In 1995, a former school teacher from China named Jack Ma visited the United States for the first time.
He used to go to a local hotel every day so that he could meet people and learn English. He also bought a radio so that he could listen to the English broadcast every day. Despite how well he took to learning another language, he never excelled at math. Low marks on the mathematics portion of China's college entrance exam caused him to fail twice.
Finally, after rigorous prep for his third try at the test, he passed, and eventually graduated from Hangzhou Teacher's Institute in 1988. He says that he was rejected for a number of jobs — including a manager position at Kentucky Fried Chicken...
Ma has never been a typical tech CEO. He failed the college entrance exam twice before he finally got in. He founded an enormous tech company, yet he had studied to become a teacher and still doesn't know how to code.
Ma still owns a 8.9% stake in the company, which means he'll be worth ~$15 billion...
After the company filed for its IPO, Ma wrote a letter to Alibaba employees, which was printed by The Wall Street Journal. In it, Ma tells the team that there is "unparalleled ruthlessness and pressure" ahead, but that the company can overcome it by sticking to its original mission and culture.
"We know well we haven’t survived because our strategies are farsighted and brilliant, or because our execution is perfect, but because for 15 years we have persevered in our mission of 'making it easier to do business across the world,' because we have insisted on a 'customer first' value system, because we have persisted in believing in the future, and because we have insisted that normal people can do extraordinary things."
http://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-founder-alibaba-2014-5
He used to go to a local hotel every day so that he could meet people and learn English. He also bought a radio so that he could listen to the English broadcast every day. Despite how well he took to learning another language, he never excelled at math. Low marks on the mathematics portion of China's college entrance exam caused him to fail twice.
Finally, after rigorous prep for his third try at the test, he passed, and eventually graduated from Hangzhou Teacher's Institute in 1988. He says that he was rejected for a number of jobs — including a manager position at Kentucky Fried Chicken...
Ma has never been a typical tech CEO. He failed the college entrance exam twice before he finally got in. He founded an enormous tech company, yet he had studied to become a teacher and still doesn't know how to code.
Ma still owns a 8.9% stake in the company, which means he'll be worth ~$15 billion...
After the company filed for its IPO, Ma wrote a letter to Alibaba employees, which was printed by The Wall Street Journal. In it, Ma tells the team that there is "unparalleled ruthlessness and pressure" ahead, but that the company can overcome it by sticking to its original mission and culture.
"We know well we haven’t survived because our strategies are farsighted and brilliant, or because our execution is perfect, but because for 15 years we have persevered in our mission of 'making it easier to do business across the world,' because we have insisted on a 'customer first' value system, because we have persisted in believing in the future, and because we have insisted that normal people can do extraordinary things."
http://www.businessinsider.com/jack-ma-founder-alibaba-2014-5
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