????本文與《創(chuàng)業(yè)者》雜志（Entrepreneur）合作。下文最初發(fā)表于Entrepreneur.com。

????貝寶公司(PayPal)聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人彼得?泰爾深知如何成功經(jīng)營(yíng)一家公司，并且因許多特立獨(dú)行的觀點(diǎn)而聞名于創(chuàng)投界。2002年將PayPal出售給易趣公司(eBay)之后，泰爾創(chuàng)建了全球?qū)_基金克萊瑞姆資本管理公司（Clarium Capital Management）、科技公司Palantir和風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資公司創(chuàng)業(yè)者基金（Founders Fund），該基金投資的公司包括音樂平臺(tái)Spotify、虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)公司Oculus和太空探索技術(shù)公司（SpaceX）。此外，泰爾也是Facebook第一位外部投資者，目前為Facebook董事會(huì)成員。通過其泰爾基金會(huì)（Thiel Foundation），他在4年前設(shè)立了針對(duì)20歲以下優(yōu)秀創(chuàng)業(yè)者的泰爾獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金（Thiel Fellowship），有前途的創(chuàng)業(yè)者不用接受高等教育，即可獲得10萬美元和兩年的時(shí)間，從事自己選擇的事業(yè)。

????泰爾因其對(duì)教育、公司文化與競(jìng)爭(zhēng)等熱門話題的強(qiáng)烈觀點(diǎn)而名聲在外，近期，他的新書《從零到一：對(duì)創(chuàng)業(yè)，以及如何構(gòu)筑未來的一點(diǎn)思考》（Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future）使他再次成為媒體熱點(diǎn)。該書由泰爾和他之前的學(xué)生布萊克?馬斯特斯共同創(chuàng)作，主要內(nèi)容為馬斯特斯在斯坦福大學(xué)（Stanford）上泰爾的計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)課時(shí)記錄的筆記。兩位作者并不認(rèn)同“創(chuàng)新已死”的觀點(diǎn)，他們?cè)跁刑接懥藙?chuàng)業(yè)者如何開發(fā)新技術(shù)，在當(dāng)前領(lǐng)域和“未知的前沿”創(chuàng)造發(fā)明。我們對(duì)泰爾進(jìn)行了采訪，邀請(qǐng)他談?wù)摿颂煺娴膬r(jià)值，以及如何獨(dú)辟蹊徑，尋找靈感。

????問：如果你具備現(xiàn)在的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和見識(shí)，你的第一次創(chuàng)業(yè)會(huì)有哪些不同？你是如何收獲這一經(jīng)驗(yàn)教訓(xùn)的？

????答：最開始，我的成長(zhǎng)道路似乎早已注定——從高中到大學(xué)，再到法學(xué)院，然后開始職業(yè)生涯。我在紐約一家律師事務(wù)所工作的時(shí)候，這條道路陷入了死胡同。外面有抱負(fù)的律師都想進(jìn)來，但我的同事們卻都想逃離這里。那里就像是惡魔島，要想逃離這里，你只需走出那扇門。所以我離開了。這次的經(jīng)歷讓我意識(shí)到，這個(gè)世界上有許多事情是可行的、有價(jià)值的，但卻被大多數(shù)人忽視，只是因?yàn)槟愀静豢赡茉谌魏蝹鹘y(tǒng)的軌道上發(fā)現(xiàn)它們。

????問：如果你當(dāng)時(shí)便有了這樣的感悟，你認(rèn)為會(huì)發(fā)生什么？

????答：如果我能意識(shí)到職業(yè)道路是如此變幻莫測(cè)，我可能會(huì)更早離開那里。我知道我肯定會(huì)更謹(jǐn)慎地考慮這個(gè)問題。但人生不可能重來。

????This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at Entrepreneur.com.

????PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel is often known for his ability to understand what makes a company successful and for having some contrarian points of view. Following the sale of PayPal to eBay EBAY 0.14% in 2002, Thiel founded global hedge fund Clarium Capital Management, technology company Palantir and venture capital firm Founders Fund, which has invested in companies like Spotify, Oculus and SpaceX. Thiel was also Facebook’s first outside investor and currently sits on its board. Through his Thiel Foundation, four years ago, he created the Thiel Fellowship for up-and-coming entrepreneurs under 20, who are each given $100,000 and two years to eschew higher education and work on a venture of their choosing.

????Known for his strong opinions about hot-button topics like education, company culture and competition, Thiel has been in the news of late promoting his new book Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, which he co-wrote with former student Blake Masters, and was based upon the notes that Masters took while taking Thiel’s computer science course at Stanford. The authors aim to rebuff the notion that innovation is dead and instead delve into how entrepreneurs can explore new technologies and create fresh inventions in current fields and “uncharted frontiers.” We caught up with Thiel to talk about the value of being na?ve and finding inspiration off the beaten track.

????Q: Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently when you were first starting up? How did you learn this lesson?

????A:When I was starting out, I followed along the path that seemed to be marked out for me — from high school to college to law school to professional life. When I was working at a New York law firm, that path came to a dead end. All the aspiring lawyers on the outside wanted to get in but all of the people I worked with wanted to get out. It was like Alcatraz but all you had to do to escape was walk through the front door. So I left. And that experience helped me realize how many things in the world might be possible and valuable, yet ignored by most people, simply because they are not found on any conventional track.

????Q: What do you think would have happened if you had had this knowledge then?

????A: If I’d realized how arbitrary it was, I might have gotten off the track a lot sooner. I know I would have thought about it more carefully. But there’s no way to run the experiment twice.