Airwallex's Jack Zhang on Fintech, Failure, and Growth

Grit by Kleiner Perkins

Jun 29, 202671:52Business

In 2020, Airwallex lost nearly half its revenue overnight. Today it's worth $11 billion. Jack Zhang reflects on the decisions that kept the company alive, raising capital during uncertainty, and leading through its tough...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from Grit.

The AI Race Has a Leaderboard Arena CEO Anastasios Angelopoulos

Sep 7, 2026 - 60:24

AI could be bigger than electricity. Anastasios Angelopoulos is seeing that shift firsthand, with Arena r...

Data Centers in Orbit by 2028: Baiju Bhatt on His Plans After Robinhood

Aug 24, 2026 - 72:54

What kind of founder walks away from a multi-billion-dollar fintech company to start building rockets? Ba...

Booking.com CEO on AI and the Future of Travel

Aug 10, 2026 - 50:50

"Our mission is to make it easier for everybody to experience the world." From the dot-com crash to AI, G...

Ex-Twitter CEO on Why AI Needs a New Internet Parag Agrawal

Jul 27, 2026 - 61:27

"The answer to every problem is a model." Parag Agrawal shares the ideas behind Parallel: products that c...

The Sales Framework Every Founder Needs Mark Roberge

Jul 13, 2026 - 82:39

"There's 20 fires going on at every moment in the office and you have enough water to put out four." Mark...

Why 80% of the Fortune 100 Chose Qualtrics Ryan Smith

Jun 15, 2026 - 72:40

AI may change software overnight, but company building still takes time. Ryan Smith explains why, despite...

What It Takes to Build Software for 171,000+ Restaurants Aman Narang

Jun 1, 2026 - 77:04

Great software companies often come from understanding pain points at a very deep level. On Grit , Aman N...

What It Takes to Build a Generational Company Anduril’s Trae Stephens

May 18, 2026 - 56:17

Founder quality becomes more important as startups become easier to build. Trae Stephens, co-founder of A...