创始人自述与Series简介

I'm Nathaniel Johnson, co-founder and CEO here at Series. I'm 21 years old, currently a junior at Yale University, studying computer science and economics. I love playing basketball on the side, and of course, I'm also powerlifting, but most importantly, startups, which is why I'm here.

我是Nathaniel Johnson，Series的联合创始人兼首席执行官。我今年21岁，目前是耶鲁大学计算机科学与经济学专业的三年级学生。我喜欢打篮球，当然也喜欢力量举，但最重要的是，我热爱创业，这也是我来到这里的原因。

Series is the first AI social network. We essentially use AI friends to make warm introductions via iMessage to help you meet new people based on a want or need you have.

Series是第一个AI社交网络。我们主要利用AI朋友通过iMessage进行暖性引荐（Warm Introductions: 通过共同认识的人介绍，而非陌生接触），帮助你根据自身需求结识新朋友。

For message count, I think we're at around a quarter of a million, which is really exciting to see. We raised $3.1 million in 14 days, which is now the largest round of any startup currently in the Ivy League.

就消息数量而言，我们目前大约有25万条，这非常令人兴奋。我们在14天内筹集了310万美元，这是目前常春藤盟校（Ivy League: 美国东北部八所著名私立大学组成的体育赛事联盟，也代表着顶尖学府）学生创办的初创公司中最大的一轮融资。

Series的起源与解决的痛点

Series was honestly a really interesting story. It actually started when Sean, my co-founder, and I started a podcast our freshman year at Yale.

Series的诞生说实话是一个非常有趣的故事。它始于我和我的联合创始人Sean在耶鲁大学大一的时候，我们一起创办了一个播客。

This involved interviewing founders and CEOs from companies like 23andMe, Genius Lyrics, and Runway. We were very curious about how exactly they used their own warm network to build successful businesses.

这个播客采访了来自23andMe、Genius Lyrics和Runway等公司的创始人和首席执行官。我们非常好奇他们究竟是如何利用自己的暖性人脉网络（Warm Network: 指与你有一定联系、信任基础的人际圈）来建立成功的企业。

We know how hard it is to get access to the right people, especially for professional reasons, whether that's raising capital or getting a new job.

我们深知接触到对的人有多么困难，尤其是在职业方面，无论是筹集资金还是寻找新工作。

I'd imagine that for anyone who gets an IB internship (Investment Banking Internship: 投资银行实习), there are definitely five people who were probably just as equal, if not better, candidates but didn't make it. This applies to college internships where candidates aren't able to have, say, dad's golf buddy to get them into the IB internship.

我想，对于每一个获得投行实习（IB internship: Investment Banking Internship: 投资银行实习）的人来说，肯定有五位同样优秀甚至更优秀的候选人未能成功。这同样适用于那些无法通过“爸爸的球友”之类的关系进入投行实习的大学实习生。

I'd say connections, but more importantly, perceived value is something that usually requires a warm network to be able to get into.

我想说，人脉固然重要，但更重要的是感知价值（Perceived Value: 客户对产品或服务价值的主观判断），而这通常需要一个暖性人脉网络才能获得。

This is a problem that we need to help solve, and it can be solved through essentially using agentic matchmaking (Agentic Matchmaking: 基于智能代理的匹配系统) to make those connections more accessible.

这是一个我们需要帮助解决的问题，它可以通过利用智能代理匹配（agentic matchmaking: 基于智能代理的匹配系统）来解决，从而使这些联系变得更加容易获得。

So what happened is we ended up experimenting with AI. I come from a CS background (Computer Science Background: 计算机科学背景) and was able to initially construct this early version chatbot that used emails to make warm introductions.

所以，我们最终开始尝试使用人工智能。我拥有计算机科学背景（CS background: Computer Science Background: 计算机科学背景），并成功地构建了一个早期版本的聊天机器人，它通过电子邮件进行暖性引荐。

We blasted that to Yale's email list and then to Princeton, I think, a day later, and it kind of blew up within that student community.

