Chapter 4 Chapter Two If I Can Succeed, 80% of People Can Succeed

Jack Ma was born in 1964.The thin Ma Yun has been mischievous since he was a child, and he is keen on fighting.After going through the college entrance examination three times, "Ma Daxia" barely entered the university.After graduation, although he stayed at the university to teach, Ma Yun, who "was in Cao Ying and his heart was in Han", was unwilling to be lonely. In 1995, he founded "China Yellow Pages"; in 1997, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.Ma Yun, who was groping forward, did not find his home until 1999. In this year, he founded Alibaba...

In September 1964, Jack Ma was born in an ordinary family by the West Lake in Hangzhou. Ma Yun, who has a small head and a small body, has been "restless" since he was a child.During his elementary and middle school days, he grew up under the fist of his father.Ma Yun often fights with a group of children, but never for himself, all for his friends.In the worst case, he was beaten so badly that he needed 13 stitches, was punished by the school, and was forced to transfer to another school. "I'm stupid and wise, but I'm really stupid. My brain is so small that I can only think about problems one by one. If you ask three questions in a row, I can't digest them." Ma Yun laughed at himself.Ma Yun is not a student with good homework. When he graduated from junior high school, he wanted to be admitted to a second-rate high school, but he failed to pass the exam twice. One of the reasons was that he was too poor in mathematics.

The weakness of mathematics has greatly hindered Ma Yun's grades. Although Ma Yun was "ambitious" and wanted to go to Peking University, his math grades were so poor that he passed the college entrance examination three times in a row before he "wobbly" entered Peking University. The far Hangzhou Teachers College Junior College. Taking the college entrance examination for the first time, Ma Yun scored 1 point in the math test.He felt that he was not the material to go to college at all, so he had to go to work.He first went to a hotel to apply for a job, but the cousin who accompanied him was hired, but he was rejected because the cousin was tall and handsome.Helpless, he had no choice but to be a porter who didn't ask for looks but strength, and delivered various goods to people on a tricycle every day.

Once, when he was delivering books to a unit, he picked up a novel, and he flipped through it in his spare time, and was actually attracted by the storyline in the book.The protagonist's tortuous life experience and persistent pursuit of ideals deeply moved him, and at the same time made him understand a truth: on the road of life, if you want to achieve something, you can't succeed without some tempering.At that moment, Ma Yun made up his mind and prepared to take the second college entrance examination. In the second college entrance examination, I scored 19 points in the mathematics test, but still failed.However, Jack Ma was not discouraged.He failed the college entrance examination twice in a row, but made him braver and braver.Since he couldn't convince his parents to let him continue to repeat, he had to work while reviewing.In order to find a good learning environment, he got up early every Sunday and rushed to the library of Zhejiang University, which is more than an hour away from home, to review.

After Ma Yun's third college entrance examination results came out, although he scored 79 points in mathematics for the first time, his total score still belongs to the specialist line, which is 5 points away from the undergraduate line. Fortunately, when Ma Yun was about to enter Hangzhou Normal University to study as a junior college, the school's English undergraduate major was not fully enrolled due to the short time to upgrade.As a result, Ma Yun was staggered to be transferred to the undergraduate course, which was considered a big deal, and he was right. Although Ma Yun's mathematics was extremely poor, his English was extremely good.

As early as 12 years old, Ma Yun became interested in English.Every morning, regardless of the wind or rain, he would ride his bicycle for 40 minutes to a small hotel next to the West Lake in Hangzhou to learn English for 8 years. At that time, China had gradually opened up to the outside world, and many foreign tourists came to Hangzhou for sightseeing.Jack Ma often acts as a free tour guide for them, practicing English while taking them around. The 8 years of study have completely changed Ma Yun. The knowledge brought to him by foreign tourists is very different from what he learned from teachers and books. He began to have a more global perspective than most people.

Because of frequent contact with foreigners, Ma Yun's oral English level is significantly higher than that of ordinary students.Shen Changhong, Ma Yun's university head teacher, had the first impression of Ma Yun that "the oral English is very good". "Ma Yun's English paper score is not the best." Shen Changhong recalled.At that time, boys and girls in the English department worked hard in their studies, and among the girls with top grades was Zhang Ying, who later became Mrs. Ma Yun.Teacher Shen said that under normal circumstances, the best students can get more than 80 points for a paper with a full score of 100 points, and Ma Yun usually gets around 80 points. "His writing is not top-notch, but his speaking is amazing."

Shen Changhong likes teacher-student interaction in English class, letting students take turns on stage to talk about vocabulary, grammar and understanding of the text.At this time, Ma Yun often becomes a man of the hour: he walks up to the podium chicly, and talks about the customs and customs of foreign countries.Not only the classmates, but even the teachers listened with gusto.Now that Shen Changhong thinks about it, good oral English has actually opened up another growth channel for Ma Yun: he can quickly get in touch with new things, and it is easier to understand Western culture. When he was a freshman, Jack Ma ran into an Australian farmer by the West Lake. Later, the farmer invited Jack Ma to go to Australia for an exchange during the summer vacation.At that time, a political review was required to go abroad, and the leaders of the school conducted a special discussion. Finally, the department made an unprecedented decision: to agree to Ma Yun to go to Australia. "At that time, very few teachers went abroad, and he became the first one among the students." More than a month later, Ma Yun came back with many photos and excitedly told everyone what he had seen and heard.Going abroad this time allowed Ma Yun to improve his oral English faster and gain a wider range of knowledge.

