“I like the idea of leaving a mark(留下印记),” said Luca Ferrari in an interview in April with Corriere della Sera(意大利《晚邮报》), an Italian daily. He is the boss and co-founder of Bending Spoons, an Italian tech firm which acquires and turns around(使好转、扭亏为盈) struggling(苦苦挣扎的) apps such as Evernote, a note-taking service, and Eventbrite, a ticket-buying site. Mr Ferrari’s ambitions go beyond(超越、不止于) reviving software firms. He said that he wants to “shake up(彻底改革、震动)” Italy’s lacklustre(无生气的、平淡的) business culture by building a company of “international calibre” there.
“我喜欢留下印记的想法，”卢卡·法拉利在四月接受意大利《晚邮报》采访时说道。他是Bending Spoons的老板兼联合创始人，这家意大利科技公司收购并挽救陷入困境的应用，比如笔记服务Evernote和购票网站Eventbrite。法拉利先生的野心不止于复兴软件公司。他说，他想通过在那里建立一家“国际水准”的公司来“撼动”意大利沉闷的商业文化。
A test of his firm’s calibre(水准、能力) came on July 1st. That is when Bending Spoons, which derives its name from(名称源自) a scene in “The Matrix(电影《黑客帝国》)”, a sci-fi film, launched its initial public offering(首次公开募股) on the Nasdaq, an American stock exchange. This is a rare success for a country better known for la dolce vita(意大利语“甜蜜的生活”) than pioneering technology startups. Italy is home to just two unicorn(独角兽公司)s, private companies worth over $1bn, compared with 37 for Germany and 33 for France. At the end of the first day of trading, Bending Spoons’ market capitalisation surged(激增) to $26bn, making it(使其成为) Italy’s most valuable tech firm.
对他公司水准的考验在7月1日到来。那天，Bending Spoons——其名称源自科幻电影《黑客帝国》中的一个场景——在纳斯达克（美国证券交易所）进行了首次公开募股。对于这个以“甜蜜生活”而非开创性科技初创企业闻名的国家来说，这是一次罕见的成功。意大利只有两家独角兽企业（估值超过10亿美元的私营公司），而德国有37家，法国有33家。在首个交易日结束时，Bending Spoons的市值飙升至260亿美元，使其成为意大利最有价值的科技公司。
As for many Silicon Valley(硅谷) startups, Bending Spoons’ path to success(成功之路) started with failure. In 2010 Mr Ferrari, Matteo Danieli and Francesco Patarnello, recent(新近的、刚毕业的) engineering graduates, decided to develop Evertale, an app designed to create a log of users’ activities. The digital diary was a dud(失败的东西、哑弹), failing to attract users. But the trio tried again(再次尝试). With their last $40,000 they set up(建立、设立) Bending Spoons along with Luca Querella, a fourth co-founder(联合创始人).
正如许多硅谷初创公司一样，Bending Spoons的成功之路始于失败。2010年，刚毕业的工程专业学生法拉利、马泰奥·丹ieli和弗朗切斯科·帕塔内洛决定开发一款名为Evertale的应用，旨在记录用户活动。这个数字日记失败了，未能吸引用户。但这三人再次尝试。他们用最后的4万美元与第四位联合创始人卢卡·奎雷拉一起成立了Bending Spoons。