我们把这个聊天机器人发送给了耶鲁大学的邮件列表，然后大约一天后也发给了普林斯顿大学的邮件列表，它在学生社区中引起了轰动。

People were using this for startup ideas, art gallery ideas – a specific range, mainly for professional reasons – leading us to realize that this should be the future of how we network.

人们用它来讨论创业想法、艺术画廊创意——涵盖了各种特定的范围，主要是出于职业原因——这让我们意识到，这应该就是我们未来建立人脉的方式。

I don't think we're competing against anyone, and the most common reason why is that all other platforms have in common a number of your immediate follower connections or an account. We have no numbers on this platform because it's purely agent-to-agent. That's something that I think Series will actually solve, and hopefully, I can help solve as well.

我认为我们没有与任何人竞争，最常见的原因是所有其他平台都有共同点：它们都涉及你的即时关注者连接数量或账户。而我们这个平台没有任何数字，因为它纯粹是代理对代理的交流。我认为这正是Series将要解决的问题，也希望我能为此贡献力量。

独特营销策略与病毒式传播

The cool thing about what we're doing with this Series raise, which obviously a lot of people are talking about, is that we're doing something a bit unconventional. By creating this 'house,' what we did is we figured out a way to incentivize people to, one, of course, grow our product and use it, but two, tie it to something that I think is a bit social.

关于Series这次融资，很多人都在谈论，其中最酷的一点是我们采取了一些非常规的做法。通过创建这个“房子”，我们找到了一种激励人们的方式：首先，当然是推广和使用我们的产品；其次，将其与我认为有些社交性的东西联系起来。

Instead of us trying to focus on an organic way of having interns be paid remotely, or an organic way of being able to market your product with UGC content (User-Generated Content: 用户生成内容) which everyone does, why not have our interns come into a house instead of them just being online to do the same work they're going to do previously? That's kind of how the idea occurred. I think what makes a company go viral is doing something a bit controversial but having the right facts behind what they're doing.

我们没有像其他人那样，专注于通过远程支付实习生报酬的有机方式，或者通过用户生成内容（UGC content: User-Generated Content: 用户生成内容）来推广产品，而是思考：为什么不让我们的实习生住进一个房子里呢？他们可以线下完成同样的工作，而不是仅仅在线上。这个想法就是这样产生的。我认为，一个公司之所以能够病毒式传播，是因为它做了一些有点争议但背后有正确事实支撑的事情。

If you do something controversial that was stupid, it's not going to go viral for the right reason, nor is it going to make you a 'viral company.' You're just going to look stupid in public. I think if you build a product or system and you have some sort of underlying reason that people can pick up on, even if it's like 5% or 10%, that's what creates the virality. It makes people think, 'Okay, why did they actually do this? Was this for a reason?' And it creates this cool spiral of thought, which leads people to share it. Because there's a sort of uncertainty, people like to see that – that's what gets them excited, even if it is controversial or crazy. I don't think it matters. Take what they have, amplify the depth of what they're doing and how it's unique, and then use that as a base for the controversial aspect. Then you get eyes on you, and it all supports back a reason that you intentionally have.

如果你做了一些愚蠢的争议性事情，它不会因为正确的原因而病毒式传播，也不会让你成为一家“病毒式公司”。你只会让公众觉得你很愚蠢。我认为，如果你构建了一个产品或系统，并且它背后有一些人们能够察觉到的潜在原因，哪怕只有5%或10%的人能察觉到，那就能创造病毒式传播。它会让人思考：“他们为什么会这样做？是有原因的吗？”这会引发一种有趣的思维螺旋，从而促使人们分享。因为存在某种不确定性，人们喜欢看到这一点——这让他们兴奋，即使它有争议或很疯狂。我认为这并不重要。抓住他们拥有的东西，放大他们所做事情的深度及其独特性，然后以此作为争议的基础。这样你就能获得关注，而这一切都支持着你最初的意图。

成长经历与打破常规

I grew up with a single mom in Irvine, California. I would say I very much grew up with an inclination towards doing things on the technological side. For example, I built a walking stick called 'Smart Step' in eighth grade. It used ultrasonic sensors (Ultrasonic Sensors: 超声波传感器) and Arduino microprocessors (Arduino Microprocessors: Arduino微处理器) to essentially scan objects in front of it.

