jackma2
par jam shahidWhen I started, I wasn’t smart, I didn’t come from a rich family, and I didn’t have any connections. All I had was the ability to keep moving forward, even when life gave me every reason to stop. Many people think success is about being the smartest or having the best idea, but the truth is, most people fail not because they lack talent or opportunity—they fail because they are afraid of failing. The fear of failure is the silent killer of dreams. It stops people from even trying. Before I built Alibaba, I was rejected by over 30 jobs. Even KFC came to my city, and they hired 23 out of 24 people. I was the only one rejected. I applied for police jobs, hotel jobs, teaching jobs—everywhere. They all said no. At that time, I started asking myself, “Am I really that bad?” But I realized something: if I give up just because they rejected me, then I’m already a failure. But if I keep going, I still have a chance.
Fear is something we create in our minds. It doesn’t exist out there. When you fear something, you imagine all the worst things that can happen. But 90% of those things never happen. You fear rejection, but you’re already rejected if you never try. You fear failure, but you fail anyway if you quit before starting. Most people don’t even lose to competition—they lose to their own doubt. They are defeated by fear before they even step into the game. I was not smarter than others, but I was never afraid to look stupid. I remember the first time I spoke English in public. People laughed at my accent. But I kept learning. I knew that if I stopped because of what others said, I would never grow. You must be okay with being bad before you become good. You must accept failure if you want success.
When we built Alibaba, we failed so many times. Our first website didn’t work. Our investors left. We didn’t have a business model. No one believed in us. But I told my team, “We’re not here to be the best today. We are here to survive today, so we can be strong tomorrow.” I watched my team cry because we couldn’t pay salaries. I cried too. But I knew if we gave up, all the pain would be for nothing. People see Alibaba today and think it was an overnight success. No. It was 10 years of rejection, struggle, and persistence. If I had listened to fear, if I had stopped after the fifth or tenth failure, you would never hear about Alibaba. Most people give up after one or two failures. That’s why 99% fail. Not because they are not capable—but because they fear failure more than they desire success.
I always say, “Today is hard. Tomorrow is harder. But the day after tomorrow is beautiful.” The problem is, most people die on the second day. They don’t make it to the beautiful day. But if you can push through fear, if you can embrace the failures, and learn from them, you’ll find that failure is not the opposite of success—it is the path to success. I don’t trust people who have never failed. Because they don’t know how strong they are. They don’t know how to fight. They haven’t learned the lessons only failure can teach. Failure humbles you, toughens you, and prepares you. If you use failure as a mirror, not a wall, you will become unbeatable.
Every successful person you admire has failed more than the average person has even tried. So the question is not, “Will I fail?” The question is, “Will I let failure stop me?” If you answer no, then you’re already different from the 99%. You’re already on your way. So next time you feel fear, remind yourself—this is not a signal to stop. It’s a signal that you’re growing. And as long as you keep moving, failure is just one chapter, not the end of your story.
When people start a business, most of them are only thinking about how to make money quickly. They want to sell fast, grow fast, profit fast. But they forget that real success doesn’t come from speed—it comes from direction. You can be running very fast, but if you’re on the wrong road, you’ll never reach your destination. That’s what happens to many entrepreneurs. They don’t have a clear vision. They are chasing the money, not solving a meaningful problem. That’s why they fail. When I started Alibaba, I didn’t think about making billions of dollars. I thought about how we could help small businesses in China reach the world. I saw millions of small entrepreneurs in my country who had good products, but no way to sell them outside their village. The internet was new, and I believed it could be the bridge. That was the vision: to make it easy to do business anywhere. The money came later, because we focused on the mission first.
Vision is like a lighthouse. It keeps you steady during storms. It reminds you why you started when everything is going wrong. There were many times when Alibaba was almost dead. Competitors were bigger. We didn’t have money. Our product was not perfect. But we had a vision. We knew what kind of company we wanted to become. That’s why we kept going. Most startups don’t survive because they get distracted. One day they do this, another day they do that. Someone tells them, “This market is hot,” so they jump there. Someone says, “This product is trending,” so they change their idea. They’re chasing opportunity, not building value. I tell entrepreneurs, don’t follow the trend. Follow your heart. Find something meaningful and stick with it. Trends come and go, but a real vision lasts.
