Twilio 是如何创立自己的魔法王国的|双语
6482
2016-10-18 08:11
文章摘要:作者:Adam Ballai
编译:T客汇 张苏月
核心提示:云通讯公司 Twilio 不仅仅只有「独角兽」的光环,更能带给大家新的经历,激发创造性思维,重视实干家的重要性。
Today is my 7th anniversary at Twilio and tomorrow will be my last day. It』s a bag of emotions, I will dearly miss all the friends I n
作者:Adam Ballai
编译:T客汇 张苏月
核心提示:云通讯公司 Twilio 不仅仅只有「独角兽」的光环,更能带给大家新的经历,激发创造性思维,重视实干家的重要性。
Today is my 7th anniversary at Twilio and tomorrow will be my last day. It』s a bag of emotions, I will dearly miss all the friends I now call family.
今天是我在 Twilio 七周年纪念日,而明天却是我待在这里的最后一天。此刻心中思绪万千,我将深深怀念这里所有的朋友,因为我将他们视为家人。
Today I』m closing one door, to open another. Cliché enough? But before I open that door, I want to tell you the story of how I discovered the magical kingdom of Twilio. For that, I need to tell you another story.
「今天我关闭了一扇门,是为了打开另一扇。」是不是非常陈词滥调?但在我「打开那扇门」之前,我想告诉你这样一个故事:我是如何发现 Twilio 的魔法王国的。
Hop into my time machine to the late 2000's.
跳入时光机,回到 2000 年末
I started working at a green media company for all things recycling, Earth911. In 2007, it was made of an amazing team of designers, engineers, and editors. Earth911』s mission was to educate and help inform its consumers with the best waste management practices from oil to your old mobile phone.
2007 年,有一家名叫 Earth911 的环保媒体公司,该公司致力于可回收物品的处理,该公司团队由非常优秀的设计师、工程师和编辑所组成。Earth911 的使命是教育和帮助消费者实现从废弃石油到旧手机等的废旧管理。我后来就是在这家公司工作的。
Earth911 was made up of three properties.
Earth911 有三个特点。
A media website with original content.
一,媒体网站内容均为原创。
A recycling location search engine. Including web-based search, a crowd-sourcing application for collecting listings & an API product.
二,拥有回收位置的搜索引擎。包括网络搜索、收集清单和 API 产品的众包应用程序。
A recycling hotline. 1800-Cleanup, stamped on the bottom of every bottle of motor oil.
三,回收热线。如公司在每一瓶机油的底部都打上了 1800-Cleanup 的标志。
The new owners of Earth911 had purchased the company out of a bankruptcy and hired us to convert it from a non-profit into a for-profit company.
后来,Earth911 破产,被转手给新的老板。新老板聘请了我们,并将其从一个非营利性转变为营利性公司。
Properties #1 and #2 were complete with a brand spanking new blog and recycling search engine.
新公司在前两个特点的基础上,补充了全新的博客及回收搜索引擎。
Property #3, 1800-Cleanup was not. It was built on a hardware platform from the early 1990』s and had a visual programming language no one could figure out. To add to that the data was no longer relevant and callers didn』t get a great experience. It was too costly to replace considering how much it would take to buy new telecom hardware and the time it took to extend Asterisk. In short, the executive team said「Don』t touch it」.
而针对第三个特点中 1800 -Cleanup 并没有做补充。1800 -Cleanup 于 20 世纪初期,在一个硬件平台的基础上创建起来的。一方面,1800-Cleanup 的可视化编程语言别人都搞不清楚。另一方面,由于数据并不相关,因此调用者得不到良好的体验。考虑到购买新的电信硬件需要花钱,拓展 Asterisk 又需要时间,实在是得不偿失。因此,管理团队决定不管它。
On November 20th, 2008, we were listening to Arcade Fire in a dark four-person office near Scottsdale Road in Arizona. The iPhone just sold over 10 million devices that year with the iPhone 3G. Three20 became the first & most popular iPhone SDK for the platform written by Joe Hewitt. And toll-free hotlines were still powered by on-premise hardware from the 1990』s. Yes, the grunge 90』s and skaters wearing jnco jeans.
