Founders: #32 Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built

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What I learned from reading Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark. --- Crazy Jack (0:01) The internet is filling the void created by state planning (6:59) Jack has made a career out of being underestimated: “I am a very simple guy. I am not smart. I might have a smart face but I’ve got very stupid brains.” (20:35) Jack’s early life / Discipline and Curiosity (24:43) Jack Magic: “ Nobody saw the opportunity in this business. We didn’t make much money at first, but Jack persevered…I respect him tremendously for he has a a great ability to motivate people and he can invest things that seem hopeless with exciting possibility. He can make those around him get excited about life.” (40:00) Jack’s first time on the Internet (47:06) Another lucky break: Meeting Yahoo Founder Jerry Yang (55:45) Making money from shrimp (57:02) The worst deal he ever made (1:00:43) Masayoshi Son: Founder of Softbank (1:04:45) Be the last man standing (1:10:16) Ebay vs Alibaba: A case study in what not to do (1:13:32) Yahoo’s billion-dollar bet (1:23:00) Jack’s unique reaction to the financial crisis (1:27:00) Alipay’s ownership changes / One of the craziest stories I’ve read (1:33:12) If I had

[00:00:00] I first met Jack in the summer of 1999, a few months after he founded Alibaba in a small apartment in Hangzhou, some hundred miles southwest of Shanghai. On my first visit, I could count the number of co-founders by the toothbrushes jammed into mugs on a shelf in the bathroom. In addition to Jack, there included his wife, Kathy, and 16 others. Jack and Kathy had wagered everything they owned on the company, including their home. Jack's ambition then, as it remains today, was breathtaking. He talked of building an internet company that would last 80 years, the typical span of a…

Founders: #32 Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built

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