FBC – 246 – Advice from a 39 billion dollar man

Advice from a 39 billion dollar man. Jack Ma built Alibaba into a $40 billion empire, and the career advice he shared with young people mirrors exactly what I lived through in my corporate years.

What Jack Ma Told 25-Year-Olds That Changed Everything

Today, I want to tell you about pieces of advice that Jack Ma (the founder of Alibaba who's worth 36 billion dollars) gave to a bunch of 25 year olds. His words are very dear to me because that's exactly what I lived and exactly what I've said on this podcast before.

I was watching a video of Jack Ma giving advice to a room of young people, and I was amazed at what he said, because it matched my own experience completely. He was telling the audience that they do have time. If you're twenty-five, you still have time to get stuff done. You don't have to rush anything. Just work hard and learn. Learning is how you actually get up the ladder. At some point you will have enough knowledge to go and start your own thing.

But what he said that actually matches my story is this: working in corporate is not a bad thing. You will learn some stuff in corporate that will serve you for life.

The Hidden Value of Corporate Experience

He was saying everybody wants to work in a big company. And it's actually good, because what you learn inside a big company is something you cannot easily get anywhere else. Once you get into these big companies, everything is already laid out in a process. You are assigned to a task and that task only. You specialize, and you learn something that's extremely valuable: processes.

I'm not a process-oriented guy by definition. I actually hated processes. I thought they were rigid and pointless. But thankfully, I worked in really large companies and I learned how processes are created, how they're laid out, and how they get passed down to staff. A system is just a series of processes. And I am here today, having built over 1,500 automation workflows, because I was able to work in big companies and understand how all of that works.

Working in corporate is not a waste of time. It teaches you processes, and processes are the foundation of every successful business system.

You might not realize it yet, but it will help you. Your current job is not pointless. Even if it seems pointless right now, one day it will come in handy. Trust that.

In big corporations, you often end up feeling like a cog in a big machine. You're specialized in one role, and you don't have visibility on the whole workflow. But that's actually one of the most valuable things you can learn to replicate later in your own business.

Learning From Great Bosses

What Jack Ma said next is something I've told you myself. You learn a lot from the boss you have at the time. And me, I told you about my boss, Joanne Warner. She is one of the people who made me who I am. She taught me how to care about my team and how to fight for my team. What mattered was my team. Where they wanted to go in life, regardless of whether it was in this company or the next. She showed me how to create a positive environment where people are happy to come to work.

The best education you can get as a future entrepreneur is working under a great manager. Watch how they handle people, problems, and pressure. That knowledge compounds for decades.

Hearing Jack Ma, someone who built $40 billion from nothing, say these same things validated everything I believe. If you have a chance to work in a big corporation, take it. It will help you become more skillful and give you the 360-degree view of business that solo experience alone can never provide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What advice did Jack Ma give to young people starting their careers?

Jack Ma told a room of 25-year-olds that they still have time and should focus on learning above everything else. He said working in big companies first teaches you processes, helps you develop a 360-degree view of business, and gives you the tools you need before launching your own venture.

Should I work in corporate before starting my own business?

Both Jack Ma and I believe yes. Working in corporate gives you something you cannot easily get anywhere else: exposure to real systems and processes. Those systems become the blueprint for everything you build on your own. I would not have built over 1,500 automation workflows without spending years inside large corporations first.

How does corporate experience help entrepreneurs and solopreneurs?

Corporate teaches you how to build and document processes, how to manage teams, and how to think at scale. As a solopreneur, those skills let you create systems that run without you. Most people underestimate this until they actually start their own business and realize they need structure to grow.

Why did Jack Ma's advice resonate with Martin Ebongue?

Because Martin lived the exact same path. He spent years in large corporate environments, learned processes under great managers, and then used all of that to build automated business systems. When Jack Ma described that journey, it was confirmation that the path works.

About the Author

Martin Ebongue is the founder of martinebongue.com, an online business and lifestyle design blog focused on helping aspiring entrepreneurs build location-independent businesses. Since 2014, he has been creating and scaling online ventures across multiple niches, from digital products and affiliate marketing to SaaS and content platforms, while traveling the world. He shares the real-world strategies, tools, and systems that work, with a particular focus on AI-powered automation for solopreneurs. Follow him on YouTube, X (Twitter), and Instagram.

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