Airwallex: The pivot that saved a unicorn from failure

When Jack Zhang founded Airwallex in 2015, it was not the result of a lifelong master plan. In fact, the decision was sparked by a moment of personal reflection.

“When I was 30, my daughter was born. I looked at her, was like, ‘I’ve not done anything that makes her proud’,” he says. “That’s the trigger point. I decided to resign and start Airwallex.”

What followed was one of the most rapid scaling stories in fintech. Within a decade, the business grew into a global financial platform with operations in more than 60 markets and a valuation exceeding $6bn. But the journey was far from smooth.

Zhang’s early entrepreneurial career was defined by experimentation. He launched multiple businesses across industries, from trading software to coffee shops, often with mixed results. The common thread was learning.

“I probably started a dozen of these businesses that really built out the confidence,” he says. That willingness to test ideas proved critical. Airwallex itself emerged from a problem discovered in a coffee business: the high cost of international payments.

Rather than accept the inefficiency, Zhang saw an opportunity to build something better. The first version of the product, however, failed. A peer-to-peer model designed to bypass traditional banking infrastructure struggled to scale and faced regulatory barriers. The team was forced to pivot.

“It’s just never going to work,” Zhang recalls of the original model. Instead, they rebuilt the business around direct banking infrastructure, forming partnerships and gradually developing their own global network. This shift laid the foundation for long-term growth.

Timing also played a decisive role. Zhang identifies a “very unique time window” between 2012 and 2015, when cloud computing and mobile technology transformed how financial services could be delivered.

This combination of technological change and access to capital enabled a new generation of fintech companies to emerge. But Zhang is clear that opportunity alone is not enough. Execution is everything and it is expensive.

“You have to build a lot of technology, fulfil regulatory requirements, get licenses,” he says. “All this stuff is costing a lot of money to build.”

The stakes were high. Airwallex came close to failure multiple times, including moments when funding was uncertain. Yet Zhang remained committed to the long-term vision. In 2018, he turned down a reported $1bn acquisition offer from Stripe.

“I just don’t really know what’s ahead of us. I finally found something I actually really enjoy,” he says. That decision reflects a broader principle: building something meaningful can outweigh short-term financial gain.

For Zhang, the goal was not simply to exit but to create a platform that helps businesses operate globally. Central to achieving that has been hiring. Rather than prioritising experience, Zhang focuses on mindset.

“Finding people with certain personality traits is far more important, intellectual curiosity, hustle and grit,” he says.

This approach has helped build a leadership team that has grown with the company, many of whom joined in its earliest stages.

Looking ahead, Zhang sees artificial intelligence as the next major shift — one that could reshape how businesses operate at scale. He believes both startups and established companies will benefit, but only those able to adapt quickly.

“Everything will have AI in there,” he says. For Zhang, the lesson is clear.

Growth is rarely the result of a single breakthrough. It is the outcome of timing, persistence and the ability to evolve, even when the original plan does not work.