[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
nice crowd thank you what brings you to
Detroit the small business the
entrepreneurs I think I’ve been
expecting this day for a long long time
when I started my business I tried to
sell my products ideas and to the
outside the world especially I have a
lot of friends who do an import-export
there are small business ten years ago
they could not ago because they don’t
have visa they don’t have money they
don’t this I don’t have that and I said
someday I hope Alibaba can build up a
platform that all the small business can
sell cross vault easily efficiently and
cheaply so after ten years things like
that we just decided so you hope that
they take away from this meeting an idea
that there’s this huge market in China
yeah and people who want to buy what
they sell yep I’d hope that as I say in
the past 30 years
USA domestic consumption worse the
engine of global economy and I told the
people at that time is say if you miss
the opportunity of selling your products
to the world to the USA to the Europe
you may miss the chance and today I want
to tell the people that if you miss the
opportunity of selling your products to
China you’ll miss the opportunity you’ll
miss the future next year China would be
a larger market than all other markets
combined the single biggest market in
the world but you said an interesting
thing to me as we talked you said I want
everybody in this room to know that if I
can do it yeah you can do it yeah when I
started my business 1995 it was very
difficult
I had an idea I invited a 24 of my
friends in my apartment because that
year I went to see Otto first time my
first trip to the USA in see Otto I
discovered internet and I think this
thing in the future may change the world
something about the encounter with the
internet when you first saw it I went to
the CRO and a friend of mine he had a
small office with like a four or five
computers I never touched computer in my
life before because computer was so
expensive to me and so complicated but
my friend said this is internet just to
typing whatever word you want to have
ISA no no too expensive I don’t know
which one to do even now I don’t know
how a computer works though he said Jack
it’s not a bomb just the type of
whatever so the first word I typed in
was a beer BER beer I don’t drink I
don’t know why up type of beer
I found American beer German beer
Japanese beer no China so I typed the
word China there’s no information but
China so I say hmm what if we can make
some China information on the internet
that people know about China so that was
the idea so I came back to China and say
I want to resign from my school you were
teacher I was a teacher I’ve been
teaching in the university for six years
so I said I want to do it I invite 24 of
my friends to my apartment after two
hours of explain what I’m gonna do
internet and 23 of them say forget it
you say this thing never worked because
there’s no such thing called internet in
the world you know nothing about a
computer so why you want to do this and
only one people he said Jack if you want
to try it just to trial it but if you
something wrong just to come back and
after whole night thinking I say I still
want to do it because most of the people
they have a fancy ideas in the evening
in the day when they wake up in the
evening in the morning they go back to
do the same job we have to do something
different so from there I started my
business borrowing 2000 US dollars from
my relatives and France but that was to
my trip I call myself like a blind a man
riding on the back of blind tigers and
those people who are expert of riding
horses they all fall down and I’m still
surviving was at the beginning of
Alibaba that’s a beginning of China
Pages Alibaba was 1999 since 1995 a
study business III almost a fill every
project never survived so 1995 I got
ideas say if I china is going to join
WTO a lot of Chinese products is going
to sell across the board so if I can
make a site that can help Chinese
products selling outside and helping the
small business in the other country sell
to the other part of the world that was
the concepts of 1999 I study Alibaba in
my apartment you have said to me before
also that in your mind 1 2 3 is customer
yep employee and shareholder shareholder
yeah so when you try to bar that $2,000
you didn’t tell that person that he was
number 3 well the $2,000 was from my my
relatives my parents and all the the all
of friends I got I got 2 thunders but
when I raised my money for IPO even for
the when Alibaba IPO in the New York
Stock Exchange
we raised to 20 billion dollars I told
the investors
we’ve been believing custom number one
in pride number to share whole number
three and people say this is against our
American investor philosophy I remember
one of the investors said hey Jack you
know if if I know you are shareholding
both three I will not buy I would not
have bought your stocks I say sir please
sell it
because I believe there are so much
money in the world there are too much
money in the world but I only only need
the money who believe in our vision and
mission because I believe if the
customer happy in price are happy the
shareholders will be happy but if you if
the shareholders happy may not
necessarily customer happy and may not
necessary your employee will be happy
how important has two things trust and
culture been well just is the most
important thing as we discussed this a
few minutes ago if people give me when I
had no money because when Alibaba
started eighteen founders in my
apartment I told everybody say put you
all your money savings on the table
leaving the money for full ten miles
food and room you know rent yes that the
money you have put on the table I want
to gather the money and nobody should
have borrow the money from parents
nobody should borrow money from France
because I don’t want to make your
parents and friends bankrupt because
doing Alibaba so 18 people we gathered
fifty thousand US dollars we studied
Alibaba in my apartment and those people
actually none of us have money but if if
somebody say I give you 1 million US
dollars and I give you trust which one I
would the truth I choose those people
who give me the trust because it’s the
trust that make make us be United it’s
the truth I think 18 founders they
trusted me because they trusted me I
have to be very loyalty to them and lo
you to the mission that that we have I
think a lot of entrepreneurship know
that I hate people work for me I wanted
people work for the mission that we
agreed together because you don’t want
people work for me because people like
me where look where I look further
this guy’s a haniss and when get closer
he’s so ugly everybody in the world the
same you should not get closer
further it’s good so you think our Jack
is great but you know if you get closer
not necessarily I will be angry I were
happy I’m happy I got but when people
trusting you you
as the most valuable things I think
later when we got our event venture
capitalists invested us
the thing they noticed is that because