2008 年 11 月 20 日,我们正在亚利桑那州斯科茨代尔路附近一个黑暗的四人办公室里听 Arcade Fire 的音乐。那一年,带有 3G 款的 iPhone 手机仅售出 1 千万部。Three20 是第一个也是最受欢迎的 iPhone 软件开发包(SDK),由乔·休伊特编写。从 1990 年到当时,由内部硬件控制的免费热线仍占据垄断地位。那会儿正值 90 年代垃圾摇滚和身着 jnco 牛仔裤溜冰这种形象风靡的年代。
If you tell an engineer they can』t touch something, you can guarantee it will be in pieces by lunch time. That is what inspired me to write an iPhone app instead of trying to petition for a budget on new hardware to replace the telephone system.
如果你告诉一个工程师不能碰某个东西,那么不一会儿你就看到这个东西被拆成碎片。这就是激发我编写 iPhone 应用程序的原因,并不是为了申请新的硬件预算而更换电话系统。
「邂逅」Twilio,叹服其强大的通信功能
During a search on an undocumented API in the iPhone SDK, I discovered Twilio. I saw a post by Jeff Lawson on a forum, clicked, signed up and built a phone system without a credit card or hardware whatsoever. I think my jaw needed wiring shut after that.
在 iPhone SDK 上搜索一个非正式文件即不可用的 API 时,我发现了 Twilio。我在一个论坛上看到由杰夫·劳森发布的帖子,随后点击注册,在没有信用卡或硬件等的情况下建立了一个电话系统。那时,我非常惊讶。
After fifteen minutes I had a small prototype hooked up to our existing search api. I added a new template renderer to our template engine to output TwiML instead of HTML.
十五分钟后,我获得了一个小的原型,能够连接到我们现有的搜索 API 上。我在模板引擎上添加了一个新的模板渲染器来输出 TwiML 而非 HTML。
That was my first magical moment using Twilio. I knew Jeff, John, and Evan were going to sail in the high seas of telecom. Seamless programmable communication services in minutes. I felt like I saw a glimpse of the future through that magical moment.
这是我第一次使用 Twilio 不可思议的时刻。我知道 Jeff,John,Evan 要去电信的世界闯一闯。无缝可编程通信服务在几分钟内就完成了。我觉得通过那个神奇的时刻我瞥见了未来的趋势。
I shared the prototype with the leadership. They were shocked to say the least. It created more moments for us. We became a team with a mission to make 1800-cleanup cool again! We even designed user experiences to reduce menu-selection time.
我跟上级分享了这个原型。讲得轻点,他们都是震惊的。因为这个原型为我们创造了更多时间。我们的团队也希望 1800 -cleanup 塑造为杀手锏。我们甚至重新设计用户体验来减少菜单选择的时间。
When we hit our first feature gap in Twilio, spanish text-to-speech support, John Wolthuis launched four languages for our team within the week. We were thrilled, they over-delivered as we only needed two not four!
当我们在 Twilio 上完成首个功能差异时, 西班牙语文本到语音支持,John Wolthuis 在一周之内就为我们的团队开发出了四种语言。我们很激动,因为我们原本设想只有两种语言,而他们竟然出色地完成了四种!
Shortly after launch, Danielle Morrill interviewed me about building the application from a Seattle Cafe. I was baffled, who interviews developers!? I』m not the CTO, CIO, or VP of Nonsense. Danielle』s marketing strategy was highlighting the stories around developers, the builders, not the high-flying titled folks. This wasn』t about writing a white-paper, it was about spreading the message that developers are the heroes. A humbling experience to say the least.
