5 Tips for Startups: Alibaba’s successful founder, J.Ma

“If you want to grow, find a great opportunity. or, if you want to be a great company, think about what Social Problem you could solve. A great leader should be a Visionary and always be looking for new opportunities to explore.”

Successful Founder Topics: Self & other Optimism, Sacrifices, Cool it on Hot Stuff, Ready, Set, Go. Cool things about Jack Ma: Humble Beginnings,

“Get ready to make Sacrifices”, if you want to be an entrepreneur, Alibaba successful founder Jack Ma said at the grand final of the JumpStarter 2017 start-up competition in Hong Kong. Mr Ma had plenty of advice for budding entrepreneurs during a fireside chat with Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, drawing from experience gained from his 18-year journey turning Alibaba into one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Here are five of Jack’s Successful Founder tips.

A great Entrepreneur is always Optimistic

“Get those negative thoughts out of your head — an entrepreneur should be optimistic, Mr Ma insisted. “You should be optimistic; always optimistic. A great entrepreneur is optimistic about the future. And you have to ask what problem you can solve, and how you solve it is different from the others,” he said. Ask yourself why you can do better than everyone else trying the same thing”, Successful Founder Mr Ma added.

Surround yourself “optimistic” People who want to “change” everything

“No one is an island, so hire like-minded people to help you chase your dream”. Mr Ma elaborated: “You have to find a group of people working together with you who buy into your Vision. Those people come in to join you not because it’s a job, primarily. It’s because they believe in your Dream, Mission, & Vision.” That doesn’t mean hunting high & low for top talent. “You don’t have to find the best people in the world. It’s better to have those that get excited about your Dream, Mission, & Vision. These good people are now working with you in your team,” he explained. “Train the team, work with the team, the team will also train you how to be a better leader.”

Know that you will have to make Sacrifices

“The path to success will not come easily, Mr Ma warns. “Do not think ‘what I will get’. You have to ask ‘what I will give’. Will I win in 3 years or 10? If you have a great idea, prepare for 10 years. Quick wins are rare, Mr Ma stressed. “Don’t say I want to win next month, I want to succeed next year. Practically impossible. Forget about it. If you think I will win this in 3 years, prepare for 5 years. He shared his experience with Alibaba: “My first round of money, I gathered from 18 founders — US$50,000. “We thought this could last for 10 months. We even counted every cent we spent, but it lasted less than 4 months and we were almost bankrupt.”

Don’t focus on things that are Hot

“Why did Alibaba succeed? One reason was that the Internet was not yet everywhere, Mr Ma said. He went on: “E-commerce was just starting. Nobody else believed in it, but we believed in it. We didn’t care what other people said. We thought it had a future, we thought it would help people, so we started Alibaba.” Instead of doing what everyone else is doing, look for some unusual & unique. Use your mind, think how you can do better & different, why you can last for 10 years while the other people can only last for one year,” Mr Ma said.

Don’t wait for everything to be Ready for you

“Move early, and move fast, Mr Ma suggested — don’t wait for things to be ready. “By the time everything’s ready (& perfect), the opportunity has by-passed you and someone else has taken advantage of it,” he explained.

6 Cool things to know about Jack Ma

Alibaba is big. It started as a B2B online portal in 1999 and now, It is one of the largest internet based company in the world. Post Alibaba’s IPO launch this Thursday, It turned out to be the biggest US IPO in the history. Just to give you an idea, Alibaba’s IPO is bigger than Google, Facebook, & Twitter combined.

How did Alibaba happened? A lot of hard work, persistence & strong belief of that one person who was behind the company in good times as well as in bad. We know him as co-founder Jack Ma.

I’m going to share some little known instances from Ma’s life to inspire everyone to be a more Successful Founder. So, let’s just begin.

1. At 12 yo, he used to Guide Tourists for “free” for 8 years, because he had a strong desire to learn English.

2. Jack began his career as an English Teacher – from his Education – and he only knew how to send & receive Email.

3. His First Salary was just $12-15 per month at a University for 5 years -where he taught English to 500 students.

4. He took his first step towards the Internet by building Websites for Chinese Companies. “The day we got connected to the Web, I invited friends & TV people over to my house, and on a very slow dial-up connection, (3 1/2 hours), got half a page. We drank Wine, watched TV, played Cards, waiting. But I was so proud. I proved (to my house guests) that my Website existed on the Internet.”

5. Why Jack chose the name ‘Alibaba’. Jack was always clear that he wanted to take his company to the Global level and that’s why he wanted a Global name. Alibaba is easy to spell, and people everywhere associate that with “Open, Sesame,” the command that Ali Baba used to open doors to hidden treasures in Movie “1001 Nights”.

6. He raised Initial Round of $60K Funding for Alibaba w/in 2 hrs. “In 1999, I gathered 18 people in my apartment and spoke to them for 2 hours about my Vision. Everyone put their money on the table, and that got us $60,000 to start Alibaba. After 6 months their 2nd round of Funding from Goldman Sachs was >10x that. Now he’s worth over $4B.

Comments: Any other Tips you’ve heard about Jack Ma or cool things about his Bio?

from South China News (owned by Ma) 22 Nov 17 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4.biz

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