inc. 杂志2018年度最佳公司 [美国媒体]

Patagonia, 23andMe, Netflix, and More: The 14 Companies That Dominated 2018

Patagonia，23andMe，Netflix 等等: 主宰2018年的14家公司



From breaking rules to breaking records, these are the most influential--and interesting--companies of the year.

从打破规则到打破纪录，这些都是今年最有影响力和最有趣的公司。

作者: Anna Meyer



Allbirds
Allbirds was the talk of the town this year. Not only were fans crowing over the comfort and quality of the San Francisco-based startup's shoes, it made headlines for its exotic materials--namely, merino wool, sugarcane, and eucalyptus tree fiber. Not quite like Nike, right? The founders say the company is committed to sustainable and renewable materials, and that focus is paying off. Allbirds grew to an estimated valuation of $1.4 billion in just two years.

Allbirds是今年的热门话题，粉丝们不仅为这家位于旧金山的初创公司出品鞋子的舒适性和质量欢呼雀跃，还因为其有异国情调的材料--美利奴羊毛、甘蔗和桉树纤维--登上了新闻头条，不太像耐克，对吧？创始人表示，该公司致力于可持续和可再生材料，这一努力正在得到回报，短短两年内，Allbirds 网站的估值就达到了14亿美元。

Tuft & Needle
The mattress wars take no prisoners. Phoenix's Tuft & Needle wasn't just a hit with customers; competitors also took a shine to the direct-to-consumer mattress retailer. In a merge reportedly worth half a billion dollars, Serta Simmons Bedding closed the deal with Tuft & Needle in September. With that backing--which amounts to around 40 percent of the mattress market--things are bound to get even more interesting.

床垫大战不留活口，要么赢要么死，凤凰城的 Tuft & Needle 不仅受到消费者的青睐，竞争对手也对这家直接面向消费者的床垫零售商产生了兴趣。据报道，在一次价值5亿美元的合并案中，Serta Simmons 寝具公司与 Tuft & Needle 公司于九月份达成交易， 有了这些支持-- 总共占据床垫市场40% 的份额-- 事情一定会变得更加有趣。



Netflix
Netflix's reign as the ultimate industry disrupter is in tact. This year, not only did the DVD-subscription-service-turned-content-producing-juggernaut win two Academy Awards and 23 Emmys (the same number as HBO), but it also is within striking distance of its ambitious goal of producing 700 new titles in 2018. That audacity is expected to continue, as the Los Gatos-based company announced in October that it would release three films in theaters before making them available for streaming.

Netflix 作为终极行业颠覆者的统治地位正在成形， 今年，这家由DVD 订阅服务转型为内容制作的巨擘不仅赢得了两项奥斯卡奖和23项艾美奖(与 HBO 数量相同) ，而且还差不多达到其雄心勃勃的目标，即在2018年制作700部新作品， 这种大胆行为预计还会持续下去，因为这家总部位于洛斯盖多斯的公司在10月份宣布，它将有三部影片先在影院上映，然后才推出流媒体服务。

InVision
Winning the award for the most under-the-radar-yet-important company of 2018 is handily the New York City-based InVision. Not only is the visualization software used by 4.3 million people at thousands of companies, but Amazon's Jeff Bezos claims to be a daily user of the product as well. Who knew making rapid digital prototypes easily sharable would be so useful?

纽约市的 InVision 轻而易举地赢得了2018年最不引人注目却最重要的公司奖，这个可视化软件不仅被成千上万家公司的430万用户所使用，而且亚马逊的 Jeff Bezos 声称自己也是这个产品的日常用户， 谁知道快速制作易于共享的数字化样机会如此有用呢？



Patagonia
Political activism is ingrained at outdoor outfitter Patagonia; the Ventura, California, company has given away some $90 million to environmental causes since 1985. But lately the brand has leaned further into its role as an "Activist Company." Patagonia regularly closes up shop on Election Day, but this year it convinced more than 400 other businesses to commit to giving employees the time and resources to vote. It also backed two political campaigns--and in a major move, it vowed to donate the entirety of the $10 million windfall it netted due to the tax cuts passed by Donald Trump in 2017.

政治激进主义在户外用品商 Patagonia的公司里根深蒂固， 这家位于加州文图拉的 公司自1985年以来已经向环保事业捐赠了9000万美元， 但最近，该品牌进一步倾向于扮演"激进公司"的角色，Patagonia通常在选举日关闭商店（员工可以去投票），但今年它又说服了另外400多家其他企业承诺给予员工投票的时间和资源，今年它还支持了两场政治运动--在一项重大活动中，它承诺捐出因唐纳德 • 特朗普(Donald Trump)在2017年通过减税法案而获得的1000万美元意外之财的全部资金。

Bird
Bird, the Santa Monica, California-based pay-by-the-minute e-scooter rental company, surpassed a $2 billion valuation in less than a year, making it the fastest startup in history to reach unicorn status. In the same amount of time, Bird hit over 10 million rides and landed in more than 120 cities across the world--all the while netting ample drama, from vandalism and theft, to scooter-related injuries and lawsuits, to getting banned in some cities. For all of this and its uncanny ability to flourish amid tough odds--Bird is Inc.'s Company of the Year.

总部位于加利福尼亚州圣塔莫尼卡的Bird，一家按分钟付费电动滑板车租赁公司，在不到一年的时间里就有超过了20亿美元的估值，成为历史上达到独角兽级别的最快初创公司， 在同样长的时间里，伯德在全世界120多个城市创造了1000多万次的骑行记录--同时产生了大量意外，从故意破坏和盗窃，到与电动滑板车相关的伤害和诉讼，再到在一些城市被禁， 所有这一切，以及它在困境中蓬勃发展的不可思议的能力--Bird成为Inc.杂志年度最佳公司。