1999年,杭州佬马云和17个年轻的伙伴在西湖区湖畔花园的一间公寓里创立了阿里巴巴。创业第一天起,阿里巴巴就聚焦于服务中小企业,立志“让天下没有难做的生意”,而杭州所在的长三角地区素来是中国中小企业的摇篮。当时,杭州民营经济的比重已达70%。
In 1999, Hangzhou native Jack Ma and 17 young partners founded Alibaba in an apartment in Lakeside Garden, Xihu District. From the first day of the business, Alibaba focused on serving small and medium-sized enterprises and was determined to "make it easy to do business in the world." The Yangtze River Delta region where Hangzhou is located has always been the cradle of China's small and medium-sized enterprises. At that time, the proportion of private economy in Hangzhou had reached 70%.