前一阵一直在找顺手的菜刀, 今天有幸拜读到这篇大作, 遂转帖以备refer之用. 一直有跑去tk maxx店里找降价的双立人到, 原来中式菜刀里面国产十八子菜刀也是很好的. 突然想到大学同学坤弟就是阳江那地方的.....
原帖出处: http://forum.xitek.com/showthread.php?threadid=662305
原帖作者: 低头一拜屠羊说 (色影无忌)
正文goes here:
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夫厨刀，庖宰用以切割之利器。刀若不利，其割不正，则鲜不能出、味不能入、镬气不能足。故子曰：「割不正，不食。」
--屠羊说
Objective
本文将介绍一些关于厨刀的知识，并提出选购的一些建议。
Scope
本文所讨论之刀，大多出自名牌刀具厂。超市货不在讨论之列，但会推荐备一把，做一些粗重的活。详见下文。
手工打造的刀不在本文讨论范畴内，因为太贵了，定做的话从1000美元往上，80000美金一把也是听说过的。
Introduction
不知道有什么好介绍的……
Discussion
评价一件东西的好坏，首先要设定一个标准。在此我提出一些可供参考的标准，如何选择，纯然是主观的，读者不必与我相同。
关于材料力学里的一些东西，我可能会记错，因为不太熟。不过因为我最近研究的也是如何增强发泡聚苯乙烯的力学性质，多少看了一点，希望不会犯什么大错。
【硬度】：这是被最多人关注，也是被不少厂商着重宣传的一条。中国传统所说的削铁如泥的标准与此最为接近。
刀类的硬度通常用洛氏硬度C标尺(HRC)来表示，这是用金刚石对物体进行挤压测试，深度浅则硬度大。通常来说日本刀的硬度大，一般在60-62，德国刀的硬度略低，一般在55-58之间，中式刀的硬度一般在50左右。氧化锆陶瓷刀的硬度最高，不在HRC测定范围内。据广告说，HRC达85以上。
刀的硬度不应该越高越好，而是看你的用处。热处理工艺其实没有那么神秘，想做硬并不难。一把HRC 50的中式刀其实就很好了，切铁丝也跟玩儿一样。
【韧性】：通常被忽略的一条。
韧性是材料受多大能量冲击而不断裂的能力。硬度与韧性没有办法兼顾，越硬就越脆，越韧就越软。
陶瓷刀太脆，不能摔，一定要小心存放。
【耐磨损】：
关系到刀的使用。越耐磨损，刀就可以用越久仍保持锋利。但是在磨刀的时候，越耐磨损的刀也越难被磨利。
不论什么材料，不论你有多硬，用着用着一定会钝。想象一下刀锋的面积，撞击在砧板上的时候会产生多大的应力。
抗磨损度的选择取决于你磨刀的水平。一般来说，德国刀可以用一根硬度HRC 62-64的不锈钢磨刀棒，很方便，当然也有更好的带陶瓷或者金刚石颗粒的磨刀棒。日本刀通常推荐用磨刀石来磨。
陶瓷刀钝了之后只能送回原厂打磨。
有些厂家提供了终身原厂打磨的服务，比如我知道的Shun在美国就可以，而且免费。Wüsthof的在德国有带打磨服务的零售商，不过不知道是不是免费。
【耐腐蚀】：
氧化锆基本上在厨房条件下是完全耐腐蚀的。不锈钢只有在保护得当的情况下不会生锈。通常来说德国刀用的钢材比日本刀更耐腐蚀，但耐腐蚀还与表面处理有关。镜面处理的刀更耐腐蚀，但有些钢材无法做镜面处理。
【锋利度】：也是一个受关注的属性。中国传统所说的吹毛断发的标准与此最为接近。
切同一样东西时用的力越小，你感觉它越锋利。在刀面阻力系数差不多的情况下，锋利与否完全取决于锋刃的几何形状。角度越小，越锋利。新的刮胡刀基本都是可以做到吹毛断发的。传统日本刀开锋角度在15度，而德国刀在20度，所以使用起来，日本刀更为锋利。德国刀最近也在做调整，有些已经做成17度开锋了。
【钢材】：
不同钢材有各自不同的性能，但是没有什么材料是万能的。选用什么样钢材制作的刀看你使用的偏好。
【美观】：
很多品牌都做有大马士革花纹的刀。有些确实做的很漂亮，另外也是一种欧洲历史上对大马士革刀的神话，造成了很多人心中觉得有大马士革纹的都是宝刀。
以前因为欧洲的刀匠不知道还有淬火这么一回事儿，所以做出来的刀剑硬度只有HRC 20多。士兵们拿着这样的武器也就出去打仗了，结果碰上拿着波斯弯刀的，被砍得七荤八素。大马士革是现在叙利亚的首都，以前据说是个有很多刀匠的城市，用的是来自印度的Wootz钢和一些别的钢材，采用特殊的工艺，锻造出了具有美丽花纹的刀。而波斯的巧匠还给刀做上了各种金银宝石的装饰。可怜的欧洲人从来没见过这么NB的刀，于是奉为至宝。而后来大马士革刀的工艺失传了，所以就渐渐有各种各样神话的传说。
事实上我查过Material characterization上的一篇文献，一个收藏家捐赠了几柄他收藏的古代大马士革刀，于是一个科学家就把这些刀给拿来做了各种测试。大马士革刀实际硬度大概HRC 30-34，不过韧性很好。结论就是大马士革刀代表了当时的先进生产力，但是不是说性能比当今科技下做出来的还要好。人们说的无法复制，仅仅指其花纹而言。
【价格】：
很重要的因素。你愿意花多少钱在买一把菜刀上呢？
【柄、重量和刀整体的平衡】：
大部分专业人士都认为这个是决定你要不要买一把刀的首要考虑。金属的、塑料的还是硬木的柄。长短是否适合你的手，拿着吃力还是太轻没有手感，切起来是否顺手都是应该考虑的。
所以绝对不要直接在网上买刀，到店里去试，合适了再买(如果网上便宜再去网上买)。
【刀的类型】：
不同的刀设计出来有不同的用处，但是有些真是用处也太窄了，比如说西红柿刀(Tomato knife)这种东西……
厨房里至少需要两把刀，一大一小（你总不能拿个大刀削苹果皮吧）。大刀可以用中式刀(Chinese cleaver)，西式主厨刀(Cook's knife)，日式三德刀(Santoku)，看你哪个用的顺手。小的就用削皮刀(paring knife)，其实削皮刀一般被认为是小号的主厨刀，用来做细微的切削工作。
如果你还需要切长棍面包这种东西，那再买一把面包刀(Bread knife)好了，超市货就行，因为好刀钝了你也没法磨，得用专门的陶瓷棒。
一般人不会备剁骨刀(Cleaver)，我觉得也不是特别需要，排骨我买剁好的，鸡腿鸡翅我一般只剔骨，不剁，实在要剁，中式的文武刀也完全够用（外国人也不明白其实中式刀也有很多种，比如片刀，剁刀，文武刀，桑刀等）。但是我也不太舍得拿我的刀去做剔骨的工作，这个可以用超市货的剔骨刀(Boning knife)，或者我是用一把三德刀来做，用处更广些。
【刃的类型】:
三种刃，一种是平着开刃(Flat)，这种最便宜也不耐用。通常买到这些名牌的刀，不加说明都是锥形(Tapered)的，这种刃耐用也好磨，但不甚锋利。第三种hollow edge，这种刀开锋的角度是越来越小，刃看起来是向内凹的，非常锋利，适合切薄片。上面还会有涟漪(dimple)，防止切下来的薄片粘在刀上。但是我至今不知道该怎么去磨它。
【锻造(Forged)还是冲压(Stamped)】：
以前的看法认为Forged比Stamped质量要好，但是现在也不尽然。具良治Global和瑞士军刀Victorinox旗下的R. H. Forschner都能做很好的Stamped的刀。Misono UX10更是做到极至了。Stamped比Forged要轻，也便宜，可能没那么耐用。
【品牌】：
下文介绍的基本都是名牌，但都只是类似像欧莱雅这样，而不是像LV，Gucci，Hermes那样的奢侈名牌。跟欧莱雅一样，这些品牌也生产不同的系列，不同系列的品质和价格差得很远。以下是我推荐的一些系列：
Wüsthof
Ikon/Classic Ikon/Ikon creme/Le Cordon Bleu系列。
非手工刀里，德国最受专业厨师好评的牌子，价格也没那么贵。Le Cordon Bleu是世界最大的厨师和酒店管理学校，这个系列就是专门为他们设计的。这个系列据说比较轻，我觉得可能女生会比较喜欢。Ikon那几款我上次提过了，是新设计的，classic ikon是黑色塑料柄，creme是白色塑料柄，其实比较近乎象牙色，ikon是非洲硬乌木的柄，最贵。我用的是classic ikon的主厨刀。
十八子