我在加利福尼亚州欧文市由单亲妈妈抚养长大。我想说，我从小就非常倾向于从事技术方面的事情。例如，我在八年级的时候制作了一个名为“智能拐杖”的助行器。它使用超声波传感器（ultrasonic sensors: 超声波传感器）和Arduino微处理器（Arduino microprocessors: Arduino微处理器）来扫描前方的物体。

But of course, I was playing varsity basketball. I love that kind of duality. I think that was my biggest thing growing up: 'Can I really do things that maybe are expected of me, like being able to hoop, being able to dunk, all those fun things, but also at the same time balancing that with the duality of being the most 'crack' (meaning: smart/talented) in the room?'

但当然，我当时也在打大学校队篮球。我喜欢那种双重性。我认为我成长过程中最大的一个问题是：“我真的能做那些人们期望我做的事情吗，比如打篮球、扣篮，所有那些有趣的事情，同时又能平衡好这种双重性，成为房间里最‘聪明’（crack: 指聪明、有才能）的人吗？”

I think after especially becoming a valedictorian (Valedictorian: 毕业致辞代表) in my high school, that was where I realized that, yes, I think I can change the norm.

我认为尤其是在我高中成为毕业致辞代表（valedictorian: 毕业致辞代表）之后，我才意识到，是的，我想我能够改变现状。

I think that although Yale University does have a few famous entrepreneurs, there weren't many. That was one of the bigger problems. I think that's because there's a big encouragement to either wait until you finish school to start building a company, or there's this notion that you immediately have to drop out to do so.

我认为，尽管耶鲁大学确实有一些著名的企业家，但数量并不多。这是一个比较大的问题。我认为这是因为大家普遍鼓励要么等到毕业后再创业，要么就认为必须立即辍学才能创业。

It's very rare to be able to pair both together. Now that Series has been able to raise the largest round among current Ivy League (Ivy League: 常春藤盟校) students, we're trying to stand for the point that you can build a successful venture while staying in class, or at least while keeping things that are closer to you. That's because you can use them as an advantage instead of a disadvantage.

很少有人能将两者结合起来。现在，Series已经成功地在当前常春藤盟校（Ivy League: 常春藤盟校）学生中获得了最大一轮融资，我们正努力证明，你可以在不辍学的情况下，或者至少在保留对你重要的事情的同时，建立一个成功的企业。这是因为你可以将这些条件转化为优势，而非劣势。

A lot of people see school as something that takes time away, which maybe it does for late homework assignments or tests. But the benefit is you're able to connect with your community, especially if that's also your marketing.

很多人认为上学会占用时间，这可能在完成迟交的作业或考试时确实如此。但好处是，你能够与你的社区建立联系，尤其如果这也是你的营销途径。

And we recently did a marketing initiative where I think being a student has a tremendous positive impact, because we know the value of staying in school and being able to communicate with these people while being in class with them.

我们最近开展了一项营销活动，我认为作为一名学生对此产生了巨大的积极影响，因为我们深知在校学习的价值，以及在与这些同学一起上课的同时与他们沟通的重要性。

Lovable：将创意转化为产品的加速器

EO: As a founder, you already know ideas are the easy part. It's the execution, actually building the product that slows everything down. That's where Lovable comes in. It's not just an AI tool. It's your on-demand engineering team. Simply describe your idea. Lovable then builds a full front-end, backend, and database. So, you can launch real production-ready software without writing code. It's already powering over a 100,000 new products a day, helping 2.5 million builders turn ideas into software just by describing what they want. No devs, no delays, no excuses. They're launching in weeks, not months. And guess what? These teams are still tiny. In fact, team EO is also using Lovable to build their upcoming EOS school platform, and we're loving it. If you're a non-technical founder or just want to build without bottlenecks, try Lovable today for free. Use the promo code EO2YT to get 20% off your first purchase of the Lovable Pro plan.

