At least my mistake wasn’t as expensive as George Bell’s. He was the former documentary film-maker hired in 1996 to run Excite, the dotcom darling, which achieved a market capitalisation of $35bn at its peak. Three years later, the founders of Google decided that their search business was interfering with their studies and tried to sell it to a number of buyers, including Mr Bell, for just $750,000. He turned it down flat. Excite subsequently went bankrupt, while Google is now worth $170bn.
然而, 至少, 我的失误不及乔治•贝尔的失误付出的代价高. 他曾经是纪录片制片人, 1996年被Excite雇用. 该公司最高实现了350亿美元的市值. 三年后, 谷歌的创使人认为, 他们的搜索业务干扰到了他们的研究, 试图用区区75万美元向众多的买家出售, 包括贝尔. 然而贝尔直接拒绝了. Excite后来破产了, 而谷歌现在的市值高达1700亿美元.

And it would be hard not to feel some sympathy for James Monaghan. In 1960, he teamed up with his brother Tom in the purchase of a single pizza restaurant in Michigan for $500. But later that year, he decided to go travelling, and so sold his 50 per cent share in the business to his brother in exchange for a used Volkswagen Beetle. A few years later, the company changed its name to Domino’s Pizza, and in 1998 was sold for about $1bn.
同样的, 我们也难免会为詹姆斯•莫纳汗感到可惜. 1960年, 他和他的兄弟汤姆合作, 用500美元在密歇根买下了一间比萨餐厅. 后来, 也就在那一年, 他决定去旅行, 于是将自己百分之五十的股份卖给了他的兄弟, 换取一辆二手的大众甲壳虫汽车. 几年以后, 那家比萨餐厅改名为达美乐比萨餐厅. 1998年, 达美乐比萨餐厅以约10亿美元的价格出售.

By all means treasure experience, and learn from your blunders. But don’t wallow in nostalgia, pining for what might have been. Rather, go ahead and seize the day no matter what. I have little time for those who say: I wish I had started my own business. My only response is: so do it now.
前车可鉴, 我们一定要从经验和失误中吸取教训. 但是切不可以过分沉浸在过去的伤怀中而于可能的结果念念不忘. 相反, 你应该勇往直前, 抓住一切可能的机会. 我没有空去理会那些只会说 “我要早点创业就好了”. 如果有人对我说这句话, 我会对他说: 现在就去做吧!

(作者: Luke Johnson 选自英国<<金融时报>> 译者: 爱尔兰都柏林大学 赖小琪)