插播中国刀，因为我想起来，我在新东方烹饪学校那会儿，统一发的就是十八子作的斩切刀（就是文武刀，前切后斩，但是说实话用起来有点重）。系列有很多，我也不知道哪种好，但我知道它分好几种钢，三铬四铬五铬还有七铬。铬含量太高了太硬，没法磨。我自己可能会选复合钢的，好磨。
陈枝记
香港著名品牌，据说广东厨师都很喜欢。
Zwilling J. A. Henckels
Twin select
著名的双立人，宣传做的很好。唯一能推荐的就是Twin select系列，喜欢全金属柄的可以买它。
Twin 1731是新推出的系列，太贵了。Twin Cermax是为了跟日本人竞争，喷了陶瓷粉末增加硬度(HRC 66)，号称永不磨损。问题是，即便不磨损，磕磕碰碰也会到金属的屈服强度，刀锋一定会钝。你得买个带金刚石粉的磨刀棒去伺候它，加起来就有点贵。
我的磨刀棒是双立人的，就是普通的，不带陶瓷和金刚石，怕伤刀。
Henckels international是上海产的，据说马氏体的晶粒不如德国产的细，但是便宜很多。我个人觉得性价比不如十八子。
德国刀还有比较有名的两个是Solicut和Friedr. Dick，不过我没在德国见过有店卖= =|||不发表评论。
WMF
WMF的厨刀我去店里试过，一般化。大马士革钢的做得很绚，价格也不菲。WMF主做餐具，刀不够专业，锅的话，它收购了Silit，买Silit的好了。它家的专卖店还代售旬，我想没有理由不买旬而去买WMF吧。
R. H. Forschner
瑞士军刀Victorinox的厨刀品牌。各种评测里公认性价比最高的，因为，它的价格基本上只有Wüsthof或者双立人之类的1/3。记住买它家Stamped的，性能很好，又轻，又便宜（amazon上10inch的主厨刀USD26.99，相对来说，算便宜吧……）。
京瓷 Kyocera
陶瓷刀应该是京瓷先弄出来的吧。真要买的话，买一把专门切鱼生用（变态的日本人觉得鱼肉碰到金属会有金属味……），别的似乎真的用处不大。
具良治 Global
这个据说在美国销量最好。刀很轻，切削性能极好。柄比较短，适合女性用。推荐G-2主厨刀和G-48 hollow edge的三德刀。
P.S.我觉得形状很丑……
旬 Shun
Shun classic
Shun是性价比不错的牌子，不像Masamoto那么死贵。Shun买最低级的Shun classic已经足够好了，价格也已经不太便宜了。推荐Shun classic的三德刀。Shun在美国可以免费原厂打磨，一般一年一次足够了。
藤次郎作 Tojiro
极锋利，推荐Tojiro的削皮刀。削皮刀硬一点和锋利一点比较好用。
以上是我在德国能看到的牌子。
日本刀的品牌太多，还有诸如Misono, Mac, Masamoto, Masahiro, Hattori之类的。日本刀的切削性能普遍优于德国刀，这是因为他们做鱼生有些很变态的要求……如果常常切削的话，推荐日本刀，练练用磨刀石磨刀，其实不是很麻烦。保养的话，一定要及时洗干净擦干，有人还要涂山茶花油，我觉得没必要啦。如果经常用剁的刀法，比如剁肉馅剁姜蒜末之类，或是其他需要跟砧板撞击的，推荐用德国刀。也要及时洗干净擦干啦，另外每次用完（没错，每次用完）用磨刀棒轻轻磨一下，可以长时间保持锋利。方法参看视频，http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd7r-3RGpJA，记住不要用太大力。英文是Hone而非Grind，中文准确的翻译应该是用砥而非砺。或者如庄子所说的“善刀而藏”的善，善即缮。
当然，上文中说过了，要去试刀，我个人也觉得手感是最重要的。
[2010-03-30 03:05 补充如下]
上文中有几处需更正及补充：
1.Wüsthof的在德国有带打磨服务的零售商，不过不知道是不是免费
--是免费的，我上周去了一下。不过他看了一下我的刀，说我的刀保养得非常好，他只是象征性在磨刀石上蹭了几下。其实我的刀已经用了半年多了，几乎每天用。保养方法就是我上文说的，每次用完用honing stell轻磨一下，洗净擦干即可。
2.锋利与否完全取决于锋刃的几何形状
--不完全对，还与硬度与晶粒大小有关。但总体来说，锋刃的角度比较重要。
3.第三种hollow edge，这种刀开锋的角度是越来越小，刃看起来是向内凹的，非常锋利，适合切薄片。上面还会有涟漪(dimple)，防止切下来的薄片粘在刀上。但是我至今不知道该怎么去磨它。
--我把hollow edge和hollow ground搞混了，hollow edge就只是刀上多了dimple。
4.硬度与韧性没有办法兼顾，越硬就越脆，越韧就越软。
--有特例，但总的来说是适用在钢材上的。
5.越耐磨损，刀就可以用越久仍保持锋利。
--耐磨损与钢材中的碳化物有关。碳化物越硬，钢材越耐磨损。而钢材的硬度还与它的金属部分有关。也就是说有可能一个HRC测试较软的钢，比一个HRC测试较硬的钢更耐磨损。
而在厨刀中，锋利的保持还与耐腐蚀性有关。食物对厨刀的腐蚀也可能降低刀刃的锋利程度。
6.铬含量太高了太硬，没法磨。
--应该是碳含量太高了太硬。铬前面的数字是碳含量，但碳含量高了之后，为了防锈，铬的含量也相应要提高。
7.Twin Cermax是为了跟日本人竞争，喷了陶瓷粉末增加硬度(HRC 66)，号称永不磨损。
--这个我不知道从那篇文章上看到的。我又在双立人网站上看了一下，实际上是用的粉末钢，里面主要是一些金属碳化物增强硬度，金属碳化物其实某种意义上也可以算作陶瓷，不过不是喷上去的。
[2010-04-20 11:06 补充如下]
============
关于大马士革钢刀的问题。
文章见D.T. Peterson; H.H. Baker; J.D. Verhoeven. Materials Characterization, 1990, Volume 24, 355-374
HRA 62-69，换算成大概的HRC 23-37
主贴是凭印象说的，后来又查了是这个数据。
有人说大马士革钢里有碳纳米管，因此力学性质超过当前科技所能达到，我的解释如下：
M. Reibold, P. Paufler和W. Kochmann这几个人老是发文章说他们在大马士革钢刀里的carbon nanotube，其实不止，还有cementite nanowire。
你如果读一下他们的文章就可以知道，大马士革钢刀的良好机械性能在800摄氏度就失去了。这个温度下carbon nanotube是不可能有问题的，他们发现cementite nanowire会消失。所以并不是碳纳米管，而是渗碳体纳米线在力学性质上起了作用。需要指出的是，他们并没有对大马士革钢刀做任何的力学测试，所有这些都是定性的说明。
另外还说明大马士革钢的制造温度不可能超过800度。这也是可以想象的，几百年前的科技跟生产力嘛。直到现在大家都还没有确定大马士革钢刀的制造过程需不需要淬火。
高碳钢的硬度来源就是其中的碳化金属，没有高温下形成奥氏体再淬火成马氏体是不会有高硬度高强度的。
觉得古代的神兵利器超过现在的科技的，多半是武侠小说看多了。
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
sony is in. PMA2010上sony的EVIL相机!
而在NC两家控制局面可交换镜头相机行业, 其它厂商很难打破垄断的局面.但是如如今快速变化的消费电子市场是很难容忍一个古老的概念如此长久的吸收利润的, 新科技正在想法设法的撼动这块没有波澜的市场.
ep1和gf1的热卖掀起了这场概念革命.在这个快速消费的时代, 一个新技术不需要太成熟就可以迅速地普及开. 2009年被称为EVIL元年, 奥林巴斯以古典的Pen系列半格相机的精髓打早了第一款EVIL, 借助新技术的灵魂,EVIL开始了挑战NC垄断地位征途. 松下,三星等在数码相机领域长期受NC压迫的厂家奋起反抗,用最初的几款EVIL就打开了局面, 而在单反战场连连失利的索尼, 也不出大家的预料, 终于加入了这个行列
比较遗憾的是宾得没有成为这次革命的参与者之一, 长期的保守使宾得沦落到了这个境地.但是pentax这个名字就象征着五棱镜和反光板, 也许他真要悲壮的和dslr这个概共生死吧.
