All people who make big money are bandits and scoundrels. Honest people are only suitable for working jobs.

Entrepreneurship is essentially about seizing things from the market. I'm not cursing—I'm stating a fact. Look at the truly wealthy people around you. Which one is a genuinely "good person"? Which one got their start through yielding to others or reasoning with people? Hardly any. Why?

Because entrepreneurship is fundamentally about seizing things from the market. The market is only so big. If you don't seize it, someone else will. If you're polite, others won't be. In the end, all the meat goes into someone else's mouth, and you don't even get the broth.

This isn't encouraging you to do bad things—it's making you face a reality: climbing the social ladder requires a bit of "bandit spirit."

What was Liu Bang's background? A local thug. What was Zhu Yuanzhang's background? A beggar and monk, barely even a thug. Yet they both went down in history. Why? Because they had that drive—the courage to seize, to fight, to break the rules and carve a bloody path through chaos. They didn't conquer the world by being good people; they did it by gathering talent, waging war, and surviving turbulent times.

What are those refined gentlemen suited for? Working jobs, assisting others. Gentlemen follow rules, care about propriety, follow procedures. These things work in stable environments, but during the startup phase, during primitive capital accumulation, they're all obstacles. If you're too rule-abiding, you can't outcompete rule-breakers. If you care too much about propriety, you can't put aside your dignity to do those "improper" but profitable things.

Some call Jack Ma a "big con artist." But it was precisely this "con artist" who built Alibaba with eighteen people. His ability to con comes from his boldness, from his charisma to unite people. That kind of charisma can't be cultivated through gentleness, humility, and courtesy.

There's a phrase that might sound harsh, but it's true: every pore of primitive capital accumulation drips with dirty blood. I didn't say that—Marx did. What does it mean? That in those early stages, building cleanly and purely is nearly impossible. You always have to do some unsavory things, always have to offend some people, always have to break some rules. This doesn't mean breaking the law—it means understanding that people overly protective of their reputation can't take flight.

So let me be frank with you: if you're the type who's very "proper" at heart, terrified of what people say, obsessed with others' opinions, unable to tolerate criticism, then you really might only be suited for working a job. And that's fine—it's stable and solid. But if you want to start a business, make real money, and climb the social ladder, you need to ditch that "good person baggage."

It's not about becoming bad—it's about becoming "wild." Fight when you need to, seize when you need to, turn hostile when necessary. If you're good to everyone, nobody will take you seriously. If you're too clean, no one will dare partner with you.

Remember this: mercy has no place in military command, righteousness has no place in finance. Without a bit of "rogue DNA," you can't achieve great things. Not that you should become a rogue—it's that you need that ruthlessness, that relentless drive to reach your goals. Be harsh on yourself, harsh on the work, ruthless when opportunities appear.

This world was never made for honest people. It was made for those who dare to think and act, for those unafraid to break the rules. Think it through, then decide which path to take.