my team trusts me and I trust my teams
so this is the the truck the other is
about a culture I think the
knowledge-based appear it if you want to
have a smart people work for you the
smart people need to be managed by
culture not by rules and a loss so in
our company we spend most of the time
about the culture and the base of the
culture is the trust so this is this is
what we believe China has changed I
think back in 1995 when you were in
Seattle 1999 how has it changed between
1999 when you started Alibaba and today
in 2017 well when I went back to China
and 1995 was an idea of Internet was
very stirring China was not a connection
to the Internet so I tried to talk to
you a lot of my friends that what is
internet nobody said ah this thing never
work this thing never exists because
it’s true cuz nobody but people even see
jack is alive because he’s trying to
steal money from people telling us there
is a internet so when I go to when I go
to the China red company registration
office I said I want to register company
called hounds of Hope Internet company
the guys look at me say this is the
English dictionary tell me there’s no
there is no word called Internet why you
mad that register company called
Internet
so I cannot register name a company name
but I in 1995 in later Sept heures to
China was connected the internet I was
number 7 person connected to in China
Internet in order to prove
I was not lying I invited my friend who
is a TV man take the TV camera they all
stay in my home and we they just try to
take the picture I died from a Hanzo to
Shanghai Shanghai to an America to
connect the Internet it took us three
hours and a half to download the first
around the page
at that time there is no netscape called
the music oh
so ever I have to make like a hundred
stars to keep my journalist two friends
to stay and wait because to prove that
I’m not telling a lie so how big is
Alibaba today today from 99 and we have
18 founders too now we have a close to
60,000 people our selves koji MV last
year is over five hundred and fifty
billion US dollars and it’s just a
beginning we will probably go cross one
trillion US dollars in three years in
three years so that’s really that’s the
no I would say ain’t three years is yet
2020 that’s the 20 year anniversary of
Alibaba this is thing this thing does
not happen in 18 days or 20 days when we
started year 2003 when I launched the
towel bound team all was funny we got it
seven founders for Tama Timo thought
about I said everybody go home pick up a
fourth looking for for things that list
on the website so we will see who will
come to buy how much things we can sell
so we can’t we went home we can add a
find that everybody cannot find a four
things that in the home we can sell
because we’re too poor so we gather 21
products we listed on the website we’ve
waited for three days nobody come to spy
and then the next week we got we start
to spy in a cell ourselves for the first
week all the all the sales was a man
ourselves and then another week later
somebody start to test himself for
almost 30 days everything people sell we
all buy them so we have a whole house of
rubbish we bought on our life
trying to making sure that though those
guys who sold was able to sell say oh
wow this thing really can sell things
then more people start to come to sell
and then we serve better and that comes
so I’m there too now five hundred fifty
billion dollars market cap is what my
get cap Joe like thirty three hundred
and fifty billion something sixty yeah
billion or something yeah some people
when they think about getting on the
internet and trying to reach foreign
markets whether it’s China or India or
somewhere else worried about
counterfeiting they worry about fake
products under selling them when they’re
not the real thing how do you deal with
that how do you reassure them like any
entrepreneur when you start a business
you start to worry and people around you
worry much more than you do when I start
Alibaba my parents worry my wife worried
my friends were in my teachers warning
my students were everybody worried and
they worried about a lot of things the
only thing that I worry is that I should
not disappoint the people who believed
in me
and when we started the Alibaba we have
a lot of things people work you know
when we study Alibaba and say hey you
know the payment you’d have a trust
people do not have believing online they
believe in face-to-face meeting and
government does not support internet
nobody supported e-commerce how could
you do it I think as a entrepreneur if
everything is ready that does not need
you because nothing’s ready that needs
entrepreneurship for counterfeit things
of course there are a lot at the
beginning but you have to fix it so in
the past of fifteen years we spend a lot
of time because you have to making sure
the customer feels safe happy the brand
of you’re happy the reputation is there
mathematician your reputation is the
best otherwise people say I sell on the
site and my things are copied and
stolen so we using a lot of ways to do
that today more than a hundred thousand
brands partner with us and I think we
are today
I assure all the SMEs here we are the
company online today the leader on empty
counterfeit and IP protection because we
put we know there are three things these
things that will make our site die three
things that would be the cancer of our
business counterfeit IP and cheating so
a lot of things to worry about doing
business we also worry about people
cannot receive money if you sell things
nobody will if you cannot receive the
money you’ll be cheated so we’re using a
leap a we using all the ways we do to
try to making sure that SME can easily
sell easy receive the money and custom
services good when you created Alibaba
there were three things you said about
it I want to talk about the comparison
with Amazon you said will be asset light
you said it’ll be a platform not a
retailer difference from Amazon and you
said would play on the world stage why
did you decide to go that direction a
transactional company okay
I think the difference ms is a great
company they they did a fantastic job in
America and the world but they are
ecommerce company we’re not an
e-commerce company we help others to
become ecommerce we believe Eric cup
every company can be Amazon we try to
empower the small business a marketplace
they can reach their customers we try to
empower the companies with the logistics
so they can deliver things quickly and
cost-effectively we try to empower this
every every small business when do they
do ecommerce they can easily receive and
the money and this is all about and we
know that we this company was we made so
much money
the past two years but we think this is
all because of small business and the
money we made we want to sure that we
want a beautiful infrastructure of
Commerce so going global is so important
we should help help not only Chinese
company we should help the global
company so today Alibaba come to America
we go we went we go to our CEO today is
in Europe we also have a lot of
