????下面就是Zipcar的運作理念。客戶可以在線或通過電話預定在某個時段使用某輛車。預定信息通過無線網絡發(fā)送到汽車上。Zipcar會員可通過會員卡打開預定的汽車。用完之后，用戶將汽車返還公司，在將其鎖好后，計費便會停止。辦理租車僅需要30秒鐘便可完成，而且只有承租人可以使用汽車。所以，Zipcar的服務完全是一種自助且自主的服務，瞬間便可完成。

????有了這個想法之后，我們便決定成立一家公司。安特耶的工作是負責汽車技術和聯系租車公司。我則負責融資、建設網站、營銷、設計支付系統(tǒng)和其他事務。

????首先，我起草了一份商業(yè)計劃書。1999年12月，我們便去拜訪MIT斯隆管理學院（Sloan School）院長格蘭?厄本。他曾在汽車制造業(yè)從事過營銷工作。他認為Zipcar是個好主意，但他說我們需要籌措兩倍的資金，將發(fā)展速度加快一倍，而且要立即行動。

????接下來三天，我一直在家里思考一個問題：我真的想干這件事嗎？我12歲的女兒問我：“發(fā)生什么事了？”她曾經跟我聊過聯合國兒童基金會（Unicef），我告訴她，我在猶豫是否應該把大把時間花在這家公司，因為這意味著我將不得不減少與家人在一起的時間。她問：“那這是不是意味著，你會很有錢，可以給聯合國兒童基金會捐更多錢，拯救更多兒童？”我說沒錯。她說：“那就干吧。”

????于是，在2000年1月，我們注冊成立了公司。到2000年6月，開業(yè)當天，我籌得75,000美元，并購買了四輛汽車。其中第一批50,000美元投資來自我在斯隆管理學院的同學珍?哈蒙德（信息技術公司Quarry Technologies與IT服務公司AXON Networks創(chuàng)始人），她是我同學中的首位百萬富翁。

????我一直努力說服的一位天使投資人在最后一刻提供了剩下的25,000美元資金。離公司開業(yè)還有三天的時候，我們的銀行賬戶只剩下67美元，只有一輛用作β測試的汽車，而購車首付款則以我的房子作為抵押。然而，租車公司突然通知我們，剩下三輛車每一輛必須支付7,000美元首付款。我當時正在公司開業(yè)典禮上，胡安?安立奎斯（目前為投資公司Excel Medical Ventures執(zhí)行董事）走到我面前對我說：“我能為你做些什么？”我說：“明天上午之前，我需要搞到25,000美元?！彼f：“沒問題?！?/p>

????我每周在備用臥室里工作100個小時，但卻樂在其中。2000年9月，我丈夫從語音及語言解決方案供應商Lernout & Hauspie辭掉了軟件開發(fā)總監(jiān)的工作，成為Zipcar的首席技術官。但他在Zipcar只領半薪，而且我們完全互換了角色。他成了照看孩子的主力，而且，雖然他在Zipcar做的是全職工作，但我卻只能給他半薪。Zipcar成立的第一年，我自己沒有工資。那年秋天，安特耶又有了一個孩子。2001年1月，回來工作后不久，她便決定離開。我們在第一年便實現了收支平衡。從公司成立伊始，Zipcar每月都以7%至12%的幅度增長。首輪融資，我們獲得了130萬美元投資。于是，我們產生了向其他城市擴張的想法。當時投資者們認為，Zipcar在波士頓能大獲成功，并不代表其理念一定會成功。

????Here's how Zipcar works. You make a car reservation online or by phone for a specific car at a specific time. That information gets sent to the car wirelessly. The Zipcar member uses his card to open the car. After driving it, he returns it and locks it, and the billing is done. The rental transaction takes 30 seconds, and the car opens only to the renter. So it's self-service, autonomous, and takes only a few seconds.

????With that idea, we decided to form a company. Antje's job was to deal with vehicle technology and get hold of the car leases. I did the fundraising, building the website, marketing, designing a payment system, and everything else.

????After I wrote a business plan, we went to see Glen Urban, who was the dean at MIT's Sloan School in December 1999. He had worked in marketing with car manufacturers and said Zipcar was a brilliant idea. He told us we'd need to raise twice as much money, move twice as fast, and get right on it.

????I wandered around the house for the next three days thinking, Do I really want to do this? My 12-year-old daughter asked, "What's going on?" She and I had been talking about Unicef, and I said I needed to decide whether I want to devote time to this company on a big scale, which would mean less time with the family. She asked, "So does this mean you could become rich and could give more money to Unicef and save lots of children's lives?" I said yes. She said, "Do it."

????So in January 2000 we incorporated. I had raised $75,000 by the day we launched with four cars in June 2000. The first $50,000 came from Jean Hammond, a Sloan classmate (founder of Quarry Technologies and AXON Networks), who was the first millionaire among us.

????The remaining $25,000 came at the last minute from an angel investor I'd been working on. Three days before launch, we had $67 in the bank and one car we had bought -- with my house as a down payment -- to use as a beta-test car. Out of the blue, the leasing company wanted a $7,000 down payment for each of the three other cars in the fleet. I was at a startup launch party, and Juan Enriquez (now managing director of Excel Medical Ventures) came up to me and said, "What can I do for you?" I said, "I need $25,000 by tomorrow morning," and he said, "Done."

????I was working out of our spare bedroom doing 100-hour workweeks, but it was a joy. In September 2000, my husband quit his job as director of software development for Lernout & Hauspie, and became the company's CTO. He was on Zipcar's payroll only half-time, and we reversed roles. He became the primary child caretaker, and while I paid him half-time, he actually worked full-time. For the first year of Zipcar, I didn't pay myself. Antje had a child that fall, and after coming back to work, she decided to leave in January 2001.