When I wrote about Jack Ma in 2018, I was drawn to the contrast between the rejection stories associated with him and the scale Alibaba eventually reached. These are the lessons I took from that story.
These reflections focus on what the stories told about Ma suggest about rejection, confidence and building a business.
1. Learn to Handle Rejection
Accounts of Ma’s early career describe rejection from around 30 jobs after university. One widely repeated story tells of 24 people applying to KFC, with 23 accepted and Ma rejected; a police application in which he was the only one of five applicants not selected; and ten unsuccessful applications to Harvard.
The lesson that interested me was simple: a rejection need not become the final definition of a person's ability.
2. Keep the Dream Alive
I associated Alibaba's story with continuing to believe that an idea could become useful, even before its success was obvious. A dream still needs work and adaptation, but abandoning it at the first difficulty leaves no chance to find out what it might become.
3. Pay Attention to Culture
Values, a shared mission and the way people work together matter alongside products and revenue. This was one of the strongest themes in the material that inspired my original article.
4. Do Not Let Every Critic Decide for You
The story I noted about Alipay described people dismissing it as a foolish idea. What appealed to me was the willingness to judge an idea by whether it helped users, rather than by whether everyone immediately approved of it.
That does not mean ignoring useful criticism. It means learning to distinguish criticism that helps an idea improve from criticism that simply discourages trying.
The same question runs through Believe in Yourself, a short story about confidence: how much room do we give other people’s doubts when deciding what to attempt?
5. Find Inspiration Beyond Business
Stories about Ma's influences included films such as The Bodyguard, The Godfather and Forrest Gump, particularly in relation to speaking and confidence. The broader idea of learning outside one's profession appeals to me.
6. Stay Focused on the Mission
Not every opportunity deserves a yes. My takeaway was to look beyond an idea's immediate money-making potential and ask whether it fits the purpose of the business.
7. Choose a Name People Can Remember
The naming anecdote in my notes placed Ma in San Francisco, asking roughly 10–20 people whether they knew “Alibaba”. Their recognition of the story, and the name's position at the start of the alphabet, were presented as reasons for choosing it.
What appealed to me was the idea of testing a name with ordinary people.
8. Put Customers First
The priority I associated with Ma's approach was customers first, employees next and shareholders after them. Customers support the business, while employees create and improve what it offers.
My original notes contrasted their loyalty during difficult periods with investors who might leave. I read that as an argument for relationships and long-term usefulness, not as a claim that every shareholder behaves the same way.
9. Look for the Problem Behind a Complaint
Complaints can reveal an unmet need. Instead of only asking where opportunities are, we can pay attention to what people find difficult and consider whether we can help.
10. Bring Passion, Then Keep Learning
Passion can help someone continue through uncertainty, but it is not a guarantee of success. It needs to be paired with learning, useful work and a willingness to change.
The accounts I read in 2018 described Alibaba's growth from 18 people to 20,000 employees and put Alipay's user base at 800 million. Those figures belong to that period, not the companies' present scale.
What remains useful to me is the emphasis on building something people use, keeping a sense of purpose and refusing to let one setback decide the whole journey.