2010, EVIL元年的第二年的早春, 让我们拭目以待
消息来源 http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/21/sony-intros-alpha-dslr-concepts-micro-four-thirds-model-include/
Friday, January 29, 2010
都市画报问答
 1、你怎样定义你自己？（你如何定位自己？） 木有耐心 2、你为什么选择这种穿着方式？ 实用 3、你最烦的3样事情？ 磨蹭, 纠结, 顽固 4、房间里你最喜欢的3件东西。 相机, 镜头, mac 5、日常生活中你做得比较多又觉得没什么意义的事是？ 灌水 6、你会花大笔钱在……，/你会花很多时间在…… 让自己爽或让我喜欢的人爽/doing research 7、没有什么你就活不下去？ 朋友 8、最近刺激你的新鲜事物？ research 9、什么是你还没做过，但总有一天一定会想一试的？ n/a 10、有否任何怪癖？（简单说3个） 无 11、什么会带给你很多灵感？ 洗澡 12、列举让你疯狂的东西。 任何东西都有可能 13、对于婚姻的态度。 让人不再惦记女人 14、你坚持最长时间的习惯是什么？ 上学 15、目前最令你有成就感的事情是什么？ 当斑竹 16、梦想是什么？ phd 17、你做过的最伤心的事情是什么？ 不能在家陪着老妈 18、你对什么社会现象/人/东西很愤怒？ 不公平的现象 19，你对“贫”与“富”的态度？ 有差距很正常 |
Apple还是很善于抓住用户需求的, iPad会热卖
这篇博文我同时发表在了powerapple论坛, 转载请注明出处
http://bbs.powerapple.com/viewthread.php?from=notice&tid=700542
Apple在抓住消费者需求的方面, 确实表现的很强大.
在eink电子书热卖的今天, 许多电子书厂家只是习惯性地认为, 人们只需要一台单纯的电子书阅读器, 而不是一台综合性的设备, 他们只对电子书集成了简单的功能, 比如说播放mp3. 他们没有意识到, 只要你人机界面做得好, 大家是不会拒绝有很多功能的(顺便, 单任务机器虽然是单任务, 但是保留了功能单一的设
备的易用性, 简单性, 可靠性和反应速度, 还比功能单一的设备多了很多的功能, iphone用户极少认为单任务是个问题, 所以在硬件成本没有降下来, 软件不是很成熟的时候, ipad采用单一任务是可以接受的)
同时, 智能手机的屏幕越做越大, 从开始小小的屏幕逐渐做到3寸, 4寸, 5寸. 但是没有一个手机厂商想到把手机屏幕做到10寸会是什么结果呢? 那些在手机上费力的浏览网页的人, 玩手机游戏的人, 用blackberry收发电子邮件的人, 他们会想要一台ipad.
netbook这个市场始终不火, 许多人都把netbook看成一个很差的笔记本电脑, 而不是一台很强大的移动式设备. 他们没有意识到, 人们买netbook不是为了执行netbook难以胜任的强大的pc程序, 而是想有一台足够快的设备, 但是像手机一样, 在方便的时候随手拿来就用. netbook的问题是, 它执行一般电脑的应用太慢了, 你要用它还得经历漫长的开机, 和很难受的握持(照搬笔记本电脑的人体工程学, 但是却比笔记本小很多), 同时在屏幕上操作也是很困难的. ipad正好解决这个问题
书籍和报纸在高科技的冲击下并未消失, 因为这有这几年才出现了瞄准传统纸印刷品的电子设备----各种电子书.但是它们太贵了, 而且在面向服务式盈利模式横行的今天,它们的概念太陈旧了, amazon做的不错,但是他没有apple那种"让ipod取代一切便携式音乐播放器"的气魄和勇气, 那些书和阅读器的价格太高了. apple 凭借 itunes store这个平台很有可能像当年改变人们买光盘磁带的习惯一样改变了人们用纸的习惯. 你每次看书看报纸的时候, 你每次用eink电子书的时候, 你每次拿出记事本来做笔记的时候, 你每次画草图的时候, 你看paper的时候, 都可以把手中的物品换成ipad.
这是一个很大却从来没有被人注意过的市场, apple又一次走在了微软, google的前面, 本来后两个公司有机会在这个市场上大展身手的, 这次他们又慢了, 我现在甚至可以想象到, ipad有一天会像ipod一样, 会有不同的型号(类似nano, shuffle等), 然后在整个市场有很高的占有率.
补充一点,
apple之所以这些年做的这么好, 我感觉他很擅长于抹平用户和产品之间的鸿沟.
iphone之前所有的电话, 装应用程序十分的繁琐, 下载, 导入, 安装, 还需要证书. 我以前用黑莓的时候(很久以前), 刚开始还有兴趣鼓捣应用程序, 过了一段时间就再也没装过新的应用, 因为太麻烦了, 新鲜劲过了就没意思了. 后来 iphone的出现改变了这一切, 现在app store有数量海大的apps, 然后被人下载了n多n多, 就是iphone的一大卖点. 现在所有的手机厂商才纳过这个闷来.
ipod出来之前, 所有的mp3播放器都需要你下载, 或者去买cd, 然后导入, sony md则更是麻烦的令人发指. 所以ipod一出来, 把所有这些mp3 player都秒杀了, md则死的最惨.
apple的哲学, 就是简化可以简化的一切. 没有麻烦事, 让所有的产品直接上手就用, 不容易用到的功能还不如没有. 所以, apple的平板, 不可能是展开后才能使用的折叠式(虽然是马后炮, 但是之前我就说过), 也不会有所谓的apple单反相机. 那些与apple的理念相悖.
许多成功的案例都是这样的. 只要用户和应用之间的障碍足够下, 这个产品就能成功, 比如说九阳豆浆机, 你把豆子和水放进去, 然后过一会热豆浆就出来了, 非常的方便, 所以他能热卖.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
教您毛氏红烧肉怎么做，如何做毛氏红烧肉才好吃[zt]
毛氏红烧肉的制作材料：
主料：带皮的五花肉（肥肉与瘦肉的比例在2：1左右为宜）
辅料：大蒜籽,干辣椒,猪油,盐,红糖,味精,料酒,蜂蜜,高汤
1.将五花肉整块放入锅中煮，水开后撇去血沫在开2分钟左右关火，趁热用刀将肉皮上的杂物刮干净后， 切成2公分左右的正方形块；
2.锅中放入猪油加热，大蒜籽、干辣椒下锅中爆香，倒入切好的肉块翻炒，炒得肉皮变成粉红的颜色为最佳；
3.另一只炒锅内加入少许猪油，开始炒红糖，注意控制火候，小火慢熬，因为红糖的颜色会让你分不清是不是糊了，看见成了糖浆即可；
4.迅速将爆香的肉块加入，迅速翻炒上色，加入盐、生抽，倒入高汤或者水（没过主料2指）烧开后改中火炖，用筷子戳一戳肉的程度来决定关火的时间；
5.关火前淋上少许蜂蜜、加上味精，为了提一下菜整体的颜色和亮度。
主料：带皮的五花肉（肥肉与瘦肉的比例在2：1左右为宜）
辅料：大蒜籽,干辣椒,猪油,盐,红糖,味精,料酒,蜂蜜,高汤
1.将五花肉整块放入锅中煮，水开后撇去血沫在开2分钟左右关火，趁热用刀将肉皮上的杂物刮干净后， 切成2公分左右的正方形块；
2.锅中放入猪油加热，大蒜籽、干辣椒下锅中爆香，倒入切好的肉块翻炒，炒得肉皮变成粉红的颜色为最佳；
3.另一只炒锅内加入少许猪油，开始炒红糖，注意控制火候，小火慢熬，因为红糖的颜色会让你分不清是不是糊了，看见成了糖浆即可；
4.迅速将爆香的肉块加入，迅速翻炒上色，加入盐、生抽，倒入高汤或者水（没过主料2指）烧开后改中火炖，用筷子戳一戳肉的程度来决定关火的时间；
5.关火前淋上少许蜂蜜、加上味精，为了提一下菜整体的颜色和亮度。
Sunday, January 24, 2010
高中时候的我太有才了, 找到一篇当时写的文章...
