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Jack Ma on rejection, survival and Alibaba: interview summary

Jack Ma: I've Had Lots Of Failures And Rejections | Davos 2015

World Economic Forum · Feb 3, 2015 · about 45 min

Uploaded Feb 3, 2015 · 3.3M views (as of Oct 30, 2026)

Good value given

Jack Ma learned English by guiding tourists every morning for nine years.
He worked for a government trade ministry for 14 months and learned not to rely on government for e-commerce.
Alibaba made zero revenue in its first three years.
Investors called him crazy because there was no American model like Alibaba to copy.
He says keeping his team happy keeps customers happy.

How did Jack Ma keep going through so many failures?

He says rejection was normal for him, and he treated it as training. For nine years he guided tourists every morning to learn English, and when he started Alibaba he cared first about surviving. For the first three years Alibaba made zero revenue, yet the team stayed excited because they believed in the mission of helping small businesses.

Worth watching?Good value given. A funny, open talk right after Alibaba's record IPO. Jack Ma covers his rejections, learning English from tourists and why he kept going through years with no revenue.

ActionableLessons

Actionable

Pick one skill you lack and find a daily, low-cost way to practice it.
Write your company's mission in one line about who you help.
If investors don't get it, list what's different and own it.
Ask your team what would make their work better this month.

Lessons

Rejection is part of the path.
Survival comes before scale.
A clear mission keeps teams going.
Happy teams make happy customers.

Quick answer

Jack Ma sat down with World Economic Forum for this interview, published Feb 3, 2015. Here's our summary in our own words: a verdict, the answer to the big question, 5 takeaways, Actionable and Lessons tabs, then the stories, frameworks and how to use them.

What 125x is: 125x is a web app at 125x.app. You connect your YouTube subscriptions, and it gives you a feed of the latest videos from the channels you follow, each with a summary: a verdict, the 5 key takeaways, and the spoiler, plus Actionable and Lessons tabs with more tips. You read that and decide what's actually worth opening.

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Watch the interview

Watch on YouTube: Jack Ma: I've Had Lots Of Failures And Rejections | Davos 2015

Channel: World Economic Forum. Published Feb 3, 2015. About 45 minutes.

Who is Jack Ma?

Jack Ma co-founded Alibaba in Hangzhou in 1999. It went public in 2014 in what was then the largest IPO in history.

This is a Davos 2015 conversation hosted by the World Economic Forum.

Key stories from the interview

He describes growing up at the end of the Cultural Revolution.
He tells how he guided tourists to learn English.
He explains why Alipay's escrow idea was a big, risky decision.
He shares the first emails Alibaba got from excited users.

Frameworks and ideas

Mission first: help small businesses sell more easily.
Escrow trust: hold payment until the buyer gets the product.
Respect government, don't depend on it: his rule for e-commerce.
Team first: team, then customers, then shareholders.

In their words (paraphrased)

With the government, don't marry them, respect them.
For the first three years we made zero revenue.
My job is to making sure that my team are happy.

How to apply this

Write down one rejection you've had and what it taught you.
Plan how your business could survive a year with little revenue.
Ask a small customer what would make buying from you easier.

Read the biography

Want the longer story? Read our Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built summary.

A note on this summary

This page reports what was said in the interview, in our own words. Lines under 'In their words' are paraphrased from the transcript, so check the video for exact wording.

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FAQ: questions people ask

How did Jack Ma learn English?

By guiding tourists around Hangzhou every morning for nine years.

How long did Alibaba go without revenue?

Jack Ma says the first three years had zero revenue.

Is the Jack Ma Davos 2015 interview worth watching?

Good value given. Funny and honest about failure.