张一鸣：我为什么要做今日头条？

Zhang Yiming: why should I make today's headlines?

首先我想分享一些我对这几年的创业理论、创业环境的想法。

First of all, I would like to share some of my thoughts on entrepreneurship theory and environment in recent years.

Space X的创始人Elon Musk是我非常尊重的人，他有个理论是，如果一个事情理论上是可以做好的，那么就要想尽一切办法把它做成。

Elon Musk, the founder of space X, is a person I respect very much. He has a theory that if a thing can be done well in theory, he should try his best to do it.

前几年，中国创业圈一直有个说法就是降级论，让创业者不要去做那么难的事情，而是用互联网去养猪也好、卖烧饼也好，把传统行业的事情再做一遍。

A few years ago, there has been a saying in China's entrepreneurial circle, that is, the theory of demotion, which allows entrepreneurs not to do so difficult things, but to use the Internet to raise pigs or sell pancakes, and do things in traditional industries again.

这当然没问题，这些都是好的机会、好的生意，但我觉得，不仅仅要这样。

Of course, it's no problem. These are good opportunities and good business, but I think it's more than that.

我在五六年前见投资人的时候，总遇到这种说法，我说我要做一个技术上有挑战的事情，他们说技术不重要。重要的是，你的模式是什么？你怎么盈利？怎么赚钱？

When I met with investors five or six years ago, I always met this kind of view. I said that I would do something technically challenging. They said that technology is not important. What's important is, what's your model? How do you make a profit? How to make money?

当然，我觉得可以有人去做不同的事情，传统行业也需要用互联网来改变。

Of course, I think people can do different things. Traditional industries also need to use the Internet to change.

但我觉得中国的年轻人也应该受到鼓励去做一些理论上可以成立但现实中还没出现的事情。

But I think young people in China should also be encouraged to do things that are tenable in theory but not in reality.

因为从理论上成立到现实中还没出现，这中间给无数位创业者留下了空间。

Because it has not been established from theory to reality, it leaves room for no number of entrepreneurs.

我为什么要做今日头条？

Why should I make today's headlines?

在我自己的行业，90年代就有一个概念叫Daily Me，就是每一天给你提供一份报纸，上面刊登了所有你最需要看到的内容。

In my own industry, there was a concept called daily me in the 1990s, that is to provide you with a newspaper every day, which contains all the contents you need to see most.

这个概念提出之后，有很多公司前赴后继地尝试这个方向。

After the concept was put forward, many companies tried this direction one after another.

我们知道从互联网出现以来，最早是导航门户，以分类浏览方式来组织信息；

We know that since the advent of the Internet, the earliest is the navigation portal, which organizes information by classified browsing;

后来是搜索引擎，以关键字来组织信息；

Later, search engines organized information by keywords;

后来发现还是不够，可能我对一个方向感兴趣，但不会一直有新消息出现，我也不会一直去搜索，能不能一旦有新消息就让它主动来找我。

It turns out that it's not enough. Maybe I'm interested in one direction, but there won't be new news all the time. I won't search all the time. Can I let it come to me as soon as there's new news.

所以我觉得，不应该是人找信息，应该是信息来找人，并且信息找人的过程中应该是有很多特征的。

So I think it should not be people looking for information, it should be information looking for people, and there should be many characteristics in the process of information looking for people.

2010年左右，出现了很多关注类的产品，你关注了什么人和什么话题，这个人的内容和这个话题的内容就持续推送给你。

Around 2010, there are a lot of concerned products. The content of this person and topic will continue to be pushed to you.

但这里面有一个问题，信息不仅只能用话题来分类，还有更多其他的特征，比如热度、比如社交、比如地理位置。

But there is a problem. Information can only be classified by topic, and there are many other characteristics, such as popularity, social interaction, and geographical location.

那么有没有一种方式能够综合这些因素来给用户推送信息，这就是我说，理论上成立但现实中还没出现的事情。

So is there a way to integrate these factors to push information to users? This is what I said, which is tenable in theory but has not appeared in reality.

到了2011年下半年，移动手机发货量持续上升，人们越来越习惯通过手机获取信息，而不是报纸。

By the second half of 2011, the volume of mobile phone delivery continued to rise, and people became more and more used to getting information through mobile phones rather than newspapers.

手机屏幕小、能随身携带、能定位、能实时联网。同时技术也在进一步发展，大数据、云计算等等概念也兴起了。

The mobile phone has small screen, can be carried with you, can locate, and can be connected to the Internet in real time. At the same time, the technology is also further developing, big data, cloud computing and other concepts are also rising.

这时我认为理论上的可能在现实中终于有机会了，所以我抱着这个想法：让理论上可能的事情在现实中出现，甚至让它提前到来。

At this time, I think the theoretical possibility finally has a chance in reality, so I hold this idea: let the theoretical possibility appear in reality, and even let it come ahead of time.

但当时我去见投资人，很多都是这样说的：

But when I went to see investors, many of them said this:

这个事情很多人做过都失败了，你为什么还做？

Many people have done this thing and failed. Why do you still do it?

有没有不那么复杂的技术去实现同样的事情？

Is there a less complex technology to do the same thing?

门户已经在做这件事情了，门户已经很强大了，你怎么超过门户？

Portal is already doing this. Portal is already very powerful. How can you surpass portal?

我认为这些问题都是用现有的思想去限制了未来的可能性。

In my opinion, these problems limit the possibility of the future with the existing ideas.

我们可以看看今日头条今天成长的情况，我觉得我们理论上设想的事情已经变成了现实。

We can take a look at the growth of today's headlines. I think what we theoretically envision has become a reality.