开发后不久,Danielle Morrill 在西雅图的一家咖啡馆采访了我关于如何构建应用程序。我当时很困惑,因为谁会去采访开发者呢?我不是 CTO,也不是 CIO,更不是 VP。Danielle 的方式是强调开发者, 构建者,并非胸怀大志的人身边的故事。这不是写一份白皮书,而是要传播这样一个信息:开发者是主角。至少可以说,这是一种不值一提的经历。
From that experience I knew three things about Twilio.
Twilio 带给我的三点感悟
Twilio creates experiences. With an emphasis on the developer, all I needed was a little creativity to get started. No credit-card, no shenanigans.
第一,Twilio 带给人新的经历。由于强调开发者的重要性,因此我只需要一点灵感就能启动方案。手中没有真枪实弹,就不会耍花招。
Twilio thinks at scale. By focusing early on one quality voice API product, they could support Earth911』s scale.
第二,Twilio 进行发散性思考。利用一款高质量音频 API 产品优势,Twilio 可以帮助 Earth911 扩大规模。
Twilio celebrated DOers. I never understood the impact I was making until I chatted with Danielle.
第三,Twilio 看中实干家。直到我同 Danielle 交谈之后,我才发现自己的强大影响。
When Jeff decided to make that phone call about working at Twilio, I already knew the value Twilio provided to its customers. I didn』t care how much they made, how big the team was, what their run-rate is, or if they served lunch everyday. It was a no-brainer for me.
当 Jeff 决定就在 Twilio 工作这件事给我打电话的时候,我已经知道了 Twilio 所能给它的客户提供的价值。我不在乎价值是多少,团队有多大,增长率是多少,又或者每天是否提供午餐。我想都不用想。
After that I went on to learn how to build a company from a veteran entrepreneur, a talented architect, and an array of future industry leaders.
之后,我继续从一个经验丰富的企业家, 一个才华横溢的建筑师, 还有很多未来行业的领导者那里学习如何创立一家公司。
In retrospect, it boils down to one moment in the past for me where I refused to accept complacency with the way things were and wanted to change them.
现在回想起来,我可以将过去归结为一点:我从来都不为一点成就而沾沾自喜,因为我更愿意去改变现状。
编译:T客汇 张苏月
核心提示:云通讯公司 Twilio 不仅仅只有「独角兽」的光环,更能带给大家新的经历,激发创造性思维,重视实干家的重要性。
Today is my 7th anniversary at Twilio and tomorrow will be my last day. It』s a bag of emotions, I will dearly miss all the friends I now call family.
今天是我在 Twilio 七周年纪念日,而明天却是我待在这里的最后一天。此刻心中思绪万千,我将深深怀念这里所有的朋友,因为我将他们视为家人。
Today I』m closing one door, to open another. Cliché enough? But before I open that door, I want to tell you the story of how I discovered the magical kingdom of Twilio. For that, I need to tell you another story.
「今天我关闭了一扇门,是为了打开另一扇。」是不是非常陈词滥调?但在我「打开那扇门」之前,我想告诉你这样一个故事:我是如何发现 Twilio 的魔法王国的。
Hop into my time machine to the late 2000's.
跳入时光机,回到 2000 年末
I started working at a green media company for all things recycling, Earth911. In 2007, it was made of an amazing team of designers, engineers, and editors. Earth911』s mission was to educate and help inform its consumers with the best waste management practices from oil to your old mobile phone.
2007 年,有一家名叫 Earth911 的环保媒体公司,该公司致力于可回收物品的处理,该公司团队由非常优秀的设计师、工程师和编辑所组成。Earth911 的使命是教育和帮助消费者实现从废弃石油到旧手机等的废旧管理。我后来就是在这家公司工作的。
Earth911 was made up of three properties.
Earth911 有三个特点。
A media website with original content.
一,媒体网站内容均为原创。
A recycling location search engine. Including web-based search, a crowd-sourcing application for collecting listings & an API product.