When you have a strong vision, people follow you. Investors may not believe in your product, but they will believe in your dream. Customers may not buy today, but they will respect your purpose. Your team will stay with you, even when the money runs out, because they believe they are building something greater than a paycheck. That’s how you build a strong company. I remember when we were pitching Alibaba to investors in early days, they asked me, “How will you compete with eBay?” I told them, “eBay is a giant. We are a mosquito. But we’re a mosquito with a clear target.” I didn’t pretend to be bigger or smarter. I just showed them our vision: to empower small businesses, not dominate them. And over time, that vision became our power.
Vision is not something you copy from others. It must come from inside you. It’s not a slogan. It’s not a PowerPoint slide. It’s your belief in the future. A vision should make people uncomfortable. If everyone agrees with it easily, it’s probably not bold enough. When I told people in 1999 that we would build a company to help small Chinese businesses go global, they laughed. No one believed the internet could do that. But I believed. And that belief was stronger than their doubt. So many people want guarantees. They want to be sure it will work before they try. That’s not how vision works. Vision means seeing the invisible. Believing in what the world does not yet see. You must believe first—then build.
If you only focus on making money, you’ll quit when money doesn’t come. If you only chase success, you’ll panic when success delays. But if you follow a vision, you’ll keep moving even in darkness. You’ll find new ways to try. You’ll inspire others to help. And in time, you’ll create something that lasts. Look at all the companies that failed even after making a lot of money. They forgot why they existed. They forgot their mission. Vision is what separates lasting success from short-term wins. It is what guides you when logic says quit.
So if you’re starting a business, or chasing a dream, ask yourself: what is your vision? What problem are you solving? Whose life are you improving? If you don’t have a clear answer, go and find it. Because that answer will become your compass when you’re lost. That answer will give you strength when everything falls apart. Don’t just build a business. Build a mission. Build a movement. That’s how you move from the 99% who fail to the 1% who change the world.
The world is changing faster than ever. What worked yesterday might be useless tomorrow. The way people shop, learn, work—everything is evolving. If your business doesn’t adapt, it dies. I’ve seen so many companies with great products, great people, and even great profits—completely disappear because they refused to change. They were too comfortable. Too confident. They said, “We’ve always done it this way.” But the market doesn’t care how long you’ve been doing something. It only cares how well you serve the new need. If you don’t evolve, someone else will. And they will take your place. Look at Kodak. Look at Nokia. These companies had everything. Talent, money, market share. But they missed the future because they were looking too hard at the past.
When I started Alibaba, the internet in China was like a baby. Most people didn’t believe it had a future. Businesses were not online. They didn’t trust websites. But I believed the world was changing, and that small businesses would need the internet to survive. So we built platforms before the market was even ready. People said I was crazy. But I knew, if we wait for the wave to come, it’s already too late. You have to prepare before the wave arrives. That’s what adaptability means. Seeing the change early. Getting uncomfortable. Moving when others are standing still. We failed many times. Our first ideas didn’t work. Our first site didn’t attract customers. So we changed. We adapted. Again and again. Every year, we asked: what’s different? What’s coming next? What do people want now? And then we changed before we were forced to.
I remember when mobile internet came. Everyone was still building websites for computers. But I told my team, if we don’t think mobile first, we will lose. So we shifted focus. We trained our teams in mobile design. We changed our strategy. Today, almost all e-commerce in China happens on phones. We were ready. Because we adapted. Most businesses don’t fail because of bad products. They fail because of bad timing. They react too late. They hold onto the old model too tightly. They resist new ideas. But in today’s world, what you know is not as important as how fast you can learn. What you built is not as important as how quickly you can rebuild. The ability to change is more powerful than the ability to predict.
I tell young entrepreneurs: don’t fall in love with your plan. Fall in love with your mission, and be flexible with how you get there. If the road is blocked, find another path. If your method stops working, don’t wait for disaster. Change it. Be like water. Flow where the opportunity is. Be curious. Ask questions. Don’t assume you know everything. The moment you think you’re safe is the moment you’re most in danger. I never assumed we would always be number one. I never believed we had all the answers. That mindset kept us alive. It kept us hungry. It kept us moving.
I watched big companies laugh at us in the early days. They said we were too small, too poor, too weak. Then years later, those companies came to us asking for help. Because we moved with the times, and they stayed behind. They had experience. We had adaptability. And in the new world, adaptability wins. When COVID-19 came, many businesses panicked. We had to change fast. Move everything online. Help shops go digital. Shift operations. It was painful, but because we were used to change, we survived and even grew. Crisis doesn’t destroy strong businesses. It exposes whether they are truly adaptable or not.
