從8歲訓練的準CEO 培養孩子的創業精神大綱

Jensen Bergman spent weeks preparing to pitch his team's business idea to investors. Minutes before the meeting, he was playing ping-pong outside the board room to stay calm.

詹森·伯格曼(Jensen Bergman)準備將他團隊的商業理念推銷給投資者，他爲此花了數週時間準備。見面前的幾分鐘，爲了保持冷靜，他在董事會會議室外打起了乒乓球。

Jensen is 9 years old.

伯格曼今年九歲。

'If they say no, it's going to be really upsetting for us,' he said as one of his teammates wheeled up beside him on a tiny scooter.

他說：“如果他們拒絕，我們真的會很沮喪。”他的一個隊友正在旁邊滑着小型踏板車。

Jensen was taking part in a program called '8 and Up' that teaches young children about entrepreneurship. As a culmination of the class, which met for six weeks in Princeton, N.J., and cost $350, Jensen and his 15 peers would soon pitch their idea -- 'Tiger KidsClub,' a Friday night hangout space for children -- to real, grown-up investors at Tigerlabs, a local seed fund.

Emile Wamsteker for The Wall Street Journal 圖片：小小CEO：創業從八歲學起伯格曼參加了一個名爲8 and Up的項目，這個項目是爲了培養小孩子的創業精神。孩子們將在新澤西州普林斯頓(Princeton)參加爲期六週的課程，學費爲350美元。很快，作爲這一課程的高潮部分，伯格曼就要和他的15個小夥伴將他們的“老虎兒童俱樂部”(Tiger KidsClub)——一個爲孩子設立的週五聚會玩耍之所——的創意推銷給當地種子基金公司“老虎實驗室”(Tigerlabs)的投資者，真正的、成年的投資者。

As startups like WhatsApp and Oculus VR Inc. get snapped up for billions of dollars and others, like Twitter and Facebook, go public for more, younger children are filling classes, camps and other programs that promise to develop entrepreneurial skills in the pre-pubescent set.

即時通訊應用提供商WhatsApp和虛擬現實頭戴設備公司Oculus VR等初創公司爭取到了數以十億美元計的投資，推特(Twitter)和Facebook等公司則通過上市籌到了更多資金，與此同時，年幼的孩子們也紛紛參加課程、野營等項目，這些項目承諾能培養尚未到青春期的孩子創業技巧。

Some scholars argue that cultivating entrepreneurship in the very young is vital, as children are born imaginative, energetic, and willing to take risks, but lose this entrepreneurial spirit over time. Advocates say such programs make up for gaps left by an educational system that ill prepares students for a tech-centric, rapidly shifting job market.

一些學者認爲，在幼年時期開發培養孩子的創業精神至關重要，因爲孩子們生來想象力豐富、精力充沛並且願意冒險，但卻在成長過程中逐漸丟失了這些創業精神。提倡者稱，此類項目彌補了教育體系帶來的缺陷；現在的就業市場以技術爲核心並且瞬息萬變，但現在的教育體系並未讓學生們做好充分準備。

'It's best to teach them at age 5,' says Cristal Glangchai, founder of VentureLab in San Antonio, which offers a weeklong course for 5- to 7-year-old girls called Girl Startup 101. It costs $255 for five six-hour days of instruction, including lessons on 3-D prototyping, market research, business modeling and pricing.

安東尼奧(San Antonio)VentureLab的創始人克麗絲特爾·格朗才(Cristal Glangchai)說：“最好是在五歲時教他們。”VentureLab面向五至七歲的女孩開設有爲期一週的課程，名爲“女孩創業101”(Girl Startup 101)。課程學費爲255美元，每天提供六個小時的指導，一共五天，課程內容包括3D原型法技術、市場調研、商業建模和定價。

In a similar course last summer, Ms. Glangchai says she helped a 5-year-old identify a problem: getting into trouble for eating Play-Doh. The solution: After polling students and parents, he created a marketing plan for a line of edible clay-like products in various flavors.

格朗才說，在去年夏天一個類似的課程上，她幫助一個五歲大的男孩子發現了一個問題——有些小孩子因爲吞吃了培樂多彩泥(Play-Doh)而陷入麻煩；並找到了解決之道——在對學生和家長做了民意調查後，這個孩子爲一系列不同口味的可食用粘土類產品制定了一個營銷計劃。

Frederick Mendler's daughter, Isabel, age 6, has attended Girl Startup twice, last summer and in March. Mr. Mendler, who co-founded a recruitment-technology startup called TrueAbility, says he was skeptical of a class aimed at such a young audience. But he says he hoped the class would help her be 'independent,' something she wasn't getting from 'all the princess books and the Barbies.'

弗雷德裏克·門德勒(Frederick Mendler)六歲的女兒伊莎貝爾(Isabel)分別於去年夏天和今年三月參加過兩次“女孩創業”的課程。弗雷德裏克與人共同創建了招聘技術初創企業TrueAbility，他說，雖然他對這一類針對這麼小的孩子開設的課程持懷疑態度，但他希望這個課程能幫助女兒“獨立”，而這一點是她無法從“公主王子的童話書和芭比娃娃”中學到的。

He has been pleased with the result. One recent evening, Isabel -- a big fan of the Disney film 'The Princess and the Frog,' which is set in Louisiana -- proposed opening a business to sell New Orleans-style beignets.

