When I started Alibaba, banks were skeptical about our payment system, claiming it would never work, but I knew that without a payment solution, e-commerce would not succeed.

We built an integration with Alipay because we recognized its potential, even if businesses initially didn't see its relevance.

A common mistake is assuming that if hundreds of millions of people are using a product, it will be successful; the real challenge is getting the first million users.

Initially, many people thought Uber was a crazy idea, but it quickly gained traction and proved to be successful.

Despite not having a good idea, we managed to raise money before launching the platform because people believed in us.

Many founders and investors initially dismissed the ideas behind Airbnb, Coinbase, and Stripe as poor or overly ambitious, underestimating their potential.

We didn't take the approach of getting a billion users and figuring out how to make money later; we focused on how to monetize if we could get to 100 million monthly active users.

After attending a leadership discussion at Davos, I decided to launch our payment system immediately, understanding the importance of building trust for the future of e-commerce in China and globally.

After declining the offer, I felt fortunate that my belief in our direction paid off quickly, as we launched Newsfeed shortly after, which became one of the most used products globally.