Ma Yun in college was very good at communicating with people, he was quick and methodical, and he had a "heroic" demeanor.Both teachers and classmates were deeply impressed by Jack Ma's communication skills.A classmate described Jack Ma as "whatever he learns, he is omnipotent".When organizing activities, teachers are unable to attend due to business, Ma Yun can always find a way to persuade; for evening parties, Ma Yun is the first to sign up, performing pantomime sketches, showing professionalism; the student union has no money to hold dances, so he borrows stereos from the police school and from the School of Finance and Economics loudspeaker……

Not only that, Jack Ma, who entered the university campus, also used the energy of fighting in the past to work with students.Because of his good foundation in English, learning is very easy. In order to pass the free time, Jack Ma joined the student union of the school.During his four years in college, Ma Yun served as the chairman of the student union for three years and the chairman of the Hangzhou Student Union for two years.For a second-rate college student, this is almost a miracle. After becoming famous, Ma Yun always likes to use the three college entrance examinations that year to ridicule himself as "helping people with poor grades regain confidence".

In fact, Ma Yun's "bad grades" were only caused by his playfulness when he was young. When he "reined in the precipice and turned back to the shore", he had completely changed himself.When he was in middle school, he would go to the West Lake to "chat" with foreigners in the early morning; during the years of college, he went to the door of the hotel to "talk" with foreigners almost every day.This kind of "chicken-dancing" story has no way to be verified today, but it has indeed laid a solid foundation for Jack Ma's foreign language proficiency. The college time passed quickly. Due to his excellent grades, after graduation, Ma Yun became the only undergraduate graduate who went to teach in colleges and universities.He was assigned to teach foreign languages ​​at Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Technology (now Hangzhou Dianzi University), and Ma Yun became the "Teacher Ma" in the university. In 1988, Ma Yun, who graduated from university, went to Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Technology as an English teacher.Ma Yun was the only one among the 500 undergraduate graduates of Hangzhou Normal University to teach in colleges and universities. At that time, Ma Yun was relatively active, and the profession of teacher may not last long. The dean of Hangzhou Teachers College felt that Jack Ma, as the only "kindling seed", must set an example and leave a good reputation for Teachers College.So, the old dean found Ma Yun, and made a bet with Ma Yun in a half-joking and half-threatening way: "Ma Yun, can you honestly be an English teacher for five years?" At that time, many of Ma Yun’s friends and classmates went outside to “seek gold” in the colorful world. Many of them were engaged in business and went abroad. If it weren’t for the old dean’s words, Ma Yun would probably have “actions” soon.Ma Yun understood the "hard work" of the old dean, and he agreed without much hesitation. Ma Yun felt that keeping the promise was a very "romantic" thing. For this promise, Ma Yun worked as an English teacher at Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Technology for 5 years. In domestic Internet circles, Ma Yun is as famous as Zhang Chaoyang for his fashion, Chen Tianqiao for his poise, and Wang Leilei for his straightforwardness.After founding Alibaba, Ma Yun, who has been born and bred in China, can easily give wonderful speeches to overseas users in Europe and the United States, and the level is no less than that of domestic speeches.Ma Yun himself explained that these two skills were mainly practiced when he was teaching. He never prepared a speech script when he was on stage, and he couldn't keep it when he opened his mouth. Shortly after graduating from university and teaching, Ma Yun went to teach foreign languages ​​part-time at an evening school in Hangzhou.Because the lectures are very exciting, whenever he lectures, many classes do not need to attend classes, because there are not many students who go to watch Ma Yun's "performance".The effect of this kind of "performance" is quite good. The cram school students with extremely poor foundation, after some training by him, actually speak English in class.Speaking of that experience, Jack Ma is still complacent, "I have studied Li Yang's Crazy English, if I join in, I will overshadow him, my cheats can really make people speak foreign languages." Although popular with students, Jack Ma's salary was only about 110 yuan a month at the time.Ma Yun has always been a passionate person who is unwilling to be ordinary, and the peaceful campus life makes him feel bored. In 1992, Ma Yun and his friends established the earliest professional translation agency "Haibo Translation Agency" in Hangzhou, and took up translation business after school.At that time, the business was very