弗雷德裏克對結果感到滿意。伊莎貝爾是迪斯尼電影《公主與青蛙》(The Princess and the Frog)的超級粉絲，這部電影的場景設在路易斯安那州。最近一個傍晚，她提議開設一家公司，售賣新奧爾良風味的貝奈特餅。

James Schrager, who has been teaching entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business since 1981, says interest in venture capital rises and falls along with the stock market. Today's camps and classes, he says, can be seen as modern attempts to replicate the old ways families taught children about business, most notably by bringing them to the workplace.

詹姆斯·史瑞格(James Schrager)自1981年以來一直在芝加哥大學布斯商學院(University of Chicago Booth School of Business)教授企業管理。史瑞格說，人們對風投的興趣隨着股市起伏。他說，以前的家庭爲了向孩子們傳授商業知識，最常見的是將他們帶去工作場所，如今的野營活動和課程，則可以被視作傳統方法的現代演繹。

'Shark Tank,' an ABC reality-television program in which contestants pitch to a group of investors, recently ran an episode featuring entrepreneurs under 18. Kevin O'Leary, a venture capitalist and founder of Softkey Software, as well as an investment fund company called O'Leary Funds, says he was once chased down at an airport by a hopeful 9-year-old contestant.

“創智贏家”(Shark Tank)是美國廣播公司(ABC)一檔由參賽者競相向投資者推銷理念的電視真人秀。該真人秀最近針對年齡在18歲以下的創業者製作了一期節目。風險投資人、Softkey Software創始人、投資基金公司“奧利裏基金”(O'Leary Funds)的創建者凱文·奧利裏(Kevin O'Leary)說，他有次在機場曾被一名很有希望的九歲參賽者認出。

Kiowa Kavovit, who was six years old in the March 14 episode, pitched Boo Boo Goo, a waterproof, liquid bandage available in many colors. On the show, Kiowa and her father were granted an offer, contingent upon a patent being granted to the product, of $100,000 from Mr. O'Leary, who also asked for a 25% stake in the company.

現年六歲的基奧瓦·卡沃維特(Kiowa Kavovit)是3月14日那期節目的參賽者，他推銷的是一款有多種顏色可選的液體防水創可貼Boo Boo Goo。節目中，她和她父親獲得了奧利裏10萬美元的或有投資，投給這款產品的專利權。奧利裏則要求擁有該公司25%的股份。

Most entrepreneurship classes for children follow this basic format: Students are presented with a problem, tasked with finding a solution, and often put in groups to pitch and, eventually, execute the idea.

大部分兒童創業課程都採用了這一基本模式：向學生提出一個問題，要求他們尋找解決途徑，並常常以小組的方式對外進行宣傳推銷，並最終將想法付諸實踐。

Children's business ideas can be unexpectedly adult. In an entrepreneurship class at Long Island University's Brooklyn campus called 'Lemonade Stand 101,' a group of children under 12 faced the problem of differentiating juice stands in a crowded market. Some suggested offering fancy sweeteners adults would enjoy, like agave, said instructor Michael Murphy, who has worked for the advertising agency Young & Rubicam.

孩子們的商業理念有時可能成熟得出人意料。在長島大學布魯克林校區(Long Island University's Brooklyn campus)舉辦的一項名爲“檸檬汁小攤101”(Lemonade Stand 101)的創業課程中，一羣不到12歲的孩子遇到了一個難題：如何在擁擠的市場中使你的果汁攤位顯得與衆不同。指導員麥克·墨菲(Michael Murphy)說，一些孩子建議提供成年人喜歡的獨特的甜味劑，如龍舌蘭。墨菲曾在電揚廣告公司(Young & Rubicam)工作。

In March, Karl Ulrich, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, stopped by his sons' school to help teach middle-schoolers a three-day entrepreneurship course focused on a problem facing a local business. Little Baby's Ice Cream wanted to offer a wedding-cake option, but making big, meltable cakes last through a wedding was proving something of a challenge.

卡爾·烏爾裏克(Karl Ulrich)是賓夕法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)沃頓商學院(Wharton School)的企業管理教授，今年三月，他的兒子們就讀的學校請他去幫忙給中學生上三天的企業管理課，內容圍繞當地一家企業遭遇的一個難題展開。Little Baby's Ice Cream公司希望推出一款冰激凌結婚蛋糕，但要讓一個易於融化的大蛋糕撐過婚禮並不是件容易的事。

One child solution: Why not pipe liquid nitrogen around the cake to cool it? Pete Angevine, who helped found Little Baby's Ice Cream, says he liked that idea so much that the company plans to test it by experimenting with liquid nitrogen at NextFab, a Philadelphia maker space.

一個小孩提議：爲何不在蛋糕周圍用裝滿液態氮的管子裝飾起來，助之冷卻降溫呢？幫助創辦了Little Baby's Ice Cream的彼得·安傑文(Pete Angevine)說，他非常喜歡這個主意，公司計劃在費城的創客空間NextFab用液態氮進行實驗，測試這一方法。

Entrepreneurship classes have their skeptics. Mr. Ulrich's wife, Nancy Bentley, a professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, says she is fine having her sons learn entrepreneurial approaches to problems. But she is wary of the 'hero-worship' of entrepreneurs -- the 'fuzzy thinking that there's some kind of magic dust and if you have it, it's going to mean wealth and growth and all kinds of good things,' she says.

亦有人對創業課程持懷疑態度。烏爾裏克的妻子南希·本特利(Nancy Bentley)是賓夕法尼亞大學的一名英語教授。她說，她對兒子們學習企業家解決問題的方法沒有意見，但是她擔心他們會對企業家產生“英雄崇拜”，擔心他們“會覺得有什麼魔法粉塵，只要你擁有了它就能擁有財富、成長和一切美好的東西”。