00:02:20 · Tommy Stadlen, Jack Zhang
[00:02:20] S0: Um what kind of thing were you doing? [00:02:22] S1: Sort of um you know, I got uh initially started washing dishes in the restaurant after high school, uh, you know, finished at four and then start go to the restaurant working. Uh then I later on upgraded my job to a bartender, uh, you know, doing you know 4 p.m. to 11 30 p.m. shift in the Westing Hotel, then uh then I do midnight shift in a petrol station from midnight to 8 a.m. Wow. Uh so like you know, working 16 hours a day and finding spare time to study. [00:02:51] S0: So you'd work in a bar in the evening, then do a night shift in a petrol station, and then go to high school in the morning?
00:02:56 · Jack Zhang
[00:02:56] S1: No, no, the go-to college. That was that was like high school was more of a dishwasher job, like kitchen hand dishwasher. Uh well, I mean, you sleep three hours, you know, like uh during the day. I mean, also I don't work every day, so you know, I'll probably work four or five hours a week. And uh so um and not all sort of shifts are uh that bad, and you know, you can have some sleep if nobody comes to the petrol station. So uh it is uh This is in Melbourne, yeah. This is in Melbourne, and and that is like a pretty tough period of time that really kind of taught me a lot of um things about life, right? How resilient, um, you know, what is uh what does hot work uh look like, uh what does survival look like? Uh then like I mean I would say uh then uh after I graduated, uh then I would summarize that journey as just um you know, I call the I call it the pursuit of happiness, okay. Uh or you know, or just try to figure out things in life, right? So I got a decent job out of the investment bank and I was algo trader and I write code to uh do FX market making or fixed income and other sort of algo trading stuff. Um I'm making decent money, and on the side, I probably tried 10 different businesses, uh, whether it's in real estate development, architecture, burger, coffee, uh importing, exporting. So a lot of random businesses. And I was even selling phone cases online, right? So I made made a phone case um, you know, with with my friends. So a lot all these random businesses are just me experimenting what makes me happy.
00:04:36 · Cameron McLain, Jack Zhang, Tommy Stadlen
[00:04:36] S2: Um the import export business was quite successful. [00:04:40] S1: I mean, like all these businesses made money, and and but um, you know, especially the real estate one was was quite successful. But uh I wouldn't really feel happy that I feel like I really wanted to build in something that uh that can scale, um, something I can use my uh sort of expertise in technology and engineering, right? So that um, you know, I was basically finally able to find Airwalllocks, and and that will be, I would say, the later chapter of my entrepreneurial journey. And and you know, I think finding something like airwalls is quite a blessing because I can see myself building for another 10, 20 years on this on this business and and not worry about getting staled because the market is so big and I just keep can keep creating component value, uh, billions of enterprise, if not multi, if tens of billions of enterprise value every year. [00:05:31] S0: Amazing. So let's go back to that first chapter then of arriving in Australia and basically having to kind of fund yourself through through your studies and working in pretty tough jobs. More right, I think you worked in a in a lemon factory at one point.
00:05:31 · Tommy Stadlen, Jack Zhang
[00:05:31] S0: Amazing. So let's go back to that first chapter then of arriving in Australia and basically having to kind of fund yourself through through your studies and working in pretty tough jobs. More right, I think you worked in a in a lemon factory at one point. [00:05:45] S1: Yeah, that was a holiday job worth here for about four months. What were you doing in the lemon factory? Um, so you know, there's um different sizes of lemon. You know, so there's uh it's a lemon factory, you have all sorts of uh machines and to try to figure out the size of the lemon, and they try to group the similar size into one uh one train and then uh to they wash the lemon, wax it, and then get ended the the the chain and um uh some girls that put a label on it, put in a box. I'm the one that taking care of all size of lemon from you know, put in a box and put in the sort of three-meter by three-meter pillar and then just sort of doing that for 12 hours a day. [00:06:30] S0: Wow. [00:06:30] S1: Uh so the only two guys in the lemon factories, me and the son of the boss. And the son of the boss not doing anything is really just me. [00:06:37] S0: So when you have people now in in London or wherever your office is around the world, tech workers kind of complaining about burnout, do you just laugh? And think this is like you don't know the meaning of the hard words.
00:06:37 · Tommy Stadlen, Jack Zhang, Cameron McLain
[00:06:37] S0: So when you have people now in in London or wherever your office is around the world, tech workers kind of complaining about burnout, do you just laugh? And think this is like you don't know the meaning of the hard words. [00:06:47] S1: I just um, you know, I think I think like, you know, mental issues are real, and then people have strengths and weaknesses, but when you're on surviving mode, you are so focused on surviving, you don't really have mental issues. Because you you you you just have one single mission is to leave. And and when you have that simple mindset, you have no anxiety. Right. Anxiety is more for complicated lifestyles, right? You know, when you have so many desires in life, you have so many uh luxury, then then you start having anxiety. It's really, really funny. Yeah. Uh so the more um sort of uh almost like the more wealth you have, the more likely you're gonna have anxiety. [00:07:31] S2: And as as your life has changed and your situations have changed, have you found anxiety creeping in? [00:07:37] S1: Oh, yeah, 100% of my anxiety level went through the roof now. Um, you know, compared to um, you know, 20 years ago I was working way harder. [00:07:45] S2: Yeah. [00:07:46] S1: Um, but what's very simple. Yeah, because you had focused. There was no. You don't really have room to think about anything else. Just don't even think about it, right? Because it's not possible. Sure.
00:07:46 · Jack Zhang, Tommy Stadlen
[00:07:46] S1: Um, but what's very simple. Yeah, because you had focused. There was no. You don't really have room to think about anything else. Just don't even think about it, right? Because it's not possible. Sure. [00:07:54] S0: I think that second phase is really interesting for you, Jack. Of like, you know, you you you made it through that first phase really, really tough. And then you're starting to build these businesses. And and as Cam alluded to, some of them, from what we understand, were pretty successful, right? Like making millions of dollars a year, importing and exporting olive oil and things like that. Um, I think it's interesting that like you get brilliant entrepreneurs around the world who are very good at what they do and might get an olive oil business to like five million of revenue a year or something, but just never during that aiming phase to say, I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna build something which, if I put all my hard work into it or my skill into it, it can be a $10 billion, $50 billion company like Airwallet's rather than kind of limiting themselves. It's interesting that you kind of went through a bunch of these small.