为什么中国没有出现扎克伯格

More specifically, why are there hardly any twenty-year-old wunderkind entrepreneurs in China?

很奇怪,为什么在中国很少有二十几岁的创业者呢?

I pulled the last 10 China IT IPOs in the US, and found that the founders were 33 when they started their companies.  At Innovation Works, the average entrepreneur age is also 33.  We all know the Y Combinator or RonConway are funding younger and younger entrepreneurs in the Valley.  What happened in China?

我查了最近10个在美国IPO的IT企业的资料,发现他们的创始人都是在他们33岁的时候创办了他们的公司.在创新型的公司中,企业的创始人的平均年龄也是33.我们知道Y Combinator 或者Ron Conway这样的硅谷公司是由越来越年轻的创业者创办的.在中国到底发生了什么呢?

There are several major reasons why top Chinese entrepreneurs are 10 year solder than their counterparts in the Silicon Valley:

导致中国的顶级创业者比他们的美国硅谷的同行大10岁有以下几个主要原因:

1. Chinese education tends to be better for depth than breadth.  In other words, when you graduate as a software engineer, you may have very strong fundamentals in math and engineering, but you don't get as much exposure to user experience, communications, product design, business acumen, team-work, etc. as you would in a typical US university.  Moreover, Chinese schools focus more on tests from textbooks, while American schools care more about learning-by-doing.  In short, the American education better prepares a student to be an entrepreneur.

1．中国的教育更倾向于深度，相对广度来说。欢句话说，当你作为一个软件工程师从学校毕业的时候，你可能拥有很强的数学和工程上的基本功，但是你对于用户体验，商业规范，以及产品设计，商业嗅觉，团队精神等方面相对美国的传统大学的毕业生来说有所欠缺.更重要的，中国的学校更看重基于书本的考试，可是美国的学校更看重在实验的过程中学习。总之，美国的教育更适合将学生培养成一个创业者。

2. The top American young entrepreneurs tend to be rebellious and spontaneous -- Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry/Sergey, and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of school because they wanted to follow their heart and realize their dream.  But in China, the environment, culture, and education system care more about discipline, harmony, and conformity.  All students follow similar curriculum, and take standardized tests.  Grades are considered the primary measure of intelligence and success.  As a result, a Jobs-like rebel in China is much more likely to be shamed into oblivion, stifled into submission, or rejected into the dark side.

2.美国的顶尖创业者更叛逆更自发--Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry/Sergey, 和 Mark Zuckerberg都为了实现他们的梦想从学校辍学了。可是在中国，环境，文化，教育系统更重视原则，和谐以及一致性，所有的学生接收同样的课程，和标准化的考试。考分被看成考察智力和衡量成功的重要指标。所有的这些导致乔布斯式的反叛在中国更容易被淹没，选择向世俗投降，或者被抛弃到一个黑暗的角落。

3. The Chinese Internet market is a very tough environment, described by some as a gladiatorial fight to the death.  One company has registered a competitor's domain name and built an identical service to fool users; companies de-install each other's software and change user selections without informing the user; weibo (Chinese twitter) is used as a battleground for name-calling and rumor-mongering; lawsuits and arrests are common competitive escalations.  This is too dangerous a "playground" for a young CEO who hasn't had ten years of experience and a dozen scars from virtual duels.

3.中国的Internet市场环境太残酷，有些人将之比喻成一个可以置人于死地的角斗场。公司会将其主要的竞争对手登记在册，制定一套独特的服务来愚弄用户，将竞争对手的软件在不告知用户的情况下卸载；以微博作为骂战和谣言的战场；法律诉讼以及逮捕经常作为竞争升级的手段。这些对于没有10年工作经验，也没有在虚拟战争中积累了大把伤疤的年轻“CEO”们来说是一个太残酷的竞技场。

So in China, VCs generally prefer the thirty-something entrepreneur who are more mature, experienced, and adept at execution.  They are more resilient and dependable, but perhaps less innovative and passionate. They desire success, but may not "think different". They are a different breed of entrepreneurs from the Silicon boys.

所以在中国，风险投资者更倾向于投给那些三十几岁的创业者，他们更成熟，更有经验，更善于执行。他们更可靠，可是在创新和激情上就稍微差一点。他们也渴望成功，但是可能不会“Think different”。他们是一帮和硅谷的小男孩不同的创业者。