Extraordinary youth
When I was 12 years old, I became interested in learning English. Every morning, no matter it's windy or rainy, I have to ride for 40 minutes to learn English in a small hotel beside the West Lake in Hangzhou. This study lasts for 8 years. At that time, China had gradually opened up to the outside world, and many foreign tourists went to Hangzhou for sightseeing. I often act as a free tour guide for them, taking them around and practicing English at the same time. These 8 years' study has deeply changed me. The knowledge that foreign tourists bring me is very different from what I learned from teachers and books. I began to have a more global vision than most people.
Another thing that fundamentally changed me was in 1979. I met a family from Australia, which had two children. We played together for three days and later became pen pals. In 1985, they invited me to Australia for the summer vacation, so I went there in July and stayed there for 31 days. Before I went abroad, I thought China was the richest and happiest country in the world. When I arrived in Australia, I found that my previous idea was not correct.
Repeated setbacks
I took the college entrance examination three times before I was admitted by Hangzhou Normal University, the worst University in Hangzhou at that time. In the University, I was lucky to be the president of the student union, and later became the president of Hangzhou University Students' Federation. But at that time, my future was basically delineated in the middle school English teachers. When I graduated, I became the only one of more than 500 graduates to teach in the University. My salary is 100 to 120 yuan per month, equivalent to 12 to 15 dollars.
In five years of teaching career, I have always dreamed of working in a company, such as a hotel or other places. I just want to do something. In 1992, the business environment began to improve. I applied for many jobs, but no one asked me. I once applied for the position of secretary to the general manager of KFC, but I was rejected.
Then in 1995, I went to Seattle as an interpreter for a trade delegation. A friend showed me the Internet for the first time there. We searched the word beer on Yahoo, but we didn't find any information about China. We decided to create a website and registered the name of China yellow page.
I borrowed $2000 to start the company, when I knew nothing about personal computers and email, and I didn't even touch the keyboard. That's why I call myself a blind man riding a blind horse. We have been competing with China Telecom for about a year, and the general manager of China Telecom has offered to invest 185000 US dollars to form a joint venture with us. I've never seen so much money. Unfortunately, China Telecom occupies five seats on the board of directors of the company, while my company has only two seats. They refuse every event we suggest. It's just like ants playing chess with elephants. There's no chance at all. I decided to quit and go it alone. At that time, I got an offer from Beijing to run an e-commerce company.
Entrepreneurial dream
My dream is to set up my own e-commerce company. In 1999, I called 18 people to a meeting in my apartment. I told them about my idea. Two hours later, everyone started to pay. We raised a total of $60000, which was the first bucket of gold to create Alibaba.
I wanted to build a global business, so I chose a global name. Alibaba is easy to spell, and the story of sesame opening the door in Arabian Nights is a household name and easy to remember.
At that time, Alibaba was basically an enterprise with no capital, no technology and no plan, but we survived in the end. We used every penny very carefully, and the office of the company was in my apartment. We received capital injection from Goldman Sachs in 1999 and investment from Softbank in 2000, and the scale of the company began to expand.
We can achieve the status because I believe in one thing: global vision, local can win. We design our own business model. We focus on how to help SMEs make money. We never copy our business model from the United States, like many Chinese Internet entrepreneurs. We focus on product quality, we must achieve click, get. If you can't get it, it's rubbish.
I said Alibaba had made 101 mistakes. We expanded too fast, and after the Internet bubble burst, we had to lay off staff. By 2002, we had only enough cash to last 18 months. Many users of Alibaba are using the service for free, and we don't know how to make a profit. So we developed a product for Chinese exporters and American buyers. This business model saved us. By the end of 2002, we had achieved a net profit of $1 and finally crossed the break even point. Since then, the company's operating performance has improved every year, and now Alibaba's profitability has been quite strong.
