Jack Ma: Tough Times Are Going to Get Tougher

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

– Jack Ma

I love this simple reminder to persist, persist, persist, and to have faith in the final outcome.

Jack Ma famously failed his university entrance exam twice. After much effort, he got accepted at a university, but it was the worst one in his city.

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

Ma also says, after graduating, he wanted to buy a pager, but pagers cost $250, and 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. Alibaba is now the world's 70th largest corporation, according to Fortune. Ma's personal wealth is $26 billion as of March 2025.

The best book on 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 worked with Alibaba for years.

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