二,拥有回收位置的搜索引擎。包括网络搜索、收集清单和 API 产品的众包应用程序。
A recycling hotline. 1800-Cleanup, stamped on the bottom of every bottle of motor oil.
三,回收热线。如公司在每一瓶机油的底部都打上了 1800-Cleanup 的标志。
The new owners of Earth911 had purchased the company out of a bankruptcy and hired us to convert it from a non-profit into a for-profit company.
后来,Earth911 破产,被转手给新的老板。新老板聘请了我们,并将其从一个非营利性转变为营利性公司。
Properties #1 and #2 were complete with a brand spanking new blog and recycling search engine.
新公司在前两个特点的基础上,补充了全新的博客及回收搜索引擎。
Property #3, 1800-Cleanup was not. It was built on a hardware platform from the early 1990』s and had a visual programming language no one could figure out. To add to that the data was no longer relevant and callers didn』t get a great experience. It was too costly to replace considering how much it would take to buy new telecom hardware and the time it took to extend Asterisk. In short, the executive team said「Don』t touch it」.
而针对第三个特点中 1800 -Cleanup 并没有做补充。1800 -Cleanup 于 20 世纪初期,在一个硬件平台的基础上创建起来的。一方面,1800-Cleanup 的可视化编程语言别人都搞不清楚。另一方面,由于数据并不相关,因此调用者得不到良好的体验。考虑到购买新的电信硬件需要花钱,拓展 Asterisk 又需要时间,实在是得不偿失。因此,管理团队决定不管它。
On November 20th, 2008, we were listening to Arcade Fire in a dark four-person office near Scottsdale Road in Arizona. The iPhone just sold over 10 million devices that year with the iPhone 3G. Three20 became the first & most popular iPhone SDK for the platform written by Joe Hewitt. And toll-free hotlines were still powered by on-premise hardware from the 1990』s. Yes, the grunge 90』s and skaters wearing jnco jeans.
2008 年 11 月 20 日,我们正在亚利桑那州斯科茨代尔路附近一个黑暗的四人办公室里听 Arcade Fire 的音乐。那一年,带有 3G 款的 iPhone 手机仅售出 1 千万部。Three20 是第一个也是最受欢迎的 iPhone 软件开发包(SDK),由乔·休伊特编写。从 1990 年到当时,由内部硬件控制的免费热线仍占据垄断地位。那会儿正值 90 年代垃圾摇滚和身着 jnco 牛仔裤溜冰这种形象风靡的年代。
If you tell an engineer they can』t touch something, you can guarantee it will be in pieces by lunch time. That is what inspired me to write an iPhone app instead of trying to petition for a budget on new hardware to replace the telephone system.
如果你告诉一个工程师不能碰某个东西,那么不一会儿你就看到这个东西被拆成碎片。这就是激发我编写 iPhone 应用程序的原因,并不是为了申请新的硬件预算而更换电话系统。
「邂逅」Twilio,叹服其强大的通信功能
During a search on an undocumented API in the iPhone SDK, I discovered Twilio. I saw a post by Jeff Lawson on a forum, clicked, signed up and built a phone system without a credit card or hardware whatsoever. I think my jaw needed wiring shut after that.
在 iPhone SDK 上搜索一个非正式文件即不可用的 API 时,我发现了 Twilio。我在一个论坛上看到由杰夫·劳森发布的帖子,随后点击注册,在没有信用卡或硬件等的情况下建立了一个电话系统。那时,我非常惊讶。
After fifteen minutes I had a small prototype hooked up to our existing search api. I added a new template renderer to our template engine to output TwiML instead of HTML.
十五分钟后,我获得了一个小的原型,能够连接到我们现有的搜索 API 上。我在模板引擎上添加了一个新的模板渲染器来输出 TwiML 而非 HTML。
That was my first magical moment using Twilio. I knew Jeff, John, and Evan were going to sail in the high seas of telecom. Seamless programmable communication services in minutes. I felt like I saw a glimpse of the future through that magical moment.