EO: 作为一名创始人，你已经知道想法是容易的部分。是执行，是实际构建产品，拖慢了一切。这就是Lovable的作用所在。它不仅仅是一个AI工具，它是你的按需工程团队。只需描述你的想法，Lovable就会构建完整的前端（Front-end: 软件用户界面）、后端（Back-end: 软件服务器、数据库和应用程序逻辑）和数据库（Database: 数据存储和管理系统）。因此，你无需编写代码即可发布真正的生产就绪软件（Production-ready Software: 可直接投入实际使用的软件）。它每天已经为超过10万个新产品提供支持，帮助250万开发者仅通过描述他们想要的功能，就能将想法转化为软件。没有开发人员，没有延误，没有借口。他们可以在几周内上线，而不是几个月。你猜怎么着？这些团队仍然非常小。事实上，EO团队也在使用Lovable来构建他们即将推出的EOS学校平台，我们非常喜欢它。如果你是非技术型创始人，或者只是想在没有瓶颈的情况下进行构建，今天就免费试用Lovable吧。使用促销代码EO2YT，你的首次Lovable Pro计划购买可享受八折优惠。

融资的挑战与讲故事的力量

We've had talks with VCs (Venture Capitalists: 风险投资人) before the raise, asking, 'What do you think about this idea? What do you think about this MVP (Minimum Viable Product: 最小可行产品) we made?' But often, people were very skeptical, actually pointing out that this wouldn't work.

在融资之前，我们曾与风险投资人（VCs: Venture Capitalists: 风险投资人）交谈，询问他们：“你们觉得这个想法怎么样？你们觉得我们制作的最小可行产品（MVP: Minimum Viable Product: 最小可行产品）如何？”但通常，人们都非常怀疑，甚至直言这行不通。

This is an industry that will be able to proliferate long term because we weren't building something that people had seen before.

这是一个能够长期繁荣的行业，因为我们所构建的并非人们司空见惯的东西。

This wasn't anything on the B2B side (Business-to-Business: 企业对企业), which was very hot, I think, around January, which is when we were thinking about actually seriously pitching.

这也不是企业对企业（B2B side: Business-to-Business: 企业对企业）方面的任何东西，而B2B在大概一月份的时候非常热门，那也是我们认真考虑进行路演的时候。

We actually had, I think, a meeting with a former Andreessen Horowitz partner, decided to take the trip to SF just to pitch it for the second time, which ended up turning into a million-dollar dinner.

我们实际上与一位前Andreessen Horowitz的合伙人进行了一次会面，决定前往旧金山进行第二次路演，结果那次会面变成了一场百万美元的晚宴。

One of the biggest, most important things is really just focusing on how you tell the story. 'Here's what's happened in the market. Here's why it's changing. Here's how I'm going to be on top of that change.' Or even better, 'Here's how I'm creating a new market on top of that.'

最重要的事情之一是真正专注于如何讲述你的故事。“市场发生了什么？它为什么会改变？我将如何引领这场变革？”或者更好的是，“我将如何在这场变革之上创造一个新市场。”

That was the story we pitched: that we are creating a new market. We'll be the first industry standard for that market.

这就是我们推销的故事：我们正在创造一个新市场。我们将成为该市场的第一个行业标准。

We knew there was a shift in consumer AI (Consumer AI: 消费者人工智能). There was a shift in what's called a 'technology window' where people are more enticed to invest, or more importantly, I guess, give AI a chance in the social space.

我们知道消费者人工智能（Consumer AI: 消费者人工智能）领域正在发生转变。在所谓的“技术窗口期”，人们更倾向于投资，或者更重要的是，我认为，在社交领域给AI一个机会。

This has not been done before by two Black guys who go to an Ivy League to raise this amount of capital.

