A list of the most inspirational entrepreneurs is necessarily subjective¹, but the following is a list of some risk-takers who really left their marks, often despite challenging upbringings.

现如今海内外全民创业，人潮涌动，各种创业家排行榜俯拾皆是，诸如“最具影响力的企业家”之类的排行榜更是难免沾染主观色彩。不过，下面看东西为你带来的这组企业家，可是真真正正地青史留名的探险者，尽管成长背景并不优越，但这丝毫没有阻挡他们成功的脚步。

Andrew Carnegie, the self-made philanthropist / 安德鲁·卡内基：自力更生的富一代暨大慈善家

As a Scottish immigrant in the 19th century, Carnegie arrived in America as a poor teenager and worked his way through the ranks, starting with a daily 12-hour job changing spools². He eventually made a fortune as an investor³ during the Civil War, including a single $40,000 investment in the oil-rich Story Farm, which earned him $1 million in dividends⁴ by the end of the year. After the war, he launched Carnegie Steel Corporation, which he later sold to J. P. Morgan for $480 million. He increased his wealth and fame with his writing, including his “Gospel of Wealth” describing the philanthropic responsibilities of the self-made rich, and he became well-known for his own philanthropy, including millions of dollars of donations to the New York Public Library, the establishment of the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh (Carnegie-Mellon University today), and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

19世纪时，卡内基作为苏格兰移民来到美利坚，那时的他还是一个穷酸小青年；从一份每天12小时更换线轴的工作开始，他一步一步逆袭走上人生赢家之路。最终，在美国南北战争期间，他作为一名投资者发了大财，这其中包括投资价值40,000美金的储油丰富的Story Farm，一年之后这笔投资就让卡内基获得了一百万美金的分红。战后他成立了卡内基钢铁公司，之后以4亿美元的价格卖给了JP摩根。此外，卡内基还通过写作出书不断斩获名利，包括著名的《财富的福音》，在书中卡内基讲述了“富一代”们的慈善责任，从此他也开始因自己的慈善事业闻名。他不仅向纽约公共图书馆捐赠百万美金，还成立了匹兹堡卡内基工学院（今天的卡内基梅隆大学；译者注：卡内基梅隆大学是一所位于美国宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡的大学，其前身卡内基理工学院与梅隆工业研究院于1967年合并后成立卡内基梅隆大学）和卡内基国际和平基金会。

Henry Ford⁵, revolutionizing American lifestyles / 亨利·福特：推动美利坚生活方式改革的那个人

Born into a family of farmers, Ford worked as an engineer for the Edison Illuminating⁶ Company before resigning to form his own company. Although his first company failed and his second company almost went under, Ford Motor Company changed American lifestyles by making affordable⁷ automobiles⁸ and industry by introducing the moving assembly line.

出生在务农之家的福特，起先加入了爱迪生照明公司，之后又辞掉工作创立自己的公司。虽然他的第一次尝试失败了，第二个公司差点破产，但他的福特汽车公司却实实在在地改变了美国人的生活，让汽车的价格变得更亲民更大众，同时还为整个行业建立了流水线操作标准。

Steve Jobs, the backyard billionaire of the personal computer revolution / 斯蒂夫·乔布斯：在自家后院发动全球个人电脑革命的巨富

Raised by adoptive parents who did not graduate from college, Jobs tinkered with electronics at a young age with his father, who worked as a mechanic and carpenter. After dropping out of college, traveling and working, Jobs and high school friend Steve Wozniak formed Apple Computer from Jobs’s parents’ garage. From there, Jobs was influential⁹ in the personal computer revolution, as well as in other consumer electronics including smartphones, music and movies, and Apple eventually became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2011.

乔布斯在收养家庭里长大，养父母大学肄业，爸爸是机械工兼木匠，从孩童时期起，乔布斯就开始跟着养父一起围着电子器件修修补补。大学辍学后，乔布斯一边旅行一边工作，和自己的高中朋友斯蒂夫·沃兹尼亚克在自家的车库里创建了苹果电脑公司。从那之后，乔布斯就一发不可收拾，除了领衔全球个人电脑革命之外，也顺便颠覆了其他电子消费品领域，例如智能手机、音乐、电影等，苹果也在2011年的时候成为了最具价值的公开上市公司。

Oprah Winfrey, the teenage mother who became a household name / 奥普拉·温弗瑞：从少龄妈妈到家喻户晓

Oprah was born into poverty with a single teenage mother and experienced a tough childhood, becoming a teenage mother herself at 14 and losing that son shortly after. In high school she got involved with radio, and at 19 she began co-anchoring the local evening news. After working in a daytime talk show, which went from last-ranked to the top-ranked talk show in Chicago during her time there, she started The Oprah Winfrey Show. Her show, which started as a tabloid¹⁰ talk show, eventually expanded to broader topics, including celebrity¹¹ interviews: her 1993 prime-time interview of Michael Jackson became the most watched interview ever. When her show went national, Oprah became a millionaire at 32, and today she is a billionaire.

奥普拉出生于一个贫穷的单身未成年母亲家庭，自小就经历不少困难，14岁的时候奥普拉自己也成为了一名少龄母亲，而不久后又失去了这个儿子。在高中时，奥普拉就开始尝试播音，19岁开始在当地晚间新闻担任联合主播。之后她在一档日间脱口秀栏目工作，其间，这档节目的排名从芝加哥地区的垫底行列直升至榜首；在这之后，奥普拉就成立了与自己同名的《奥普拉·温弗瑞脱口秀》。这档节目最开始还只是小打小闹，做一些小型节目，但是之后其涉及的话题范围越来越广，也包括名人访谈：她在1993年对迈克尔·杰克逊的采访于黄金时段播出，成为了迄今为止收视率最高的访谈。随着她的脱口秀走向全国，奥普拉在32岁年纪轻轻的时候就成为了百万富翁，今天，她已经是十亿级的富婆了。

Elon Musk¹², the man who is doing it all / 伊隆·马斯克：全能型人生赢家亮瞎你的眼

Born in South Africa, Musk taught himself computer programming at a young age. At 24, he started a web software company with his brother, and a few years later he founded an online financial services and email payment company that became Paypal. He is also the founder¹³ and CEO of SpaceX, which focuses on advancing rocket technology; the chairman of Solar City, the second largest provider of solar power systems in the US; and the CEO and co-founder of Tesla Motors, an electric car company.

马斯克出生于南非，小时候就自学电脑编程。24岁时，他和兄弟成立了一家网络软件公司，几年之后，他又成立了一家在线金融服务和电邮支付公司，也就是我们现在熟知的Paypal。他还创建了致力于推动火箭科技的高科技公司SpaceX，并担任CEO；也是美国第二大太阳能系统提供商Solar City的主席；还没完，他也是电力汽车公司特斯拉的联合创始人兼CEO。