沒(méi)有可以規(guī)?；纳虡I(yè)模式，很難改變世界。

在周二于加州拉古納比奇召開(kāi)的財(cái)富下一代峰會(huì)（MPW Next Gen）上，奧比·費(fèi)爾騰這樣說(shuō)道。費(fèi)爾騰是Alphabet研發(fā)部門(mén)X（原名Google X）的高管之一，這個(gè)部門(mén)誕生了該科技巨頭的許多“超前技術(shù)”項(xiàng)目。這些雄心勃勃的項(xiàng)目旨在通過(guò)尖端科技解決全世界面臨的重要問(wèn)題。其中最值得關(guān)注的包括氣球項(xiàng)目（Project Loon），該項(xiàng)目希望通過(guò)氣球?yàn)槿澜缙h(yuǎn)地區(qū)提供互聯(lián)網(wǎng)連接，另外一個(gè)項(xiàng)目是谷歌的自動(dòng)駕駛汽車(chē)公司W(wǎng)aymo。

關(guān)于Waymo，費(fèi)爾騰告訴《財(cái)富》雜志的高級(jí)編輯米哈爾·列弗拉姆，她的團(tuán)隊(duì)認(rèn)為，減少全球交通事故死亡人數(shù)的方法之一，是開(kāi)發(fā)無(wú)人駕駛技術(shù)，使汽車(chē)不再需要司機(jī)。費(fèi)爾騰稱(chēng)，這種想法在十年前可能會(huì)被認(rèn)為是“科幻小說(shuō)”，但現(xiàn)在Waymo正在亞利桑那州的開(kāi)放道路上測(cè)試其無(wú)人駕駛叫車(chē)服務(wù)。她說(shuō)道：“這令我們激動(dòng)不已，因?yàn)檫@種事在五年前聽(tīng)起來(lái)還是很瘋狂的，不可能實(shí)現(xiàn)，但現(xiàn)在我們卻能在有生之年看到它變成現(xiàn)實(shí)?！?

但并非Alphabet的所有雄心勃勃的項(xiàng)目，都能取得與Waymo一樣的進(jìn)展，而且這些被公司稱(chēng)作“其他事業(yè)”的項(xiàng)目，即核心廣告業(yè)務(wù)以外的業(yè)務(wù)，僅去年一年便產(chǎn)生了近36億美元運(yùn)營(yíng)損失。所以，列弗拉姆問(wèn)費(fèi)爾騰，Alphabet為什么會(huì)繼續(xù)向X投入資金，而不是專(zhuān)注于最近一個(gè)季度為公司帶來(lái)超過(guò)240億美元收入的核心廣告業(yè)務(wù)？

費(fèi)爾騰說(shuō)道：“股東在我們身上壓下賭注，是因?yàn)槲覀兡軌蜷_(kāi)發(fā)出新的業(yè)務(wù)。我們的目標(biāo)是為Alphabet打造未來(lái)可以像谷歌一樣龐大的新子公司?！彼a(bǔ)充道，這項(xiàng)工作每天都的難度都在增加，因?yàn)楣雀璞旧硪苍诓粩喟l(fā)展壯大。

這個(gè)終極目標(biāo)要求費(fèi)爾騰和她的團(tuán)隊(duì)在對(duì)新項(xiàng)目進(jìn)行評(píng)估時(shí)，需要考慮項(xiàng)目是否有潛力“令世界變得更加美好”，以及其作為一家公司實(shí)現(xiàn)增長(zhǎng)和維持自身增長(zhǎng)的可行性。對(duì)于后一個(gè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，Alphabet的項(xiàng)目通常最終會(huì)尋找大型合作伙伴，例如Waymo與Lyft、克萊斯勒（Chrysler）、英特爾（Intel）等公司達(dá)成的合作。

費(fèi)爾騰稱(chēng)，改變世界的理想與賺錢(qián)并不沖突。事實(shí)上，后者通常是必不可少的。她說(shuō)道：“一家公司要想解決現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中的一些大問(wèn)題，它必須是可以持續(xù)的，否則便無(wú)法擴(kuò)大規(guī)模。所以平衡點(diǎn)是找到既能盈利又負(fù)有使命的項(xiàng)目?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：劉進(jìn)龍/汪皓

It’s hard to change the world without a scalable business model.

That’s what Obi Felten told the crowd at Fortune’s MPW Next Gen Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Tuesday. Felten is one of the top executives at Alphabet’s research arm, X, formerly known as Google X and birthplace to the tech giant’s “moonshots,” ambitious projects that aim to solve major world problems with cutting edge technology. Notable moonshot projects include Project Loon, which wants to provide internet connectivity to remote areas of the world using balloons, and Waymo, Google’s self-driving car company.

In the case of Waymo, Felten told Fortune senior writer Michal Lev-Ram that her team decided one way to reduce the massive number of global driving deaths would be to remove drivers from the equation by developing autonomous driving technology. That idea might have been considered “science fiction” as recently as a decade ago, Felten said, but now Waymo is testing its driverless ride-hailing service on public roads in Arizona. “That’s really exciting, because something that sounded crazy and unfeasible even five years ago is becoming reality in our lifetime,” Felten said.

However, not all of Alphabet’s ambitious projects make it that far, and what the company calls its “other bets”—anything outside its core advertising business—together accounted for roughly $3.6 billion in operating losses last year alone. So, Lev-Ram asked Felten, why does Alphabet keep pumping money into X rather than focus on the company’s core advertising business that generated more than $24 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter?

“At the end of the day, we are a bet that the shareholders are making on being able to generate new businesses. Our goal is to make new Alphabet companies that one day can be as big as Google,” Felten said, adding that such a job gets harder every day as Google itself grows bigger and bigger.

That ultimate goal requires that Felten and her team evaluate any new project based on its potential to both “make the world a radically better place” as well as its viability as a business that can grow and sustain itself. On the latter front, Alphabet’s projects usually eventually take on major partners, such as Waymo’s pacts with the likes of Lyft, Chrysler, Intel, and others.

The idea of changing the world isn’t at odds with making a buck, Felten said. In fact, the latter is usually necessary. “If you want to solve really large problems in the world, unless it’s a sustainable business, it probably won’t scale,” she said. “So, finding those things where there’s both profit and purpose is sort of our sweet spot.”