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"I call Alibaba '1,001 mistakes.' We expanded too fast, and then in the dot-com bubble, we had to have layoffs. By 2002, we had only enough cash to survive for 18 months. We had a lot of free members using our site, and we didn't know how we'd make money. So we developed a product for China exporters to meet U.S. buyers online. This model saved us."
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Exlpore more Entrepreneurship quotes
"The fact that you have started a small business doesn't mean you should be thinking small. Think BIG! Start Small! Expand your territories!"
"People have come to the erroneous conclusion that if they're not willing to start something separate, world-changing, and risky, they have no business starting anything. Somehow, we've fooled ourselves into believing that the project has to have a name, a building, and a stock ticker symbol to matter."
"If you want an incredibly passionate, happy, ALIVE business don't overcomplicate things. Once all is said and done, the foundational elements of a successful business are very simple: respect, service, value and sales. Comparatively, everything else is froth."
"Convert your fans into your customers by adding value to what you do."
"Entrepreneurs persevere until it pays off. One good day can make up for an entire month, and one good month can make up for an entire year. Don't give up. The isn't over 'till it's over!"
"We are all not called to be entrepreneurs but we can all be enterprising in our chosen fields."
"Your dreams can earn you money and provision when you don't only have fans, but customers."
"We all have the DNA of an entrepreneur.Some are building their own dreams.While most are building other people's dreams. Entrepreneurs are Dream Builders. Are you building yours?"
"If you keep your eye on the profit, you're going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow."
"Starting and profitably running a business is not just some achievement, it is heroism."
Explore more quotes by Jack Ma
"When we started the e-commerce, nobody believed that China would have e-commerce because people believed in 'guang-shi,' face-to-face, and all kinds of network in traditional ways. There's no trust system in China."
"In the beginning I just wanted to survive. For the first three years, we made zero revenue. I remember many times when I was trying to pay up, the restaurant owner would say, 'Your bill was paid.' And there would be a note saying, 'Mr. Ma, I'm your customer on the Alibaba platform. I made a lot of money, and I know you don't, so I paid the bill.'"
"On privacy issues, it's just like hundreds of years ago when people said, 'I would rather put my money under my pillow than in a bank.' But today, banks know how to protect money much better than you do. Today, we may not have the answers to privacy issues, but I believe our young people will come up with the solutions."
"My job is making money, helping other people make money. I am spending money, trying to make sure more people get rich, because you cannot spend a lot of money, right? So my job is spending money, helping others. This is a headache."
"As a company, we have to be very transparent. We are in a business very related to finance, and I want this company to last long, and I want this company to be audited by everyone."
"I flunked my exam for university two times before I was accepted by what was considered my city's worst university, Hangzhou Teachers University. I was studying to be a high school English teacher. In my university, I was elected student chairman and later became chairman of the city's Students Federation."
"Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world."
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