colleagues in Southeast Asia we think we
are not we are not globalized Alibaba we
are globalize ecommerce we try to making
sure ecommerce infrastructure the
payment the marketplaces and the
logistic can making sure everybody today
can compete with Amazon Microsoft IBM
this is what we want you’ve also been
involved in you made some really
important acquisitions along the way
where do you see al abama going over the
next 10 years you’re already in
Hollywood yep you’re in the icon in the
cloud I mean you’re doing things that
beyond the transactional basis of your
business we doing business we go from
marketplaces to payment to logistic and
to clout not because we think there are
money there we believe if we’re we build
a marketplaces if we don’t have the
payment solutions our customers cannot
do it transactions where we have the
payment we know if we don’t have a
logistic they cannot do we cannot they
cannot finish the transactions and when
we have a lot of transactions we say if
we don’t have a cloud computing the cost
of IT for our customers too expensive so
we do all these things not because we
think there’s money there because we
know if we don’t do there our customer
cannot finish their job that their work
our amazing is a helping dusit doing
business easier so our company must be a
mission and vision driven why we are on
the Hollywood I mean the entertainment
because we think 10 20 years later we
have to know one thing the world and
everybody no matter how rich you are you
want to be or how successful you are or
unsuccessful you are the most important
thing is happy and healthy which called
a double-a chess strategy healthy and
happy yeah so now in this next 10 years
we are very confident about everything
we are doing our marketplaces ecommerce
will keep on growing our our financing
will keep on growing logistic keep on
growing
a clock computer come growing and then
when we have that much money how can we
help the small business when they do
business their business are happier and
healthier so that’s why so we do not
think we are a company we think we are
economy today a lot robber is an economy
alibaba’s economy the size of argentinos
an economy where our gmv last year 550
billion dollars is wrecked as almost
like a argentina we are ranking number
21 22 country a GDP wise and in next 2-3
years who will be go across one trillion
dollars and we hope in 20 years by year
2036
we will be the fifth largest economy of
the world that is America China Europe
Japan and there is economy we believe
that economy there will be a virtual
economy that every small business of the
world can leverage the economy they can
sell their products cross the world
every consumer of every country they can
buy things for their mobile phone or any
advice so all all of the world
everything they place on a line within
72 hours they will receive it so this is
our vision of course
Alibaba does not own that economy we
want
join the false with all the Popular’s to
built that economy so it’s never crossed
your mind that maybe we should own a lot
of assets that we should have an
inventory that we should engage somehow
beyond what we do in terms of making
things no I think aware that we should
have inventory and not inventory depends
on whether our customer needed if our
customers say Jack you should have
Beauty more warehouses we build
warehouses if the customers if our
partner does have the capability of
doing things that our business needed
we’d do it we do it not because I says
we do it not because there are some
money we do it because it is necessary
do your competitors primarily come from
China
Tencent the others I think who do you
see as your competitor who do is that
I don’t know yeah you know we have
competed with 10 Center here we competed
with Amazon there we competed but to me
I think it’s too early next to 30 years
Internet is good ecommerce it as we
change the water so it’s like I’ve been
saying this to my team saying when we
were in the apartment when we’re in an
apartment I say guys in next 10 years or
in in the future
Alibaba will be the top 10 websites of
the world and my founders looking to me
say what is 10 number 10 min today we’re
ranking like a 500 million something at
the back right we have to believe it and
then I told the team that Internet is
like 10,000 meters running raising we
just to finish the first 100 meters yet
do not think the people miss beside you
is a competitor running for another
3,000 meters there you know who is a
competitor
we are good today we may not be good if
we lose our hope if we lose our vision
you lose your culture if we lose our
culture and team we’re nothing most of
the company that was so good when
Netscape was so good we never thought it
would disappear Yahoo was good we never
thought like it today so don’t believe
you’ll be good all the time
be paranoid yeah what was that Andy
Grove said only the paranoid survive so
I think I think it’s all it ethic as the
entrepreneurs do not I think your
neighbor Tommy is a competitor I think
look at the that the the thing you do is
do not a focus your eyes on the
competitor as you are too small to focus
yourself on there your neighbor or
competitor
focus your customers make your customer
happy it’s important most of the big
companies when they talk they talk about
competitors I think I am I suggesting
one day giving you guys when you go
become a bigger when it comes to China
most of the American companies Internet
companies filled in China one of the
I’m making their boss happy rather than
their custom happy they spent too much
time on competing not long term strategy
so as the enterpreneur
the always number one number one
priority is customer and employee what’s
your role at the company you’ve given up
the CEO position to Michael Evans you
are still the face of Alibaba
you’re traveling the globe all the time
preaching the Alibaba story you are the
visionary you’re the one who thinks
about where Alibaba might be i define
your role today I have a three things to
do when I retire from CEO position I
told my CEO and teams I promised when I
much chairman I’m learning I’m still
learning to be a chairman I thought it
would become a channel a company’s big I
should have more free time play golf on
the beaches but I find oh my god
I fly 870 hours in the air last year and
this year 1000 hours in the air three
things the first thing I would do is I
would making sure our company them is
amazing driven company mission mission
and a vision driven company we have to
making sure the whole company believing
we are building an economy that can
empower every small business young
people women they can easily do business
through internet this is number one so
I’m talking to everybody everybody in
the company I meet I remember there is a
guy called Davie Wong Telus early days
when I came to America talk about
internet about a valley mission of
Valley meshing of the company this guy
sitting there he was working for a
fortune 500 he said Jack is a crazy
how could you in us a company has no
business model no money and talk about
