Shea Tate-Di Donna knows what entrepreneurs need. In Silicon Valley, shes best known as one of the founding partners at True Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage companies. She was also the architect behind True University, a two-day conference that brings together companies in the True portfolio to share ideas and collaborate.希雅·泰迪·唐纳对于企业家的市场需求了如指掌。在硅谷，她作为True Ventures的牵头创始人而广为人知。这家公司是一支风投基金，专心于正处于发展初期的企业。她也是True University的幕后策划人。

True University是一个为期两天的会议，它将True Ventures公司旗下资产人组公司开会在一起，共享理念，积极开展合作。If that sounds a little kumbaya, Tate-Di Donnas latest project has similar idealistic aims. Zana is a virtual incubator that will, in her words, democratize entrepreneurship.尽管这或许带上点空想主义色彩，但唐纳近期的项目也享有类似于的理想化目标。

Zana是一个虚拟世界孵化器，而且用她的话来说，它可以“将创业民主化。”Its easy to see how Zana (pronounced zah-nah) was born out of one of Trues core values: Encouraging CEOs to turn to one another for help and advice. Its a rare strategy among venture firms, and one thats served True well. Those values, and more than a decades worth of conversations with founders, led Tate-Di Donna to create a peer education-focused incubator available to anyone with an Internet connection. Zana is a platform versus a content delivery vehicle, Tate-Di Donna tells Fortune. The real magic happens when entrepreneurs talk to each other.Zana（发音zah-nah）的问世并不出人意料，因为它源自True的一条核心价值：希望首席执行官们互相协助、互相获取建议。这是其他风投公司很少用于的策略，但却让True如鱼得水。基于这些价值理念，以及十多年与企业创始人的恋情经验，唐纳创立了一个专心于同行教育的孵化器。

只要有网络连接，任何人都可以参予其中。唐纳告诉他《财富》杂志：“Zana是一个平台，不是内容交付给载体。只有企业家们在互相交流时才能迸射出有确实的火花。

”A free and open-to-the-public incubator shouldnt seem revolutionary, but it will likely be in hot demand among would-be founders. This latest tech bubble and shows like HBOs Silicon Valley have bolstered the idea that starting a company simply requires drive and determination. The best accelerators and incubators are bombarded with applications and at maximum capacity. Y Combinator, for example, reportedly receives one application per minute, with an acceptance rate hovering just above one percent.一个免费对公众对外开放的孵化器或许并不是什么革命性的措施，但在潜在创业者中可能会很热门。最近的技术泡沫和HBO的电视剧《硅谷》（Silicon Valley）推展了这样一个观点：创业只必须动力和决意。那些一流的加速器和孵化器都接到了大量的申请人，而且正在满负荷运转当中。

例如，Y Combinator据信每分钟就不会接到一个申请人，而通过率仅有在1%左右。There also tends to be a self-selecting group that applies for early-stage funding and mentorship. In March, YC founding partner Jessica Livingston told Slate that while she thinks 2014 will be a tipping point year for women in tech, only 84 of the 633 startups YC funded over the years had at least one woman founder. In the mid-2000s, we were lucky to get one female per batch, she said.而且往往不会有一个选自团体，他们不会申请人初创资助和指导。3月份，Y Combinator创始人杰西卡o莱文斯通对《Slate》杂志说道，尽管她指出2014年将是技术行业女性创业的转折点，但在过去几年YC所资助的633家初创公司中，只有84家享有最少一名女性创立成员。她还说道：“2005年前后，每一批企业里面哪怕有一名女性创始人就不俗了。

”Thats changed, of course. But the numbers of non-white, non-male accelerator applicants still lag far behind. In venture capital, the gender imbalance is even worse; women comprise just four percent of all VCs. When I was at True Ventures, Tate-Di Donna says, I was the only woman for the first five years. And I was the only woman on the investment team for seven years.当然，这一点早已再次发生了变化，但是非白人、非男性加速器申请人的数量仍相比之下领先。在风投世界中，性别比例流失这个问题更加相当严重；女性仅有占到所有风投人员的4%。唐纳说道：“在头5年里，我是唯一的女性。7年来，我是公司投资团队中唯一的一位女性成员。

”She also saw an obvious gap in the current swath of entrepreneur-centric opportunities. Theres not a trusted, gold standard, de facto place that will help move a business forward through its life cycle as a company, she says. YC good for early-stage. There are incubators and accelerators focused on periods of time or specific skill development. But peer-led education support—thats where we see the enormous opportunity. (Also, a note about the name: Zana was a goddess in Romanian mythology known for giving life and generously bestowing gifts.)在眼下一系列以企业家为中心的机遇中，她也注意到了这个显著的差距。她说道：“现实中并没倍受信赖的金科玉律，也不不存在一个既定的场所，需要协助某项业务渡河生命周期沦为一家公司。YC不利于早期发展。有些孵化器和加速器专心于有所不同的时期或明确的技能发展。

