Pick co-founders you’d grab a beer with, Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai tells Gen Z entrepreneurs

Starting a business is a big decision, and so is choosing the right people to work with.

Speaking at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Alibaba co-founder and chairman Joe Tsai told Gen Z aspiring entrepreneurs that “As a startup, you’re not gonna go home very much,” but the long hours won’t feel as difficult if you choose the right founding team.

According to him, it only takes one simple test: ask yourself, “Do you wanna go out and have a beer with this person after work?”

“Find the people first,” he said, advising founders to not only look for partners, mentors, and colleagues they can work with but also those they can learn from.

Fortune reports that Mr Tsai, the only one of Alibaba’s 18 cofounders not from mainland China, was born in Taiwan and graduated from Yale University. Unlike his peers, who were technologists or serial entrepreneurs, he joined the company as a lawyer and investor. This, he said, was the reason why he focused on listening rather than directing others early on.

“You have to bring a sense of humility to the work,” he said, adding that colleagues and partners who are smarter can teach you a lot. Pointing to his Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, Mr Tsai added that he was not just a close friend and business partner, but someone he learned from early on — a mentor.

Although he adds that successful founding teams also require complementary skills. People who bring different skill sets so they don’t step on each other. /TISG

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