difficult, and it was often difficult to make ends meet.Ma Yun saw that the translation agency was going to be in trouble, so he went to Yiwu and Guangzhou to buy goods, sell gifts, and wrap flowers with his pockets on his back. He used the money to support the translation agency for three years before starting to break even. Compared with Alibaba in the future, the experience of the translation agency did not bring Ma Yun much sense of success.However, Ma Yun believes that the process of running a translation agency made him understand that a successful person needs at least two qualities: one is a bold and persistent character; the other is a keen sense of the market. When Ma Yun founded the translation agency, he still served as a teacher of the college.In his spare time, Ma Yun, who has always maintained his enthusiasm and energy for work, also teaches evening classes.Ma Yun teaches very well. He does not let his students read dead books and do test papers, because in Ma Yun's eyes, doing test papers is a sign of incompetence. Ma Yun's English-style courses made his students very interested, and the interactive atmosphere in the classroom made all the students very involved.The charm of Ma Yun began to show at that time. Several of the 18 veterans who started Alibaba’s business with him were his students, such as Zhou Baobao. Started a business.Dai Shan, who later served as vice president of Alibaba, was also a student of Ma Yun. She recalled that Ma Yun was the students' favorite teacher at that time. During the years when Ma Yun was a teacher at the university, he almost established the core and most loyal entrepreneurial team on Alibaba's entrepreneurial journey in the future.These partners and memories should be the most precious treasure in his life.Jack Ma's wife, Zhang Ying, was met by Jack Ma in college.From acquaintance, acquaintance to love, the two have gone through the days of being in love with each other for many years.Zhang Ying has been silently supporting and encouraging Ma Yun behind his back, and has become Ma Yun's faithful life partner and effective business partner. Jack Ma bought his first house when he was still teaching at the university.Ma Yun and Zhang Ying borrowed money from family and friends to buy this house. At the time, it was undoubtedly a huge fortune.Later, Jack Ma sold his first house and bought the "famous" lakeside garden, which was considered a considerable investment at the time. Speaking of the experience of buying a house, Ma Yun is quite touched.He said that if he invests in real estate, he will definitely not invest in those popular house types, but will choose some houses with a larger area than the current popular ones.For example, the lakeside garden at that time was a villa slightly larger than three bedrooms and one living room, so that I would always be ahead of the times. This idea also applies to Alibaba, which was created by Jack Ma later. It always does a little better and a little more than the existing website, so that the grand dream of "every businessman in the world must use Alibaba" comes into being. In 1994, Jack Ma heard about the Internet for the first time.At that time, there was a foreign teacher named Bill in their college, who was an American.This year, Bill went back to the United States. After returning to Hangzhou from the United States, Bill and Ma Yun talked about the Internet. Ma Yun was even more excited than Bill.In this year, the 5-year commitment has expired, and Jack Ma thought he should leave school.He felt that he would be 30 soon, and if he didn't do anything else, his whole life would be in vain. In 1995, the 30-year-old Jack Ma became one of the "Top Ten Outstanding Young Teachers in Hangzhou".That is, in one year, Ma Yun embarked on the long journey of starting a business.Ma Yun's resignation caused quite a stir in the school. Afterwards, Ma Yun said that he threw away his iron job and went to the Internet that was not understood and valued by others. If the failure meant something to him, it is self-evident.Ma Yun's determination and courage to resign and go to sea come from his judgment on the future of the Internet. Jack Ma didn't know at the time that the title of "Father of the Internet" was waiting for him to claim it. Before 1995, Ma Yun belonged to the school, and he wanted to be a good teacher and an excellent English teacher; after 1995, Ma Yun decided to "go out and venture". In 1995, many Chinese people "connected to the Internet" in the United States, and many people "connected to the Internet" in China.But as soon as they touch the Internet, they immediately see the future Internet world, see the enormous power of the Internet to change the world, and see the infinite business opportunities hidden behind the Internet, not many people.There was only one person in China at that time who saw the future and business opportunities and took immediate action.He was Ma Yun, the little man who was later dubbed China's "father of the Internet" and found his own at the age of 30. Whether it will be successful or not is unknown to Jack Ma.But he knows that no matter