沒有可以規(guī)模化的商業(yè)模式，很難改變世界。

在周二于加州拉古納比奇召開的財富下一代峰會（MPW Next Gen）上，奧比·費爾騰這樣說道。費爾騰是Alphabet研發(fā)部門X（原名Google X）的高管之一，這個部門誕生了該科技巨頭的許多“超前技術(shù)”項目。這些雄心勃勃的項目旨在通過尖端科技解決全世界面臨的重要問題。其中最值得關(guān)注的包括氣球項目（Project Loon），該項目希望通過氣球為全世界偏遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)提供互聯(lián)網(wǎng)連接，另外一個項目是谷歌的自動駕駛汽車公司W(wǎng)aymo。

關(guān)于Waymo，費爾騰告訴《財富》雜志的高級編輯米哈爾·列弗拉姆，她的團(tuán)隊認(rèn)為，減少全球交通事故死亡人數(shù)的方法之一，是開發(fā)無人駕駛技術(shù)，使汽車不再需要司機。費爾騰稱，這種想法在十年前可能會被認(rèn)為是“科幻小說”，但現(xiàn)在Waymo正在亞利桑那州的開放道路上測試其無人駕駛叫車服務(wù)。她說道：“這令我們激動不已，因為這種事在五年前聽起來還是很瘋狂的，不可能實現(xiàn)，但現(xiàn)在我們卻能在有生之年看到它變成現(xiàn)實。”

但并非Alphabet的所有雄心勃勃的項目，都能取得與Waymo一樣的進(jìn)展，而且這些被公司稱作“其他事業(yè)”的項目，即核心廣告業(yè)務(wù)以外的業(yè)務(wù)，僅去年一年便產(chǎn)生了近36億美元運營損失。所以，列弗拉姆問費爾騰，Alphabet為什么會繼續(xù)向X投入資金，而不是專注于最近一個季度為公司帶來超過240億美元收入的核心廣告業(yè)務(wù)？

費爾騰說道：“股東在我們身上壓下賭注，是因為我們能夠開發(fā)出新的業(yè)務(wù)。我們的目標(biāo)是為Alphabet打造未來可以像谷歌一樣龐大的新子公司。”她補充道，這項工作每天都的難度都在增加，因為谷歌本身也在不斷發(fā)展壯大。

這個終極目標(biāo)要求費爾騰和她的團(tuán)隊在對新項目進(jìn)行評估時，需要考慮項目是否有潛力“令世界變得更加美好”，以及其作為一家公司實現(xiàn)增長和維持自身增長的可行性。對于后一個標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，Alphabet的項目通常最終會尋找大型合作伙伴，例如Waymo與Lyft、克萊斯勒（Chrysler）、英特爾（Intel）等公司達(dá)成的合作。

費爾騰稱，改變世界的理想與賺錢并不沖突。事實上，后者通常是必不可少的。她說道：“一家公司要想解決現(xiàn)實世界中的一些大問題，它必須是可以持續(xù)的，否則便無法擴大規(guī)模。所以平衡點是找到既能盈利又負(fù)有使命的項目。”（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：劉進(jìn)龍/汪皓

It’s hard to change the world without a scalable business model.

That’s what Obi Felten told the crowd at Fortune’s MPW Next Gen Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Tuesday. Felten is one of the top executives at Alphabet’s research arm, X, formerly known as Google X and birthplace to the tech giant’s “moonshots,” ambitious projects that aim to solve major world problems with cutting edge technology. Notable moonshot projects include Project Loon, which wants to provide internet connectivity to remote areas of the world using balloons, and Waymo, Google’s self-driving car company.

In the case of Waymo, Felten told Fortune senior writer Michal Lev-Ram that her team decided one way to reduce the massive number of global driving deaths would be to remove drivers from the equation by developing autonomous driving technology. That idea might have been considered “science fiction” as recently as a decade ago, Felten said, but now Waymo is testing its driverless ride-hailing service on public roads in Arizona. “That’s really exciting, because something that sounded crazy and unfeasible even five years ago is becoming reality in our lifetime,” Felten said.

However, not all of Alphabet’s ambitious projects make it that far, and what the company calls its “other bets”—anything outside its core advertising business—together accounted for roughly $3.6 billion in operating losses last year alone. So, Lev-Ram asked Felten, why does Alphabet keep pumping money into X rather than focus on the company’s core advertising business that generated more than $24 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter?

“At the end of the day, we are a bet that the shareholders are making on being able to generate new businesses. Our goal is to make new Alphabet companies that one day can be as big as Google,” Felten said, adding that such a job gets harder every day as Google itself grows bigger and bigger.

That ultimate goal requires that Felten and her team evaluate any new project based on its potential to both “make the world a radically better place” as well as its viability as a business that can grow and sustain itself. On the latter front, Alphabet’s projects usually eventually take on major partners, such as Waymo’s pacts with the likes of Lyft, Chrysler, Intel, and others.

The idea of changing the world isn’t at odds with making a buck, Felten said. In fact, the latter is usually necessary. “If you want to solve really large problems in the world, unless it’s a sustainable business, it probably won’t scale,” she said. “So, finding those things where there’s both profit and purpose is sort of our sweet spot.”