硅谷初创公司创始人大多是移民

AS IT IS 2016-04-27 Silicon¹ Valley Start-Ups Fueled by Immigrants 硅谷初创公司创始人大多是移民

The area in northern California between San Francisco and San Jose is known as Silicon Valley.

Some of the world’s most famous technology companies have headquarters there. Apple and Facebook are two big ones.

Besides established companies, there are many small companies trying to get started. These businesses are known as start-ups.

Some of the people behind the start-ups are immigrants from countries like Sri Lanka, Taiwan and China. 

One of those start-ups is called Cloud of Goods. It is an online business that links local residents who have things to rent with  tourists who need those things. People who need car seats, strollers, bicycles or camping equipment can use the service to rent these goods.

Punsri Abeywickrema is the founder² of Cloud of Goods. He is from Sri Lanka. He says he has based his business on the fact that we all buy goods that we do not use all the time. When they are not being used, they can be rented to someone else.

“The idea was, you know, there's a lot of resources that we all (have) accumulated in our homes, in our garages, in our closets, that (are) sitting idle, and how can we use this to make it better for everyone?”

The company just opened for business. Workers at the company recently celebrated³ its first $500 of income with a drink of sparkling wine.

There are computer programmers working on Cloud of Goods’ website in Sri Lanka. But in California, there are 10 unpaid⁴ employees trying to build the company.

Stacy Tran is part of the start-up. She says the company is trying to start small and then expand. “Similar to how Amazon did it with books,” she says.

Gee⁵ Chuang founded Listia with James Fong. They are Chinese-Americans who met at Cornell University in the state of New York. Listia is an online marketplace where people can trade in used items for credit. Then they can use the credit to “buy” other items, like collectible coins, video games or cell phones.

Listia has been in business since 2009 and has 9 million users.

The founders⁶ overcame some problems two years ago. The U.S. Department of Labor⁷ investigated the business. The founders were required to pay wages to the website moderators who should have been considered employees. Now, 18 people work at their office in Santa Clara, California.

Chuang says it is very important to hire “people that know more than you” to start a successful business.

Neal Gorenflo is a business analyst⁸ for a site called Shareable that tracks what is called the sharing economy. He says it is hard for businesses like Listia and Cloud of Goods to find out what it takes to be successful.

But that is not because there are not enough smart and motivated people looking to work in new businesses. Abeywickrema says Silicon Valley provides the perfect mix of people with skills and opportunities.

“All that, you know, different expertise⁹, different skill sets, different talents mix here together, and that is the right recipe for a, you know, successful company.”

Words in This Story

talent – n. a special ability that allows someone to do something well

moderator – n. someone who leads a discussion in a group and tells each person when to speak; someone who moderates a meeting or discussion

overcome – v. to successfully deal with or gain control of (something difficult)

resource– n. a place or thing that provides something useful

accumulate – v. to gather or acquire (something) gradually as time passes

idle – adj. not working, active, or being used

founder – n. a person who creates or establishes something that is meant to last for a long time (such as a business or school); a person who founds something

rent – v. to pay money in return for being able to use (something that belongs to someone else)

tourist – n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure

start-up – n. a new business

1 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

4 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

5 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

6 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

7 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。