If you want to be part of the 1% who succeed, make change your habit. Don’t resist it. Don’t fear it. Use it. Teach your team to welcome new ideas. Build a culture that rewards flexibility. Ask your customers what they need now—not last year. Stay alert. Stay humble. Stay curious. Because the world will not slow down. And if you don’t learn to dance with change, you’ll be left behind while others move forward. Your strength tomorrow is not based on how well you do today—it’s based on how fast you can adjust when the world turns upside down.
When I started building Alibaba, I quickly realized one thing: I was not the smartest person in the room. In fact, I was often the least technically skilled. I didn’t know much about technology. I didn’t understand coding. I wasn’t good at accounting or legal work. So how could I build a tech company? The answer was simple—I had to find the right people. People who were smarter than me. People who knew things I didn’t. People who believed in the mission more than they believed in titles. A business is like a body. If you want to run far, you need strong legs, a sharp brain, a big heart. You can’t do everything alone. If you build a weak team, your business won’t survive, no matter how strong your idea is. This is one of the biggest reasons people fail. They choose the wrong team.
Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of hiring only friends, or people who agree with them all the time. They think teamwork means everyone saying yes. But that’s not a team. That’s a trap. You need people who challenge you, who offer new ideas, who point out problems you can’t see. If everyone on your team thinks like you, you are not growing—you’re stuck. In the early days, I looked for people who could do the things I couldn’t. I hired a CFO who was much better with numbers than me. I brought in engineers who could build what I only imagined. I told them openly, “I don’t know how to do your job. But I trust you to do it well.” That trust built confidence. It built loyalty. And over time, it built a culture of excellence.
Leadership is not about knowing everything. It’s about knowing who to trust. It’s about building a team where each person brings something different to the table. I always say, “Your team should be like a soup. Everyone adds their own flavor.” If the soup tastes bland, it means you’ve hired the same kind of people. That won’t take you far. I’ve seen brilliant companies fail because the founder refused to let go. They wanted to control every detail. They micromanaged. They didn’t listen to others. In the end, they became the bottleneck of their own success. I never wanted to be the smartest. I wanted to be the one who brings the smartest together and lets them shine.
Building the right team also means building the right culture. In Alibaba, I didn’t just want people who were talented. I wanted people who cared. People who would stay up late, not because they were told to, but because they believed in the mission. I remember in our toughest year, we couldn’t pay full salaries. I thought people would leave. But many stayed. They said, “Jack, we believe in the future we’re building.” That’s the power of culture. When people work for a purpose, not just a paycheck, they give you their heart. And when people give you their heart, your company becomes unstoppable.
But culture is fragile. You must protect it. You must hire not only for skills but for attitude. One negative person can poison a whole team. One ego can destroy collaboration. That’s why I always spent time talking to new hires. Not to test their ability, but to understand their mindset. I looked for humility, hunger, and honesty. I told my managers, “Hire slowly, fire quickly.” If someone doesn’t fit the culture, no matter how smart they are, they must go. Because talent is common. But the right attitude is rare. And it’s attitude that builds resilience, not IQ.
When you have the right team, even failure becomes bearable. You laugh through the pain. You share the struggle. You support each other. And when success comes, you celebrate like a family. I didn’t build Alibaba. We built it—together. That’s why I always say, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.” The wrong team will drain your energy. The right team will lift your vision. So don’t rush to build a company. First, build your people. Because when the right people come together for the right reason, there is nothing you cannot achieve.
Many people ask me, “Jack, what’s the secret to success?” And I always say, “Keep going.” It sounds simple, but very few people actually do it. Everyone wants success. Everyone wants to reach the top. But when the journey gets hard, when the nights get long and the money runs out, most people give up. That’s the difference between the 99% who fail and the few who succeed. It’s not intelligence. It’s not talent. It’s not even resources. It’s persistence. The ability to keep walking when your legs are tired. The strength to keep believing when everyone else has given up. I’ve seen so many entrepreneurs stop one inch before gold. They worked hard, they sacrificed, they struggled—and then they quit. And right after that moment, the opportunity they were waiting for arrives. But they are no longer there.
When we started Alibaba, we had no money, no brand, no experience. We were just a group of young people with a dream. For years, we made no profit. We had pressure from investors, pressure from the market, and pressure from our families. People said we were wasting our time. That e-commerce would never work in China. That we should just get jobs and give up this fantasy. And honestly, there were days I thought they might be right. Days when I didn’t sleep. Days when I cried alone in the office. But I made a promise to myself and to my team. I said, “We are not here to win quickly. We are here to last.” And that promise kept us alive. We didn’t know when success would come, but we believed it would come—if we didn’t stop.
