左右臉書命運的預言家

矽谷的創投專家－馬科•安德里森見微知著，扶植過多家新創公司，從沒沒無聞到如今在競爭激烈的科技產業佔有一席之地。雅虎多年前曾試圖以重金購併臉書，若非安德里森堅決反對，臉書很可能不是當今市值2000多億的社群網站。

進入本文前，請先想想如何表達以下單字：

a)    引用

b)    勸誡

c)     安置

Marc Andreessen, one of Silicon Valley’s famed venture capitalists, is tomorrow’s advance man, routinely laying out what will happen in the next several decades. He likes to a) invoke Canadian writer William Gibson’s observation: “The future is already here—it’s just not very evenly distributed.”

矽谷知名創投家馬科•安德里森洞燭機先，經常預測未來數十年發展趨勢。他頗愛引述加拿大作家威廉•吉布森的觀察：「未來已經到來，只是並非平均分佈」。

The biggest investment Andreessen has ever made may very well be Facebook. He became a valuable mentor to its cofounder, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2006, when Yahoo offered to buy the social networking website for $1 billion. At that time, Facebook’s lead investor, Accel Partners, told a young Zuckerberg to accept the offer to make a fast buck. However, 1) dead set against the idea, Andreessen b) urged Zuckerberg to hold his own.

臉書是安德里森所作過的最大投資。他於2006年成為臉書創辦人馬克•薩克伯的良師益友，當時雅虎欲以十億美元購併該社群網站。臉書主要創投公司艾克賽，要求年紀輕輕的薩克伯接受該提議，以便大撈一票。然而安德里森大力反對，力勸薩克伯堅持到底。

“Every single person involved in Facebook wanted Mark to take the Yahoo offer,” Andreessen recalled. “The psychological pressure they put on this 22-year-old was intense. Mark and I really bonded in that period, because I told him, ‘Don’t sell! Don’t sell! Don’t sell!’”

安德里森憶道：「與臉書有關連的每一個人，皆希望馬克將臉書賣給雅虎。當時這年僅22歲的小伙子承受極大心理壓力。那段時期，馬克與我的感情緊密，因為我不斷告訴他：『不要賣！不要賣！不要賣！』」

“Marc has this really deep belief that, when companies are executing well on their vision, they can have a much bigger effect on the world than people think, not just as a business, but as a steward of humanity…” Zuckerberg said. He ended up playing his cards right by listening to Andreessen. Today, valued at more than $200 billion, Facebook 2) is sitting pretty.

臉書創辦人薩克伯說：「馬科深信，企業朝著願景大步邁進時，對世界的影響更為深遠，不只是作為一家企業，且是作為全人類的管家……。」薩克伯最後聽從安德里森的建議，作出正確抉擇。如今，臉書市值高達兩千多億美元，高枕無憂。

A keen advocate for information technology, Andreessen has great confidence in tech companies, and doesn’t believe that robots will consume all the jobs. He encourages people to c) posit “a world in which all material needs are provided free, by robots and material synthesizers…. Imagine six, or 10, billion people doing nothing but arts and sciences, culture and exploring and learning. What a world that would be!”

安德里森積極提倡資訊科技，對科技公司深具信心，不相信機器人會吃掉所有工作機會。他鼓勵人們設想：「一個物質需求皆由機器人與合成器免費供應的世界……。想像60億或100億人專心投入藝術、科學、文化、探索與學習，不須為賺錢而工作，這會是多麼美好的世界！」

口語詞彙

1. Dead set against something 堅決反對

set是「堅定的」，而against則有「反對」的意思。

The proposal would cause our company to lose tons of money, so our manager is dead set against it. 該提議會導致公司損失慘重，因此經理堅決反對。

 2. Be sitting pretty  高枕無憂

Sit pretty坐姿優美來暗喻「無後顧之憂」。

The new law firm is sitting pretty now, as it has successfully recruited a number of outstanding veteran lawyers. 這家新法律事務所現在可以高枕無憂了，因為已經成功招募多位傑出的資深律師。

參考資料：The New Yorker