Shouldn't listen to your investors, says Alibaba founder Jack Ma

Ma advices startups to not assume that their investors are always right, reports Tech in Asia

A founder-investor relationship is extremely crucial to any startup. Jack Ma has an interesting thought to share on how founders should handle their shareholders and investors.

“From its first day of founding through the IPO and up to today, Alibaba has for 16 years persisted in putting customers first, employees second, and investors third.

You can only have innovation when you’re satisfying customers’ needs and your employees are happy. So when clients are satisfied and employees are satisfied, investors will be satisfied too.

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Don’t believe what investors say to you. I’m looking at the long-term good, because investors can sell your shares and get something new today if they want. But this [startup] is your son, and you’ve got to stick with it as it grows up.

Don’t believe what investors say to you.

So, first I want to say that Alibaba still feels that because customers pay us money, we can ensure a livelihood only by serving them well. And only employees can create value, so only with happy employees is it possible to have happy investors. 
 

Wall Street thinks investors are number one, but if you put investors first that’s a huge problem. Today they want this, tomorrow they want that. If things are like that then you’re basically screwed, because most investors won’t understand your strategy, and most investors won’t understand your pain. Most investors just analyze you from data, but it is you who understand yourself the best.

So I want to tell everyone: don’t assume your investors are always right. Listen to them respectfully, but the final decision is still yours.”

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.