Jack Ma’s lessons for success

Jack Ma, the legendary founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba recently decided to step down as chairman and pursue his philanthropic interests in education. A former English teacher, he co-founded Alibaba in 1999, and grew the firm into a global giant. What lessons can budding Indian entrepreneurs learn from Jack Ma’s career? Besides the most obvious ones of persistence, hard work, focus, and courage, here are a few other critical lessons that Jack Ma has taught us about entrepreneurship.

Act Fast

Opportunities in life come randomly when you least expect them. Most people spend time agonising over the risks. By the time they are ready to take the first tentative step, the opportunity is lost. The best entrepreneurs, people like Bill Gates and Jack Ma, are blessed with the analytical ability to peer into the future, quickly size up the opportunity and take the plunge. Gates started Microsoft despite the presence of giants like IBM, and Jack Ma started a private company in an environment dominated by state-run companies.

Use a shotgun approach

It is easier to shoot down a target with a shotgun which sprays pellets over a wide range than a pistol. Jack Ma attributes his success to his desire to search for opportunities going far beyond his professional and financial capabilities. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is neither a scientist nor an aeronautical engineer, but has ventured into building spaceships to take people to Mars—that’s going far beyond personal capabilities.

No one can do everything

The best businesses are built not by a brilliant founder but by people who understand the value of cooperation and are humble enough to accept that their employees often know more than them. People who believe they are irreplaceable build companies that don’t outlast them. Successful entrepreneurs like Jack Ma recognise that there are a lot of very smart and hardworking people out there. 

In his retirement letter, he said: “You find the best people you can to help, work with them to do better, and create structures that can last past your final participation.”

Behold yourself as a giant

The best entrepreneurs don’t limit themselves in their mind. Don’t think locally, think globally. It is through that thought process that you identify the weaknesses of your product offering and develop a framework to put together the resources required to grow. And, as Jack Ma said, thinking alone is not enough; thought must be accompanied by action. “Think big and act as if you were a giant.”

Customers first, employees second

Jack Ma used to spend 60 per cent of his time every day speaking to customers and understanding what they wanted. Many entrepreneurs get fixated on the greatness of their product offering without ever asking customers what they want. 

So, do what Jack did—spend more time trying to understand what the market wants rather than trying to push what you think the market should have. Jack Ma also invested heavily in finding the best employees. In the early days of Alibaba, Jack would even give equity to the high school students working with him. As one executive puts it: “[Jack Ma] wasn’t the type of person who starts a business keeping 90 per cent of the equity for himself and hoarding all of the wealth and riches.” 

By empowering his workers with an ownership mentality, Jack got the best out of his team. He believed that employees with “skin in the game” were critical to the success of a business.

Entrepreneurship is a long-term game

If you are thinking quick bucks, its time to sit down and re-evaluate your goals. The best businesses are built not by people who think of short-term riches but those who dream of long-term success. Short-term thinking often leads to shortcuts and compromises – the worst of which is compromising on integrity to make a quick buck. Cheating a customer or lying about your product offering to make a quick sale are not the hallmarks of entrepreneurs. That’s what hustlers do. As Ma said, “we got successful today not because we did a great job today, but because we had a great dream 15 years ago.” Having a long-term vision also requires reserves of new ideas to continually draw upon.

Think cooperation and connectivity

Some of the most successful products today are the result of collaboration and connectivity. Apple’s iPhone requires parts supplied by companies many of which compete with Apple in other products. Uber depends critically on Google Maps a company with which it is in direct competition for autonomous cars. Success in today’s business world requires the ability to cooperate directly or indirectly with other businesses and not crush anyone who crosses your path. But cooperation requires humility and no one exhibited that better than the ever-smiling, diminutive Jack Ma.

Business success is a little part wisdom, a little part vision and a whole lot of willingness to take a risk and endure failure. Jack Ma rose from a poor background to become one of the wealthiest men in Asia because he had a clear set of principles to guide him. As he very presciently said when he first started Alibaba, “As entrepreneurs, today is very difficult. Tomorrow is even more difficult. But the day after tomorrow is very beautiful.” What a beautiful message for Indian entrepreneurs.

The author is Founder of Ideafundz.com, a venture-capital fund. Views are personal.