the mission vision of our Valley
I say Davey come to my company so I came
to China spend three days in my company
when they he leave he said Jack I found
you are crazy now I found 100 crazy guys
in your company
company if you have a one and you’re
crazy guys we do not think we’re crazy
we think the outside world are crazy
yeah so this is this is very very
important and also IIIi think the first
is for the first three years of Alibaba
we had a no revenue no business model
and I told the team forget about the
money revenue today if you want be a
long-term company the only thing to
think about is customers the best of
revenue for our first three one two
years the best revenue is what is the
email of thanks that’s the best revenue
if the customer send you emails saying
you are great I was so happy early days
when I went to a small restaurant people
will pay my bill I was a small notice a
jack thank you very much I know you
don’t know do not a make money but we
made a lot of money through your website
yeah I like that even now today I had a
lot of customers they they pay me
something you know it’s not a bribery
but the gist there’s a boy is in the
hotel
he opened all for me say Jack thank you
so much my wife makes more money than me
oh you’re in on your site so this is the
best and I want to keep this culture in
a company keep on going so second things
culture the people and the third is
build up a healthy environment for
Alibaba so Jack Ma doesn’t worry about a
damn thing oh I have a lot of things to
worry about so what do you worry about I
worry about the company we have a big
vision but we may disappear in 3 4 years
because you’re disruptive
something you can’t imagine today we do
because there the world the change is so
fast
don’t worry a lot you know the
artificial intelligence may take a lot
of jobs away and I worry about if we do
not move fast enough a lot of if we do
not innovative now if we do not spend
enough time and a giving simple easy
products application technology for
small business
most of some our business cannot survive
in this 10 years if the small business
cannot survive we cannot survive and so
what does small business need to survive
today I would say next 10 20 years the
small business no matter where you are
if you do not try to globalize their
business through internet you may not
have a business opportunity it’s not
like good oh you know I I can I do local
local business in the future is going to
be more and more competitive think about
how can you sell products across the
board your products your chocolate
people in your village already know
about the town your venture but the
people in China they never know they
love these things
so think about how can you sell your
products cross the ball this is I think
can face yeah I mean you have you get a
speech in which you talked about the
warning and warning for decades of pain
unless you recognized the coming advent
of artificial intelligence robots yeah
the whole range of things that could
challenge yeah how you had been doing
business in the past yeah you also have
mentioned retirement yep Jack Ma at what
but 50 something yep thinking about
retirement
yeah I’m preparing cuz I tell you that
you’ve been preparing since you were 40
yeah think about retirement not leaving
University I was sir – you’re sold and
my president of my University said Jack
one day you want to come back anytime
you’re welcome
I said president I would not come back
in 10 years so I thought
when I’m a 40 I can go back to teach but
when I 40 oh my god
life was so tough so tough my company
almost in big trouble so I say I should
I’ll leave and then I saying when I’m 45
I should retire when I’m 45 it cannot
stop it and then I start to prepare say
people say Jack you are the next to Bill
Gates I said I cannot compete it was
gonna be okay but I can compete with the
Bill Gates who can retire earlier and I
can compete with the game who can
empower the most small business so year
2012 I retire from the CEO and I have my
own NGO that I will retire from Jemma
someday and I’ma be preparing that sings
years to don’t well the thing is I don’t
want to die in my office I want to die
on the beaches how much time use wait no
wait how much time you spend on the
beaches now I don’t have time spent on
the beach that’s why I always dream one
day
how are the beaches cuz remember when we
were young nobody give us chance now
we’re big we should give young people
chance young people do much better job
than we do this is what I think and I
think the world can be great chemist
prosperous without to you when you die
people cry for three days or maybe less
than three days they forget you so
beautiful good system for your team
it strikes hitting chance for them it’s
it strikes me in tonight and since I’ve
known you that part of you is always a
teacher I mean you’re teaching tonight
you’re telling about my experiences and
what you can learn from the journey I
have taken you know the idea of sharing
experiences is part of teaching for you
yes I am
I was trained to be a teacher and I
benefit because I do not know anything
about technology computing I still
puzzle about what is soft how soft it
can work and I do not know about can you
know accounting marketing I know very
little about that but the thing I
learned from a being teacher that you a
teacher always want his students to be
more successful and better than you are
so this is I learned to be a good CEO
when I high people I always want to hide
those people who are smarter than I am
and I today I give a lot of advice to my
colleagues where they hide people
there’s one judge look at the young men
if you think he will be a boss he would
be my boss in five years hi him do not a
thing do not find people who will follow
you all the time
so I took you as a teacher you want to
use this student become a banker
that’s the scientist is a mayor you
don’t want this this student a bankrupt
that is in jail you know so this is the
way that I benefit and then when I
become a CEO I call myself chief
Education Officer and I love to talk I
love to share because when I as a
teacher you may not know a lot of things
the only things you learn and you’re
sure people may not like the way I talk
and I’m not my job is not to make people
happy
my job is to make people think this is
the way we did if it is helpful for you
take it if it’s not a happy for you just
to forget it no this is I love to be
with this the the entrepreneurs because
you guys reminds me that eighteen past
eighteen Tufts the years that we’ve got
and I believe one thing I to give my
advice to all of you as an entrepreneur
today is very difficult and tomorrow is
even more difficult but the day of
tomorrow is very beautiful most people
die too more evening you have to work
hard you have to learn you have to rely
on your team and that’s my business I
like to be a teacher I was gonna ask you
about legacy but I’m not gonna ask you
about legacy because I think you just
summed it up yourself
it’s a rare pleasure to be here with you
[Applause]
[Music] you
[Music]