阿壮的杯具和洗具---一个好男人治疗ED的故事
前一阵，我有个哥们叫阿壮的总也不出现,而且有关于他的谣传，说他练了《葵花宝典》了。这个阿壮是个好男人，心地善良，性情温和，我有点担心他出事了,就找到他们家里,发现他确实是出事了。我看到他的时候，他穿着睡裤（我们都裸睡的），光着膀子，一根绷带从裤裆里伸出来，在脖子上打了个圈，就好象我们平时断了胳膊，在脖子里挂起来一样，不过他挂起来的东西似乎是某个关键部位。在我的一再追问之下他终于向我道出了实情，并且说“我怎么命这么苦啊”，因为我是他的哥们，所以我得向大家替他解释清楚，他并不是自宫了，而是被人给害了，详细的经过还要从他这个小子比较迷信说起。
阿壮这个小子怎么都好，人长的高高大大（圆头圆脑），说话也很风趣，善良温和，与世无争，就是有点迷信，他平时身上总带着4个护身符，一个是个镀金的菩萨，据说是在峨眉山请职业尼姑开过光的，一个是个玉石菩萨，在石头记R买的，还有一个十字架，地摊上淘的，还有个香囊，里面不知道装的什么东西，平时他就这样脖子里挂着一堆东西滴里当啷的。而且他经常去七一路地地道桥下找一个黄半仙算命，这个黄半仙戴着个宽边眼镜，又黑又瘦，蹲在道牙子上，前面放一画着八卦图的破布，边上放一本《周易》（此乃最经典的80版），身后的加重凤凰牌28自行车的后椅架上插一幡子，上写
“预知未来---你的未来不是梦，消灾免祸----十万个开心的理由”，下面还有一堆小字：“服务项目：解梦说字，预测人生，相面相手，股市行情，彩票投资，婚姻育儿，天气预报….”。
这个黄半仙在此工作几年了，光我就看到他被城管带走几回，然后过几天又重新出现。听说他在从事神职工作之前是保定X中的语文老师，学生据说有当了城管的，于是天天抓他。他当了20年的老师之后，终于返璞归真，回到了人民群众当中，服务于大众了。就是这个黄半仙，与我们的阿壮兄弟今天的悲惨境地有很大关系。
半个月前，阿壮找了点勤工俭学的活干，帮他姐姐在墙上涂小广告，内容是134xxxxxxxx办证，走到七一路地道桥下就看到墙上有一行刚劲有利的大字：“发抡大法好”， 阿壮一看，就在这行字后面跟着写了“找134xxxxxxx办证更好”，此时，城管人员正在往皮卡车上搬黄半仙的28自行车，一看阿壮写字，就捎带脚把阿壮也带走了，回到办公室把阿壮和黄半仙铐在一跟暖气管上。
在城管办公室，两个人被铐了一宿，半夜里黄半仙向阿壮宣传了大量封建迷信思想，严重毒害了我们的好青年阿壮，黄半仙说的话的大意是：有个什么地狱，男人死了要是还是处男就会发落到这个地狱，然后把他怎么怎么样了。我们的阿壮非常害怕，因为他是个ED。
一放出来，阿壮就直奔医院，找到男性病专科，开始是个男大夫，自称是李教授，看起来有五十多岁，秃顶，啤酒肚，戴个大眼镜。李教授仔细检查了阿壮的那话之后，发现阿壮的那话没有器质性病变，所以他得出一个结论，阿壮是心理性ED，于是李教授从办公桌下面抱出一堆色情书刊杂志来，据说是他多年来为了祖国的医疗事业，抵住资本主义黄色文化的侵蚀，搜集来的。李教授开始一段一段地给阿壮念，念了有一个小时，阿壮还是没有反映，李教授越来越不耐烦了，最后把书往办公桌上一拍，冲着阿壮大吼：“KAO，我都勃起了，你还不行啊！！！”（后来听说李教授本身也是个ED）。李教授不行换孙医师，孙医师是个30多岁的妇女，画着浓妆，胸脯高高的，据说是为医学事业献身的结果（为医学事业隆胸的结果）。孙医师果然不一样，说起话来柔声细语，而且越说身体越向下伏，最后都快伏到阿壮腿上了，才气急败坏地站起来，走掉了，嘴里嘟囔着什么：“变态啊，去看心理大夫吧！”。阿壮心理清楚，不是阿壮对女人没兴趣，只是这个女人让他想起他老妈。
阿壮还是到了心理专科，遇到了张主治。这个张主治是个很高挑的年轻女子，白色的医生服下面露出黑色网眼的长袜，隐隐地还能看到胸前黑色的情趣bra cup的花边，足有D杯大小。脖子上系一条黑皮带，上面还有尖的金属钉,不知道意味着什么。张主治让他回忆他在看到女人的时候会想起什么不愉快的事情，结果阿壮什么也想不起来，于是张主治建议阿壮接受催眠疗法。阿壮治病心切，就答应了。
阿壮舒服地躺在一张心理医生常用的床上，张主治坐在他看不到的地方。
张主治打开节拍器，和风细雨地说：“你开始ED是什么时候啊”
“记不得了，大概是14岁吧”
“哦，那我们从12岁开始吧，你放松，听我说……深呼吸……放松…….头部放松…….舌头也放松……好……肝……肠子……都放松……那话别放松……今年你12岁了……”
“医生，我今年22岁了”
“Shut up! Just listen to me!”
“OK!”
“今年你十三岁了，你看到了啥”
“天花板”
张主治不急不躁，继续给阿壮催眠“好，再来一次深呼吸……,放松……”
“医生，我想撒尿”
“我靠，给我憋着”张主治开始不耐烦了“放松，松的象一坨屎，放松……你妈B快给我放松……，等等，把眼闭上先”
“哦” 阿壮接到
“你tmd闭嘴，是你催眠还是我催你眠啊，放松，今年你22岁了，我呸，今年你12岁了”
“医生，我是22岁了”
“闭嘴，我说你几岁你就是几岁，再较真我拍你”……后来医生用了一下午给阿壮催眠，阿壮终于睡着了，医生后来说了什么也不记得了。
“那你怎么成这样的啊”我着急地想知道他到底发生了什么。
阿壮说“你别急啊，听我给你继续说”。
阿壮醒来的时候，发现那个张主治是个……，她脖子里戴那个皮圈是有原因的！阿壮一睁眼就看到张主治把白色医生装的下摆撩到一边，一只脚踩在阿壮躺的床上，一只脚站在地上，并且露出黑色色网眼长袜边上的镂空花边来，和……黑色的情趣内裤来，白色修长的大腿，还有脖子里那个带刺的黑皮圈，阿壮一看到就兴奋起来，慢慢的就要勃起了！哪知道这个张主治是个施虐狂，她见阿壮不勃起，正在冲着阿壮那话疯狂大叫（同时竖起两跟中指对着阿壮那话）：“起！起！起！起！起！起！，起来呀你！KAO！……555……不行了，你！怎！么！就！不！勃！起！啊！”，最后这几个字是伴随着猛烈的动作喊出来的，那个修长白色的大腿，带动同样修长白色的小腿，一脚脚踹到阿壮的裤裆里.
阿壮的反映是“嗷！嗷！嗷！嗷！嗷！嗷！嗷！”
最后，医院的诊断书上不但写了ED，也就是阳痿，还写了龟头血肿 。
这个故事的最后结局是，阿壮发现自己居然是个受虐狂，他竟然和那个张主治结婚了（就是我们亲切地称为小张的），阿壮身上总是带着伤，但是心情很愉快，小张逢人就说他们家阿壮是个好男人，让我不得不怀疑所有的好男人都在潜意识里有受虐的倾向，不然他们怎么会去找一个女朋友呢？
早起的好处
昨天晚上11点半, 面对无聊的paper, 突然一阵困意来袭, 我做了一个了不起的决定, 我决定要早睡! 相信我, 早于1点睡觉对我来说简直就是罕见的, 稀有的, 绝少见的!
早睡的直接后果就是----早起!!
早起的好处就是, 你可以有时间更新博客了, 可是博客的地址都不太记得了, 登上Google, 输入关键字, blogspot, zhuotao....念咒语万能的Google啊, 告诉我答案吧, 无敌的绿坝啊, 让我通过吧....ok...找到了, 然后一下子更新了3篇(实际上是4篇, 这篇正在写), 都是转贴的最近看得有意思的文章...恩, 转贴帝就是我...说到帝我就想起来最近涌现出来的不同的各种帝们, 什么Ph帝, 杯具帝, 小弟帝, 曲折帝....
情景是这样的: 我, binbin, jason几个人正在吃s (他俩面前都是一小坨, 我面前是一大坨) 终于我忍不住了, 大吼一声, 太贵了, 我不吃了...!! 自从pentax原厂镜头疯涨以来, 我都没有买过一只镜头了...
想当初, 我在神宗家看到他用sigma那个广角变焦装在佳能40d上, 心里曾经暗暗的鄙视, 这么有米还用副厂...真是时过境迁, 物是人非, 十年河北, 十年河南啊.
相信我, 我不是个有点资金就得色的人, 31mm等效46mm这件事困扰我很久了. 还记得和榴莲, 09一起乘坐伦敦眼的时候(题外话, 我们三个至今没有分手, 而现在已经全部是powerapple的斑竹了...), 我来给他俩拍照, 机器上是我引以为傲的31mm ltd, 举起相机, 我内牛满面, 不得不退到了轿箱的另一头, 焦具啊. 幸好London eye的轿箱比较大. 当时我把原因无耻的归结到两人的身材上, 的确, 他俩加起来比三个我加起来都宽.
