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cover of episode 535: Origin Story

535: Origin Story

2025/3/9
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D
Dan Heath
美国畅销书作者、演讲者和杜克大学CASE中心高级研究员，著有多本影响广泛的商业书籍。
G
Glenn McDonald
J
Julian Koenig
P
Peter Sagal
P
Pino Audia
S
Sean Cole
Topics
Pino Audia: 我研究创业的起源，发现许多人认为创业始于个人努力，例如在车库里独自创业。但我的研究表明，大多数创业者并非如此。他们通常是通过在相关行业工作、建立人脉和学习业务知识来积累经验，最终才创建自己的公司。即使是惠普和苹果的创始人，也并非完全从零开始，他们都曾在大型公司工作过，并得到了导师和投资者的支持。车库创业的故事更多的是一种神话，它反映了美国文化中关于人人平等机会的理想。 Dan Heath: 我在《快公司》杂志上写过关于这些起源故事的文章。这些故事之所以吸引人，是因为它们充满了浪漫和戏剧性，展现了白手起家的梦想和克服逆境的奋斗。然而，许多广为流传的起源故事并非完全属实，甚至被夸大或虚构。例如，eBay的起源故事、YouTube的晚餐派对故事以及哥伦布发现新大陆的故事，都存在不同程度的夸大或虚构成分。我们对这些故事的喜爱，使得我们往往忽略了事实的真相，更愿意相信那些更具戏剧性和吸引力的版本。

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Chapters
The myth of the entrepreneurial garage is explored, discussing how it has become an American cultural symbol despite many successful entrepreneurs starting in more conventional settings.
  • Pino Audia's research highlights that most entrepreneurs begin by working for others.
  • Garages as the birthplace of companies are largely American myths.
  • The Apple and Hewlett-Packard garage stories are part of Silicon Valley lore.
  • Google's garage start is more of a retroactive romanticization.
  • The YouTube origin story about a dinner party is largely fabricated.
  • The Christopher Columbus story is also mythologized, with many inaccuracies highlighted.

Shownotes Transcript

Little-known and surprising stories of how all sorts of institutions began.

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  • Prologue: Host Ira Glass talks to business professor Pino Audia and Fast Company magazine columnist Dan Heath about corporate creation myths and why so many of them involve garages. (7 minutes)
  • Act One: Sarah Koenig tells the story of her father, Julian Koenig, the legendary advertising copywriter whose work includes the slogan "Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking" and Volkswagen's "Think Small" ads. For years, Sarah has heard her dad accuse a former partner of stealing some of his best ideas, but until recently, she never paid much attention. Then she started asking her dad for details of this fight for his legacy, and what she learned surprised her. (20 minutes)
  • Act Two: Producer Sean Cole visits Chad's Trading Post in Southampton, Massachusetts. One person who works there wears a shirt that says "Chad's Brother;" other shirts say "Chad's Best Friend," "Chad's Cousin," and "Chad's Father." Pictures of Chad are everywhere. Chad's dead. The family explains. (14 minutes)
  • Act Three: Peter Sagal, host of NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, tells Ira the origin story of one of the worst movie sequels ever made. (5 minutes)
  • Act Four: Reporter Mary Wiltenburg tells the story of a little boy stymied by the question "Where do you come from?" (8 minutes)

Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org)

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