Why Start a Business? First, Can You Persuade People Like Jack Ma?
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Collected in Robin Shen’s Field Notes · Content type and attribution are shown above
English translation of the Chinese post originally published 2021-09-15. Translated 2026-10-28 with AI assistance. Historical figures and claims have not been updated or independently verified. 中文原文
Reading guide
An observation from an afternoon corporate-governance class: topics like this have little to do with an ordinary, cash-strapped person. In this #WhyStartABusiness post, Robin says that if you can talk Alibaba’s 18 founding members into joining, as Jack Ma did, and persuade Joe Tsai to leave a job with an eight-figure annual salary, move to Hangzhou, and accept RMB500 a month, you may be ready to begin that great journey.
Key points
- A self-test before starting up: do you have Jack Ma’s ability to rally people?
- The story of persuading Joe Tsai to join for RMB500 a month.
- Self-deprecating humor: corporate-governance questions are far removed from ordinary people.
Full text — English translation
These articles are personal notes, book excerpts, and collected reprints. Figures and events reflect the time of the original publication, are not current information, and do not constitute investment advice.
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