创始团队需要什么样的特质？（Startup Playbook from Sam Altman II）

Startup Playbook 是YC掌门人Sam Altman对创业的完整阐述，一共四个部分，这是第二部分，关于创业团队。

Mediocre teams do not build great companies. One of the things we look at the most is the strength of the founders. When I used to do later-stage investing, I looked equally hard at the strength of the employees the founders hired.

平庸的团队不会创造出伟大的公司，所以我们最看重的是创始人的优势。过去我做较后期的投资时，还会同样看重创始人所招聘的团队成员们有哪些优势。

What makes a great founder? The most important characteristics are ones like unstoppability, determination, formidability, and resourcefulness. Intelligence and passion also rank very highly. These are all much more important than experience and certainly “expertise with language X and framework Y”.

是什么造就了牛逼的创始人？最重要的特质包括：不可阻挡、坚定不移、令人敬畏、人脉广布。智力和热情也很重要。这些要比行业经验，比掌握某种编程语言或框架重要得多。

We have noticed the most successful founders are the sort of people who are low-stress to work with because you feel “he or she will get it done, no matter what it is.” Sometimes you can succeed through sheer force of will.

我们发现大部分成功的创始人会让别人跟他们一起工作时没有很大的压力感，因为你会感觉到他们是那种无论发生什么，都能把事情搞定的人。有时候，真的是可以通过纯粹的意志力来获得成功。

Good founders have a number of seemingly contradictory traits. One important example is rigidity and flexibility. You want to have strong beliefs about the core of the company and its mission, but still be very flexible and willing to learn new things when it comes to almost everything else.

优秀的创始人都拥有一些看上去矛盾的特质。其中一条重要的特质就是坚定但又灵活。这样的人会对公司的核心和使命有强烈的信念，但是涉及到其他事情时，又非常灵活，愿意学习新事物。

The best founders are unusually responsive. This is an indicator of decisiveness, focus, intensity, and the ability to get things done.

最好的创始人拥有不同寻常的响应速度，这是果断、专注、抗压、并且有能力把事情搞定的标志。

Founders that are hard to talk to are almost always bad. Communication is a very important skill for founders—in fact, I think this is the most important rarely-discussed founder skill.

很难跟人聊得来的创业者往往都很糟糕。沟通对于创始人来说是一项非常重要的技能——事实上，我认为这是一条最重要但又很少被提及的创始人应该具备的技能。

Tech startups need at least one founder who can build the company’s product or service, and at least one founder who is (or can become) good at sales and talking to users. This can be the same person.

技术创业公司需要至少有一名创始人负责产品或服务，还需要至少一名创始人负责（或者能够去负责）销售和客户关系。这也可以是同一个人。

Consider these criteria when you’re choosing a cofounder—it’s one of the most important decisions you’ll make, and it’s often done fairly randomly. You want someone you know well, not someone you just met at a cofounder dating thing. You can evaluate anyone you might work with better with more data, and you really don’t want to get this one wrong.

选择联合创始人可能是你需要做的最重要的决定之一，然而大部分人在做这个决定时却很随意。你需要找一个自己熟悉的人，而不是相亲似的见几次面就找一个人来做联合创始人。还可以通过更多的数据来帮助自己评估适合跟谁一起工作，反正就是要想方设法把这个人找对。

Also, at some point, the expected value of the startup is likely to dip below the X axis. If you have a pre-existing relationship with your cofounders, none of you will want to let the other down and you’ll keep going. Cofounder breakups are one of the leading causes of death for early startups, and we see them happen very, very frequently in cases where the founders met for the express purpose of starting the company.

有些时候，创业项目的估值很可能低于你们预期的底线。如果你和你的联合创始人在此之前已经有某种关系，你们都会因为不想让对方失望而坚持下去。几个创始人之间不合是导致初创企业死掉的最主要原因之一，我们还经常看到这样的事情发生在公司准备快速发展的时候。

The best case, by far, is to have a good cofounder. The next best is to be a solo founder. The worse case, by far, is to have a bad cofounder. If things are not working out, you should part ways quickly.

最好的情况是找到一名好的联合创始人。次优的方案是成为一名独立创始人。最坏的选择是有一名糟糕的联合创始人。如果发现情况不对，最好尽快分开。

A quick note on equity: the conversation about the equity split does not get easier with time—it’s better to set it early on. Nearly equal is best, though perhaps in the case of two founders it’s best to have one person with one extra share to prevent deadlocks when the cofounders have a fallout.

关于股权分配的提示：有关股权划分的讨论越早越好，越往后会越困难。有两名创始人的情况下，让其中一名创始人拥有多一些股权，能够保证联合创始人之间争执不下时不会让公司陷入僵局。

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