We have something new to say about building, running, and growing (or not growing) a business.
我们今天要就企业的创建、运营、成长（或停滞）发表一些新的观点
This book isn't based on academic theories. It's based on our experience.
这本书是基于实战，不是学院理论
We've been in business for more than ten years.
我们在这行业超过10年经验的时间里
Along the way, we've seen two recessions, one burst bubble, business-model shifts, and doom-and-gloom predictions come and go--and we've remained profitable through it all.
我们的企业经历了2次经济周期，一次泡沫经济，商业模式的改变，总有人反复预言我们前途不妙 ---- 可我们始终保持盈利
We're an intentionally small company that makes software to help small companies and groups get things done the easy way.
我们刻意把自己做成一家小公司，只为小企业和小团队开发软件，帮助
小公司更好实现他们的想法
More than 3 million people around the world use our products.
超过3百万的人使用我们的产品
We started out in 1999 as a three-person Web-design consulting firm.
在1999年我们从一个“三人组”的网络设计咨询公司起家
In 2004, we weren't happy with the project-management software used by the rest of the industry, so we created our own: Basecamp.
在2004年，由于对该行业使用的项目管理软件感到十分不爽，所以我们创建Basecamp
When we showed the online tool to clients and colleagues, they all said the same thing: "We need this for our business too."
当我们将在线工具展示给客户和同事看时，他们全部都同一想法：“我们公司也需要这个”
Five years later, Basecamp generates millions of dollars a year in profits.
5年后，Basecamp一年收益百万美元
We now sell other online tools too.
我们现在还售卖其他线上工具
Highrise, our contact manager and simple CRM (customer relationship management) tool, is used by tens of thousands of small businesses to keep track of leads, deals, and more than 10 million contacts.
Highrise我们的关系管理工具，简单的CRM(顾客关系管理)工具，公司用来跟随数以万计的顾客行迹，经营超过1千万的网络关系
More than 500,000 people have signed up for Backpack, our intranet and knowledge-sharing tool.
超过50万人注册，这是一款局域网兼知识共享工具
And people have sent more than 100 million messages using Campfire, our real-time business chat tool.
运用我们的企业即时聊天工具Campfire，人们已经发送了上亿条信息
We also invented and open-sourced a computer-programming framework called Ruby on Rails that powers much of the Web 2.0 world.
我们发明了计算机程序开源框架 -- Ruby on Rails 让Web2.0 世界很大一部分变得更强大
Some people consider us an Internet company, but that makes us cringe.
有些人认为我们是一家互联网公司，但那是奉承我们而已
Internet companies are known for hiring compulsively, spending wildly, and failing spectacularly.
互联网公司出了名以疯狂招聘、 野蛮生长和华丽落败
That's not us.
我们却不这样
We're small (sixteen people as this book goes to press), frugal, and profitable.
我们公司很小（本书出版时止，仅有16名员工），开支少、盈利好
A lot of people say we can't do what we do.They call us a fluke.
他们称我们是侥幸者，根本没有能力完成我们在做的东西
They advise others to ignore our advice.
他们忠告其他人忽视我们的建议
Some have even called us irresponsible, reckless, and--gasp!- -unprofessional.
有些人甚至称我们不负责任的，轻率的，业余的
These critics don't understand how a company can reject growth, meetings, budgets, boards of directors, advertising, salespeople, and "the real world," yet thrive.
这些评论家，不明白公司怎么会拒绝成长、唾弃会议、没有预算、踢开董事会、不用广告、远离销售人员在实现世界情况下，依然红红火火
That's their problem, not ours.
对他们来说这就是问题，对我们来说则不是
They say you need to sell to the Fortune 500.
他们说你跟财富500强企业做生意。
Screw that. We sell to the Fortune 5,000,000.
拉倒吧！我们都把产品卖给财富500万强企业了
They don't think you can have employees who almost never see each other spread out across eight cities on two continents.
他们觉得你不可能让员工分散在两个大洲的8座城市里老死不相往来地工作
They say you can't succeed without making financial projections and five-year plans. They're wrong.
他们说你不会成功，没有财务计划和5年计划。一派胡言
They say you need a PR firm to make it into the pages of Time, Business Week, Inc., Fast Company, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Chicago Tribune, the
Atlantic, Entrepreneur, and Wired.
他们说你需要PR公司制作商业计划书，～～～
They're wrong. They say you can't share your recipes and bare your secrets and still withstand the competition. Wrong again.
他们错了，他们说你不能分享诀窍，暴露你的机密，否则就经受不住市场竞争，他们再次错了
They say you can't possibly compete with the big boys without a hefty marketing and advertising budget.
他们说你无法和拥有庞大的市场广告预算的大公司一较高下，
They say you can't succeed by building products that do less than your competition's.
他们说你的产品线不如对手丰富，不能超过你的竞争对手
They say you can't make it all up as you go.
他们说你不能在经营过程中走一步看一步
But that's exactly what we've done.
但肯定的是，我们就是这样做的
They say a lot of things.
他们还说了很多
We say they're wrong.
我们只能说他们错
We've proved it.
我们的例子就（活生生）证实它们
And we wrote this book to show you how to prove them wrong too.
并为此我写了这本书，展示给你如何证实他们是错的
First, we'll start out by gutting business.
第一，我们把企业层层拆解，分析到内核
We'll take it down to the studs and explain why it's time to throw out the traditional notions of what it takes to run a business.
我们证实为什么要抛开传统的企业运营观念
Then we'll rebuild it.
然后我们重建它
You'll learn how to begin, why you need less than you think, when to launch, how to get the word out, whom (and when) to hire, and how to keep it all under control.
你从中了解到如何开始运作企业，为什么你需要的资源比想象更少，何时投放新产品，如何透露信息，什么时候雇佣，如何掌控全局
Now, let's get on with it.
现在，我们开始吧
