Season 3, Episode 5: Alibaba episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 24, 2018 · 1H 39M

Season 3, Episode 5: Alibaba

from Acquired · host Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

We continue our China Tech series with perhaps the most incredible entrepreneurial journey in history: Alibaba and its indefatigable founder, Jack Ma. How did an unknown 30 year-old English teacher from a second tier Chinese city build the world’s 7th largest company by market cap (and the largest in China) in just 20 short years? This is one story you don’t want to miss.Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryThe Acquired Meetup (in SF!): https://bit.ly/sentryacquiredmeetupWorkOS: https://acquired.fm/unpluggedPlaying Cards: https://bit.ly/workOSshop (Code: ACQDECK)Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26More Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLCLinks: Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma BuiltJack Ma’s famous speech in the Hangzhou apartmentJack Ma on not competing with AmazonCarve Outs:Ben: Mike Maples on the Origins podcastDavid:  Romance of the Three Kingdoms

We continue our China Tech series with perhaps the most incredible entrepreneurial journey in history: Alibaba and its indefatigable founder, Jack Ma. How did an unknown 30 year-old English teacher from a second tier Chinese city build the world’s 7th largest company by market cap (and the largest in China) in just 20 short years? This is one story you don’t want to miss.Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryThe Acquired Meetup (in SF!): https://bit.ly/sentryacquiredmeetupWorkOS: https://acquired.fm/unpluggedPlaying Cards: https://bit.ly/workOSshop (Code: ACQDECK)Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26More Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLCLinks: Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma BuiltJack Ma’s famous speech in the Hangzhou apartmentJack Ma on not competing with AmazonCarve Outs:Ben: Mike Maples on the Origins podcastDavid:  Romance of the Three Kingdoms

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Season 3, Episode 5: Alibaba

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Chapter 15

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Chapter 16

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Chapter 17

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Chapter 18

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Chapter 19

Jun 20, 2026 ·19m

Chapter 20

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We continue our China Tech series with perhaps the most incredible entrepreneurial journey in history: Alibaba and its indefatigable founder, Jack Ma. How did an unknown 30 year-old English teacher from a second tier Chinese city build the world’s...

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