An Inspirational Story of Jack Ma, Alibaba Founder + Tips for Startup Success

We, as human beings always searching for fantasy to activate the thought process of ours and trying to get the inspiration. On a daily basis, we come across a lot of strangers, but we’re only looking for inspiration from a few of them, and what sets them apart is the stories they have to tell. To know everything 

Even as a child, we grow up listening to stories about how a hero comes to save his people and his family, and we find solace in stories like this. Studies have also found that such inspirational stories have a positive effect on our brains and help us to become more emphatic, generous, and to improve our overall outlook on life.

Jack Ma – Who?

Jack  Ma is the founder of e-commerce company Alibaba. and is a stakeholder at Alipay, the sister company that is an e-payment platform. 

He is now officially China’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $25 billion, backed by his company’s latest global record of $150 trillion in IPO filings. 

Jack Ma owns only a 7.8 percent stake in Alibaba, and a 50 percent share in Alipay, after all of that. (1)

Whilst the Chinese names of Alibaba and Jack Ma are not Chinese, you should know that the advantage of Alibaba over Facebook is greater and goods are more than balanced between eBay and Amazon!

This could start to look like the story of an ambitious and wealthy billionaire who has not seen the moon. But don’t get fooled by the numbers you see above, they can deceive anyone. Even though it might sound as plain as that, Jack Ma has had trouble getting to where he is today in his life. A true story of rags-to-riches and undoubtedly one that will inspire you even in your darkest days.

Ma’s Success through Failures

Jack Ma as an incredibly fortunate bloke who just snapped into a billionaire. But it’s good to say Jack Ma is synonymous with Rejections. You wouldn’t believe this man has been rejected and failed many times.

Jack Ma Failed in his High School exams in his early childhood, not once but twice! During his Middle School exams, he failed Thrice. Jack failed the entrance exams thrice when applying to universities after his high school, before eventually entering Hangzhou Normal University. He also applied and wrote ten times about being admitted to Harvard University-and was denied every time.

Jack tried and struggled to get a job on a multitude of occasions before and after his Bachelor’s degree. After spending three years at a university, after applying for them 30 times, Jack failed to land a job! In his interview, he recounts, when KFC came to China, 24 people went to work. Twenty-three people have been brought in. I was the only guy who wasn’t.

“He was also one of five job applicants in the police force and the only one to be refused after being told,” No, you’re no good”.

Jack Ma also failed in two of his initial projects on his Entrepreneurial undertakings. Yet that in no way stopped him from dreaming bigger.

Having started his first profitable business at the age of 31, Jack Ma operates one of the world’s largest e-commerce networks even after never writing a single line of code or selling something to anyone.

The company started to grow quickly, spreading all over the world, growing rapidly out of its shell in China. Just second to Walmart now in terms of annual revenue, Alibaba has become the e-commerce giant Jack Ma has foreseen for it.

“You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.”

Plagiarism disguised as inspiration may have become the order of the day, but if you want to go a long way, Jack Ma suggests that you never compete on costs ‘instead compete on services and innovation’.

5 Tips for Startup Long-Term Success by Jack Ma

Story of Jack Ma and Startup Tips:

The e-commerce giant Alibaba founder Jack Ma, gave some lessons from his experience on Startup Long-term Success while speaking at the Gateway’17 conference.

1. Focus on your customers: Forget the competition. 

Ma’s not too concerned about the fight with Alibaba. All that Alibaba does depends on the customer’s needs, he said. The logic is simple: Customer loyalty should be at the heart of the decision-making to maintain in the long term. 

“If our customers say ‘Jack you should build more warehouses,” Ma explained.

 “We build warehouses. We do it not because there is money; we do it because it is necessary.”

When asked who he saw as a rival for Alibaba, Ma said he did not know.

“As entrepreneurs, don’t look at your neighbor Tom as a competitor,” he said.

“Do not focus your eyes on the competitor. You are too small to focus on your neighbor or competitor. Focus on your customers. Making your customers happy is important.”

2. People need to trust you

The people who put everything on the line for you, from employees to investors, need to trust you. Jack  Ma said the trust was an intrinsic part of Alibaba’s success.

“It’s the trust that makes us united,” he told Rose, “18 [investors] trusted me. And because they trusted me, I have to be very loyal to them and loyal to the mission that we have.”

Ma said this faith in him and the company’s mission is the most important thing he could have — going so far as saying he’d take over $1 million in confidence.

3. Think of your Business Globally

The future is worldwide for Ma. He claims that small companies will operate globally for long-term survival.

“If you do not try to globalize your business through the Internet, you may not have a business opportunity,” said Ma.

He argued that local businesses are becoming more competitive. He urged small businesses to think about how they could be marketed worldwide.

[ Read: 10 Top Free Online Courses With Printable Certificates 2020 ]

4. Hire Young and Hire Smart

“When we were young, nobody gave us a chance,” Ma said.

“Now, we should give young people a chance. Young people do a much better job than we do.”

He argued that personal reputation would be less important than creating an enduring team and allowing them the ability to do so. Ma said he recruits people more intelligently in the same way, as he knows the company’s best.

5. Just Keep Going

Ma’s last business advice reflects his experience with Alibaba: just keep on going. Perseverance is important, Ma said.

“Today is very difficult,” he told Rose. “Tomorrow is difficult, but the day after tomorrow is very beautiful.”