[Applause]
nice crowd thank you what brings you to
Detroit the small business the
entrepreneurs I think I’ve been
expecting this day for a long long time
when I started my business I tried to
sell my products ideas and to the
outside the world especially I have a
lot of friends who do an import-export
there are small business ten years ago
they could not ago because they don’t
have visa they don’t have money they
don’t this I don’t have that and I said
someday I hope Alibaba can build up a
platform that all the small business can
sell cross vault easily efficiently and
cheaply so after ten years things like
that we just decided so you hope that
they take away from this meeting an idea
that there’s this huge market in China
yeah and people who want to buy what
they sell yep I’d hope that as I say in
the past 30 years
USA domestic consumption worse the
engine of global economy and I told the
people at that time is say if you miss
the opportunity of selling your products
to the world to the USA to the Europe
you may miss the chance and today I want
to tell the people that if you miss the
opportunity of selling your products to
China you’ll miss the opportunity you’ll
miss the future next year China would be
a larger market than all other markets
combined the single biggest market in
the world but you said an interesting
thing to me as we talked you said I want
everybody in this room to know that if I
can do it yeah you can do it yeah when I
started my business 1995 it was very
difficult
I had an idea I invited a 24 of my
friends in my apartment because that
year I went to see Otto first time my
first trip to the USA in see Otto I
discovered internet and I think this
thing in the future may change the world
something about the encounter with the
internet when you first saw it I went to
the CRO and a friend of mine he had a
small office with like a four or five
computers I never touched computer in my
life before because computer was so
expensive to me and so complicated but
my friend said this is internet just to
typing whatever word you want to have
ISA no no too expensive I don’t know
which one to do even now I don’t know
how a computer works though he said Jack
it’s not a bomb just the type of
whatever so the first word I typed in
was a beer BER beer I don’t drink I
don’t know why up type of beer
I found American beer German beer
Japanese beer no China so I typed the
word China there’s no information but
China so I say hmm what if we can make
some China information on the internet
that people know about China so that was
the idea so I came back to China and say
I want to resign from my school you were
teacher I was a teacher I’ve been
teaching in the university for six years
so I said I want to do it I invite 24 of
my friends to my apartment after two
hours of explain what I’m gonna do
internet and 23 of them say forget it
you say this thing never worked because
there’s no such thing called internet in
the world you know nothing about a
computer so why you want to do this and
only one people he said Jack if you want
to try it just to trial it but if you
something wrong just to come back and
after whole night thinking I say I still
want to do it because most of the people
they have a fancy ideas in the evening
in the day when they wake up in the
evening in the morning they go back to
do the same job we have to do something
different so from there I started my
business borrowing 2000 US dollars from
my relatives and France but that was to
my trip I call myself like a blind a man
riding on the back of blind tigers and
those people who are expert of riding
horses they all fall down and I’m still
surviving was at the beginning of
Alibaba that’s a beginning of China
Pages Alibaba was 1999 since 1995 a
study business III almost a fill every
project never survived so 1995 I got
ideas say if I china is going to join
WTO a lot of Chinese products is going
to sell across the board so if I can
make a site that can help Chinese
products selling outside and helping the
small business in the other country sell
to the other part of the world that was
the concepts of 1999 I study Alibaba in
my apartment you have said to me before
also that in your mind 1 2 3 is customer
yep employee and shareholder shareholder
yeah so when you try to bar that $2,000
you didn’t tell that person that he was
number 3 well the $2,000 was from my my
relatives my parents and all the the all
of friends I got I got 2 thunders but
when I raised my money for IPO even for
the when Alibaba IPO in the New York
Stock Exchange
we raised to 20 billion dollars I told
the investors
we’ve been believing custom number one
in pride number to share whole number
three and people say this is against our
American investor philosophy I remember
one of the investors said hey Jack you
know if if I know you are shareholding
both three I will not buy I would not
have bought your stocks I say sir please
sell it
because I believe there are so much
money in the world there are too much
money in the world but I only only need
the money who believe in our vision and
mission because I believe if the
customer happy in price are happy the
shareholders will be happy but if you if
the shareholders happy may not
necessarily customer happy and may not
necessary your employee will be happy
how important has two things trust and
culture been well just is the most
important thing as we discussed this a
few minutes ago if people give me when I
had no money because when Alibaba
started eighteen founders in my
apartment I told everybody say put you
all your money savings on the table
leaving the money for full ten miles
food and room you know rent yes that the
money you have put on the table I want
to gather the money and nobody should
have borrow the money from parents
nobody should borrow money from France
because I don’t want to make your
parents and friends bankrupt because
doing Alibaba so 18 people we gathered
fifty thousand US dollars we studied
Alibaba in my apartment and those people
actually none of us have money but if if
somebody say I give you 1 million US
dollars and I give you trust which one I
would the truth I choose those people
who give me the trust because it’s the
trust that make make us be United it’s
the truth I think 18 founders they
trusted me because they trusted me I
have to be very loyalty to them and lo
you to the mission that that we have I
think a lot of entrepreneurship know
that I hate people work for me I wanted
people work for the mission that we
agreed together because you don’t want
people work for me because people like
me where look where I look further
this guy’s a haniss and when get closer
he’s so ugly everybody in the world the
same you should not get closer
further it’s good so you think our Jack
is great but you know if you get closer
not necessarily I will be angry I were
happy I’m happy I got but when people
trusting you you
as the most valuable things I think
later when we got our event venture
capitalists invested us
the thing they noticed is that because
my team trusts me and I trust my teams