whether you succeed or fail in doing something, you have to give it a try and make a breakthrough. If you don’t do it, you can turn around; Holding the idea of ​​"returning to school to teach in a big deal", in April 1995, Ma Yun took out 6,000 yuan of savings, and borrowed tens of thousands from relatives and friends, plus the discounted price of office furniture of Shanghai Bo Translation Agency and the money of two other shareholders. , A total of 100,000 yuan was collected.Ma Yun, Zhang Ying, and He Yibing jointly founded Zhejiang Haibo Network Technology Co., Ltd. The entity of the company is China's first commercial website - China Yellow Pages. At that time, Ma Yun had to go out every day to sell his online yellow pages, and persuade others to pay to put the company's information on the Internet.At that time, people knew very little about what the Internet was, and no one believed Jack Ma.During that harrowing time, Ma lived a life of being viewed as a liar.Jack Ma described his role at the time as a "fanatic propagandist" and a "crazy salesman". In order to win the business of a Hangzhou company, Jack Ma made five trips in a row, but the business owner always suspects that e-commerce is a deceptive thing.In order to convince the boss, Jack Ma collected a lot of information about e-commerce for him, explaining to him over and over again that e-commerce is a new business model, and advertising online has a wider effect than advertising on other media.No matter how exhausted Jack Ma is, the boss is still skeptical.Faced with this difficult bone, Ma Yun did not give up.When he left, he asked the boss for a copy of the company's promotional materials. A few days later, Ma Yun came back with a laptop. When the business owner saw his company's webpage displayed on the computer, he finally agreed to pay. Every order in the initial period was extremely difficult. With the introduction of friends and the gradual promotion of the Internet, China Yellow Pages gradually gained income.Ma Yun began to develop business one by one in 27 cities across the country. In those cities that did not have the Internet, Ma Yun was regarded as a liar.But he is still as unyielding as a madman, because Jack Ma has always believed that the Internet is a 10,000-meter long-distance race that affects the future life of mankind. In addition to running as fast as a rabbit, you must also have the stamina like a tortoise. After successfully publishing the first batch of Internet homepages in China, such as Wuxi Little Swan and Beijing Guoan Football Club, China Yellow Pages began to gain fame in the circle.By the end of 1997, the turnover of the website had reached 7 million yuan unbelievably! However, fortune and misfortune depend on each other. In 1996, the Internet began to become a hotspot of major media and a powerful representative of the new economy.When Ma Yun and his China Yellow Pages were just getting a little sensual, "enemies" also appeared overnight. At that time, the most intense competition with Jack Ma was Hangzhou Telecom.This is a war of disparity in strength. Hangzhou Telecom has a registered capital of more than 300 million yuan, while Ma Yun has a registered capital of only 20,000 yuan. Hangzhou Telecom has very good social resources and government resources, and Ma Yun has almost no resources in these two areas.Not only enterprises, but also ordinary people think that Ma Yun is a "guerrilla captain" and his subordinates are just a group of "rabble". No one wants to believe them. In order for China Yellow Pages to survive, Jack Ma had to make a choice.In competition and cooperation, he chose the latter, and finally decided to cooperate with Hangzhou Telecom. In March 1996, China Yellow Pages converted its assets into 600,000 RMB, accounting for 30% of the shares; Hangzhou Telecom invested 1.4 million RMB, accounting for 70% of the shares. From the very beginning, the cooperation between Jack Ma and Hangzhou Telecom seemed a bit difficult. Soon, the cooperation between the two parties had problems.Although Hangzhou Telecom is also optimistic about Ma Yun's China Yellow Pages, it is eager to grow and make money; Ma Yun believes that being an Internet company is like raising a child. China Yellow Pages is now like a 3-year-old child, how to make money before he grows up! The two sides fought back and forth, and the differences deepened.The party with higher capital naturally has more right to speak, and everyone starts to act emotionally.First, He Yibing resigned, then all the staff of China Yellow Pages resigned, and finally Ma Yun also resigned. The whole incident even alarmed the "People's Daily". In order not to destroy the China Yellow Pages created by himself, Jack Ma decided to part ways with Hangzhou Telecom. When Ma Yun left China Yellow Pages, he gave all the 21% shares of China Yellow Pages he owned at that time to the employees who started the business together, hoping that they could better serve China Yellow Pages.After all, China Yellow Pages is like a child raised by Jack Ma himself. Being forced to leave China Yellow Pages in 1997 was the first