Well Connected

Each month, we hack the minds of tech entrepreneurs and digital disruptors to find out what makes them tick.

The social network Jack Zhang of Airwallex most relies on

THE LOWDOWN

Age 34

Founded Global payment system and Australian tech unicorn Airwallex (2015) with Lucy Liu, Xijing Dai, Max Li and Ki-lok Wong Airwallex valuation

US$1 billion (approximate)

Favourite app for work

Slack is great for sharing official documentation because your history never expires. Plus, you can create channels for particular topics and invite clients to join. On mobile, I prefer WeChat, especially when talking to our Chinese office. Everyone mixes work and life in Asia; it’s more casual.

Book I’ve learnt the most from

When I have time, I read books that don’t require too much thinking – something to help me sleep – like the True Blood series [by Charlaine Harris].

Current phone

I have three iPhones with four phone numbers that I link with iCloud. I have a dual SIM card with my Chinese and American numbers, plus one for my Australian and Hong Kong mobiles. I normally use one at a time; the rest are in a bag that’s always ready – I can pick it up and go anywhere in the world for four months. I travelled to more than 30 countries in the first year of Airwallex.

Current computer

I use my phone most of the time and I have a tablet for working on aeroplanes. But I also have two laptops: a MacBook Air and a MacBook Pro, which I keep at the office. I used Windows for close to 20 years before swapping to Apple. You have more control with MacOS and it’s a better design from a user-experience perspective. It takes a while to switch but once you do, it’s hard to switch back.

Tech I’m most looking forward to

5G, as well as augmented and virtual reality. They’ll completely change the way we work remotely. The big problem with flexible work or working from home is that it’s sometimes hard to monitor performance but with virtual and augmented reality, teams can work together in a virtual environment.

Startup to watch

There are a few interesting fintechs: South America’s Übank, the United Kingdom’s Monzo and Europe’s N26. The user interaction and customer journey are great compared to traditional consumerbanking applications. Over time, consumers, especially millennials, will probably prefer using tech companies to banks.