一周工作四小时不是梦,自由工作者的福音

If anyone gets the entrepreneur's plight, it's Tim Ferriss. The East Hampton, N.Y.-raised, Princeton-educated author once worked in sales at a data storage company before starting a sports nutrition supplement company and penning The 4-Hour Workweek in 2007. The controversial New York Times bestseller inculcated readers to Ferriss's "lifestyle design" principle, serving up ways to optimize the work day and increase quality of life. Its success established him as a self-help guru and paved the way for a follow-up in 2010. Last fall, he created a stir as the first major author to sign with Amazon (AMZN) Publishing to distribute The 4-Hour Chef. At the same time, Ferriss also kept his eye on the tech scene. To date, he has invested in and advises over 30 tech companies, from Facebook (FB) and Twitter to Uber and TaskRabbit.

如果说有谁能了解创业的艰辛，这个人非蒂姆?菲利斯莫属。这位成长于纽约东汉普顿区，毕业于普林斯顿大学（Princeton）的作家曾是一家数据存储公司的销售人员，之后还开过一家运动营养品公司。2007年，他出版了《每周工作四小时》（The 4-Hour Workweek）。这本书成为《纽约时报》（New York Times）的最畅销著作，但也引起了很大争议。它极力向读者推荐菲利斯的“生活方式设计”原则，还提出了优化工作时间，提高生活质量的方法。这本书的成功让菲利斯成了自助大师，还为他在2010年出版后续作品铺平了道路。去年秋天，菲利斯和亚马逊图书出版部门Amazon Publishing签定合同，由后者发行他的新书《每周下厨四小时》（The 4-Hour Chef），成为知名作家中第一个吃螃蟹的人，轰动一时。同时，菲利斯还把注意力放在了科技领域。截至目前，他所投资或担任顾问的科技公司已经超过30家，其中包括Facebook、Twitter、租车网站Uber和网上劳务市场TaskRabbit。

Fortune caught up with Ferris at the launch of the digital lifestyle brand InsideHook in San Francisco, where the former national Chinese kickboxing champion (yes, really) reflected upon his Amazon flirtation, why he's on hiatus from investing, and why another book isn't coming any time soon.

本刊记者借数字时尚品牌InsideHook在旧金山举行发布会的机会和菲利斯共进了午餐。这位曾经的全美散打冠军（没错，他真的是散打冠军）谈到了他和亚马逊结缘的过程，解释了他为什么暂停投资活动以及他近期不会推出新书的原因。

Fortune: You told me earlier that 250 pages were cut from the 4-Hour Chef. Feel free to disagree, but I'd heard you weren't happy with Amazon. Is that true?

《财富》：你之前曾经告诉过我，《每周下厨四小时》这本书被砍掉了250页。请恕我直言，我听说你对亚马逊不是很满意。是真的吗？

Ferriss: There were many things I was more than happy with, but I think everyone underestimated the irrational BAcklash from big box retailers that would come of Amazon Publishing. That wasn't the fault of Amazon, and I don't blame Amazon for that. We understood the risks going in. So as the opportunity presented itself, I made the decision to pull the trigger. I take responsibility for that. On the digital side, Amazon executed fantastically. We anticipated that Barnes &Noble (BKS) would boycott. We did not anticipate that Target (TGT), Costco (COST), Wal-Mart (WMT), and so on would boycott.

菲利斯： 有很多事情都让我满意的不得了，但我想大家都低估了大型零售商对Amazon Publishing做出的非理性激烈反应。这不是亚马逊的错，在这一点上我不怪亚马逊。当时我们知道有哪些风险。所以当机会出现时，我决定放手一搏，责任也由我来承担。亚马逊在数字领域执行的非常好。我们预计会遭到图书零售商Barnes &Noble的抵制。但我们没想到塔吉特（Target）、好市多（Costco）和沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）这些零售商也会抵制我们。

The landscape is changing so quickly, but the experiment itself taught me a lot. It was like [getting an] MBA in the next wave of publishing. With the next book, would I do Amazon? Would I do traditional? Would I do a mixture? Would I do self-publishing? I don't know.

情况变化的非常快，这次经历则教会了我很多东西。就好像下次出书时我就能（拿到一个）MBA学位。下一本书我会找亚马逊吗？我会采用传统方式吗？还是把二者结合起来？还是自己出版？我不知道。

Part of the reason I'm not doing a new book in the immediate, foreseeable future is that I think there's going to be a bloodbath or arms race over say, the next 24 months, and I want to wait until the dust settles. I wouldn't underestimate Amazon! [chuckles] And as a traditional publisher, I would also say, I wouldn't get myopically focused on Amazon when there are at least a dozen startups you should also be concerned with. If you're not going to innovate, I would do so while they're less expensive –

最近我不会出版新书，部分原因是我认为在接下来的大概24个月里会出现大屠杀或者军备竞赛那样的场面，我想一直等到尘埃落定。我不会低估亚马逊！（轻笑）而且作为一名传统出版人，我还要说，现在至少还有十几家初创型企业值得关注，我不会目光短浅地把所有注意力都集中在亚马逊身上。如果你不打算创新，我就会这么做，趁成本还不那么高……

-- and not Amazon.

……而且不是通过亚马逊。

Exactly.

没错。

In other words, don't expect another Tim Ferriss book within the next one to two years.

换句话说，今后一、两年都别指望再看到蒂姆?菲利斯的新作了。

I don't think so. I mean, never say never, but I would be exceptionally surprised if I were to have a book come out in the next year or two.

我不这么想。我是说，凡事没有绝对，但如果明年或后年能出书的话，我会感到格外惊讶。

So if you're not writing another book, what are you working on?

