Alibaba's Success; Open Sesame!

Some people describe Alibaba as `Chinese Amazon` and I can not believe how stupid they are. Why? Because, basically, as Jack Ma explain `Alibaba is not e-commerce.Alibaba help people to build their own e-commerce` This is completely because Alibaba is not selling anything, Alibaba is a place where buyers and sellers meet.  And now, this company which Jack Ma started in 1999 in his apartment in Hangzhou bigger than P&G and Wells Fargo.  What is the key of the success for Alibaba?

First, I want to share with you James Allan quote which describe Alibaba perfectly- `The key to happiness having dreams, the key of the success is making them come true.` This is exactly what Alibaba and Jack Ma did. This week I watched the documentary about Alibaba, `Crocodile in Yangtze` and in the beginning of this documentary, Jack Ma was saying `Our rivals are not Chinese. Our rivals are in the Silicon Valley.`. Jack Ma planned to be that big even when the internet wasn't that much popular in 1999. Therefore, Alibaba was a dream which come true perfectly and successfully. 

On Tuesday Singles Day shopping event took part in China and Alibaba sold $2 billion worth goods just in the first hour and total is $9 billion worth goods. Unbelievable. It is more than any US shopping fest combinations. Alibaba is active company. Flexible and easy to adapt and innovate. For me, Alipay is the best example to show us `How Alibaba Solve Every Problem?` Although, Chinese people use credit-cards more than before, still the population/credit card holders are not like USA or UK. Yet, Alibaba is completely interned based company. Alipay is the result of this problem. They didn't wait someone to fix the problems, they fixed it. 

Things were not easy for Alibaba, but they always fight back. When eBay entered the Chinese market, Alibaba directly made the move. Now you can say that eBay and Alibaba is completely different. Yes, but Jack Ma didn't want Chinese people to buy something from eBay and create a successful competitor in front of his own eyes. Therefore, he created Taobao for the consumers who want to buy goods from small businesses (C2C) . Instead of eBay's fee policy, Taobao was free first years.  Not Surprisingly, eBay moved away from China permanently. They see what is coming and act for it bravely.

China has limited opportunities for entrepreneurship and Chinese business environment is completely different than Europe or US. Socialism plus traditions force them to work under state-owned/private offices or daily jobs. With the help of Taobao, Chinese people got their opportunity to be an entrepreneur. As I mentioned before, Alibaba is just a connection between buyers-sellers and become a connection between dreams and opportunities. Alibaba gave people to opportunity to be get bigger, get abroad and get successful.

Imagine that you invite your best friends in your house and you try to convince them to invest your business. How much you can get? Probably, not more than $20.000. (If you have multi-rich friends, don't read this) In 1999, Jack Ma got 60.000$ from his friends as capital. He convinced people whereas there was nothing existed. From 1999 to 2000, they raised almost $25 million from Japanese SoftBank and Goldman Sachs.After 6 years, when Alibaba desperately need money because of the crisis, Yahoo Inc. bought 37% shares for $1 billion. Actually, all of them is the same story with different amounts. Jack Ma and his crew persuaded people that Alibaba will be successful. Alibaba sold their dreams and raise money to make them true.
In conclusion, Alibaba Group is successful and brave. They are living the dream or as Jack Ma said ` He saw that it was coming.` They act faster than West, they are more flexible than West and they have completely dominant in their home more than any other companies does. With the help of Growing Chinese Economy and Huge Chinese Market they became what they are today. Now, they have the biggest IPO in US History. Why? Because people see what Alibaba and Jack Ma can do and again Alibaba convince everyone.