%20-%20long.png)
%20AD.png)
Published 22nd October, 2025.
Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are our favorite episodes from the past 5 years, published every month or two. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This is a replay of Episode 157, originally released in February 2024 — one of our most loved classics.
Episode #229 features Jack Zhang, Co-Founder and CEO of Airwallex, one of the world’s fastest-growing fintech companies valued at over $8 billion. Born in rural Shandong, China, Jack moved to Melbourne at 15, juggling multiple jobs while studying computer science before launching Airwallex in 2015. A former engineer and trader turned global founder, he’s known for his relentless drive, humility, and vision — building a company that powers payments for businesses in over 190 countries.
In this conversation, Jack reflects on his humble upbringing in China, moving to Australia as a teenager with little English, and the years of bartending, coding, and side hustles that shaped his discipline. He shares the early failures and pivots that defined Airwallex’s journey, what it took to convince banks and investors to believe in a startup from Melbourne, and how he rebuilt the business three times before global success.
We go deep into founder psychology, hiring intuition, and leadership under pressure, as Jack opens up about stress, sacrifice, and resilience — from anxiety attacks to moments of clarity that shaped his philosophy that “wealth is fluid, but time is not.”
It’s time to explore your curiosity, please enjoy.
______________
To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:
→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — Vanta.com/high
→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”
______________
If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com.
Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.
______________
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter
Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly Here
Contact us to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!
Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!
Show notes
Timestamps
About us
The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most relatable role models in business, tech, finance, government and sport in the US, Australia, Singapore, India and New Zealand.
Launched over 6.5+ years ago - our 275+ guests come from various industries around the world including:
Investing and Finance (VC, PE, Pension Funds, Family Offices)
Our guests across venture capital, growth investing, institutional capital, banking, pension funds and family offices include: Keith Rabois (MD, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (CEO, BlackRock Asia Pacific), Ryan Beiermeister (Partner, Founders Fund), David Haber (General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz), Kevin Hartz (Managing Partner, A*), Mike Vernal (Partner, Conviction; Ex-Sequoia), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Mark Suster (Managing Partner, Upfront Ventures), Kelland Reilly (Partner, Airtree; Ex General Atlantic, D1), Niki Scevak (Managing Partner, Blackbird), Paul Bassat (Managing Partner, Square Peg), David Neal (CEO, IFM Investors), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Michael Kim (Partner, Cendana Capital), Beezer Clarkson (Partner, Sapphire), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), David Shein (Managing Partner, OIF), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Rowan Simpson (Founder, Hoku) and more.
Technology, AI and software (Startups, Big Tech, Publicly Listed)
Our technology, AI and software guests include Jodie Auster (Uber’s Global Head of Travel), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Mel Silva (MD, Google), Jean-Michel Lemieux (former CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Google Chrome, Photos and Drive), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Dylan Babbs (Co-Founder & CTO, Profound), John Willett (Co-Founder & COO, Rogo), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Andrew Fraser (President, Halter), Bowen Pan (creator of Facebook Marketplace) and more.
CEOs, Boards and Major Company Senior Executives
Our guests leading some of the world's largest and most recognisable organisations include Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths Group), Aleks Spaseska (CEO, Kmart) Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Paul Grosmann (CEO, R.M.Williams), Andrew Penn (CEO, Telstra), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis USA), Brendan Hargreaves (CFO, Officeworks), Andrew Fraser (Board Chair, Bank of Queensland), Jaddan Cummerford (CEO, Unified Music), Ed McManus (CEO, Deliveroo) and more.
Government and Policy Makers
Our government, diplomatic and public-policy guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Amit Singh (Managing Partner, Mandala), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Australia's Foreign Service), Philip Green (Australia’s High Commissioner to India), Brendan Dowling (Deputy Secretary, Australia's Department of Home Affairs), Mukund Narayanamurti (General Manager for South Asia, Austrade) and Ryan Neelam (CEO, Centre for Australia-India Relations, Australian Government).
Professional Athletes
Steve Solomon (400m Olympic Sprinter), Ed Cowan (Former Test Cricketer), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Lisa Stahelakar (World Cup Winning Captain, Australian Womens Cricket Team).
Contact us
Please be as specific as possible, thank you.