Jack Ma: Tomorrow will be worse

Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.

– Jack Ma

Today's Oracle Bio:

Jack Ma famously failed his university entrance exam twice. He only finally succeeded in being admitted into what he calls his city's worst school, a teachers college.

He recounts once applying for a job at KFC: 24 applied; 23 were hired. Not him.

Ma also says, after graduating, he went to buy a pager. The pagers cost $250 each, but his salary was just $10 per month.

After experiencing this trail of failure, Ma went on to found Alibaba in 1999, using $60,000 raised from 18 co-founders. It is now the world's 70th largest corporation, according to Fortune. Ma's personal wealth is $26 billion as of March 2025.

Book Highlight:

The best book to tell Jack Ma's story is Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built. It is an insider's story, written by an American who first met Ma in 1999 and consulted with Alibaba for years. The author is based in Beijing, and the book has 4.2 stars from nearly 3,000 reviews on Amazon.

Learn more about this book. (Affiliate link)

Thought of the Day:

Knowing how little Ma started with and how much he accomplished makes this quote even more poignant. I love this simple reminder to persist, persist, persist, and to have faith in the outcome.

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