Even If You Don't Understand What He Intends To Do

Even If You Don't Understand What He Intends To Do

Even If You Don't Understand What He Intends To Do

Copyright © 2024 by Colleen Grissolimas

All rights reserved

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 : THE BIG VISION OF THE TIME

CHAPTER 2 : USE IMAGES TO CONQUER

CHAPTER 3 : SOME PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

CHAPTER 4 : BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROGRESS

CHAPTER 5 : YOU ALSO HAVE YOUR OWN CALENDAR

CHAPTER 1 : THE BIG VISION OF THE TIME

Ma Van's learning period

This is the time when Ma Van continues to hesitate, or it can be said that this is Ma Van's learning period.

Ma Van decided to move north, taking on the position of General Director of the information department of the China International Electronic Commerce Center under the Ministry of Foreign Trade. That year he was 33 years old. In the following period, two of China's most prominent internet figures founded their own companies. They are Truong Trieu Duong, who just returned from studying abroad from the University of Massachusetts (MIT) and Vuong Chi Dong - a talented programmer. Their example is Yahoo, the giant that had just stepped onto the stock exchange. Yahoo replaced Netscape to become the hottest internet company in the world at that time.

It seemed he had fallen behind. Truong Chaoyang and Wang Zhidong began experimenting with venture capital investments in Silicon Valley. Negroponte - author of the book Being Digital became an investment angel for Truong Chao Duong, Dinh Loi founded NetEase in Guangzhou, and Ma Van is still negotiating with the tiger, first by establishing a company. joint venture company with a state-owned enterprise, then went to Beijing to work under a government department. Coming to the Ministry of Foreign Trade to work was just an experience similar to the joint venture with Hangzhou Telegraph: There was no right to control the company and disagree with partners.

But this could also be his learning phase. After all, in the past, his understanding of the internet was just a glimpse during his trip to America. After returning to Hangzhou, his job was just to help the company design a website and post it online.

We can only assume that, during his time in Beijing, through the documents and relationships at the China International E-commerce Center, he gained more knowledge about the internet and commerce industry. electronics, thereby gaining more experience.

First is in terms of commercial model. After returning to Hangzhou, Ma Yun founded Alibaba B2B, able to wholeheartedly apply the commercial model shaped during his time at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, helping small and medium-sized enterprises announce information. news online, promoting transactions with foreign countries.

Next is about relationships. It was during his time in Beijing that Ma Van became acquainted with Duong Chi Vien, and Duong Chi Vien invited Ma Van to be the General Director of Yahoo China. Whether real or fake, he has known and made friends with many people from the media to businesses. Currently on the internet there is still a story circulating about the first meeting between Ma Van and Co Vinh Tuong which also happened during this time. In 1998, Sohu needed to recruit a COO(11), when Ma Van heard about it, he immediately came for an interview. The person interviewing him was Sohu's current CFO(12) - Co Vinh Tuong. After the two talked for a while, Ma Van said, actually, I didn't want to apply, I had decided to start my own business, I just heard about you so I wanted to come meet you, I felt like you were the one. is very suitable to be the COO of Sohu. Sure enough, Co Vinh Tuong later became COO of Sohu. This story proves that Ma Van is indeed Ma Van, his ability to see people and predict things is on a different level compared to ordinary people.

These experiences can only prove Ma Van's frustrating and bumpy journey. Or we can say, it proves the lofty will that lies in the mind of this Hangzhou man. He is not satisfied with holding a position that looks flashy and prestigious, but does not have any real power, and does not want to live the rest of his life in peace under the giant tree of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. .

We need to remember that, when he decided to leave Beijing to return to Hangzhou, Ma Van was almost 35 years old. For the vast majority of Chinese people, at that age, life has already been shaped. Even for those working in the internet industry today, 35 years old is an age that no longer creates many surprises. However, thanks to these unsuccessful experiences, Ma Van understood even more clearly what he ultimately wanted to do.

Steve Jobs's saying Stay hungry, stay foolish (roughly translated: stay hungry, stay foolish) was expressed in this man who is over 30 years old. By the way, I want to add that this year there was a story that made everyone in the world of science and technology excited and discussed the most, which was the event that Steve Jobs sold Next – the company he founded for Apple, then returned to this legendary company as a consultant. The advice that Michael Dell gave Steve Jobs in the media was: Sell this company, then distribute the money to shareholders.

