After graduating from university, Ma Yun stood out from more than 500 graduates that year and successfully stayed in the school to teach. At the same time, he was like a duck to water in the local translation industry.
In 1988, Jack Ma graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of Hangzhou Normal University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He was then assigned to Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Industry (now Hangzhou Dianzi University) as a lecturer in English and international trade . After that, Ma Yun became an outstanding young teacher in Hangzhou, initiated the first English corner by the West Lake, and became famous in the translation circle in Hangzhou.
Ma Yun's teaching style is different from other teachers. His speech is more interesting, and the students love to listen to it. Some even skipped class to listen to his class. Soon, Ma Yun became one of the top ten outstanding young teachers in Hangzhou.
In addition to teaching at the school, Jack Ma also taught English part-time at the night school of the Hangzhou YMCA. There, Jack Ma met many students, many of whom became Jack Ma's first batch of business partners or customers in the future.
In 1994, the 30-year-old Jack Ma started his first venture in his life. He established Hangzhou Haibo Translation Agency.
This translation agency is the first professional translation agency in Hangzhou, and its initial members, besides Ma Yun, are retired teachers and evening school students of Ma Yun School.
Due to the lack of fame at the beginning, the income of the translation agency could not even pay the rent, let alone the salary.
Ma Yun had no choice but to take the evening school students to Yiwu Small Commodity Market to wholesale goods and bring them back to Hangzhou for sale. During that time, Ma Yun sold flowers, gifts, socks, underwear, and medical equipment, barely maintaining the livelihood of the translation agency.
In 1995, Ma Yun had a chance to go to the United States.
At that time, the government of Tonglu County in Hangzhou had a cooperation project with an American company, but the American side did not pay according to the contract, so a person who could speak foreign languages was needed to negotiate. Because Jack Ma is well-known in the translation industry in Hangzhou, Tonglu County found him, gave him the title of "business representative", and entrusted him to negotiate in the United States.
After Ma Yun arrived in the United States, he found out that the company was a scam company. Not only did he not want to pay, but he also wanted to drag Ma Yun to continue defrauding the government of money.
Ma Yun did not agree. What happened next has been interpreted countless times in various reports.
Some said that Ma Yun was hunted down by American gangsters; some said that Ma Yun was under house arrest in a villa and threatened at gunpoint.
The most amazing kind of legend is:
After Ma Yun escaped, he only had 25 cents left in his body. In desperation, he played a one-cent game on the "slot machine" at the airport. After losing 24 cents, the last penny won a 600-dollar prize. jackpot.
All in all, the various accounts are very bizarre. According to Chen Wei, Ma Yun’s assistant for many years:
After experiencing a series of thrilling events, Ma Yun finally escaped from the clutches...
"This group of people is too bad!" Ma Yun huddled in the sofa under a blanket, repeating this sentence many times. It can be felt that Jack Ma may never want to bring up some unbearable details.
After escaping from the clutches, Jack Ma went to Seattle. His main purpose here is to investigate something that most Chinese people have never heard of: the Internet.
Jack Ma has a friend in Hangzhou, Bill, who is an American foreign teacher. His son-in-law Stewart works at VBN in Seattle. Jack Ma found his company through Bill.
In two small offices, five young people kept typing on the computer screen. Jack Ma dared not touch the computer easily, but Trasti said politely: "There is no need to be afraid, you can use it casually. "
According to Ma Yun’s narration in CCTV’s “People” column in the future, the scene at that time was like this:
Stewart introduced to Ma Yun that this is a computer, this is the internet, you can search for something, and it will come up, you can try it.
Ma Yun said, I dare not touch it, this thing is too expensive, and it will be damaged if touched.
Stewart said, it's not a bomb, it won't explode, you can touch it anyway.
So Jack Ma carefully entered four letters in Yahoo's search bar: BEER (beer).
The search results came out, and Jack Ma saw beer from all over the world. But no Chinese ones. He enters "Chinese beer", but returns "No data".
Jack Ma knocked on Chinahistory again and found a 50-character introduction.
"Why can some things be searched, but some things cannot be searched?" Jack Ma asked curiously, "Is it because my search method is wrong, or is there any other reason?"
Trasti patiently explained: "It's not that your search method is wrong, but that some things are not yet on the Internet. Only by making a webpage first, and putting it on the Internet, can you search for it. Anyone who has already been on the Internet can access it." Search it out."
Ma Yun asked Stuart, can I make a webpage for my translation company and put it on it? Stewart said no problem. So they made a simple webpage with only a brief introduction of Haibo Translation Agency and an email address. Then Ma Yun went shopping
That night, Ahuo and Ma Yun stayed at Trasti’s house. Trasti turned on the computer at home at 11 o’clock in the evening. Ma Yun received 5 letters from Japan, the United States and Germany, and the customers asked him for translation materials. s price.
Ma Yun happily opened the mailbox and saw that there were 5 emails from the United States, Germany, and Japan. One of them said, this is the first company from China I found on the Internet, where are you, I want to do business with you.
At that time, the Internet was only a guide for the government and enterprises. Jack Ma felt amazing and excitedly said to Trasti: "You are in charge of technology in the United States, and I will go to China to find customers. Together, we can help Chinese enterprises go online."
Trasti promised on the spot: "Of course, I will try my best to assist you."
This is Jack Ma's first contact with the Internet experience. He is keenly aware that this is a huge business opportunity.
A few days later, when Ma Yun returned to China, there was one of the most valuable things in his suitcase: a 486 computer.
Jack Ma Entrepreneurship Guide
In 1996, when Ma Yunfei went to Seattle to meet his partner of VBN, he was full of confidence that he would make a lot of money. Mr. Ahuo, who was on a business trip with him at that time, recalled, "I remember when he looked at those expensive houses in Queen Anne's Villa," Mr. Aho recalled, “He pointed to those houses and said, “‘If I have money, I will buy a house here, like this house. ’ And at that time, he didn’t even have a penny in his pocket. "
On September 26, 2015, Ma Yun posted on Weibo that he met again with Bill Aho, who helped him get in touch with the Internet for the first time 20 years ago and inspired him to return to China to start a business. Ma Yun also posted a photo of him and Bill on Weibo. Ma Yun said on Weibo that 20 years ago, he came to Seattle when he first came to the United States for more than 20 days on a business trip. "Introduced by Bill Aho, it was the first time in my life that I came into contact with a computer and the Internet. After returning to China, I borrowed 20,000 yuan to set up my first Internet company, and started my career as a scholar." Jack Ma said, 20 years have passed , See you Bill and his daughter in Seattle. "Thank you Bill, thank you Seattle, thank you to everyone who helped us in the past 20 years."