又记得给学联拍摄中秋晚会的时候, 一培训班大叔在我身边举着d700+24-70 咔咔咔咔咔咔的按快门(连拍), 我虎躯一震, 无限鄙视的想"2470就nb啊, 这么大一个镜头跟我一个定焦31mm差不多价钱(此时31以升至1k+英镑, 几乎比我入手时翻了一翻)". 我的k10d+31的声音是这样的日日日日日日(对焦声, 不要过滤)...卡....日日日日日日....卡. 然后我以优雅的身姿不断的前后移动(变焦基本靠走), 幸好没穿阿迪王...
之后还有更具杯具色彩的事情发生: 培训班的学员要和雷丁的市长和大学校长合影....我靠, 大家站成一排...我不得不退到100多步之外, 然后前面还有一堆拿着小dc的人有说有笑...杯具啊... 还有人不断的挤进人排, 我心里说"挤什么挤, 反正也照不上你...".
我木有广角, 就好象p家木有全幅一样.
这下好了, 我刚才已经在新的摄影包里给小马(31和77如果知道我给新镜起了这么个肉麻的名字, 一定会离家出走的)腾地方了....期待小马的表现!!
啊, yd的一天又开始了....(为什么要说又呢...)
What Makes an Entrepreneur – Street Smarts
by Mark Suster on December 15, 2009
This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks, one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.
I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity.
2. Street Smarts - OK, so you’re a tenacious person – you never give up. Well obviously that’s meaningless if your startup idea sucks. I don’t think it takes book smart people to build great companies – sometimes it’s a hindrance. But you do have to be a smart person and I personally prefer street smarts. I’m looking for the person that just “gets it.” They know instinctually how customers buy and how to excite them. They have a sixth sense for the competitors’ weaknesses. They spot opportunities that aren’t being met and the design products to meet these needs.
Because they’re street smart, most great entrepreneurs tend to prefer getting out and talking with real customers rather than sitting in a cubicle all day doing beautiful PowerPoint slides. And when they walk in my office and present you can tell that they know what they’re talking about. You can practically hear the “voice of the customer” when they’re presenting their concept.
I often tell people that I’m looking for people that weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I like people who aren’t worried about social consequences of doing something they’re not supposed to. That’s why I personally believe many immigrants or children of immigrants fare well in business. It never occurs to them to play by the same rules as everybody else; in fact, I’m not sure if they even know what the “rules” are. It leads many of these people to be more street smart than those defined by convention.
If I were writing about the most important attributes of a VC (hmmm) one of the things that would make my list is “ability to spot patterns.” I see the same things over-and-over again and being able to spot things and compartmentalize them is important – it helps with short-handing analysis and learning. Thinking out loud – I’m sure that’s important for entrepreneurs as well.
So I had written this whole series the week of Thanksgiving but virtually every day I wake up and see examples. Two quick stories from just yesterday.
On social conventions: Two years ago I was in New York and I called the little brother of one of my wife’s best friends from Wharton. He was at a startup that was in a super hot sector. I saw him again yesterday for the first time in 2 years. He told me that when the markets soured they were no longer hot. They realized that they were selling a bunch of cool products but none that had enough economic value. They had wasted a lot of money because they had raised a lot of money and therefore hired a large staff. A new and experiened CEO was brought in and cleared house. The CEO helped identify the one key product that had huge value as confirmed via customer feedback and he built the organization around this.
He asked each sales / biz dev person to call customers and tell them they had to change their contracts. He said, “call the customers, tell them the news and let them scream at your for 5 minutes. Hold the phone far away from your ears. When they’re done being mad at you and when you haven’t yelled back then they’ll say, ‘OK, so what are we going to do about this?”
I loved that story because it’s so true. Only a real entrepreneurial leader would have taken this chance and encouraged his team to make these calls. For anyone involved I’m sure the first call was mortifying. The second one was embarrassing. But by the fifth or sixth it was kind of fun. Sort of a game. You had done something you knew society told you that you weren’t supposed to do but you knew you had to anyways. And the world didn’t fall apart. As I always tell people, “being an entrepreneur is a gritty business.”
I was once involved with a company (not mine and not one I invested in personally) that had a great product but had blown through tons of cash and was being run by somebody who is off-the-charts smart and charming but was not (is not) an entrepreneur. How I got involved goes in the “no good deed goes unpunished category.” The CEO was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Went to the right schools / worked at the right strategic consultancies.
We were heading into this most recent recession but it wasn’t fully known yet. I just knew that our sales sucked wind and we were burning through tons of cash. I advocated LOUDLY at the board that we needed to cut our burn rate. We were SMOKING cash. The CEO told me that we couldn’t cut people in customer support (where we had 7 people for just a dozen customers and sales were sub $1 million) because we had made contractual commitments to clients that required all these people. We couldn’t cut product development (we had 23 people!) because we had made product commitments to a large customer who was about to agree to a nationwide rollout. We couldn’t cut marketing because they were instrumental to the sale. “OK, then let’s renegotiate with our customer!” I was told that this was impossible or at least imprudent.
When I was at BuildOnline (my first company) and things went “pear shaped” we called all of our customers and said, “I know that we signed contracts with you. The reality is that the market has changed and I need to change to the new realities. We committed to product features. I can’t ship those as promised. I’m sorry. Do you like our product & service? Yes? Ok, thank you. Listen, I know that if you like what we do then you’ll want a healthy supplier / partner. I need to be able to earn a profit and with the contracts we’ve signed I cannot. I either need to cut product development staff (and therefore can’t ship products as promised) or I need to be able to charge you slightly more for our service or for features you want to see so that I can make ends meet. Help me understand which you prefer.” I lost zero customers. In fact, we built tighter relationships. I had no choice and as they say, “necessity is the mother of all invention.”
The problem for the company smoking cash was that it was beneath the CEO to make these calls or to make the difficult cuts. We missed our sales targets that year by 66% and the next year by 45% and never really cut costs very much. The company incinerated cash. And I asked to leave the board. Or I was asked. OK, it was very consensual. When your board is eating in the company dining room with silver spoons you certainly don’t want awkward old me at the party asking the tough questions.
On Street Smarts / Working with customers: I had coffee with another startup founder yesterday. Really nice guy and clearly smart. He was at a 3-person startup where he was a co-founder but not the CEO. The CEO was the “ideas guy.” My coffee date told me about the product they were building. I told him that it sounded like an interesting feature but not something customers would pay for or adopt. I walked through my logic, “well, if a customer installs your tool on his website he’s going to have to hire an entire staff to manage the project. If the tool doesn’t grow his revenue then how is he going to cover the additional costs – especially in this market?”
I went through more examples. I told him that he needed to go visit these customers and understand what problems they had today attracting and retaining customers at their websites. He needed to brainstorm solutions with them to solve their problems. He needed to ask whether they would be willing to pay if he could deliver features that would help him grow revenue or cut costs. He confided in me that his team had built the product because it sounded like a good idea but had never validated it with customers. My street smarts told me it was not going to fly with customers.
I told him not to be despondent. The thing is – 80%+ of startups build products in a vacuum without really ever testing the business value with customers or listening to their needs. Sure, they talked to one or two guys – but didn’t do it methodically. If you don’t understand how your product adds value to your customer base it is unlikely that it will unless you come from that industry and already know the products from your own experience.
Why do people do this when it’s kind of obvious? Because it’s far easier to get a bunch of smart guys to show up in a living room every night and do screen mockups, to riff off of other products you see in the market and to build, then show your friends your tools than it is to network like hell meeting potential customers that you think will be bothered by your calling them. What I explained is that the middle managers at large companies often want to feel like they’re involved with startups and are more approachable than you think. You just have to get out of your comfort zone.
Do you have similar experiences when you built your companies?
This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks, one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.
I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity.
2. Street Smarts - OK, so you’re a tenacious person – you never give up. Well obviously that’s meaningless if your startup idea sucks. I don’t think it takes book smart people to build great companies – sometimes it’s a hindrance. But you do have to be a smart person and I personally prefer street smarts. I’m looking for the person that just “gets it.” They know instinctually how customers buy and how to excite them. They have a sixth sense for the competitors’ weaknesses. They spot opportunities that aren’t being met and the design products to meet these needs.
Because they’re street smart, most great entrepreneurs tend to prefer getting out and talking with real customers rather than sitting in a cubicle all day doing beautiful PowerPoint slides. And when they walk in my office and present you can tell that they know what they’re talking about. You can practically hear the “voice of the customer” when they’re presenting their concept.