You must understand that anything worth doing will be hard. If it’s easy, everyone would do it. If it’s fast, it won’t last. People quit not because the goal is impossible, but because the process is painful. They want instant results. But business doesn’t work like that. Life doesn’t work like that. It’s like planting a tree. You water it every day. For months, nothing happens. You start to doubt. You think the seed is dead. But if you give up and stop watering, it truly dies. If you keep going, one day it breaks through the soil. And then it grows faster than you imagined. Success is like that. It’s invisible for a long time, then it explodes.
Most people can work hard for a week, or a month, or maybe even a year. But very few can work hard without results for five years. That’s what it takes sometimes. The road is long, and many get tired halfway. But I tell young people—don’t give up because it's hard. Hard is what makes it valuable. If it were easy, everyone would already be doing it. If you want to achieve something no one else has, you must be willing to suffer in ways no one else will.
During our toughest days, I told my team, “We don’t need to be the best. We just need to survive.” And that became our strategy. Survive. Every day. Keep the fire burning, no matter how small. Because if you survive today, you have a chance tomorrow. Many great companies were built on the ashes of failure. They just refused to quit. They kept showing up, even when the world said no. And one day, the world said yes.
I’m not saying don’t rest. I’m not saying don’t change direction when needed. But don’t quit. Don’t stop just because it’s slow. Don’t let frustration erase your effort. Every step you take is building something inside you. The skills. The mindset. The character. Even if your business fails, you become stronger. And that strength will lead you to the next opportunity.
People remember Alibaba today, but they forget the years we spent in silence. The years of rejection, failure, and doubt. What saved us was not luck. It was the decision to continue. When others quit, we stayed. When others panicked, we focused. And in the end, it paid off. So whatever dream you’re chasing, remember this: the winners are not the ones who never fail. They’re the ones who never stop. Don’t be the person who gave up too early. Be the one who stayed long enough to see the dream become real
When I talk to young entrepreneurs, I always ask them one question first: “Who are your customers, and what problem are you solving for them?” You’d be surprised how many people don’t have a clear answer. They focus on making a cool product, or building a beautiful app, or raising money. But they forget the most important thing—if you don’t serve your customers well, your business is already finished. You can have the best design, the smartest engineers, and the biggest vision, but if your product doesn’t solve a real need, no one will use it. And if no one uses it, there’s no business. Many people fail simply because they are building what they want—not what the customer wants.
When we started Alibaba, we didn’t try to compete with big companies by doing what they did. We looked for what they were ignoring. At that time, big companies were focused on big buyers. No one was thinking about the small shops, the little factories in China who had great products but couldn’t reach international markets. I talked to those people. I listened to their problems. They didn’t speak English. They didn’t understand technology. They were afraid of the internet. But they wanted to grow. They wanted to sell. So I said, “Let’s build something simple for them.” That’s how Alibaba was born. Not from technology—but from understanding people.
Listening to your customers doesn’t mean just collecting feedback. It means feeling their pain, stepping into their shoes, understanding their world. It means talking less and observing more. It means forgetting what you think they need and learning what they actually need. Too many startups fail because they fall in love with their idea and ignore the reality of the market. They build something beautiful that no one asked for. Then they wonder why no one buys it. But the truth is simple: the market is the ultimate judge. Not your investor. Not your professor. Not your friends. Only the customer decides whether your idea has value.
Even today, at Alibaba, we obsess over the customer. Not the competitors. Not the media. Not even the profits. If you take care of your customers, they will take care of your business. If you focus only on making money, you will lose both the customer and the money. I told my team from the very beginning: “Customer first, employee second, shareholder third.” That’s not a slogan. That’s how we make decisions. Because without the customer, there is no company.
We made many mistakes in our journey. Sometimes we added features no one used. Sometimes we launched too early. Sometimes we misunderstood the needs. But every time, we went back to the customer and listened. We adjusted. We learned. The customer is not always right, but they always hold the answer. If they are not using your product, don’t blame them—fix your product. If they don’t understand your message, change your message. It’s not about making the customer fit your idea—it’s about shaping your idea to serve the customer better.
