough to think that new things could be done. And it turned out to be true: PayPal worked. But if I’d had more experience, I’m sure I would have shied away from the risk and done something much more boring. This is one of the reasons that young people can have a strange advantage in technology in that they haven’t yet been brainwashed into thinking that current methods are inevitable.

????Q: What is your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

????A: The most important thing is simple: Start with a small market and dominate that first. Big markets are tempting because they seem full of opportunity but most of that opportunity will be for others to compete with you. Instead focus your ambition on a definitively superior solution to a specific problem.

????This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.