failure in Jack Ma's entrepreneurial career.There are many rumors about Ma Yun's departure, but Ma Yun has not said much about why until today.Perhaps, Jack Ma at that time had a new idea! Although Ma Yun encountered the setback of starting a business for the first time in his life, he did not cry because of the failure.Success requires accumulation, which is the most primitive and simplest truth. Ma Yun said that many young people think about a thousand ways at night and walk the same way when they get up in the morning.In fact, entrepreneurship is not about how good the idea is, but about being ready to pay for your ideas at any time.It is with such a firm belief that Jack Ma can reach the present glory. From the establishment of China Yellow Pages in the first half of 1995 to his departure in the second half of 1997, Jack Ma has been on the Internet for more than two years. Although he has encountered setbacks, his reputation has already spread. In October 1997, Ma Yun got acquainted with Wang Jianguo of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.Subsequently, under the recommendation of Wang Jianguo, the China International Electronic Commerce Center (EDI) of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation invited Ma Yun to join. In December 1997, 33-year-old Jack Ma decided to go north.Under the generous invitation of EDI, Jack Ma arrived in Beijing with 8 people and formally joined EDI. Jack Ma became the manager of the information department of the e-commerce center. Later, two groups of people went north one after another, and Ma Yun's Beijing team reached 13 people.After joining EDI, Ma Yun and his team were mainly responsible for two areas. One was the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. At first everyone worked together, but later only one person was left in charge; the other was the Chinese commodity trading market, which Ma Yun really wanted to do. Ma Yun is in the China International E-Commerce Center of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and operates the Guofu Communication Technology Development Co., Ltd. of the center.Since joining at the end of 1997, Ma Yun led his team to develop the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the online Chinese commodity trading market, the online China Technology Export Fair, China Merchants, the online Canton Fair and China Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation in less than a year. And so on a series of sites. Among them, the website of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation became the earliest government website in the domestic internal committee, and it was also an excellent website recommended by China's "Government Internet Project" in 1999; the online Chinese commodity trading market was the first large-scale e-commerce practice on the Internet organized by the Chinese government. Then Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng called it a "never-ending" trade fair.Ma Yun then cooperated with Yahoo Yang Zhiyuan to make Guofutong the exclusive advertising agent of Yahoo in China. Jack Ma’s second start-up, the benefits came quickly: Guofutong and China’s commercial trading market website realized profits that year, with a net profit of 2.87 million yuan.With a high salary, these young people under Ma Yun are very happy.But Ma Yun couldn't be happy, because there was a gap between these and his ideals. Ma Yun has always been called a "weird" in foreign economics and trade, and his ideas are always different from others.Although his entrepreneurial passion also touched many colleagues around him, he eventually disagreed with the leadership on the positioning of the website.The leadership believes that the positioning of the website should serve large enterprises, but Ma Yun believes that the future of e-commerce lies in small and medium-sized enterprises.After several unsuccessful exchanges, Ma Yun began to fall into pain. At the end of 1998, Ma Yun made a decision that he would give up Beijing and return to Hangzhou to start his own business again. After Ma Yun made his decision, he summoned more than a dozen "elite soldiers and strong generals" who came to Beijing together.At that time, Ma Yun gave them two choices: one was to recommend them to work in well-known Internet companies such as Yahoo. With their work experience and Ma Yun’s recommendation, the income would definitely not be low; the other choice was to go back to Hangzhou with Ma Yun to fight the world.But Jack Ma does not promise them a bright future, all he can promise is a salary of 500 yuan and the hardships of starting a business together.Ma Yun asked everyone to think about it for one night, and after everyone went out, they returned collectively in less than 5 minutes. Everyone expressed their willingness to follow Ma Yun, and everyone said in unison: "If you come together, let's go back to Hangzhou together!" In the last few days in Beijing, 18 entrepreneurs went to the Great Wall together. This was their first group outing after arriving in Beijing.A group of people are on the Great Wall, encouraging writing.Under the