I remember one small factory owner who told me, “Jack, I want to use your site, but I don’t understand how to register.” So we simplified the whole process. We added guides. We hired customer service to walk people through it. And slowly, they came. Not because we were the biggest, but because we listened. That’s what wins trust. That’s what builds loyalty. Not marketing tricks—but genuine service.
If you want to build something great, stop thinking like a boss and start thinking like a helper. Business is not about control. It’s about contribution. Every time you solve a problem for someone, you build a bridge. And many small bridges together create a powerful network. That’s what Alibaba became—a giant network of small solutions. And it all started with listening.
So before you build your product, ask questions. Before you write a business plan, visit your customer’s world. Don’t just look at the data—talk to real people. Stand in their shop. Watch how they work. Ask them what they dream of. What they struggle with. What they wish someone would fix. That’s where the real gold is. Not in your idea, but in their reality.
In the end, business is not about technology or strategy. It’s about people. And if you care enough to understand them deeply, they will reward you not just with money—but with something even more powerful: trust. And once you earn trust, you’ve already won the first and most important battle in business.
I’ve met many people in my life with brilliant ideas. Some of their ideas were better than anything I ever imagined. They spoke with passion, they explained their concepts with great clarity, and they truly believed they had something world-changing. But months later, I would ask them, “So how’s your idea going?” And they would say, “I’m still planning.” Or “I’m waiting for the right time.” Or “I’m waiting for the perfect team, perfect product, perfect moment.” And I’d smile politely—but deep inside I knew they would probably never start. That is the reality for so many. They are full of ideas, but empty in execution. And in business, an average idea well-executed always beats a great idea never started.
When we started Alibaba, our idea was not unique. Many people were already trying to build platforms online. Some had better funding, better engineers, better resumes. But we moved. We didn’t wait. We acted. And every time we failed, we adjusted and acted again. We didn’t sit around polishing PowerPoint slides for months. We launched. We tested. We listened. Then we improved. Most people want to be perfect before they act. But perfection is an illusion. It doesn’t exist. What exists is improvement through action. If you wait to be ready, you’ll never be ready. Action creates clarity. Action creates momentum. Action is what separates the dreamers from the doers.
I tell my team all the time, “Done is better than perfect.” Not because I accept low quality, but because I know that progress comes from motion, not meditation. If you launch a product and it fails, good—you learned something real. If you stay stuck in planning, you learn nothing. Too many entrepreneurs build their business in their head but not in the market. They have ten plans, but zero customers. They attend hundreds of seminars, but never make one sale. They spend years building a product, and then find out no one wants it. That is the cost of poor execution. The cost of waiting too long. The cost of doing too much thinking and not enough doing.
Even inside Alibaba, we faced this problem. Our teams would debate for hours about features. Should the button be blue or green? Should we launch next week or next month? I told them, “Just ship it. Let the customer tell you what works.” The market is the best teacher. Not your opinion. Not your assumptions. Execution is about moving forward, even when you’re not 100% sure. It’s about making decisions and learning from the results. It’s about speed, flexibility, and responsibility.
And let me be honest—execution is hard. It means waking up early, staying up late, and dealing with problems every day. It means facing rejection, delays, bugs, and customer complaints. It’s not fun. It’s not glamorous. But that’s where success is hidden. In the boring, consistent, daily work. In the emails, the calls, the code, the fixes, the meetings, the late nights. Everyone wants to be on stage during the celebration. Very few want to be backstage doing the work. But it’s the backstage that makes the show possible. If you don’t master execution, no one will ever see your dream.
Ideas are free. Everyone has them. Execution is what costs time, energy, discipline, and persistence. That’s why so few people succeed. Because when execution gets hard, they stop. They change ideas. They blame the team. They blame the market. But the truth is—they never pushed long or hard enough to make the idea real. I always tell people, “Fall in love with the process, not just the prize.” If you only want the reward, you won’t last. But if you enjoy the building, the learning, the solving—that’s when you become unstoppable.
So whatever you’re thinking of doing—start. Even if you’re not sure. Even if you’re scared. Start small, start messy, but start. Talk to one customer. Sell one product. Build one page. Execution is not a one-time event. It’s a habit. And the more you act, the more you learn. And the more you learn, the closer you get to success. It’s not about how brilliant your idea is. It’s about how brave you are to bring it to life, step by step, every single day.
If you want to be in the 1%, you must do what the 99% won’t. Fail? GOOD. Struggle? GOOD. Nobody believes in you? EVEN BETTER! Because when you finally win, the whole world will say, "We knew it all along!" (laughs)
Now—stop reading. GO WORK!
