00:00:00 · Jack Zhang, Joubin Mirzadegan
[00:00:00] S0: On a Friday evening, I met Lucy and we sit down at a dinner. And during the dinner, I talk about the idea of building a swift alternative, a global money movement infrastructure. And she got excited and she's like, how much are raising? I was like, probably like 1,000,000. And she's like, what if I give you 2,000,000 out of nowhere? Was I like, hey, Lucy, if you want to do it, why don't you join us as a co founder and you can see how we spend your money? Right? So we agreed, she would invest a million dollar, a $5,000,000 post for 20% of the company. [00:00:27] S1: And what's that investment worth now? $500,000,000. Welcome to GRYT. I'm Juven, partner at Kleiner Perkins, a show where we go beyond the highlight reel and explore the personal and professional challenges of building history making companies. Today on the show, have Jack Zhang, co founder and CEO of Airwallex. The company is now worth over 11,000,000,000. We get into his founding story, the early days of his struggle, and how he's gotten to where he has today. It's actually, it's amazing. He's, the personification of grit. Enjoy the episode. Airwallex today is how big? [00:01:15] S0: 2,200 people in 26 offices globally. [00:01:19] S1: I read you're at like a billion of revenue growing 90%. Is that true?
00:01:19 · Joubin Mirzadegan, Jack Zhang
[00:01:19] S1: I read you're at like a billion of revenue growing 90%. Is that true? [00:01:23] S0: Now we are at 1.2, close to 1,300,000,000 revenue growing 85%. I actually started my, I wouldn't call it a business I started like a magazine when I was 14, think of it as like Yelp but offline. And we're writing, you know, computer games, Counter Strike, we're writing about student love stories, we write about, you know, comics, and it just got viral in the city. It's called Urban Exploration, and we made a bunch of money because we don't have to pay anything. And we have a few thousand merchants doing ads on the magazine. And by the end of that sort of period, I I knew I was going to go overseas to study, and donated the money to the school to build six basketball court. And and we also sponsored the the basketball team to play a tournament in Canada. And I just sort of stayed around to study English afterwards. [00:02:26] S1: How much money did you make on this magazine? [00:02:29] S0: Probably close to a 100... About a 100,000 US dollar. But this is like $90.99. Right? So it's it's a lot of money. [00:02:36] S1: Like a 0.25 mil, more inflation adjusted. [00:02:40] S0: I I don't know about that, but it's like a fair bit of... I mean, it's no cost. Right? I mean, student, like, just do everything for free. [00:02:47] S1: 14 years [00:02:48] S0: old? Yeah. I mean, it's... Essentially, it's like a magazine out of the school. Right? I mean, I was
00:02:48 · Jack Zhang, Joubin Mirzadegan
[00:02:48] S0: old? Yeah. I mean, it's... Essentially, it's like a magazine out of the school. Right? I mean, I was [00:02:54] S1: you spend that money on at that age? We donate it. We didn't So you donated all to the basketball Yeah. To the basketball course. [00:03:01] S0: Yeah. We build a course, and then we sponsor the the tournament. Come on. I was... Grew up in a wealthy family, but my family lost everything. I was 16 when I was in Australia. So it's a very kind of up... Down in one day kind of story. [00:03:20] S1: Sorry. Can I, like, dig into this a little bit? So when you were growing up in China Yeah. Your fam... You come from money. Like, family had a bunch of money when you were growing up. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Then [00:03:30] S0: My dad is like a CEO of a regional bank. [00:03:33] S1: Okay. Okay. So like, especially in your small town, like you are definitely well-to-do. Yeah. Fine. So then you start a company. [00:03:40] S0: It's not a company. It's Whatever. [00:03:42] S1: You know? A magazine. Yeah. A magazine. [00:03:45] S0: There's no company. [00:03:46] S1: Yeah. Yeah. A magazine. You're making... You made a bunch of money as [00:03:49] S0: Yeah. [00:03:49] S1: As a kid. And you're like, well, I don't need the money. I come from money, so I'll give it away. I mean, to
00:03:49 · Joubin Mirzadegan, Jack Zhang
