Jack Ma is very impressive on the page — English teacher beginnings, failed exams, the Hangzhou flat where Alibaba started. Clark knew him early so it feels grounded rather than myth-making.
What I still don't fully understand is how he built the relationships and raised the capital he did with so little technical knowledge and no obvious insider status. Timing, trust, language, persuasion — the book points at all of it, and I buy parts of the story, but the leap still feels almost absurd from the outside.
I enjoyed it anyway, especially as another English teacher who will never build anything that size. The later Ant drama hangs over the early chapters now, but the scrappy opening stayed fun to read.