influence of the momentum of the Great Wall, everyone was full of lofty ambitions, and they vowed to build a website that all Chinese people could be proud of. Today, the photos on the Great Wall are recorded in the history of Alibaba as historical materials, and Jack Ma also expressed his gratitude to the entrepreneurs who followed him many years later: "Thank you very much for your company all the way for so many years. Everyone believes in me so much and has been with me all the time. Today.” At that time, Ma Yun may not have imagined that because of his own words and a dream, Alibaba has achieved today’s brilliance. One night before leaving Beijing, Ma Yun and a dozen young people gathered in a small tavern in Beijing.It was snowing heavily outside that night, everyone drank in large bowls, ate large pieces of meat, and finally sang the song "True Heroes" together.Many people don't remember what Jack Ma said that night, and they don't know what kind of life they will face tomorrow.The only thing everyone remembers is: singing "True Heroes" all night. Years later, this song accompanied Alibaba through many times of crisis, such as the first Internet downturn, such as "SARS".This song may best represent Ma Yun's knight-errant feelings, and may represent a spirit of Alibaba.In fact, no matter who it is, as long as they sing this song in the most difficult time, they will be full of emotion and hope. Of course, the two years at MOFTEC were not all about pain.With the experience of the national ministries and commissions, Ma Yun's level has taken another leap.Ma Yun once said frankly: "Before this, I was just a small businessman in Hangzhou. Working for the country this time, I know the future development direction of the country and learn to think about problems from a macro perspective. I am no longer a frog at the bottom of a well." Ma Yun, who is no longer a frog in a well, will bring a "crazy" Alibaba to the Internet. In 2004, Ma Yun gave a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.A CEO of GE sat under the stage. After listening to Ma Yun's speech, he said that Ma Yun was a lunatic.Later, Jack Ma invited him to Hangzhou.The president stayed in Hangzhou for 3 days, and finally he said to Ma Yun: "I thought you were a lunatic, but now I found out that there are more than 100 lunatics in your company." However, with such a group of "lunatics", Only then has today's Alibaba. Time goes back to January 1999, Hangzhou, Lakeside Garden.Ma Yun called 18 people who followed him to his home. He said: "We have started a business. Please put the money in your pocket on the table. But there are a few principles. First, you can't borrow from your parents, and you can't touch the old people Retirement capital; the second is not to borrow from relatives and friends, which will affect their life for the rest of their lives. We are willing to gamble and admit defeat. If we lose, the money is our own; if we fail, we will start all over again!" Savings are on the table. Then, everyone started to pool money.Although the salaries of these people were not low when they worked at Beijing EDI, they were all young people who pursued high consumption and did not have much savings.Looking at the somewhat "crazy" Jack Ma, everyone's gambling spirit was aroused, and finally they pooled 500,000 yuan, which was Alibaba's initial venture capital. The significance of this fundraising is far more far-reaching than the superficial impact. First, it determines the nature of the company as a joint-stock company.Jack Ma can solve the 500,000 yuan for starting a business by himself. It is easy for him to become a big boss if he wants to hold a controlling stake, and no one else will object.But Jack Ma still distributed the shares to everyone. What he valued more was the team, friends and friendship, which was also the source of Alibaba's values ​​later.Ma Yun said: "We are very healthy. Every employee has a share. The biggest share is in the hands of the manager. This is a very scientific concept. We are not a family business." Second, it put Alibaba on a sustainable development track from the very beginning.At that time, Jack Ma had accepted the advanced and healthy corporate philosophy of the West. "Family spirit, small bookishness, narrow-mindedness, these things are not good. Western companies are guaranteed by systems, but we Chinese are guaranteed by people." He pointed out at that time: the company is forever, and people will be changed. !It is this concept and system that guarantees the sustainable and long-term development of Alibaba and makes it possible for Alibaba to become a lasting enterprise. On February 21, 1999, Alibaba held its first employee meeting, which is the most historic meeting of Alibaba.Alibaba's first employee meeting is actually a founder meeting, and the participants are without exception the founders of Alibaba. Ma Yun's speech at the meeting was as impassioned as ever, but his expression was a little dignified.Ma Yun said: "The decision I made in 1995, I told myself, may have changed the career I have been engaged in all my life. Today, I invite