Can’t program a computer? Not techno savvy ?Not a problem. If you’ve got a hot Internet business idea, Silicon Valley’s astonishing start-up machine will do the rest.
James Trefilent here was something oddly charming about the geeks who made up the first wave of Internet entrepreneurs. Social misfits pounding out code in their computer-science labs. There people deserved professional success. During the summer of 1999,however,came the Second Wave: fast-talking business-school grads whose interest in technology is limited to how it will make them money. This is Silicon Valley in the IPO age. Geeks are history; they are all capitalists now. All it takes to launch the next Internet success is a neat idea, a few connections and a lot of luck.
It’s not all about the money. If you are an eager 28-year-old business-school graduate and you believe the Internet is going to be bigger than the Industrial Revolution, why not try to become Henry Ford? If you’re an entrepreneur, why not try to become Henry Ford? If you’re an entrepreneur, why waste your time in the old world ,working about manufacturing things when you can put your company in two years? Windows this big don’t open that often. That’s a big reason people are flocking to the Valley, from Wall Street and Moscow and Bombay. But mostly, it’s the money.
geek n. 做低级滑稽表演的人
entrepreneur n. 企业家，主办人
译文
创业
不会编制电脑程序?对科学一窍不通?没关系.如果你想到了一个绝妙的互联网业务的主意,其它的一切便只管交给硅谷令人惊叹的创业机制好了.
第一拨的互联网创业者是一些只懂技术不会社交的怪人,他们有一种奇特的魅力.他们与社会格格不入,只管埋头在电脑科技实验室外里敲打电码-----这样的人应该获得专业上的成功.然而 1999 年的夏天却迎来了第二批创业者:他们是一些能说会道的商学院毕业生,对技术的兴趣仅限于如何用它来赚钱.哇谷进入了新股上市的时代.不合群的科技怪人已经成为历史;取而代之的是资本家.接下来要想创立一家成功的互联网企业,你只需拥有一个绝妙的主意,一些社会关系和极好的运气.
不光是赚钱的问题.如果你是一位 28 岁、满腔热耽的商学院毕业生，你相信互联网带来的变革将超过工业革命，那又何妨做一个亨利'福特式的人物呢？如果你是一位创业者，完全可以在三个月内成立自己的在线公司，又何必在旧的世界里浪费时间，为制造产品费神呢？你完全可以和三个伙伴在两年内创建一家公开上市的公司，又何苦替老板打工呢？这么好的遇并不会经常出现的。人们之所以从华尔街、莫斯科和孟买一窝蜂地涌向硅谷，这是一个重要的原因。但是最主要的原因还是为了赚钱。
