创业与商业gabrielweinberg.com
创业公司创始人通往 500 万美元的路径
Paths to $5M for a startup founder
2010 — 2012，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这是 Gabriel Weinberg 2010 年的一篇博客，讨论创业公司创始人实现约 500 万美元个人收益的几种路径，并权衡股权稀释、退出方式和成功概率。评论区延伸到独立小产品、联合创始人融资以及“先做用户想要的产品”等替代思路。
为什么经久不衰：它把“创业退出”拆成可比较的路径，并引出关于股权、融资和生活自由度的长期讨论，今天读来仍有参考价值。
HN 评论精选
独立开发者可以通过多个小盈利应用实现生活方式自由，不必只盯着大额退出。
我是单人创始人，想说一句：如果你追求的是几百万美元收购带来的独立感，也可以考虑其他实现方式。具体来说，可以想想做几个每月几千美元的小应用，是否能带来类似 500 万美元到手后的生活方式。对我来说，我想要的是想做什么就做什么、想休息就休息、每年能好好度假的独立性。这取决于你的生活状况、储蓄和消费习惯，但我认为每月 4000 到 5000 美元利润就能实现。靠几个细分网页应用做到这个收入，比未来以几百万美元卖掉公司要现实得多。
matt1查看英文原文
I'm a sole founder and just want to add that if you're looking for the independence that a multimillion dollar acquision brings, you should also consider alternative ways to achieve that end. Specifically, consider whether building one or more $X,000/month apps can help you achieve a similar lifestyle that a $5M payday would bring. For me, I want the independence to work on what I want when I want, have the flexibility to take breaks to spend time with my wife and future kids, take a nice vacation or two each year, etc. This will obviously depend on your life situation, your savings, your spending habits, etc, but for me, I think I can achieve that with $4K-$5K profit/month. And making that much via a few niche web apps is much, much more likely than selling for a few million dollars down the road. (I currently have two ~$1K/mo web apps and am still at my day job for the moment, so getting to that point from where I am should definitely be doable.) If this appeals to you, I recommend checking out Rob Walling's Micropreneur Academy, which is a great start for anyone going down this route: http://www.micropreneur.com/
专注产品与用户需求比算计退出更重要，联合创始人往往能提高成功概率。
与其精打细算最优退出策略，不如把重点放在如何做出人们真正想要的东西上，这可能更明智。多数情况下，这意味着你需要一个联合创始人。10% 的“有”好过 100% 的“无”。
yangez查看英文原文
It may be wiser to focus on the absolute best way to make something that people want rather than just crunching your optimal exit strategy. In most cases this probably means you want a co-founder. 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing.
适度融资、保持创始人较大股份和不继续多轮融资，是兼顾成功概率与退出灵活性的平衡方案。
两个联合创始人合计让出 15% 到 25% 的股份，融资 50 万到 100 万美元（最好来自知名投资人），之后不再拿一分钱投资。综合考虑，这似乎是最好的平衡。成功概率高得多，同时低价退出的机会仍然存在：仍可接受相对较低的收购价；创始人股份仍有 37% 到 43%；投资人能帮助接触收购、招聘和合作；有钱加速增长；立刻全职投入；有投资人后别人会更认真对待你。
staunch查看英文原文
Two co-founders that give up a total of 15% - 25% to raise $500k - $1M (ideally from well known investors) and never take another dime of investment. That seems like the best balance all things considered. Your odds of success are much higher, and your opportunity to exit (if you want to) at a low price is still there. 1) You can still accept a relatively low acquisition price. 2) Your share is still 37% - 43%, which is a huge chunk. 3) You have investors that will help with acquisition offers/hiring/partnerships, etc. 4) You can afford to pay for things that significantly accelerate your growth, that you would otherwise shy away from. 5) You're instantly full time (compared with a day job, or consulting work on the side). 6) Other companies/people will take you more seriously because you have investors.
创始人应优先最大化公司成功概率，而不是过早优化个人退出收益。
畅想退出时个人能赚多少，其实只是空中楼阁。你的首要目标应该是最大化成功概率，而不是把自己限制在“联合创始人不超过两个”这类随意参数上。打造一家盈利公司本来就艰难又多变，如果你分心去关注成功以外的东西（比如个人收益），很可能搬起石头砸自己的脚，最后什么也得不到。
axiom查看英文原文
As much as it's fun to think about how much you personally stand to gain in an exit, it's all just pie in the sky silliness. Your number one goal should be to maximize your odds of success without constraining yourself to any arbitrary parameter like "no more than 2 cofounders." Building a profitable company is such a difficult and volatile process that if you try and focus on anything other than just success (e.g. your personal take) you're going to end up shooting yourself in the foot and end up with nothing.
历次讨论
同类还值得读
微软已死（2007）
Microsoft is Dead (2007)
Paul Graham 2007 年的一篇短文，判断微软在互联网与创业竞争中已不再令人畏惧、失去影响力——所谓“死”并非字面倒闭。
创业与商业上首页 8 次 · 2007–2025paulgraham.comH&R Block 与 Intuit 游说反对简化报税（2017）
H&R Block and Intuit Lobbying Against Simpler Tax Filing (2017)
2017年ProPublica调查报道梳理了H&R Block和Intuit如何通过游说反对更简单的美国报税方式，尤其是政府预填税表和免费申报等改革。
创业与商业上首页 5 次 · 2017–2022propublica.org你本不该有老板
You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss (2008)
Paul Graham 2008 年的经典文章，论证人类在演化中习惯于小团体协作，而大公司的层级结构和老板制度是人为产物，对程序员尤其有害——因为编程的本质是创造新事物，而大公司…
创业与商业上首页 5 次 · 2008–2020paulgraham.com为什么要在经济糟糕时创业
Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
Paul Graham 的经典短文，论证经济衰退并不是创业的障碍：真正决定成败的是创始人和产品，而非宏观环境；衰退期反而竞争更少、人才更易招、成本更低。
创业与商业上首页 5 次 · 2008–2022paulgraham.com做那些不可规模化的事
Do Things that Don't Scale
Paul Graham 2013 年的经典创业文章《Do Things that Don't Scale》。
创业与商业上首页 4 次 · 2013–2025paulgraham.com编辑精选