以前从未有两个常春藤盟校的黑人学生筹集到如此数额的资金。

After that, we've seen so many other companies raise money very fast, because they think, 'Okay, if those guys can do it, I definitely can do it,' which is another norm to break. So, whenever you do something first, it's equally fun and exciting as it is fearful, because you don't know how the world's going to take it, but that shouldn't stop you from doing it.

在那之后，我们看到许多其他公司也迅速融资，因为他们会想：“好吧，如果那些人能做到，我肯定也能做到。”这又打破了一个常规。所以，当你第一次做某件事时，它既充满乐趣和兴奋，也同样令人恐惧，因为你不知道世界会如何看待它，但这不应该阻止你去做。

速度与深度的力量：超越现有，展望未来

Speed has been our biggest asset. A lot of people are scared to move at fast speeds because things break. We're not scared of that. It's not about a certain battle; it's about the war. It's about you being able to always have a sort of capture or share within your own industry and your own niche. The faster you do that, you've got to do that at all costs.

速度一直是我们最大的优势。很多人害怕快速行动，因为担心事情会出错。我们对此并不害怕。这不关乎一场特定的战役，而是关乎整场战争。这关乎你是否能够始终在自己的行业和利基市场中占据一席之地或份额。你做得越快，就必须不惜一切代价去做。

But building something that has depth. And that can be depth through how you've innovated some sort of unique technology, or it can be the depth of how you're approaching your consumerism.

但要构建具有深度的东西。这种深度可以体现在你如何创新某种独特技术，也可以体现在你如何处理消费者需求上。

Once you can amplify that depth and showcase that to the world through your marketing, that's what makes something stick, because that's something people remember as a new iteration of whatever industry they're in.

一旦你能够放大这种深度，并通过营销将其展示给世界，这就能让产品深入人心，因为人们会将其视为所在行业的一次全新迭代。

The perfect example is, of course, the transition from horses to cars. People always say they want a faster horse – maybe some people have heard that quote before. It's because they're very used to a 10x improvement of what they have, instead of moving to the next iteration of what's actually needed.

最好的例子当然是马车到汽车的转变。人们总是说他们想要一匹更快的马——也许有些人以前听过这句话。这是因为他们非常习惯于现有事物的十倍改进，而不是转向实际所需的下一个迭代。

I think that's something that at least we pride ourselves in: we're not thinking of a better LinkedIn or a better social platform.

我认为这至少是我们引以为傲的地方：我们不是在考虑一个更好的领英或一个更好的社交平台。

We're thinking of what's the next iteration of what can actually be a useful product for people to utilize to build better relationships and connections.

我们正在思考下一代产品会是什么，它如何才能真正成为人们用来建立更好关系和联系的有用工具。

Putting yourself in a position where you look up to someone and say, 'I want to be like that one day,' is not a bad thing to do. That's like having some sort of idol or a benchmark.

让自己处于一个仰望某人并说“我有一天想成为那样”的位置，这并不是一件坏事。这就像拥有某种偶像或一个基准。

But I like to have a variety, saying I've seen these different trends from companies like SpaceX to Facebook to all these different social platforms.

但我喜欢多样化，我说我见过从SpaceX到Facebook，再到所有这些不同社交平台的不同趋势。

How can I take all that knowledge and go in a new direction? Because that's how you really build innovation. I think all the stories of all the social platforms inspire me in some way.

我如何才能汲取所有这些知识，并走向一个新的方向？因为那才是你真正构建创新的方式。我认为所有社交平台的故事都在某种程度上激励着我。

But to take all that together leads me to say I want my own story to inspire myself in the next 10 years, rather than saying I see one company that I want to straight-shoot for and become that in the next 10 years.

但将所有这些综合起来，让我想要在未来十年里，用我自己的故事来激励自己，而不是说我看到一家公司，就想直接追随并成为那样。