那么，如果你不打算再写本书，你会忙些什么呢？

I can't give you a lot of detail, but I'm going to be executive producing and hosting my own TV show on primetime.

我不能告诉你太多细节，我只能说我将在自己的黄金时间段电视节目中担任执行制片和主持人。

When can we expect that?

这个节目什么时候开播？

It's coming very, very soon. There will be news probably within the next two months.

非常快。两个月内可能就会有消息。

Books aside, you've also been a startup investor and advisor. What do you look for in a startup, and what's on the radar these days?

除了写书，你还一直是初创型企业的投资人和顾问。你对初创型企业有哪些期望？目前又有哪些目标呢？

So I look for consumer-facing products addressing a problem I have that are already demonstrating traction of some type -- like user adoption -- that I can help dramatically. They need to be simple enough to understand, yet unique enough to pitch a trend piece to say, Fortune or the New York Times. Which means by default, I could pitch it not just to New York and San Francisco but the rest of the country. And ideally, but not a prerequisite, a product-focused studio and at least one person who's been with the startup from early inception to exit on the exec team.

我希望看到的是面向消费者的产品，它们能解决人们的问题，而且它们已经表现出了某种优势，比如在用户采用率方面，在这方面我可以提供很大的帮助。它们得简单易懂，但又得独特到能登上《财富》或《纽约时报》（ New York Times）这些媒体的潮流版块。也就是说，我不光能在纽约和旧金山推广这些产品，在国内其他地方也可以。理想情况下，要有一间以产品为主的工作室，而且执行团队中至少要有一名成员一直待在这家初创型企业，从建立之初一直到退出。但这不是先决条件。

So it's largely driven by the talent more so than the product?

所以人才的作用基本上要大于产品？

And a product I can use in its current state and derive value from. Evernote solved all my researching and paperless goals for creating books. TaskRabbit allows me to get rid of all the errands and busywork. Uber solves major problems in San Francisco that are parking-related, taxi-related, and so on. That's pretty much it.

这还得是一种目前人们就能使用，而且能从中受益的产品。电子记事软件印象笔记（Evernote）让我在写书时完成了所有的研究和无纸化工作。TaskRabbit让我摆脱了奔波和忙碌。Uber帮我在旧金山解决了很多大问题，比如停车位、叫出租车等等。基本上就是这样。

I've been criticized by some VCs who've said it's naive to only invest in companies whose services and products you would use yourself, but so far it's been a good rule for me not losing money!

一些风险投资公司说我天真，因为我只投资我会亲自使用其服务和产品的公司。但到目前为止，这对我来说一直都是一条很好的原则，它不会让我赔钱！

Is there a startup you'd call the "the one that got away," one you wished you'd backed?

有没有什么初创型企业是那种从你手边溜掉的机会，让你觉得你原本应该出手投资的？

Square is definitely one of them. There are many, but that's the first one that comes to mind. Operationally and from a product standpoint, I just have so much respect for what they've done and what they continue to do, and think they're just getting started.

移动支付平台Square肯定是其中之一。这种公司有许多，但我首先想到的就是它。从经营和产品角度讲，他们已经取得的成就和他们继续进行的工作让我深感敬佩，而且我认为他们的事业才刚刚开始。

I love the ones that look obvious in hindsight. People now look at Uber and go, "Oh, my god. Of course. So straightforward. How could it not do well?" The fact of the matter is, it didn't look obvious at all to people in the very beginning. (And I was a pre-seed advisor to Uber.) It wasn't obvious except for people looking into a crystal ball, trying to look 10 years down the field like [cofounders] Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick.

我喜欢那些事后让人觉得恍然大悟的公司。现在，人们谈到Uber时都会说：“噢，天哪。当然。情况是这么的简单明了。它怎么会不成功呢？”实际上，要点是在它刚刚起步的时候人们根本看不明白。（在构思期我就是Uber的顾问。）能看明白的只有那些有预见力，可以设法看到10年后这个领域情形到底如何的人，比如（Uber联合创始人）加勒特?坎普和特拉维斯?克拉尼克。

Is there an area of tech you're currently eyeing?

目前你是否在关注着某个科技领域？

I hate to say it, but no. I'm actually considering dialing back my startup involvement.

我不想承认，但目前确实没有。实际上我正在考虑降低对初创型企业的参与程度。

Why is that?

为什么？

I think there's way too much "dumb capital" floating around. You have people signing deals offering unbelievably insane terms to early stage companies that haven't validated their product at all. That's great for the entrepreneurs because even if 99 stupid ideas are funded, there should be one out of 100 that could change the world. For someone capital-constrained, it makes investing intelligently very difficult.

我觉得周围有太多太多的“愚蠢资本”。有人和处于起步阶段的公司签订了合同，其中有些条款离谱得难以置信，而且这些公司的产品根本还没有经过检验。对创业者来说这非常好，因为即使获得投资的99种想法都是愚蠢的，100种想法里总还会有一个可能改变这个世界。

When I invested in Uber or TaskRabbit, they were sort of ahead of the curve before these labels or themes were even available. I feel like by the time there's a theme that's easily understood, you're already behind the wave and you're investing in funds, so I really don't know. I just look for things where I go, "Holy shit! How do I live without this?"

我对Uber或TaskRabbit投资时，它们多少有些超前，因为那时甚至还没有这种类型或题材。当时我的感觉是这样的题材比较容易理解，自己已经落在潮流之后，而且正在投入资金，所以我真的不是很清楚。我寻找的是那些让我觉得“老天爷！没有这个我可怎么活！”的东西。