I often tell people that I’m looking for people that weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouths. I like people who aren’t worried about social consequences of doing something they’re not supposed to. That’s why I personally believe many immigrants or children of immigrants fare well in business. It never occurs to them to play by the same rules as everybody else; in fact, I’m not sure if they even know what the “rules” are. It leads many of these people to be more street smart than those defined by convention.
If I were writing about the most important attributes of a VC (hmmm) one of the things that would make my list is “ability to spot patterns.” I see the same things over-and-over again and being able to spot things and compartmentalize them is important – it helps with short-handing analysis and learning. Thinking out loud – I’m sure that’s important for entrepreneurs as well.
So I had written this whole series the week of Thanksgiving but virtually every day I wake up and see examples. Two quick stories from just yesterday.
On social conventions: Two years ago I was in New York and I called the little brother of one of my wife’s best friends from Wharton. He was at a startup that was in a super hot sector. I saw him again yesterday for the first time in 2 years. He told me that when the markets soured they were no longer hot. They realized that they were selling a bunch of cool products but none that had enough economic value. They had wasted a lot of money because they had raised a lot of money and therefore hired a large staff. A new and experiened CEO was brought in and cleared house. The CEO helped identify the one key product that had huge value as confirmed via customer feedback and he built the organization around this.
He asked each sales / biz dev person to call customers and tell them they had to change their contracts. He said, “call the customers, tell them the news and let them scream at your for 5 minutes. Hold the phone far away from your ears. When they’re done being mad at you and when you haven’t yelled back then they’ll say, ‘OK, so what are we going to do about this?”
I loved that story because it’s so true. Only a real entrepreneurial leader would have taken this chance and encouraged his team to make these calls. For anyone involved I’m sure the first call was mortifying. The second one was embarrassing. But by the fifth or sixth it was kind of fun. Sort of a game. You had done something you knew society told you that you weren’t supposed to do but you knew you had to anyways. And the world didn’t fall apart. As I always tell people, “being an entrepreneur is a gritty business.”
I was once involved with a company (not mine and not one I invested in personally) that had a great product but had blown through tons of cash and was being run by somebody who is off-the-charts smart and charming but was not (is not) an entrepreneur. How I got involved goes in the “no good deed goes unpunished category.” The CEO was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Went to the right schools / worked at the right strategic consultancies.
We were heading into this most recent recession but it wasn’t fully known yet. I just knew that our sales sucked wind and we were burning through tons of cash. I advocated LOUDLY at the board that we needed to cut our burn rate. We were SMOKING cash. The CEO told me that we couldn’t cut people in customer support (where we had 7 people for just a dozen customers and sales were sub $1 million) because we had made contractual commitments to clients that required all these people. We couldn’t cut product development (we had 23 people!) because we had made product commitments to a large customer who was about to agree to a nationwide rollout. We couldn’t cut marketing because they were instrumental to the sale. “OK, then let’s renegotiate with our customer!” I was told that this was impossible or at least imprudent.
When I was at BuildOnline (my first company) and things went “pear shaped” we called all of our customers and said, “I know that we signed contracts with you. The reality is that the market has changed and I need to change to the new realities. We committed to product features. I can’t ship those as promised. I’m sorry. Do you like our product & service? Yes? Ok, thank you. Listen, I know that if you like what we do then you’ll want a healthy supplier / partner. I need to be able to earn a profit and with the contracts we’ve signed I cannot. I either need to cut product development staff (and therefore can’t ship products as promised) or I need to be able to charge you slightly more for our service or for features you want to see so that I can make ends meet. Help me understand which you prefer.” I lost zero customers. In fact, we built tighter relationships. I had no choice and as they say, “necessity is the mother of all invention.”
The problem for the company smoking cash was that it was beneath the CEO to make these calls or to make the difficult cuts. We missed our sales targets that year by 66% and the next year by 45% and never really cut costs very much. The company incinerated cash. And I asked to leave the board. Or I was asked. OK, it was very consensual. When your board is eating in the company dining room with silver spoons you certainly don’t want awkward old me at the party asking the tough questions.
On Street Smarts / Working with customers: I had coffee with another startup founder yesterday. Really nice guy and clearly smart. He was at a 3-person startup where he was a co-founder but not the CEO. The CEO was the “ideas guy.” My coffee date told me about the product they were building. I told him that it sounded like an interesting feature but not something customers would pay for or adopt. I walked through my logic, “well, if a customer installs your tool on his website he’s going to have to hire an entire staff to manage the project. If the tool doesn’t grow his revenue then how is he going to cover the additional costs – especially in this market?”
I went through more examples. I told him that he needed to go visit these customers and understand what problems they had today attracting and retaining customers at their websites. He needed to brainstorm solutions with them to solve their problems. He needed to ask whether they would be willing to pay if he could deliver features that would help him grow revenue or cut costs. He confided in me that his team had built the product because it sounded like a good idea but had never validated it with customers. My street smarts told me it was not going to fly with customers.
I told him not to be despondent. The thing is – 80%+ of startups build products in a vacuum without really ever testing the business value with customers or listening to their needs. Sure, they talked to one or two guys – but didn’t do it methodically. If you don’t understand how your product adds value to your customer base it is unlikely that it will unless you come from that industry and already know the products from your own experience.
Why do people do this when it’s kind of obvious? Because it’s far easier to get a bunch of smart guys to show up in a living room every night and do screen mockups, to riff off of other products you see in the market and to build, then show your friends your tools than it is to network like hell meeting potential customers that you think will be bothered by your calling them. What I explained is that the middle managers at large companies often want to feel like they’re involved with startups and are more approachable than you think. You just have to get out of your comfort zone.
Do you have similar experiences when you built your companies?
What Makes an Entrepreneur? – Tenacity
by Mark Suster on December 15, 2009
This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks, one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should.
I wanted to also post the series here to have it as a resource on my blog for future entrepreneurs who stop by. I wanted to get the conversation going in the comments section around each topic because I think as much value comes from the comments section as comes from the original post (as I noted in this post: Comments are the New Black). And so I’ll elaborate on some of the topics more than I did in my VentureHacks post to try and make it worthwhile for anybody who read it over there.
One of the questions I’m most often asked as a VC is what I’m looking for in an investment. For me I’ve stated publicly that 70% of my investment decision is the team and most of this is skewed toward the founders. I’ve watched people who went to the top schools, got the best grades and worked for all the right companies flame out.
So what skills does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? What attributes am I looking for during the process? Having been through the experience as an entrepreneur twice myself I have developed a list of what I think it takes. This post covers the first out of 10 that I’ll write about.
1. Tenacity – Tenacity is probably the most important attribute in an entrepreneur. It’s the person who never gives up – who never accepts “no” for an answer. The world is filled with doubters who say that things can’t be done and then pronounce after the fact that they “knew it all along.” Look at Google. You think that anybody really believed 1999 that two young kids out of Stanford had a shot at unseating Yahoo!, Excite, Ask Jeeves and Lycos? Yeah, right. Trust me, whatever you want to build you’ll be told by most VC’s something like, “Social networking has already been done,” “You’ll never get a telecom carrier deal done,” or “Google already has a product in this area.” You’ll be told by the people you want to recruit that they’re not sure about joining, by a landlord that you’ll need a year’s deposit or by a potential business development partner that they’re too busy to work with you, “come back in 6 months.”
If you’re already running a startup you know all this. But some founders have that extra quality that makes them never give up. At times it goes as far as being chutzpah. And I see this extra dose of tenacity in only about 1 of 10 entrepreneurs that I see. And if you’re not naturally one of these people you probably know it, too. You see that peer who always pushes things further than you normally would. What are you going to get further out of your comfort zone and be more tenacious? It is really what separates the wheat from the chaff.
I once had a debate with a prominent VC on a panel. The moderator asked the question, “if an entrepreneur writes an email to a VC and doesn’t hear back what should they do?” This VC responded, “Move on. Next on the checklist. He’s not interested.” Without much thought I shot back, “That’s the worst advice I’ve ever heard someone give an entrepreneur.” Doh. I almost couldn’t believe I had blurted it out, but what came out of my mouth was so heart felt that it just rolled out.
If you fold at the first un-returned email what hope to you have as an entrepreneur? As an entrepreneur people who aren’t going to respond to you and it’s your responsibility to politely and assertively stay on people’s radar screen. You no longer work for Google, Oracle, Salesforce.com or McKinsey where everybody calls you back. You had no idea how important that brand name was until you left it behind. Your customers don’t care that you went to Stanford, Harvard or MIT. It’s just you now. And frankly if you went to a state college in Florida you’re at no disadvantage in the tenacity column. Persistence will pay off.