so this is the the truck the other is
about a culture I think the
knowledge-based appear it if you want to
have a smart people work for you the
smart people need to be managed by
culture not by rules and a loss so in
our company we spend most of the time
about the culture and the base of the
culture is the trust so this is this is
what we believe China has changed I
think back in 1995 when you were in
Seattle 1999 how has it changed between
1999 when you started Alibaba and today
in 2017 well when I went back to China
and 1995 was an idea of Internet was
very stirring China was not a connection
to the Internet so I tried to talk to
you a lot of my friends that what is
internet nobody said ah this thing never
work this thing never exists because
it’s true cuz nobody but people even see
jack is alive because he’s trying to
steal money from people telling us there
is a internet so when I go to when I go
to the China red company registration
office I said I want to register company
called hounds of Hope Internet company
the guys look at me say this is the
English dictionary tell me there’s no
there is no word called Internet why you
mad that register company called
Internet
so I cannot register name a company name
but I in 1995 in later Sept heures to
China was connected the internet I was
number 7 person connected to in China
Internet in order to prove
I was not lying I invited my friend who
is a TV man take the TV camera they all
stay in my home and we they just try to
take the picture I died from a Hanzo to
Shanghai Shanghai to an America to
connect the Internet it took us three
hours and a half to download the first
around the page
at that time there is no netscape called
the music oh
so ever I have to make like a hundred
stars to keep my journalist two friends
to stay and wait because to prove that
I’m not telling a lie so how big is
Alibaba today today from 99 and we have
18 founders too now we have a close to
60,000 people our selves koji MV last
year is over five hundred and fifty
billion US dollars and it’s just a
beginning we will probably go cross one
trillion US dollars in three years in
three years so that’s really that’s the
no I would say ain’t three years is yet
2020 that’s the 20 year anniversary of
Alibaba this is thing this thing does
not happen in 18 days or 20 days when we
started year 2003 when I launched the
towel bound team all was funny we got it
seven founders for Tama Timo thought
about I said everybody go home pick up a
fourth looking for for things that list
on the website so we will see who will
come to buy how much things we can sell
so we can’t we went home we can add a
find that everybody cannot find a four
things that in the home we can sell
because we’re too poor so we gather 21
products we listed on the website we’ve
waited for three days nobody come to spy
and then the next week we got we start
to spy in a cell ourselves for the first
week all the all the sales was a man
ourselves and then another week later
somebody start to test himself for
almost 30 days everything people sell we
all buy them so we have a whole house of
rubbish we bought on our life
trying to making sure that though those
guys who sold was able to sell say oh
wow this thing really can sell things
then more people start to come to sell
and then we serve better and that comes
so I’m there too now five hundred fifty
billion dollars market cap is what my
get cap Joe like thirty three hundred
and fifty billion something sixty yeah
billion or something yeah some people
when they think about getting on the
internet and trying to reach foreign
markets whether it’s China or India or
somewhere else worried about
counterfeiting they worry about fake
products under selling them when they’re
not the real thing how do you deal with
that how do you reassure them like any
entrepreneur when you start a business
you start to worry and people around you
worry much more than you do when I start
Alibaba my parents worry my wife worried
my friends were in my teachers warning
my students were everybody worried and
they worried about a lot of things the
only thing that I worry is that I should
not disappoint the people who believed
in me
and when we started the Alibaba we have
a lot of things people work you know
when we study Alibaba and say hey you
know the payment you’d have a trust
people do not have believing online they
believe in face-to-face meeting and
government does not support internet
nobody supported e-commerce how could
you do it I think as a entrepreneur if
everything is ready that does not need
you because nothing’s ready that needs
entrepreneurship for counterfeit things
of course there are a lot at the
beginning but you have to fix it so in
the past of fifteen years we spend a lot
of time because you have to making sure
the customer feels safe happy the brand
of you’re happy the reputation is there
mathematician your reputation is the
best otherwise people say I sell on the
site and my things are copied and
stolen so we using a lot of ways to do
that today more than a hundred thousand
brands partner with us and I think we
are today
I assure all the SMEs here we are the
company online today the leader on empty
counterfeit and IP protection because we
put we know there are three things these
things that will make our site die three
things that would be the cancer of our
business counterfeit IP and cheating so
a lot of things to worry about doing
business we also worry about people
cannot receive money if you sell things
nobody will if you cannot receive the
money you’ll be cheated so we’re using a
leap a we using all the ways we do to
try to making sure that SME can easily
sell easy receive the money and custom
services good when you created Alibaba
there were three things you said about
it I want to talk about the comparison
with Amazon you said will be asset light
you said it’ll be a platform not a
retailer difference from Amazon and you
said would play on the world stage why
did you decide to go that direction a
transactional company okay
I think the difference ms is a great
company they they did a fantastic job in
America and the world but they are
ecommerce company we’re not an
e-commerce company we help others to
become ecommerce we believe Eric cup
every company can be Amazon we try to
empower the small business a marketplace
they can reach their customers we try to
empower the companies with the logistics
so they can deliver things quickly and
cost-effectively we try to empower this
every every small business when do they
do ecommerce they can easily receive and
the money and this is all about and we
know that we this company was we made so
much money
the past two years but we think this is
all because of small business and the
money we made we want to sure that we
want a beautiful infrastructure of
Commerce so going global is so important
we should help help not only Chinese
company we should help the global
company so today Alibaba come to America
we go we went we go to our CEO today is
in Europe we also have a lot of
colleagues in Southeast Asia we think we