这是我第一次使用 Twilio 不可思议的时刻。我知道 Jeff,John,Evan 要去电信的世界闯一闯。无缝可编程通信服务在几分钟内就完成了。我觉得通过那个神奇的时刻我瞥见了未来的趋势。
I shared the prototype with the leadership. They were shocked to say the least. It created more moments for us. We became a team with a mission to make 1800-cleanup cool again! We even designed user experiences to reduce menu-selection time.
我跟上级分享了这个原型。讲得轻点,他们都是震惊的。因为这个原型为我们创造了更多时间。我们的团队也希望 1800 -cleanup 塑造为杀手锏。我们甚至重新设计用户体验来减少菜单选择的时间。
When we hit our first feature gap in Twilio, spanish text-to-speech support, John Wolthuis launched four languages for our team within the week. We were thrilled, they over-delivered as we only needed two not four!
当我们在 Twilio 上完成首个功能差异时, 西班牙语文本到语音支持,John Wolthuis 在一周之内就为我们的团队开发出了四种语言。我们很激动,因为我们原本设想只有两种语言,而他们竟然出色地完成了四种!
Shortly after launch, Danielle Morrill interviewed me about building the application from a Seattle Cafe. I was baffled, who interviews developers!? I』m not the CTO, CIO, or VP of Nonsense. Danielle』s marketing strategy was highlighting the stories around developers, the builders, not the high-flying titled folks. This wasn』t about writing a white-paper, it was about spreading the message that developers are the heroes. A humbling experience to say the least.
开发后不久,Danielle Morrill 在西雅图的一家咖啡馆采访了我关于如何构建应用程序。我当时很困惑,因为谁会去采访开发者呢?我不是 CTO,也不是 CIO,更不是 VP。Danielle 的方式是强调开发者, 构建者,并非胸怀大志的人身边的故事。这不是写一份白皮书,而是要传播这样一个信息:开发者是主角。至少可以说,这是一种不值一提的经历。
From that experience I knew three things about Twilio.
Twilio 带给我的三点感悟
Twilio creates experiences. With an emphasis on the developer, all I needed was a little creativity to get started. No credit-card, no shenanigans.
第一,Twilio 带给人新的经历。由于强调开发者的重要性,因此我只需要一点灵感就能启动方案。手中没有真枪实弹,就不会耍花招。
Twilio thinks at scale. By focusing early on one quality voice API product, they could support Earth911』s scale.
第二,Twilio 进行发散性思考。利用一款高质量音频 API 产品优势,Twilio 可以帮助 Earth911 扩大规模。
Twilio celebrated DOers. I never understood the impact I was making until I chatted with Danielle.
第三,Twilio 看中实干家。直到我同 Danielle 交谈之后,我才发现自己的强大影响。
When Jeff decided to make that phone call about working at Twilio, I already knew the value Twilio provided to its customers. I didn』t care how much they made, how big the team was, what their run-rate is, or if they served lunch everyday. It was a no-brainer for me.
当 Jeff 决定就在 Twilio 工作这件事给我打电话的时候,我已经知道了 Twilio 所能给它的客户提供的价值。我不在乎价值是多少,团队有多大,增长率是多少,又或者每天是否提供午餐。我想都不用想。
After that I went on to learn how to build a company from a veteran entrepreneur, a talented architect, and an array of future industry leaders.
之后,我继续从一个经验丰富的企业家, 一个才华横溢的建筑师, 还有很多未来行业的领导者那里学习如何创立一家公司。
In retrospect, it boils down to one moment in the past for me where I refused to accept complacency with the way things were and wanted to change them.
现在回想起来,我可以将过去归结为一点:我从来都不为一点成就而沾沾自喜,因为我更愿意去改变现状。
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