“Today, we are all here to discuss what we should do in the next 5 to 10 years.
So, what will Alibaba become in the future?
Since we were working on China Pages, I’ve always said our competitors are not domestic websites, but overseas websites. Our competitors are not in China, but in America’s Silicon Valley.
So first, we should position Alibaba as a global website, not just a domestic website.
Second, we need to learn the hard working spirit of Silicon Valley. If we go to work at 8am and go home at 5pm, this is not a high-tech company and Alibaba will never be successful. If we have that kind of 8am to 5pm spirit, then we should just go and do something else.
Americans are strong at hardware and systems. But on information and software, Chinese brains are just as good as theirs. All of our brains are just good as theirs. This is the reason we dare to compete with Americans.
If we are a good team and know what we want to do, one of us can defeat ten of them. We can beat government agencies and big famous companies, because of our innovative spirit.
Otherwise, what is the difference between us and them? Everybody knows the internet is a bubble that keeps getting bigger and bigger.
But when will it burst?
Yahoo’s stock will fall and eBay’s stock will rise, and maybe after eBay’s stock rises, Alibaba’s stock will rise. So don’t worry.
The Dream for the Internet won’t burst.
We will have to pay a painful price in the next 3 to 5 years; it is the only way we can succeed. So, the goal is Alibaba will IPO in 2002.”
OK. So he was off by 12 years, but isn’t $26.5 billion worth waiting 12 extra years for?
– Ken McCarthy
P.S. For over 25 years I’ve been sharing the simple but powerful things that matter in business with my clients.
If you’d like direction for your business that will work today, tomorrow and twenty years from now, visit us at the System Club.
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