are not we are not globalized Alibaba we
are globalize ecommerce we try to making
sure ecommerce infrastructure the
payment the marketplaces and the
logistic can making sure everybody today
can compete with Amazon Microsoft IBM
this is what we want you’ve also been
involved in you made some really
important acquisitions along the way
where do you see al abama going over the
next 10 years you’re already in
Hollywood yep you’re in the icon in the
cloud I mean you’re doing things that
beyond the transactional basis of your
business we doing business we go from
marketplaces to payment to logistic and
to clout not because we think there are
money there we believe if we’re we build
a marketplaces if we don’t have the
payment solutions our customers cannot
do it transactions where we have the
payment we know if we don’t have a
logistic they cannot do we cannot they
cannot finish the transactions and when
we have a lot of transactions we say if
we don’t have a cloud computing the cost
of IT for our customers too expensive so
we do all these things not because we
think there’s money there because we
know if we don’t do there our customer
cannot finish their job that their work
our amazing is a helping dusit doing
business easier so our company must be a
mission and vision driven why we are on
the Hollywood I mean the entertainment
because we think 10 20 years later we
have to know one thing the world and
everybody no matter how rich you are you
want to be or how successful you are or
unsuccessful you are the most important
thing is happy and healthy which called
a double-a chess strategy healthy and
happy yeah so now in this next 10 years
we are very confident about everything
we are doing our marketplaces ecommerce
will keep on growing our our financing
will keep on growing logistic keep on
growing
a clock computer come growing and then
when we have that much money how can we
help the small business when they do
business their business are happier and
healthier so that’s why so we do not
think we are a company we think we are
economy today a lot robber is an economy
alibaba’s economy the size of argentinos
an economy where our gmv last year 550
billion dollars is wrecked as almost
like a argentina we are ranking number
21 22 country a GDP wise and in next 2-3
years who will be go across one trillion
dollars and we hope in 20 years by year
2036
we will be the fifth largest economy of
the world that is America China Europe
Japan and there is economy we believe
that economy there will be a virtual
economy that every small business of the
world can leverage the economy they can
sell their products cross the world
every consumer of every country they can
buy things for their mobile phone or any
advice so all all of the world
everything they place on a line within
72 hours they will receive it so this is
our vision of course
Alibaba does not own that economy we
want
join the false with all the Popular’s to
built that economy so it’s never crossed
your mind that maybe we should own a lot
of assets that we should have an
inventory that we should engage somehow
beyond what we do in terms of making
things no I think aware that we should
have inventory and not inventory depends
on whether our customer needed if our
customers say Jack you should have
Beauty more warehouses we build
warehouses if the customers if our
partner does have the capability of
doing things that our business needed
we’d do it we do it not because I says
we do it not because there are some
money we do it because it is necessary
do your competitors primarily come from
China
Tencent the others I think who do you
see as your competitor who do is that
I don’t know yeah you know we have
competed with 10 Center here we competed
with Amazon there we competed but to me
I think it’s too early next to 30 years
Internet is good ecommerce it as we
change the water so it’s like I’ve been
saying this to my team saying when we
were in the apartment when we’re in an
apartment I say guys in next 10 years or
in in the future
Alibaba will be the top 10 websites of
the world and my founders looking to me
say what is 10 number 10 min today we’re
ranking like a 500 million something at
the back right we have to believe it and
then I told the team that Internet is
like 10,000 meters running raising we
just to finish the first 100 meters yet
do not think the people miss beside you
is a competitor running for another
3,000 meters there you know who is a
competitor
we are good today we may not be good if
we lose our hope if we lose our vision
you lose your culture if we lose our
culture and team we’re nothing most of
the company that was so good when
Netscape was so good we never thought it
would disappear Yahoo was good we never
thought like it today so don’t believe
you’ll be good all the time
be paranoid yeah what was that Andy
Grove said only the paranoid survive so
I think I think it’s all it ethic as the
entrepreneurs do not I think your
neighbor Tommy is a competitor I think
look at the that the the thing you do is
do not a focus your eyes on the
competitor as you are too small to focus
yourself on there your neighbor or
competitor
focus your customers make your customer
happy it’s important most of the big
companies when they talk they talk about
competitors I think I am I suggesting
one day giving you guys when you go
become a bigger when it comes to China
most of the American companies Internet
companies filled in China one of the
I’m making their boss happy rather than
their custom happy they spent too much
time on competing not long term strategy
so as the enterpreneur
the always number one number one
priority is customer and employee what’s
your role at the company you’ve given up
the CEO position to Michael Evans you
are still the face of Alibaba
you’re traveling the globe all the time
preaching the Alibaba story you are the
visionary you’re the one who thinks
about where Alibaba might be i define
your role today I have a three things to
do when I retire from CEO position I
told my CEO and teams I promised when I
much chairman I’m learning I’m still
learning to be a chairman I thought it
would become a channel a company’s big I
should have more free time play golf on
the beaches but I find oh my god
I fly 870 hours in the air last year and
this year 1000 hours in the air three
things the first thing I would do is I
would making sure our company them is
amazing driven company mission mission
and a vision driven company we have to
making sure the whole company believing
we are building an economy that can
empower every small business young
people women they can easily do business
through internet this is number one so
I’m talking to everybody everybody in
the company I meet I remember there is a
guy called Davie Wong Telus early days
when I came to America talk about
internet about a valley mission of
Valley meshing of the company this guy
sitting there he was working for a
fortune 500 he said Jack is a crazy
how could you in us a company has no
business model no money and talk about
the mission vision of our Valley