everyone to discuss with you what we will do in at least 5 or 10 years. Yahoo’s IPO, Amazon’s IPO, and the IPOs of a series of companies have led us to wonder whether the Internet has reached its apex? Is Yahoo almost done? So, all of us are anxious to come here today. What is the future if we continue to do this? If we continue to play, what will come out? What might we become? Everyone may have brought a plan, and what are the benefits after we start from the basics?" Then, Ma Yun said the website model he conceived: not a portal, nor a B2C, but a B2B for small and medium-sized enterprises.This "crazy" idea made the meeting extremely heated.In the Chinese Internet market at that time, although the three major models (portal, B2C, and C2C) in the United States could be found, most of the websites were portal websites.Most people at the meeting thought that building a portal website was the only feasible solution, but Ma Yun firmly rejected this proposal. He said: "If most people are optimistic about something, you should stop doing it. It's not your turn anymore!" Ma Yun's idea originated from the Asian Electronic Commerce Conference he attended in Singapore in February 1999.Although the discussion was about e-commerce in Asia, 85% of the speakers were American, and all they said was eBay and Amazon.Ma Yun suddenly thought that the e-commerce market in Europe and the United States, especially the B2B model, is aimed at large enterprises, and the Asian e-commerce market is mainly for small and medium-sized enterprises. Ma Yun decided to create a model that neither China nor the United States can find. Ma Yun has said more than once: "In the era of the Internet economy, sometimes a wrong decision is better than no decision. In the process of making a decision, if 90% of the people say yes after a decision is made, you throw the decision away. Go to the trash can. Because it's not yours. Others can do better than you, why should you?" This is Jack Ma's reverse way of thinking, which looks crazy but often works. An ordinary and stable life is not what Ma Yun pursues, he needs "passionate years".Of course, no one will believe that Ma Yun, who has always been "flashing his teeth and claws", will stay quietly and honestly.He is flamboyant and high-profile, and once he sets a goal, he will go crazy to achieve it. In order to achieve the goals proposed by Ma Yun, for a long time, team members almost completely disappeared from public places.Due to limited funds, they did not rent an office building, but worked in Ma Yun's house. At most, 35 people sat in the room. Alibaba's founding team worked 16-18 hours a day. They designed web pages day and night, discussed ideas and ideas, and slept on the floor when they were sleepy.Residents of Lakeside Homes often see that the group of people living in Jack Ma’s home leave at six or seven in the morning and return at three or four in the afternoon. Hard work pays off. In March 1999, in Hangzhou, which is full of spring, Jack Ma's Alibaba website was officially launched. Although there is only 500,000 yuan of venture capital, Jack Ma still believes that future companies should have the vision and courage to overlook the world, so the name should also be resounding and international.It is said that Ma Yun has been thinking for a long time for this name.Until one time when he was eating in the United States, he had a whim and thought of the long-standing world legend of "Alibaba".Ma Yun asked others repeatedly in various places. After testing, Ma Yun found that this story is well-known by people all over the world, and the pronunciation is almost the same regardless of language. In this way, the "crazy" Jack Ma established a name for his company that is destined to affect the whole world: Alibaba. In 2003, such a post appeared on Alibaba's internal website.This post reminds employees of Alibaba to pay attention to a website whose production idea is very similar to that of Alibaba, and its name is Taobao.The post quickly caught the attention of Alibaba employees. As a result, there have been more and more discussions on the Internet.Not long after, some people moved the discussion on the Internet to offline. At that time, some employees were still angry at the insensitivity and slow response of Alibaba's senior management on this matter.Some people openly asked the leaders: Why do they ignore such a website?Ma Yun described the situation at that time, saying that he just "laughed and didn't answer". The first to see the clues were the old employees of the company, because the screen names of all the service personnel on this Taobao website used the names in Jin Yong's martial arts novels.As we all know, Ma Yun is a "Jin Yong fan", so some people began to speculate that Taobao is Alibaba's website. This story has almost become a classic in the history of Alibaba's development. The beginning of the story is quite suspenseful: In 2003, just after the Lunar New Year, 10 Alibaba employees were called to Jack Ma's office one by one.Jack Ma told them the same thing, saying that the company had a secret task that they needed to complete, and