During this year, Deng Xiaoping passed away. Ma Van's close friend - Su Ngoc Tru - became the most famous loser in China. He left Zhuhai in pieces, not knowing where he went after that.

MILLIONAIRE - 04

January 1999: Established Alibaba in a lakeside flower garden

We are closing down 'exercise'. After returning to Hangzhou in 1999, we discussed and decided that within 6 months we would not conduct foreign propaganda, and wholeheartedly focus on making the website as good as possible.

BUILD A CLEAR FUTURE

In January 1999, Ma Van and his team returned to Hangzhou to continue their career once again. A week before leaving Beijing, Ma Van and everyone went climbing the Great Wall. This was the first time they visited the Great Wall since arriving in Beijing. At that time, everyone's mood was extremely heavy, they thought that the whole team had spent so much effort, achieved so many results but still had not made their own career. At the same time, they vowed that in this lifetime they would definitely create a company that would make all Chinese people proud. Put money and fame aside and focus on pursuing your ideals. Ma Van's ideal was to make the internet, experiencing his initial confusion with the internet until he delved deeper into research, further strengthening his determination to build an Asian internet.

Ma Van went one step further to determine the need to create internet in Asia, this was related to a discovery he made on the Great Wall. After Alibaba was founded, he recalled: We discovered something very interesting on the Great Wall, each brick was written with sentences like: 'A traveled here', 'B saved pen here', this is China's earliest BBS(13). Chinese people really like BBS. For people like us who don't understand technology, the most convenient and easily accepted method of use is BBS, so BBS has begun to be popular. In fact, Alibaba's earliest operating model was BBS, placing items that people needed to buy or sell on it. Doing BBS also requires creativity. At that time, every line of news before being posted, the technical staff and I had to check and classify from beginning to end. They believe that this approach goes against the spirit of the internet, the spirit of the internet is radical freedom, posting whatever you want. I feel you should not post whatever you want, but you must be creative and innovative. Each line of news needs to be checked and classified before posting. At that time, Ma Van felt that the e-commerce field was not a bad choice.

After returning to Hangzhou, he convened a team of 18 people and held a meeting at home. Ma Van narrated all his thoughts to them, he wanted to establish his own e-commerce company. Ma Van recorded the entire meeting. In the video, Ma Van said in an emotional and enthusiastic voice: Starting now, we will do something great, our B2B will bring a revolution to the service model. of the internet! Let's grope together in the dark, scream together, when I scream, rush forward, don't panic. Please hold your sharp sword and rush forward. If a dozen people rush forward together, what is there to be afraid of?…." In the video, you can see 17 members, some standing, some sitting, all attentively listening to every word.

Also in this oath meeting, Ma Van told his members what to do from now on. After determining the goal, they mobilized capital, each person voluntarily donated. , finally got 500 thousand yuan. This is the first startup capital in this re-establishment of Ma Van.

Because of limited capital, Ma Van could not rent an office, so he had to put the company in a 150 square meter house in a flower garden along the lake, this is the house he bought while teaching at university. . Every day, he and his colleagues work together in this house full of beds. Every day they work continuously for 17-18 hours, constantly refining the website, repairing options, discussing ideas and discussing future directions.

In 1999, all over China, there was a fever to do business on the internet, all internet companies mobilized all resources to propagate and advertise. Because only creating prestige can attract people's attention and attract investment. While other online companies are constantly flaunting their prestige, Alibaba is unusually quiet. , was clearly a bit lost in the internet bustle of the time. To outsiders' questions and doubts, Ma Van responded as follows: We are closing the 'practicing area'. After returning to Hangzhou in 1999, we discussed and decided that within 6 months we would not conduct foreign propaganda, and wholeheartedly focus on making the website as good as possible.