但是我们找到，以同不道德主导的教育反对不存在极大的机遇。”（此外，在此对名称做到一下说明：Zana是罗马尼亚神话中的一位女神，因彰显生命和仁慈地赐给礼物而极富盛誉。）With Zana, there arent any real barriers to entry, as its free and available on demand. (The revenue structure is a basic freemium model with a premium option available to companies. There will also eventually be a certification program enabling employers to test employees on various modules.) It also promises to unite entrepreneurs from various industries and from all around the world.在Zana的协助下，一切管理制度障碍都不复存在，因为这是一种按需分配的免费服务。

（营收构架是一个基础的免费电子货币模式，为企业获取高级选项。最后还不会有一个证书项目，让雇员按照有所不同的模块来测试雇员。

）它的另一项任务就是牵头全球各个行业的企业家。Even Tate-Di Donnas team speaks volumes about her commitment to recruiting top talent with varied interests and expertise. Zanas lead developer Joel Burton is a skilled programmer and trainer who is also a sex educator with a degree in womens studies. (Only in San Francisco.) Respected technologist and Zana advisor Ian McFarland recommended Burton after Tate-Di Donna explained her need for a robust platform that will scale to accommodate the thousands of users she hopes to eventually attract.甚至连唐纳的团队成员都充份表明了她在聘用享有有所不同爱好和专长的顶级人才方面所做到的希望。Zana的首席开发人员乔尔o伯顿是一名技能纯熟的编程人员和培训师，他还是一名性教育家，享有女性研究学位（仅有在旧金山）。唐纳说明说道，她最后期望更有几千名用户，因此，她必须一个强有力的平台，并按照自己的预期构建规模化，容纳这些用户。

于是，倍受敬重的技术人员和Zana顾问伊万o麦克法兰德向她引荐了伯顿。Even after youve been using Zana for a while, she explains, your company will have new needs. In a similar way that Amazon suggests products based on previous purchases, Burtons algorithm will introduce new, relevant resources as your business (and your needs as a founder) evolves.她说明道，即便在用于Zana一段时间之后，你的公司仍不会经常出现新的市场需求。

伯顿的算法与亚马逊依据历史出售信息而引荐产品的方式类似于，需要随着业务（以及创始人市场需求）的变化而引入涉及的新资源。With inclusivity as the backbone of the new resource, its the Zana content that takes center stage. With True University, it was great to have annual event, she says. But entrepreneurship is a 24/7 business. At one True University conference, I recorded videos, and then put them up on private site. But most were 60 to 90 minutes long. Many Zana videos last just one minute; none are longer than five.新的资源的核心特质是包容性，因此，Zana内容就出了焦点。她说道：“有了True University之后，我们每年不会举行一次活动，这是件好事，然而创业是全天候不间断的事业。

有一次True University召开的时候，我录音了视频，然后放在了我的私人网站上。但大多数都是60-90分钟的视频。”很多Zana视频时长只有一分钟，没多达5分钟的。

There are 10 Step Lessons applicable to a variety of early- and mid-stage businesses across all sectors. In her instructive series of videos about design research, Erika Hall, co-founder and director of strategy at Mule Design, reminds fledgling entrepreneurs to research adding value to the world, not just focus on creating something cool. The very definition of design is solving a problem, she explains. [Research] really is just asking questions to make sure that youre not basing your key business decisions on things you made up out of your head—or things you wish to be true. But if what you actually want to do is create a product that serves real needs and is gonna succeed in the marketplace, you need to understand how those needs are being met and the structure of that marketplace and where its going. Hall, like many experts lending their voices to Zanas talent pool, offers sound advice at a time when founders are (sometimes rightly) mocked for waxing poetic about making the world a better place.有一个10步课程限于于所有行业中正处于早期和中期发展阶段的各类企业。Mule Design联席创始人和策略总监艾瑞卡o哈尔在她讲设计研究的系列教育视频中警告初出茅庐的创业家们要研究如何为世界加添价值，而某种程度是专心于建构一些新奇的东西。

她说明说道：“设计的定义就是解决问题。研究的现实意义在于告知探究，以保证自己的关键业务决策并不是基于自己的幻想和想象。如果你的确想要建构一种产品，需要符合现实市场需求并未来将会在市场获得成功，那么你就必须理解如何去符合这些市场需求，以及市场的结构和发展动向。

”创始人们因为举起“让世界更为幸福”这面旗帜而遭人取笑的时候（有时候显然有一点取笑），哈尔与其他很多声援Zana人才的专家一样，为他们获取了很好的建议。Zana isnt the only newcomer to the incubator space. Fast Forward, an incubator exclusively for non-profits, launches this summer and has already accepted five companies (two of which were also in Y Combinator). But for now, Zana is the only incubator open to any founder with a laptop, anywhere in the world.Zana并不是孵化器领域唯一的新秀。专门针对非营利性的组织的孵化器Fast Forward将于今夏启动，而且早已投资了五家公司（其中两家同时也转入了Y Combinator）。

但是目前而言，Zana是覆盖范围最广的孵化器，而且没地域容许，创业人员只要有一台笔记本电脑就可以参予Zana。Were just here to connect people so they can talk, Tate-Di Donna says.唐纳说道：“我们只是为人们获取相互相连的机遇，让他们需要互相沟通交流。

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