1. Introduction: The Ultimate Underdog Hook In the late 1980s, the American fast-food giant KFC arrived in Hangzhou, China. It was a beacon of new opportunity, and twenty-four young, eager hopefuls lined up to apply for a job. Twenty-three of them walked out with a paycheck. Only one person was flat-out rejected: Jack Ma. This isn't a story about a born genius or a well-connected aristocrat. This is the origin story of a man who built a $500 billion e-commerce empire out of n