The distorted "Why can't Shanghai produce a Jack Ma?"

Yu Zhengsheng's statement six years ago, "Shanghai can't produce a Jack Ma," has been distorted to this day. Recently, someone used the fines of several Didi private cars in Shanghai to cite this statement.

His original words were: "Why didn't someone like Jack Ma grow here? Maybe there is something wrong with us."

The background of the speech was in January 2008, at the 11th session of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Yu Zhengsheng talked about his meeting with Jack Ma, saying that Jack Ma told him that Alibaba almost landed in Shanghai, but later returned to Hangzhou. But he also told Yu Zhengsheng that Shanghai's financial conditions were better and Alipay would be located in Shanghai.

I believe Yu Zhengsheng has the intention to reflect on the entrepreneurial environment of small and medium-sized enterprises in Shanghai and the development environment of the Internet economy. However, another topic is that when Jack Ma left Shanghai and returned to Hangzhou, he must have also been thinking about the foundation of Alibaba's development.

In Shanghai, small and medium-sized enterprises are far inferior to those in Zhejiang, which advocates the puppy economic model.

Hangzhou is Jack Ma's home. Think about it, if Jack Ma insisted on staying in Shanghai, would the so-called 18 Arhats still follow him? I believe that it is very likely that some people may not. Before the IPO, Jack Ma gave a passionate speech to the Arhats in his house. While it was touching, I felt a kind of regional complex.

This shows that Jack Ma's departure from Shanghai was mainly a market-oriented choice. Hangzhou and Shanghai have different resource endowments. It is not necessarily that some organization, force, or bad environment here forced him to leave.

Jack Ma also worked in Beijing for a while. Why didn't he choose Beijing to start Alibaba? Is Beijing also a bad place?

Beijing is also not suitable for Alibaba's entrepreneurship. 15 years ago, there was no advantage in serving small and medium-sized enterprises. At that time, the atmosphere was still that of state-owned enterprises.

The significance of reflecting on the sentence "Why Shanghai cannot produce a Jack Ma" is that it distorts and exaggerates the negative factors of entrepreneurship in Shanghai, and conceals Jack Ma's proactive judgment and choice 15 years ago.

Alibaba was born in Hangzhou, which is the best combination of multiple resources such as human resources, industry, policy, and location advantages. Other places may be able to come up with B2B in other vertical industries, but it is difficult to come up with a comprehensive open platform.

It’s not a bad thing that other places haven’t produced a Jack Ma, as other places may produce heroes from other fields, but they may not be as outstanding, influential, or lovable as Jack Ma.

If China is full of Jack Mas, I think there must be something wrong with this society, and it’s a big problem. The homogeneity of industries is terrible.

Beijing did not produce Jack Ma in the early days, but it did produce some digital heroes in the media. This is closely related to Beijing’s special environment of politics, culture, and proximity to the core of policy decision-making and public opinion.

Think about it, if Wang Zhidong and others founded Sitonglifang in Hangzhou, would Sina.com have achieved the status it has in China's portal industry? I think it is extremely difficult, almost impossible.

I think it is normal that Shanghai has not produced a Jack Ma. If you stay in this city for a long time, you will find that it has many lovely things. Shanghai actually values ​​details and can provide many practical services. Its service industry is also very developed. However, many years ago, as the core middle layer of the industry, the manufacturing part was mostly filled by foreign capital, and lacked flesh-and-blood connection with the service industry close to the public. In addition, the geographical space of coastal cities and municipalities is limited, so it can only face more overseas and integrate global resources. The financial industry and shipping are the most reasonable choices.

Shanghai is not without Internet celebrities. It has produced many. If you carefully count how many Internet companies there are since the 1990s, including media people in the entire IT circle. Don't tell me that some companies failed and changed their careers. I would say that changing careers is a reasonable choice. From a business perspective, it is a success. Chen Tianqiao is the most typical example. Don't blindly apply the concept of failure.

I would like to add that I talked to Zhang Tao, the founder of Dianping, a few days ago and he said something very insightful. He said that Shanghai has a lot of advantages in the O2O industry chain. In the down-to-earth field of eating, drinking and playing for the general public, Shanghai has a good entrepreneurial foundation and entrepreneurial atmosphere, but don't rush. This O2O company has persisted for 11 years. Isn't it reasonable in Shanghai?

Some time ago, I attended a press conference for the Internet insurance sales giant "Yishi Network". I felt a kind of vitality from the founding team. Combined with Shanghai's financial, insurance and international resources, I think landing in Shanghai is a more reasonable choice.

There are more successful people outside of Shanghai’s Internet industry.

This kind of choice is always influenced by the invisible hand, which cannot be understood, appreciated or appreciated by exaggerating the question "Why is there no Jack Ma?"

Alipay is now in Shanghai. You can realize that Jack Ma’s choice back then and his choice today are both the most real and reasonable choices.

Sometimes, the harm caused by distorting a statement is more terrible than the harm caused by direct speech. It is full of deception and creates confusion.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.