whether they wanted to or not, employees had to promise to keep it secret.After signing the agreement, I have to work alone with a team for a while, and no one can tell about this, including family and friends. All the visitors expressed their willingness to sign the agreement. In fact, they did not read the agreement carefully, not only because the agreement was in English, but also because the atmosphere at the time did not allow them to read it carefully.Everyone admitted that they signed the agreement under muddleheaded circumstances, and these dozen or so people were the core members of Taobao website production. Jack Ma later explained that what he wanted at the time was to produce Taobao in complete secrecy, so some methods and methods were a little mysterious, and the production team would feel completely isolated.Next came "SARS". In the days when "SARS" blocked contact with the outside world, the Taobao website was created and officially announced on the Internet in early May of that year. Alibaba, which has always claimed to be dedicated and has indeed been focusing on the B2B field, why is it building a free C2C Taobao at this time? It turned out that with the smooth and rapid development of Alibaba, Jack Ma was not satisfied with being the leader in the B2B field. He set his sights on the C2C field, which has a huge user base and is also e-commerce.Since 2002, Ma Yun has been paying attention to the C2C king eBay. 成立于1995年9月的电子商务网站eBay，在问世不到7年的时间里高速发展，取得了傲人的业绩。拥有来自世界各个角落的4200万注册用户，2001年eBay全球年度销售额已超过90亿美元，赢利9000万美元。 中国首家C2C网站易趣网在2002年被eBay以1.5亿美元的价格收购，此举已表明国际大鳄eBay要来中国抢夺市场。 2002年年底，马云发现：在易趣网上，出现了非个人对个人的大宗交易。这个现象引起了阿里巴巴高层的高度重视，在他们的观念里，电子商务原本就不存在B2B和C2C的明确界限，个人对个人的交易做大了，实质上与企业对企业的交易并无区别。在eBay登陆中国，并且成功收购易趣后，马云的弦绷得更紧了，建立淘宝网实际上是一种战略的需要。 马云率先吹响了进攻的号角，尽管阿里巴巴的高层们都声称除了防止易趣从C2C这一端进攻阿里巴巴的B2B之外，电子商务其实并无边界。但以马云的性格，他原来的“如意算盘”应该是让阿里巴巴从B2B去融合C2C。 eBay的出现让马云的算盘打没了，他不得不提前做C2C网站。现在，马云面对的不仅仅是慧聪网，以及诸多专业性网站争夺中国制造业商人的市场份额，还要拉出一条战线来与eBay作战。如果只是这样，那问题就简单得多，但事实并非这么简单，因为免费的C2C网站是要烧钱的。 天下难道真有免费的午餐？马云用淘宝网给了大家一个肯定的答复。 淘宝网的使命是“没有淘不到的宝贝，没有卖不出的宝贝”。 免费的午餐迅速赢得了“人气”，淘宝网很快取得了不俗的成绩，这一切都来源于用户的支持。 很多人更关心，为何马云要让淘宝网的制作如此神秘，甚至在淘宝出现的很长时间内都宣布只是个个人网站呢？对于这些，马云说只是想了解淘宝出现后用户真正的反应。如果知道背后有一个阿里巴巴在支撑，用户们对淘宝的感情肯定不能被准确地测量出来，这样一来，对市场的判断就会出现偏差。 2003年6月，淘宝网在网上公布一个月后，制作者们按照阿里巴巴的惯例给淘宝在网下和网上都举办了“满月酒”。在网上，淘宝收到了众多的祝福。由于当时淘宝还是以个人网站的面目出现，用户们担心淘宝的资金不足，有人甚至表示愿意拿出自己网上商店的部分商品来拍卖，卖得的钱留给淘宝。 截至2008年第一季度，淘宝网注册会员超6200万人，覆盖了中国绝大部分网购人群。2008年第一季度，淘宝网交易额突破188亿；2007年全年成交额突破433亿。 根据2007年权威机构调研，淘宝网占据中国网购市场70％以上市场份额，C2C市场占据80%以上市场份额。 淘宝网倡导诚信、活泼、高效的网络交易文化，坚持“宝可不淘，信不能弃”。 淘宝网已成为广大网民网上创业和以商会友的首选。2005年10月，淘宝网宣布：在未来5年，将为社会创造100万就业机会，帮助更多的网民在淘宝上就业，甚至创业。截至2007年，淘宝已经为社会提供超过20万的直接就业岗位。 曾有人问马云，阿里巴巴最大的对手是谁，马云不假思索地回答：沃尔玛。 这个答案颇让人疑惑：沃尔玛是做零售的，阿里巴巴是做电子商务的，两者风马牛不相及，怎么会成为竞争对手呢？ 其实阿里巴巴做的事情确与沃尔玛有相似之处，马云创造的“电子商务+零售”的新商业模式，已经有点“网上沃尔玛”的意思。 沃尔玛是世界零售巨头，它创造了一个从小镇走向世界的神话，其成功的最主要原因是严格控制供应链每一环节的成本。麦肯锡全球管理咨询公司认为，沃尔玛也和一些贸易型公司交易，但更多的是和生产厂家直接交易。沃尔玛选择全部自己去做，采购成本、管理成本、交易成本其实都非常高，但是传统供应链的低效率和多级加价足以支撑起沃尔玛的利润空间。 海尔集团CEO张瑞敏曾经为海尔产品进入沃尔玛等超级零售终端的采购体系而喜，却又因为沃尔玛借终端力量对上游供应商利润的榨取而忧。对此，马云有自己的对策：沃尔玛的采购与销售链条其实完全可以放在网上。阿里巴巴涉足产业链恰恰是要提高传统供应链的效率，还利润于原始厂商，降低沃尔玛等零售商的压榨。 沃尔玛通过整合整条供应链，向下游消费者提供具体的有形产品服务。对整条供应链的有效管理使得沃尔玛有更大的主控权，这样形成的经济体也更有竞争力。现在B2B、B2C、C2C三种形态趋向合并，如果沃尔玛进军中国的B2C电子商务领域，马云将不得不面对这个全球化的商业巨兽。马云果断判断出：沃尔玛的业务迟早会搬到网上，所以两者的竞争是不可避免的。 因而，马云决定提前“备战”。他为阿里巴巴勾勒出这样的“未来”：以阿里巴巴为平台，逐步将中小企业的销售中心、人事中心、技术中心、支付中心和财务中心都放在上面，其间阻挡在B2B、B2C及C2C之间的一切障碍都将被打通。那时，阿里巴巴将成为一个虚拟的商务王国，其中有自己的货币、自己的游戏规则、自己的运作体系。 在电子商务行业，大家普遍认为B2C领域处处是黄金，亚马逊当年上市时的空前盛况就能说明一切。短短两年内，亚马逊的股价从17美元一路飙升到140多美元。经过了这么多年，B2C在整个电子商务市场却只占了不到1％的份额，而后起步的C2C模式却达到了市场份额的2％。 因此，马云对传统的B2C并不看好。他说：即使美国有那么好的配送和物流基础，亚马逊也只有5％的利润。在中国，B2C市场已经很成熟，但是亚马逊、当当还是活得很辛苦，说明这个模式有问题。马云开始通过淘宝网来探索新的B2C模式，实现他的“网上沃尔玛”之梦。 从2005年开始，马云尝试将阿里巴巴的买家和卖家引到淘宝，鼓励淘宝网的卖家去阿里巴巴进货，再把产品销售给下游的消费者，希望通过这种形式打通B2B和C2C的界限。 在这样的构想之下，淘宝网2006年5月10日推出“淘宝商城”这一B2C交易平台。它成为大品牌商家的乐园，这些被招揽的品牌都是在线拍卖网站最畅销的商品门类中的超级品牌。这不仅仅是解决淘宝网赢利模式的问题，更是马云打通B2B、B2C和C2C的一个绝妙战略布局。 实际上，淘宝算得上是一个依托互联网生存的零售组织型企业，它在供应方与需求方之间提供了一个以契约制为基础的第三方平台。淘宝承接的是买卖双方的组织任务，要制定基本的规则，调控双方关系以求达到平衡，淘宝一直试图通过不断修订规则来使买卖双方获得最佳的平衡。 过去以亚马逊为代表的传统B2C模式需投入巨资建立仓储、配送中心，中间成本极大，利润则仅可维持在5%左右，而融合了B2B及C2C模式的淘宝B2C新模式则不存在物流、配送、支付等瓶颈。 传统B2C的赢利模式在于压低生产商的价格，进而在采购价与销售价之间赚取差价，在中国电子商务的近10年经验里，以往的B2C模式鲜有成效；而淘宝的B2C新模式将帮助厂商直接充当卖方角色，把厂商直接推到与消费者面对面的台前，让厂商获得更多的利润，进而将更多的资金投入技术和产品创新，最终让广大的消费者获益。淘宝全新的B2C模式的目的就是帮助厂商赚钱，帮助消费者省钱，最大限度压缩中间环节成本，最终达到厂商和消费者共同受益的目的。 到2006年，包括摩托罗拉、阿迪达斯、苹果等在内的厂商都在淘宝网上开设了专门的网上店铺，而华硕电脑、迪斯尼家电、马克华菲等厂商还专门为淘宝网的B2C平台推出了定制产品。 淘宝更像个网上商圈，在这里面任何零售业态都有。阿里巴巴上的生产厂家通过在淘宝开店，能与消费者直接沟通，运用阿里巴巴的管理软件把握市场需求更为方便，可以做到及时调整库存，这点已经十分类似沃尔玛了。马云要做的就是“嫁接”，把传统的零售经验跟以前的电子商务经验加在一起，然后生成新的模式。到时，他就可以骄傲地说：“沃尔玛有的他都有，沃尔玛没有的他也有。” 2006年年底，淘宝网注册用户超过3000万，人均网购消费563元，交易总额突破169亿元人民币，超过易初莲花100亿元、沃尔玛99.3亿元的全年在华营业额，是国内零售业巨头北京王府井百货集团全年销售额的2.6倍。 马云通过改进完善淘宝网所带来的巨大影响远超过他所获得的收益，这是他在战略上的一个巨大胜利。他通过电子商务将零售业做得像沃尔玛一样完美，又一次印证了“天下没有难做的生意”这一思想。 互联网像一杯啤酒，有沫的时候最好喝。 互联网是4×100米接力赛，你再厉害，只能跑一棒，应该把机会让给年轻人。 互联网是影响人类未来生活30年的3000米长跑，你必须跑得像兔子一样快，又要像乌龟一样耐跑。 我永远相信只要永不放弃，我们还是有机会的。最后，我们还是坚信一点，这世界上只要有梦想，只要不断努力，只要不断学习，不管你长得如何，不管是这样，还是那样，男人的长相往往和他的才华成反比。今天很残酷，明天更残酷，后天很美好，但绝大部分人是死在明天晚上，所以每个人都不要放弃今天。 很多人失败的原因不是钱太少，而是钱太多。 有时候死扛下去总是会有机会的。 免费是世界上最昂贵的东西，所以尽量不要免费，等你有了钱以后再考虑免费。 发令枪一响，你是没时间看你的对手是怎么跑的。只有明天是我们的竞争对手。 如果早起的那只鸟没有吃到虫子，就会被别的鸟吃掉。