I say Davey come to my company so I came
to China spend three days in my company
when they he leave he said Jack I found
you are crazy now I found 100 crazy guys
in your company
company if you have a one and you’re
crazy guys we do not think we’re crazy
we think the outside world are crazy
yeah so this is this is very very
important and also IIIi think the first
is for the first three years of Alibaba
we had a no revenue no business model
and I told the team forget about the
money revenue today if you want be a
long-term company the only thing to
think about is customers the best of
revenue for our first three one two
years the best revenue is what is the
email of thanks that’s the best revenue
if the customer send you emails saying
you are great I was so happy early days
when I went to a small restaurant people
will pay my bill I was a small notice a
jack thank you very much I know you
don’t know do not a make money but we
made a lot of money through your website
yeah I like that even now today I had a
lot of customers they they pay me
something you know it’s not a bribery
but the gist there’s a boy is in the
hotel
he opened all for me say Jack thank you
so much my wife makes more money than me
oh you’re in on your site so this is the
best and I want to keep this culture in
a company keep on going so second things
culture the people and the third is
build up a healthy environment for
Alibaba so Jack Ma doesn’t worry about a
damn thing oh I have a lot of things to
worry about so what do you worry about I
worry about the company we have a big
vision but we may disappear in 3 4 years
because you’re disruptive
something you can’t imagine today we do
because there the world the change is so
fast
don’t worry a lot you know the
artificial intelligence may take a lot
of jobs away and I worry about if we do
not move fast enough a lot of if we do
not innovative now if we do not spend
enough time and a giving simple easy
products application technology for
small business
most of some our business cannot survive
in this 10 years if the small business
cannot survive we cannot survive and so
what does small business need to survive
today I would say next 10 20 years the
small business no matter where you are
if you do not try to globalize their
business through internet you may not
have a business opportunity it’s not
like good oh you know I I can I do local
local business in the future is going to
be more and more competitive think about
how can you sell products across the
board your products your chocolate
people in your village already know
about the town your venture but the
people in China they never know they
love these things
so think about how can you sell your
products cross the ball this is I think
can face yeah I mean you have you get a
speech in which you talked about the
warning and warning for decades of pain
unless you recognized the coming advent
of artificial intelligence robots yeah
the whole range of things that could
challenge yeah how you had been doing
business in the past yeah you also have
mentioned retirement yep Jack Ma at what
but 50 something yep thinking about
retirement
yeah I’m preparing cuz I tell you that
you’ve been preparing since you were 40
yeah think about retirement not leaving
University I was sir – you’re sold and
my president of my University said Jack
one day you want to come back anytime
you’re welcome
I said president I would not come back
in 10 years so I thought
when I’m a 40 I can go back to teach but
when I 40 oh my god
life was so tough so tough my company
almost in big trouble so I say I should
I’ll leave and then I saying when I’m 45
I should retire when I’m 45 it cannot
stop it and then I start to prepare say
people say Jack you are the next to Bill
Gates I said I cannot compete it was
gonna be okay but I can compete with the
Bill Gates who can retire earlier and I
can compete with the game who can
empower the most small business so year
2012 I retire from the CEO and I have my
own NGO that I will retire from Jemma
someday and I’ma be preparing that sings
years to don’t well the thing is I don’t
want to die in my office I want to die
on the beaches how much time use wait no
wait how much time you spend on the
beaches now I don’t have time spent on
the beach that’s why I always dream one
day
how are the beaches cuz remember when we
were young nobody give us chance now
we’re big we should give young people
chance young people do much better job
than we do this is what I think and I
think the world can be great chemist
prosperous without to you when you die
people cry for three days or maybe less
than three days they forget you so
beautiful good system for your team
it strikes hitting chance for them it’s
it strikes me in tonight and since I’ve
known you that part of you is always a
teacher I mean you’re teaching tonight
you’re telling about my experiences and
what you can learn from the journey I
have taken you know the idea of sharing
experiences is part of teaching for you
yes I am
I was trained to be a teacher and I
benefit because I do not know anything
about technology computing I still
puzzle about what is soft how soft it
can work and I do not know about can you
know accounting marketing I know very
little about that but the thing I
learned from a being teacher that you a
teacher always want his students to be
more successful and better than you are
so this is I learned to be a good CEO
when I high people I always want to hide
those people who are smarter than I am
and I today I give a lot of advice to my
colleagues where they hide people
there’s one judge look at the young men
if you think he will be a boss he would
be my boss in five years hi him do not a
thing do not find people who will follow
you all the time
so I took you as a teacher you want to
use this student become a banker
that’s the scientist is a mayor you
don’t want this this student a bankrupt
that is in jail you know so this is the
way that I benefit and then when I
become a CEO I call myself chief
Education Officer and I love to talk I
love to share because when I as a
teacher you may not know a lot of things
the only things you learn and you’re
sure people may not like the way I talk
and I’m not my job is not to make people
happy
my job is to make people think this is
the way we did if it is helpful for you
take it if it’s not a happy for you just
to forget it no this is I love to be
with this the the entrepreneurs because
you guys reminds me that eighteen past
eighteen Tufts the years that we’ve got
and I believe one thing I to give my
advice to all of you as an entrepreneur
today is very difficult and tomorrow is
even more difficult but the day of
tomorrow is very beautiful most people
die too more evening you have to work
hard you have to learn you have to rely
on your team and that’s my business I
like to be a teacher I was gonna ask you
about legacy but I’m not gonna ask you
about legacy because I think you just
summed it up yourself
it’s a rare pleasure to be here with you
[Applause]
[Music] you
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