In 2008 I stepped into the chairman role of Twitter.
2008年我成为推特的老板
There was an interesting thing that was happening.
发生了一件很有趣的事情
The entire market was crushing.
整个市场都开始下滑
So, all of these financial obstructions that we
所以我们所有的金融障碍
had built up were suddenly being swept away.
都忽然消失了
There is no better time to start a new company or a
金融衰退和大萧条是
new idea than a depression or recession because a lot
建立一个公司或是发展一个新想法的最好时机
of the management teams were being asked to leave.
因为很多管理团队都被辞退了
There is a lot of people
很多人都需要
who need to get really creative
变得有创造力
to create something new and there was an opening.
来创造新的东西，而且出现了一个契机
There was an opening particularly in payments.
不用花多少钱就能雇到牛人
At this time, I also reconnected with
这个时候，我也再次联系到了我15岁
my first boss when I was 15 years old.
时第一个老板
His name is Jim McKelvey. He is a glass artist.
他叫做吉姆·麦凯尔维，是个玻璃艺术家
He makes these beautiful pieces of glass.
他制作出很多美丽的玻璃艺术品
We reconnected over Christmas.
我们是在圣诞节的时候联系上的
I normally go home for Christmas and visit my family.
圣诞节时我一般都会回家看家人
We got to talking.
我们两个开始聊天
He wanted to build an electronic car company.
他想建立一个电子汽车公司
I said, "I have no idea how to do that but it's
我说:"我不爱懂这一行
an interesting idea. But let's keep talking.
不过这个想法不错，我们接着聊吧
We should definitely work together on something."
我们的确应该一起合作什么 "
Then, one day he called me up on his iPhone.
之后一天他用他的iPhone给我打电话
I picked up my iPhone.
我用我的iPhone接了他的电话
He was frustrated
他很沮丧
because he just lost a sale of a $2000 piece of
因为他刚刚失去一次将玻璃艺术品
glass that he had just made
以2000美元卖出的机会
because the woman who wanted to pay
有位女士想要买他的艺术品
him only had a credit card and
但是只用信用卡付账
he couldn't accept credit card.
但他不愿意用信用卡交易
We were both wondering,
我们都在想
you have this general purpose computer next to your ear
你手边就有一台电脑
why were you not able to make that sale?
为什么你不能完成这次买卖
We decided that he would come out.
我们决定让他入伙
We would take a month.
我们打算花一个月的时间
We would hire one other programmer to work on
我们计划雇佣另一个程序设计师来做
the client's site and build a hardware out,
客户网站，再准备好硬件
I would build the server software
我还会编出一个服务器软件
and then answer that question.
一个月后，我们就会回答那个问题
In a month we built a very early prototype
一个月后我们建立起了最初的模型
of what is now known as Square,
就是现在大家知道的Square
which is a credit card reader that plugs into the
就是一个信用卡读卡器
audio jack of your iPhone or your android or your
可以插入你的iPhone或是android或是你的
iPad or anything that has an audio jack.
iPad或是任何带音频插孔的设备上
We just need to write software for it.
我们只需要编写一个软件
The software and the hardware was really easy.
软件和硬件都很容易
We got that done in about a month.
我们一个月左右就做完了
I could actually swipe a card and generate electronic
这下，我真的能刷刷卡，发一封邮件，把电子回执
receipt via email and then send it out to a person.
发给对方
I love this because
我喜欢这个成果
I would go around to all these angel investors
因为这样我就能四处拜访天使投资者
and VCs and charge them $5 or $50
和风险资本家，收取他们5或50美元的费用
to show them my new idea.
向他们展示我的新想法
I made $600 from that, by the way.
顺便说一句，我从中获得了600美元
It was awesome.
非常棒
