硅谷风投明星：穿过苦难才能看见星空

    《财富》杂志举办的科技头脑风暴大会（7月22日至24日在美国科罗拉多州阿斯彭召开）定期召集科技创新领域最优秀和最聪明的思想家相聚一堂。每周，《财富》杂志都会重点推介一位大会嘉宾，分享他/她对于商业、科技和创业的真知灼见。本周，我们代表年轻企业家向前创业者、现硅谷风投公司Greylock Partners的一般合伙人约瑟夫•安萨尼利就工作之余的生活、最崇拜的公司以及行业建议提出了10个问题。他的回答如下。

你获得过的最好建议是什么？

    我父亲会记笔记，给我写信，在信末附上“Ad astra, per aspera”这样的拉丁文箴言，意思是：“穿过苦难才能看见星空”。这是对创业企业的概括。

你最近读过的一本书是什么？

    《英勇之路：二战意大利、纳粹以及激励了整整一个国家的自行车手的真实故事》(Road to Valor: A True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation)，作者是艾丽和安德斯•麦肯农夫妇，记载了1938年环法自行车赛（Tour de France）最年轻冠军车手基诺•巴特利的故事。

    除了从事自行车运动，巴特利还在二战期间保护了一个犹太家庭免遭纳粹的迫害。二战期间进行的100英里训练骑行期间，他在法西斯和纳粹警察的眼皮子底下偷偷传递虚假身份证件。因为这些人都知道他是一位自行车冠军，不会逮捕他。他是一位真正的英雄。

当前就业市场非常严峻，对于即将进入这个市场的年轻人，你想说些什么？

    想明白自己喜欢做什么，找到干这个可以赚钱的方式。即便再难，抓住机会，别追错了梦想，或者捡了芝麻丢了西瓜。

错过的最佳机会是什么？

    多年前，亚马逊(Amazon)的杰夫•贝佐斯面试过我。当时亚马逊只有几百个员工，我真没想到这样一家书籍零售网站最终会变成今天的科技巨擘。希望杰夫能原谅我。

你在学校学到的最重要的东西是什么？

    正如比尔•考斯比有一次开玩笑的那样，我不是优等生毕业。我能毕业真是谢天谢地。

    虽然没有获得好成绩，我还是学会了如何思考问题，解决问题，我懂得人的重要性。我遇到了一些非常出色的人，我们一起做了好几家创业公司，包括我的第一家创业公司Trio Development。这家软件公司已经被苹果公司(Apple)收购。

    Fortune's Brainstorm Tech Conference (July 22-24 in Aspen, Colo.) regularly brings together the best and brightest minds in tech innovation. Each week, Fortuneturns the spotlight on a different conference attendee to offer his or her own personal insight into business, tech, and entrepreneurship. This week, we asked former entrepreneur and current Greylock Partners general partner Joseph Ansanelli to answer 10 questions about life outside of work, the company he admires most, and industry advice for young entrepreneurs. His responses follow.

What is the best advice you ever received?

    My father would write notes and letters to me and often end with the phrase "Ad astra, per aspera," which translates as: "To the stars, through difficulty." That's the startup narrative in a nutshell.

What was the last book you read?

    Road to Valor: A True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation by Aili and Andres McConnon. It chronicles the story of Gino Bartali, the youngest rider to win the Tour de France in 1938.

    Beyond cycling, Bartali sheltered a Jewish family during World War II to protect them from the Nazis. And while on 100-mile training rides during the war, he smuggled counterfeit identity documents past Fascist and Nazi police because they all knew him as a cycling hero and would not arrest him. He was a true hero.

What would you say to a group of young people looking to enter the tough job market?

    Figure out what you love to do, and find a way to get paid doing it. Even though it's tough, take chances, and don't get caught up in chasing other people's dreams or going after the latest shiny penny.

What was your biggest missed opportunity?

    I interviewed with Jeff Bezos when Amazon (AMZN) had just a couple hundred employees but did not see how an online book seller could eventually become the technology juggernaut it is today. I hope Jeff can forgive me.

What was the most important thing you learned in school?

    As Bill Cosby once joked, I did not graduate magna cum laude or summa cum laude. I graduated "thank you, lordy."

    Despite not getting good grades, what I did learn was how to think and reason through hard problems, and I learned the importance of people. I met some amazing people that I worked with on several startups, including my first startup, Trio Development, a software company that Apple (AAPL) acquired.