A simple example
When I launched my second company I was new to Silicon Valley. I had spent the previous 11 years in Europe and Japan. My company was relatively unknown. We were launching a cloud-based document management into a space that was increasingly being called Enterprise 2.0. It just so happened that there was a conference coming up run by a guy named Ismael Ghalimi, a very well respected software executive who also was keeping a blog at the time for companies in the space.
He was having his first ever conference and people from the who’s who of VC firms in Silicon Valley would be attending. There were also press and other senior executives from the sector. I got my friends over at Lewis PR to give me an introduction to Ismael, who kindly invited me to present at the conference. He sent me the schedule and I was to speak on the second day in an afternoon session in a break-out room. Ugh.
I wrote to Ismael requesting that I be on in the first day and in a panel on the main stage with Om Malik, Shel Israel, Rajen Sheth (from Google), Karen Leavitt (WebEx) and Ismael himself. He wrote back and told me it wasn’t going to be possible. I emailed him back with my bona fides and made the case again. He, being the nicest guy in the world, very politely told me it wasn’t possible. I had a friend email him and tell him what a great panelist I was. I called Ismael directly. I came up lots of reasons why I was the perfect fit. He said he would think about it but that the stage was already crowded. “Yes, but you don’t have any startups on the stage. I think it would make a better balance.”
I asked him to breakfast to talk about it. I know he didn’t really want me on the panel but I knew it was too important for me in gaining recognition. I walked the very fine line between pushing the boundaries with my chutzpah but not crossing the line. In the end he relented and this was a very important session for me in building out early awareness for Koral. The picture above is from the actual event courtesy of Dan Farber who was writing for ZDNet. And in the end I became quite good friends with Ismael, whom I miss since I’ve moved to LA.
For those who know me well know that this is just a normal day in the life of Mark Suster. It’s not always pretty, but it’s part of my DNA. I can’t help it. And it’s one of the things I look for in entrepreneurs I evaluate. Some companies don’t push hard enough. Others cross the line. I wish I could tell you some formula for the right amount of chutzpah but I’ve always said it’s a bit like art – you know it when you see it.
ZT 乔布斯的黎明
乔布斯的黎明
作者：张亮；本文发表于《普知》杂志
一天早晨，乔布斯从不安的睡梦中醒来，发现自己躺在床上却并没有变成一只巨大的甲虫。他还是他，史蒂夫·保罗·乔布斯，英俊耀眼的单身汉、才智湍飞的亿万富翁，新一代美国梦的代言人。 但现实延续了睡梦中黏稠的不安感。
这是 1985 年 4 月 12 日。十几个小时前，乔布斯和自己的合伙人约翰·斯卡利吵翻，随后被自己亲手创办的公司，苹果电脑的董事会释去权力。这个硅谷王子就此被放逐。 他开始了一段漫长、孤独、充满考验的旅程。这旅程极为私人化，也不起眼，以至于外界更愿意关注其生平的两段光鲜时刻，他旅途的「起点」和「终点」。
旅程的一端，是电闪雷鸣般的天才早成。1977 年至 1984 年，他就像站在一个喷薄冲天的火山口，用短短八年时间撕开沉闷的科技世界：他和沃兹尼亚克掀开了个人电脑时代的幕布，创造了福特汽车上市之后最大的 IPO，并开发出一台将人类拉入图形界面时代的电脑，麦金塔。 而旅途的另一端，则是烈火燎原似的重整河山。1997 年至今的十二年里，乔布斯如魔术师般从袖筒里取出一款又一款令观者惊叹，随后改变商业世界的电子产品：果冻质感的电脑、冰块一样的台式机、晶莹剔透的 iPod，以及一台魔力无穷的手机。更不用提他所拥有的另一家公司推出的那些动画电影：争宠的牛仔玩具、父爱无边的小丑鱼和情深不退的机器人，嬉笑怒骂皆成票房。
从未有人否定乔布斯的天才。这个大学只上了一个学期，从未专门研究过编程的穷小子竟成为了科技业最经久不衰的标志人物，且在 25 岁时就身家过亿。在多灾多难的 21 世纪，他几乎是唯一的超级明星 CEO：人们说他以一己之力改变了电脑、音乐、手机、动画甚至零售业。过去 9 年里，苹果公司的股票涨了大约五倍。而 2006 年他以 74 亿美元将 Pixar 出售给迪士尼时，投资回报高达 1500 倍。
但除了近年迫不得已关注其体重变化，人们很少谈及乔布斯的进化。似乎过去三十年间，他一直是那副样子：具有完美主意倾向的理想主义者、一个能把技术与品味结合的商业艺术家，以及一个兼具火的热烈与冰的冷峻这两种性情的暴君。 可这又是反常识的。以乔布斯之天赋和际遇，怎么可能没有持续的改变？
秘密就在那段失落的时光里：足足十二年，乔布斯人生中最关键的变化被外界忽略了。这是他的蜕变时期，那个天真、专横、激烈、横冲直撞的乔布斯在不停的冲向极限之后并未燃烧殆尽，却在巨大的挫败和长期不见起色的二度创业中被剖光磨亮。从此，他掌握了属于自己的一套常识。 这是乔布斯人生中最晦暗不明的时期，灿烂的日子遥不可及。幸好他并未止步于此。
上坡路和下坡路是同一条路
20 岁开始创业的乔布斯是这样的：在演说、沟通方面极具天赋，加上他那近乎厚颜无耻的坚韧性格，几乎没有什么他想获得而不可得的。在技术方面，他没有合伙人史蒂夫·沃兹尼亚克那种兼顾软硬件的天才创造力，甚至没有任何资料能说明乔布斯会写程序，但乔布斯的优点是他对技术有着超乎常人的理解力和洞察力：他小时候经常和惠普的工程师们混在一起，问这问那。这让他知道什么技术是有其独到价值的，也正因此，他会倾力说服沃兹创立苹果电脑。
30 岁的乔布斯是他 20 岁时的升级版本：财富和名望让他获得了更大的说服力，以至于人们说他拥有「现实扭曲场」，就像《星际迷航》里的人物一样。而在技术方面，他更是累积起了一条无比陡峭的学习曲线：硅谷一些最重要的企业家，如英特尔创始人鲍勃·诺伊斯、惠普创始人戴维·帕卡德成了他的导师。他会像十多年前对惠普的工程师那样，深夜给诺伊斯打电话请教半导体问题。更重要的是，1979年底，他去到了施乐公司 PARC 研究院，如蒙天启般见识了图形界面操作，并在随后五年时间里埋头开发 Lisa 和麦金塔两台电脑，从中积累出丰富的产品开发经验。
