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Is aPandemic the Right Time to Start a Business？ It JustMight Be 危機即轉機 疫情催生創業潮
文/Amy Haimerl 譯/陳韋廷、核稿/樂慧生
危機即轉機 疫情催生創業潮
Previousfinancial crises gave rise to high-profile American companies. The spread ofthe coronavirus challenges entrepreneurs to meet new needs.
InMarch, as small businesses across the country were shutting down amid thespreading coronavirus pandemic, Shanel Fields was about to open one up.
今年三月新冠肺炎開始大流行，全美各地小型企業紛紛歇業，而夏奈兒‧費爾茲卻準備開一家新公司。
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ForFields, the timing couldn't have been better. Her company, MD Ally, allows 911dispatchers and other responders to route nonemergency calls and patients tovirtual doctors, to help local governments improve their emergency responsesystems.
對費爾茲來說，時機可再好不過了。她的公司名叫MD Ally，能協助911緊急求救電話的調度員和其他救難人員，將非緊急電話和病人轉給虛擬醫生，從而幫助地方政府改善他們的緊急救難反應系統。
She'snot alone: New businesses are forming despite the pandemic.
她並不孤單，因為儘管疫情大流行，新公司仍不斷設立。
Pastdownturns produced some high-profile U.S. companies: Airbnb, Disney, GeneralMotors, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Slack, Uber and Venmo, to name a few.
過去的經濟低迷時期造就了一些引人注目的美國企業，像是Airbnb，迪士尼、通用汽車、惠普、微軟、Slack、Uber和Venmo。
[attach]132290911[/attach]“Downturns or challenging times are seen as good times to start abusiness for two reasons,” said Rashmi Menon,entrepreneur in residence at the University of Michigan's Zell Lurie Institutefor Entrepreneurial Studies. “One is, there is lesscompetition for resources. The second reason is that whatever changes we face,positive or negative, bring up new customer needs. And customer needs are atthe core of any business.”
密西根大學澤爾路利創業研究所常駐企業家拉希米‧梅農說：「經濟低迷或充滿挑戰的時期被視為創業的好時機，這有兩個原因，第一個是爭奪資源者減少。第二個原因則是，無論我們面對的是正面還是負面的改變，都會帶來新的客戶需求。而客戶需求是一切業務的核心。」
ForFields, opening now meant greater access to top talent. She hired her fourthemployee and said more than 200 qualified applicants had submitted resumes. Andbeing in the health care sector during a pandemic has raised her profile withfunders and governments: MD Ally, which is based in Philadelphia, recentlysigned its first customer and closed its first round of investment worth $1million.
對費爾茲而言，現在創業意味著更容易接觸到頂尖人才。她雇用了第四位員工，並表示有200多名符合資格的申請者提交履歷。在疫病大流行期間投入醫療領域，提高了她在投資金主與政府眼中的分量。總部位於費城的MD Ally最近簽下了第一個客戶，並已完成第一輪價值100萬美元的募資。
Forothers, the timing can mean low interest rates for borrowing startup capital,cheaper equipment as businesses sell off inventory or lower lease rates aslandlords scramble to fill empty spaces.
對另一些人來說，這個時機意味著能用低利率借到創業資本，取得因企業出脫庫存而更便宜的設備，租金也因房東爭相出租閒置空間而調降。
“There are going to be industries that are winners, and others thatare going to be losers,” said David Brown, whoco-founded the startup accelerator Techstars during the 2008 recession. “I probably wouldn’t want to be in a businessright now that caters to business travelers, but I’dlove to be in a business that helps enable telemedicine.”
2008年經濟衰退期間跟他人共同創辦新創加速器Techstars的大衛‧布朗說：「有些行業會成為贏家，有些則會成為輸家。此刻我大概不會想從事為商務旅行者提供服務的行業，但我會樂於投入有助於實現遠距醫療的行業。」
Determiningwhat customers need now, rather than before the pandemic, is crucial. Menon andBrown see opportunity in offering solutions to the challenges that people nowface: educating their children, working from home, managing supply chains,getting a haircut or the house cleaned, seeing doctors and therapists,entertaining themselves. Even new restaurants might be successful if theyconsider the future of customer service rather than recreate old systems.
確定客戶現在的需求，而非疫情流行前的需求，至關重要。梅農和布朗看到了為人們當前所面臨挑戰提供解決方法的機會，像是教育孩子、在家工作、管理供應鏈、理髮或打掃房子、看醫生與治療師與自我娛樂。即便是新餐館也有可能成功，只要他們考慮到顧客服務的未來，而非重建舊系統。
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“If you can find innovative ways for people to feed themselves rightnow, that might make sense,” Menon said. “You just have to address a need.”
梅農說：「只要你能找到創新的方法來幫助人們解決吃的問題，那就可能行得通。總之你必須能滿足某種需求。」
儘管警察暴力執法致死已使民怨高漲，在美國，要追究員警責任仍是難到不行，部分是因為警察工會的政治影響力很大，調查人員、檢方和陪審團不願質疑員警在剎那間做出的決定，以及法律賦予員警寬鬆的動用武力空間。
Policedepartments themselves have often resisted civilian review or dragged theirfeet when it comes to overhauling officer disciplinary practices. And evenchange-oriented police chiefs in cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia—which over the last fewyears have been the sites of high-profile deaths of black men by white officers—have struggled to punish or remove bad actors.
在改革懲戒員警的作法方面，警局本身常抗拒平民調查委員會的建議，或在執行時拖拖拉拉。就算在近年來發生多起白人警察執法過當、致使非裔男子死亡的知名案件的城市，如馬里蘭州巴爾的摩、賓州費城等，有心改革的警察局長懲戒失職員警或將他們免職也相當吃力。
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Acrossthe country, civilian review boards—generally composed of members of the public—have been notoriously weak. They gather accounts, but cannot enforceany recommendations.
全美各地平民調查委員會通常由公眾組成，力量之小眾所周知。委員會蒐集各種陳述，卻無法落實任何建議。
In2012, the civilian board in Minneapolis was replaced by an agency called theOffice of Police Conduct Review. Since then, more than 2,600 misconductcomplaints have been filed by members of the public, but only 12 have resultedin an officer being disciplined. The most severe censure has been a 40-hoursuspension.
2012年，明尼亞波利斯平民委員會由名為「警察行為審查辦公室」的機構取代。從那時起，公眾共計提出2600多件警察行為不當的申訴案，但其中僅12件以懲戒員警作結，最嚴重的懲戒是停職40小時。
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