It was in such a situation that Ma Van and his team founded today's Alibaba. The reason Ma Van named the company Alibaba stemmed from the fact that he considered turning it into a global internet company. During the initial period of establishment, he hoped that one day in the future Alibaba would become one of the 10 largest internet businesses in the world. So he wanted to give it a global name, a name that the whole world could remember. One day while on a business trip to San Francisco, Ma Van discovered that the name Alibaba he had just seen on the street was very interesting. After that, a waitress brought him coffee. He immediately asked her if she knew Alibaba. The girl answered that of course she did, it means open sesame (open sesame). Then, Ma Van randomly asked more than 60 people of different nationalities if they knew about Alibaba. Everyone's answer is yes, not only that, they also think this name is very strange and interesting. And so, Alibaba was chosen as the company's name. Firstly because it is easy to remember, the pronunciation is the same all over the world; Second, Ma Van believes that Alibaba is an honest and upright young man. He wants to share the treasure with everyone and does not want to monopolize it as his own. And this is very similar to Ma Van's aspirations and desires when establishing the company, which is to bring value and assets to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Due to limited capital resources, the marketing method that Ma Van applied at that time was completely manual, each employee had to manually post each line of advertising introductions across websites. Because the number of websites at that time was relatively small, while the curiosity of netizens was very large, when someone discovered a website that looked interesting and new, others would also see it. Immediately access to view. Just like that, Alibaba's traffic increased day by day. In October 1999, the number of registered members of the website on the English and Chinese versions respectively exceeded 10 thousand people, the total number of members exceeded 20 thousand people.

At the same time, Ma Van also promoted his advantage in speaking ability. He continuously traveled to all localities to give lectures, constantly declaring to everyone that: The B2B model will eventually change the business model. commercial knowledge of millions of entrepreneurs around the world. During these lectures, Ma Van spoke with boundless enthusiasm:E-commerce is a new field, our goal is to forever maintain your enthusiasm, doing e-commerce is not easy, today I am very excited. Glad to see so many people here. People who work in the internet industry, especially those who have survived in recent years, have been through so much….

This helped Ma Van attract a lot of media attention, including foreign media. At the same time, many venture capitalists paid attention to this company from Hangzhou, but Ma Van still kept saying no to them. Ma Van expressed that what he values is the things behind money, not how much money others give him.

Under Ma Van's strict eyes, Alibaba has never been able to successfully attract capital. The 500,000 yuan startup capital was almost exhausted, and in the end, even Ma Van's employee's salary could not be paid. At this time, attracting capital has become an extremely urgent matter.

NEW PERSPECTIVE ON STARTING A CAREER

7 years of starting a career building Alibaba

In 1999, after returning from Beijing to Hangzhou, Ma Van was no longer the teacher who both taught and ran a translation company in 1992. In 7 long years, he experienced 3 failed career attempts: The first project was not something he really wanted to do, so he had to give up; The second time was no different than being merged by a competitor, eventually forcing him to leave; The third time due to disagreement with the leader, he finally had to bring his team back home. In fact, in these failures, the second and third times his shares were both 30%, it can be said that he made the same mistake. But these mistakes were his greatest assets in 7 years. This statement of mine is not cliché. The reason is that Ma Van paid a very expensive tuition fee, which was 7 useless years of doing nothing. Spend this tuition to learn how to choose a business project, how to compete between elephants and ants, the company's share rights structure and the role of the Board of Directors, and the risks of disagreement. opinions between key figures in the entrepreneurial collective. These lessons cannot be completed while sitting in a classroom, but can only be learned from the aftertaste of resentment, bitterness, and real hardship. Witnessing this 7-year period, it will not be difficult for you to understand why he said that a man's will will be forged from failures. Striving for 7 years still did not bring results. At this time, Ma Van was 35 years old, even if counting from the time he resigned to start a career in 1995, it would have been 4 years. But when we watched his lecture at the lakeside flower garden, we discovered that at that time Ma Van was very close to the image of a judge we see in the program Win in China. At this time, he clearly saw where the company's future needed to go. His team has 18 members. Although these 18 members may not understand his thoughts, they all choose to follow him, including his wife, students and friends. Everyone understands him very well and trusts him wholeheartedly. In 2013, I asked Truong Anh, his wife, back then, when Ma Van talked about the internet, did everyone understand? She said that most people don't understand, but outside, many people whisper that Ma Van is a fraud. But she only has one thought, which is to try to help Ma Van make it come true, and not let others say he is a fraud anymore.

I believe the other members also have this kind of sincere feelings. During the period when everyone half-understands or doesn't understand at all, the only thing that can be trusted is the charm of personality. leader's personality.

After nearly 10 years of contact with Ma Van, I know he is an extremely honest and trustworthy person. During the 3 seasons of the show Win in China, he never once arrived late or let hundreds of thousands of big tasks related to the company's development affect the filming process, never planned the script in advance and always brought gave serious assessments to each contestant, everyone on my production team also loved him very much. In 2013, when he arrived at Youmi's headquarters and entered the TV production team's office, everyone stood up to take photos with him, some of the employees who worked on the Win in China program crew. In 2006, he considered him