另外，这十年里他还掌握了另一门硅谷人极少涉及的技能：工业设计。乔布斯从小并未接受过太多美术熏陶，他只是对物品的完美有着非常个人化的追求。他宁肯宽敞的房间没有装修和装饰，也不添置他看不上眼的家具。但他很快在设计领域开始了无底洞似的学习。他用几个月时间研究建筑大师赖特的作品，并从德国人哈特穆特·艾斯林格那里学到了很多设计知识。在二十四岁之后，乔布斯几乎已经成为一个设计领域的内行，他会趴在显示器上一个像素一个像素研究图案，也会苛刻要求电脑的外壳采用优雅的圆角……
这期间唯一没有变化的，是乔布斯的性格。沃兹说他从小就一心成为人群的领袖，不过更恰当的描述来自罗伯特·昆季礼，这个跟乔布斯和盖茨一起成长的科技记者在《偶得帝国》一书中把乔布斯比喻成了萨达姆：「乔布斯希望控制世界。他一点也不在乎巩固战略优势，他只想着攻击……乔布斯不在乎是有十几家还是上百家公司跟自己对着干，他也不在乎有什么阻碍他成功。像萨达姆一样，他根本不在乎自己可能输多大。」 至此，可以这样总结早年的乔布斯：沟通大师、技术鉴别力和美术鉴赏力的混血儿、修炼中的产品经理、一心想改变世界的偏执狂。他的优势是年轻，在一个全新的行业，他的青涩是可接受的。在今天，绝大多数人 35 才能做到产品经理，而乔布斯在25岁时已经是一家呼风唤雨的上市公司的创始人了。
但硬币的另一面是，他年轻的一塌糊涂。在创业初期的苹果公司，麦克·马库拉和日后加盟的约翰·斯卡利扮演着公司中「父亲」的角色，沃兹是那个睿智而恬静的大哥，而乔布斯好像骄纵、任性、被塞给一个玩具就不能出声的小儿子。除了负责一些采购及推销工作，他几乎没有任何真实的商业实践。即使在开发麦金塔时，作为公司创始人及董事长，他所拥有的财务审批权只有 25 万美元。而且，就像一切少年得志的天才人物，乔布斯蔑视一切流程。据说，当年的乔布斯经常跑到办公室里，随便问一名工程师：「我觉得某人是个傻瓜，你觉得呢？」如果对方的答案是肯定的，他会跑到第二个人那里，说：「我和某人觉得某人是傻瓜，你说呢？」如果答案是否定的，他则会对别人说：「我和某人觉得某人是天才，你怎么看？」 换句话说，他不知道怎么让一家公司有效运转，不知道如何让一款产品在可控的时间以合适的价位切入市场，他甚至不知道失败为何物。
被开除似乎是他所能得到的最好的结果，但当时乔布斯根本意识不到这点。他已经被突如其来的挫败感击成了碎片，必须把全部聪明才智用于寻找逃避现实的方法：他打电话问美国航天航空局，能不能把自己扔到挑战者号飞船上；他去了苏联，想在那里开设电脑学校；他甚至跑到法国南部，试图以「孤独的艺术家」身份申请移民……
这只是乔布斯失落的十二年的起点，也是他连续三次失败的第一次。
抖落满心失落，他开始了新的创业，NeXT电脑公司。这一次，他一人分饰三角，同时承担技术先知沃兹＋管理者迈克·马库拉＋躁动的公司灵魂乔布斯的角色。事实证明，这一时间难以调和。当一心改变世界的理想主义者乔布斯拥有公司技术方向的决定权，他的完美主义倾向就如决堤之水，无法控制。
从 1985 年 9 月开始筹备，到 1986 年 10 月，NeXT 只有三个成果：一个由设计师保罗·兰德设计的公司标志、一个倾斜的、黑曜石般的主机机箱，以及无数印有公司标志的T恤衫。可以想象这是一次大灾难的征兆：仅为获得兰德的设计，乔布斯就花了十万美元。而在公司创办之初，他给办公室铺了红木地板，在大厅装了螺旋楼梯，买了安塞尔·亚当斯那些纯净而雄壮的风景摄影作内饰，甚至厨桌的台面都是上好的花岗岩……他希望打造一个有品味的工作环境，却不去计量成本。当然，更致命的问题是，对于当时的乔布斯，其科技观念是碎片化的。他对好的技术有判断力，他对优雅的设计有感知，但它们中间还有很多有待连点成线的部分：切入市场的战略和方法、产品的成本控制和开发进程、推出的时机及定价……在不能系统的把握这种种关键时，NeXT的产品就像小儿麻痹症患者，拥有健壮的胸围和羸弱的四肢。
这让乔布斯连遭打击。1988 年他推出到第一台电脑，针对大学生市场到Cube定价高达6500 美元，无人喝彩。他只好重新寻找突破口。在今天，我们能仍能在网络上找到一段 1991 年的视频，乔布斯对 NeXT 内部员工进行宣讲，究竟自己这些功能又强大、用户体验又出色的电脑究竟应该卖给谁。他想了一年，只觉得这些强大的功能对普通用户有些超前，而优雅的设计对于企业客户又显得不必要。最后，他勉强找到了一个正在兴起的市场：出版、医疗、法律等专业人士的服务器需求。再次挫败。
请注意，这已经是 1991 年，乔布斯创业的第六个年头。有多少二度创业者会在第六年时仍在思考市场选取？但这就是乔布斯，他极度专注，也从不畏惧从零学习一门全新的学问。他像心无芥蒂的一年级学生，试图在漫长的摸索中找到独立思考的方法。这些学习成果要十年之后，当乔布斯重新管理苹果时才显现效果。这是乔布斯第一次真正意义上承担一家公司的命运。当然，学费高昂，NeXT 一败涂地。到 1992 年 12 月，它的所有员工几乎都离开了，乔布斯在公司总部的一词会议上，落寞的说：「所有人都可以走了，除了我。」
重生
和上次被踢出苹果时不同，1992 年有两件事挽救了他。
第一是，这个晚熟的、在自己第一个女儿诞生时畏惧不堪的领养儿终于组建了自己的家庭，并生下了第二个孩子。他不仅终于能够和年轻的生命平静相处，并从中得到了慰藉。第二个则是他在 1986 年 2 月收购的皮克斯动画公司。
某种意义上，你可以将皮克斯称为乔布斯被苹果踢出门外、NeXT 饮恨而终之外的第三次失败。当他从《星球大战》的导演乔治·卢卡斯那里将这家公司买下时，他又一次将自己对于科技公司的核心理念注入其中：以一流硬件＋一流软件，去引领一个细分但前景巨大的市场的崛起。具体到皮克斯，乔布斯曾经认为，电脑动画这个专业应用必将蓬勃发展，除了迪士尼这样的动画公司，医疗机构似乎也会使用它模拟患者体内的三维图像。但这种重金打造的设备，到 1988 年初只卖掉了 120 台。 这迫使皮克斯展开转型：从同时提供软件和硬件，到将硬件部门裁掉，只卖软件。乔布斯嘴上说，他希望皮克斯成为另一家 Adobe，心里则想着比尔·盖茨——那时候盖茨的财富已经远远超越了他，仅仅几年前，他还像一个懦弱的跟随者——乔布斯畅想着，如果皮克斯能让每个人获得将简单的草稿变成精美的三维图案，它将被装入每一台电脑。
他又一次失算了。就像把俞伯牙的古琴交给一个目不识谱的白丁，好的工具并不能独立创造奇迹。 接连的挫败证明，乔布斯的理念是有瑕疵的。他曾经验主义的想把苹果早期的成功复制到NeXT和皮克斯上，可惜的是，苹果那种一飞冲天的崛起几乎是不可重复的——它恰好在一个即将腾飞的庞大市场前沿——NeXT是个迟到者，无论乔布斯怎样费尽心机，也难以在夹缝中打开生路；皮克斯则在一个过度细分的专业市场，无法低成本规模化。乔布斯一度以为，精美的工业设计和熨帖的用户体验能改变市场行为，但他错了：这些只能让你在一个崛起的大市场中差异化竞争，却不能成为生存的唯一理由。
事后可以看到，回到苹果后，乔布斯几乎没有重复这些错误。他宁肯坚持在最主流的消费电脑市场搏杀，也不去另辟细分市场，并不停以用户体验、工业设计来夯实自己的独特性；而 iPod 和 iPhone 这两个产品，都是在已经被证明了无比庞大的市场里的重大升级，而非试图以一己之力推开新市场。 如果说 NeXT 让乔布斯从头修炼管理学的基础知识，皮克斯则拓宽了他。在把公司的硬件、软件部门缩减到不能更小后，他被迫走上了第三条道路：让皮克斯生产电脑动画。
这是乔布斯把一只脚踏入好莱坞的开始。就像所有人心知肚明的，虽然硅谷和好莱坞咫尺之遥，它们却像身处两个星系：几乎不往来，也彼此看不起。即使雄辩如乔布斯，也曾数度被影业大亨杰弗里·卡增伯格羞辱。甚至，在皮克斯的创意人士那里，乔布斯得到的尊敬也有限。据一位曾与乔布斯一同前往皮克斯的NeXT高层回忆，当乔布斯在 NeXT 对别人说：「给我跳」，人们的第一反应是：「跳多高？」而当他在皮克斯发号施令，多数人只会对此视若不见。
对于一向被硅谷溺爱的乔布斯，这实在是锻造人格的经验。不过，更重要的是，皮克斯就像一道穿透乌云的光芒，向他呈现出一种全新的可能。 当你能够生产出一部像《玩具总动员》般的动画，回报是无比可观的。比起麦金塔这样开创性的电脑，《玩具总动员》似乎要平常的多：它只是每年美国市场上放映的几百部电影之一。但某种意义上，你也可以将《玩具总动员》视为一个独特的用户体验，它提供前所未有的精美的动画体验，以及深入观众心扉的感受。它是一个文化事件、一种文化力量、一个畅销品。
这对于乔布斯来说，或许是一次醍醐灌顶的点拨。在此之前，他执迷于产品的细节，在这之后，他终于清楚，他所销售的并非电脑或消费电子产品，而是一个具有文化认同感的物品。 这是 40 岁的乔布斯。和 20 年前一样，他依然重视科技的未来及产品的品味，但他终于超越了「见山是山」的心智，从一个更宏观的角度理解及使用它们。而那些曾经是他短板的商业技能，也在连续的挫败中被逐一补足。格外重要的是，在经历过三次失败后，皮克斯的上市及日后连绵不绝的成功让这个狂妄却饱受打击的人重新捡回了自信。
这二十年里，他就像一个面对大石的工匠，从心中略有景物，到运斧如飞，挫折连连。与其说他在创作，不如说他在寻找。所幸的是，这场穷二十年人生的豪赌最终以喜剧收场：他证明了，自己的创作是值得付出这许多的。
Saturday, January 2, 2010
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