最初不被看好却大获成功的创意

 What were the most ridiculous startup ideas that eventually became successful?

有哪些最荒唐的创业点子最后却成功了？

获得328好评的答案@Jason M. Lemkin

My vote is Twitter. I fell in love with Twitter the first time I saw it as an SMS play at Web 2.0 so many years ago.  It was goofy and fun, back then.

我要投Twitter一票。很多年前，我第一次看到这个就像是Web版手机短信2.0的Twitter时我就爱上它了。

But seriously, a 140 character limited, all text, micro-blogging platform?  We could do more than that with 300 baud modems¹...

不过说真的，整个文本限制在140字的微博客平台？我们有300波特调制解调器，可以做的比这更多······

I mean, that couldn't be a real business, could it?

我的意思是，这不可能是一桩实际的业务，可能吗？

获得303好评的答案@Suren Samarchyan

"In April 2011 Evan Spiegel stood up in a Stanford product design class to present an idea for his final project. It would be a mobile app, he explained, where friends could share photos that would disappear—forever—in a matter of seconds.

2011年4月，伊万·斯皮格尔站在斯坦福大学产品设计班的讲台上为他的毕业设计展示了一个想法。他解释说，这会是一个APP，朋友们可以在上面分享照片，但是这些照片将在几秒之内永久消失。

"Everyone said, 'That is a terrible idea,'" Spiegel remembers. "Not only is nobody going to use it, they said, but the only people who do, will use it for sexting." A venture capitalist sitting in on the class said it could be interesting, if he made the photos permanent and partnered with Best Buy. Spiegel nearly gagged."

斯皮格尔记得，“每个人都说‘这是个糟糕的点子’，他们说‘没人会用这个，就算有，也是用来发色青短信’。”一个坐在教室里的风险投资人说这会很有意思，如果他能让这些照片永久存在并且和百思买集团合作。斯皮格尔几乎要笑出来。（伊万·斯皮格尔：Snapchat创始人）

获得14.8k好评的答案@Michael Wolfe

Amazon - we'll sell books online, even though users are still scared to use credit cards on the web. Their shipping² costs will eat up any money they save. They'll do it for the convenience, even though they have to wait a week for the book.

亚马逊——我们要在线卖书，即使用户们还很不放心在网络上刷信用卡。运费会耗掉他们省下来的钱。他们会因为方便而买账的，就算他们要等一个星期书才到货。

iOS - we are shipping a brand new operating system that doesn't run a single one of the millions of applications that have already been developed for Mac OS, Windows, or Linux. Apple has to approve all of the apps, and it won't have cut and paste to start with.

iOS——我们在推出一款全新的操作系统，它没有运营任何一个已经在Mac OS、Windows或Linux上已经在使用的应用软件。苹果要认证所有的APP，而且它不需要从剪切和粘贴来开始。

Google - we are building the world's 20th search engine at a time when most of the others have been abandoned as being commoditized money losers. We'll strip out all of the ad-supported news and portal features so you won't be distracted³ from using the free search stuff.

谷歌——在大部分搜索引擎作为商品化亏损企业而被淘汰时，我们要建立世界上第20个搜索引擎。我们要剔除所有广告支持消息和门户功能，这样你就不会在使用免费搜索工具时觉得很烦躁了。

Firefox - we are going to build a better web browser⁴, even though 90 percent of the world's computers already have a free one built in. It's based on a product that a single college student built.

火狐浏览器——即使世界上90%的电脑都有内置的免费浏览器，我们也打算造一个更好的。这个浏览器基于一个大学生创造的产品。

1 modems   

n.调制解调器( modem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Yes, floppy day, as did 9600 baud dial up modems. 是的，当时软件是最主要的工具，还有9600波特拨号调制解调器。 来自互联网
• Extra settings for configuring BAD modems that cannot identify proper disconnect tone. 额外的设置，配置不好的调制解调器不能确定适当的断开的语调。 来自互联网

2 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

3 distracted   

a.注意力分散的，思想不集中的

参考例句：

• When working, one should concentrate and not allow oneself to be distracted. 工作时要集中精力，不要分心。
• Noise outside distracted her mind from her studies. 门外的噪音使她心神不宁，无法集中注意力学习。

4 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。