[00:03:49] S1: As a kid. And you're like, well, I don't need the money. I come from money, so I'll give it away. I mean, to [00:03:57] S0: be fair, I didn't know what money is at that time. Like, I... It just don't have a concept of, you know, rich or poor or, like, you know, it just because I never need to struggle with money. Right? I never need to buy anything. So it's a it's a... I don't have a very good concept. The first time I actually understand what money is is actually when I don't have it. So that when I lost everything, I was trying to buy a a dollar 50 chocolate and I couldn't afford it. And that is the first time I was like, wow. I need to make money. [00:04:26] S1: Right. That's crazy. At 14, life is good. Your family says, go to Canada, build the basketball courts, spend the money you just made. And so then you go to Canada for what? [00:04:40] S0: For a a basketball tournament. [00:04:42] S1: Okay. For a tournament. Yeah. You So built the basketball courts in China in your town. [00:04:45] S0: In my school. In your school? [00:04:47] S1: Yeah. Yeah. You spent all the money on that? [00:04:49] S0: Yeah. It's It's an expensive basketball course. Six, like, you know, for the best basketballs you can you can do. Right? [00:04:56] S1: Like indoor courts? Outdoor. Okay. [00:04:59] S0: Yeah. It's
00:04:59 · Jack Zhang, Joubin Mirzadegan
[00:04:59] S0: Yeah. It's [00:05:00] S1: expensive. K. LL. And then you go to Canada to... For a tournament. At this point, you'd spent your money. And your family is obviously, like, paying for you to travel around the world and play basketball. Life's good. Then you... Why did you leave Canada after a year? I was... Not not less than a year. [00:05:26] S0: I was staying with my relatives, my my uncle, and, you know, I just didn't get along super well. And and I wanted freedom. I I don't wanna to, you know, be restricted on what what I can and cannot do. And and I told my parents I wanna, you know, go somewhere that I have completely freedom. [00:05:50] S1: So you went to Australia? Yeah. Were they there? [00:05:54] S0: No. I went there with... By myself. And I live in a Aussie Navy family for for a couple years before I went to college. With who? Like a Aussie family. [00:06:04] S1: You just... How'd you find them? [00:06:06] S0: The the school recommended. [00:06:08] S1: So you found a school there? [00:06:10] S0: Yeah. Found a school there, and the Australian couple become my legal guardian. And, you know, the the guy is a navy. He's he's, like, not at home every day, and I'm just hanging out with his two kids and his his wife. You know? And And going to school. Yeah. And going to school, and they are taking care of me. At, like, fifteen fifteen years old. [00:06:34] S1: Yeah. At this point, your parents are [00:06:37] S0: Still in China.
00:06:37 · Jack Zhang, Joubin Mirzadegan
[00:06:37] S0: Still in China. [00:06:38] S1: Still in China, sending you money. Yeah. Like helping pay for your school. Yeah. I assume paying the Yeah. The people that are taking care of you in Australia. [00:06:48] S0: Yeah. Then what? Then I just sort of lost everything when I was 16, 17. I laughed after year and a half. And [00:06:58] S1: In Australia? [00:06:59] S0: Yeah. When I went back to China and, you know, I realized, you know, there's no driver picking me up in the airport. And I went home and, like, you know, the the place we live is different. So I just realized we lost everything. [00:07:15] S1: What do like a different house? Yeah. Your parents didn't tell you that they lost everything? You just started to see signals? [00:07:23] S0: Well, they intentionally didn't tell me because I was... You know, they just didn't wanna sort of creating issues for my for my study or, like, mentally give me burden. [00:07:35] S1: So you get to the airport and you're like, wait. Where's the driver? [00:07:38] S0: Yeah. And then I I I literally have to figure out get a taxi to [00:07:43] S1: Which you've never done in your life. [00:07:45] S0: Yeah. And and when I got home, it's, you know, like, we always own that place, but it was... You know, we didn't live there for, a decade, and just all of a sudden, you know, my parents told me to go there, and and I was there, and my dad was smoking, and, you know, he's not a smoker. And I realized, you know, something happened. You know? [00:08:09] S1: And you were 17 at the time? Yeah. What happened?