00:56:37 · Joubin Mirzadegan, Jack Zhang
[00:56:37] S1: Okay. And so then he says, hey. I'd like to buy you. How does it work? [00:56:43] S0: I don't know how that kind of conversation started. I I think I re... Remember what Michael Morris said. I mean, this is seven, eight years ago. Right? So Michael Morris said, trust building a a trillion dollar company. And, you know, I was... You know, I I think, initially, I was like, I... I'm not sure I wanna sell. We're only, like, three years in. I haven't even enjoyed the the the journey yet. I mean, like, feels like half baked something and then had to sell, like, after three years, and am I gonna have the energy to do another start up? And Michael Murray said it's like the earlier that you're compounding, the faster you can get to a trillion dollar. And, you know, if collectively you guys can achieve that faster, and that is a better thing for everybody and for the world, and you should seriously consider that. And that was quite convincing. I was like, if you're gonna end up getting there ultimately in the next ten, twenty years and, you know, getting there faster makes a lot of sense if we can work together. But ultimately, come back to the question what makes me happy. Right? I was 33, 34 at a time. You know, it's a five year journey. I'll be 39 when I finish the five year lockup as a CEO of APAC or the GM of APAC. Am I gonna be happy at that time? I'm gonna be proud of what I've been doing for the last five years? The answer is very unclear. It's like, probably not. I mean, do I have the energy to build another startup that I feel super excited about?
00:56:43 · Jack Zhang, Joubin Mirzadegan
[00:56:43] S0: I don't know how that kind of conversation started. I I think I re... Remember what Michael Morris said. I mean, this is seven, eight years ago. Right? So Michael Morris said, trust building a a trillion dollar company. And, you know, I was... You know, I I think, initially, I was like, I... I'm not sure I wanna sell. We're only, like, three years in. I haven't even enjoyed the the the journey yet. I mean, like, feels like half baked something and then had to sell, like, after three years, and am I gonna have the energy to do another start up? And Michael Murray said it's like the earlier that you're compounding, the faster you can get to a trillion dollar. And, you know, if collectively you guys can achieve that faster, and that is a better thing for everybody and for the world, and you should seriously consider that. And that was quite convincing. I was like, if you're gonna end up getting there ultimately in the next ten, twenty years and, you know, getting there faster makes a lot of sense if we can work together. But ultimately, come back to the question what makes me happy. Right? I was 33, 34 at a time. You know, it's a five year journey. I'll be 39 when I finish the five year lockup as a CEO of APAC or the GM of APAC. Am I gonna be happy at that time? I'm gonna be proud of what I've been doing for the last five years? The answer is very unclear. It's like, probably not. I mean, do I have the energy to build another startup that I feel super excited about? [00:58:25] S1: Like, to go zero to one again?
00:58:25 · Joubin Mirzadegan, Jack Zhang
[00:58:25] S1: Like, to go zero to one again? [00:58:27] S0: Yeah. I mean, when I'm 39, am I able to do that again? So it's just a lot of question. I can... And then if even I wanted to do a zero to one and build another business again. [00:58:37] S1: What are the odds that happens? What what I'm gonna do? Yeah. [00:58:40] S0: Right? I don't even... I don't have a next idea. I I... You know? And, again, it's, like, five years away. And then, you know, it's a very difficult decision. I I walked around in San Francisco for two weeks, and, you know, and I actually verbally told Patrick we should do it. I mean, it kinda makes sense, like, logically makes sense. And... But when I'm back to Melbourne, was like, hang on a minute. I'm actually gonna be happy by doing this. You're gonna have a lot of money, but, like, what does that mean to kind of... You know, from a happiness standpoint? And ultimately asked my cofounders, and then they all said, like, it's your call. And and I I... You know, it's a bit of a naive. Right? That, you know, I said, you know, if... I think that we have more possibilities of of doing this on our own. Did anybody wanna do it? Anybody wanna sell? Max suggested we should sell, but all the other founders Why? Money? You know, Max, you know, described as one of the best tech company in the world, you know, even at that time. Right? And [00:59:47] S1: and Max Right. Of all the places to go.
00:59:47 · Joubin Mirzadegan, Jack Zhang
[00:59:47] S1: and Max Right. Of all the places to go. [00:59:50] S0: Yeah. I mean, if it's all the places, there's one company we should consider work together, it's probably Stripe. It's not like a random bank wanna buy you and you just, you know You're not going to Citibank. Yeah. So, I mean, it's it's a very exciting place to to work, and it's a very aligned mission. Patrick is one of the best entrepreneurs in the world. It's not a bad outcome, logically. How much money would you have made? I'll probably get 500,000,000. Yeah. And then 70% Strive stock. Because it's 800 on the cap table and then I think it was $3.80 to me and my cofounders or $3.75. 375,000,000? Yeah. Like a... As a sort of sign on. And, that [01:00:37] S1: provides addition? [01:00:37] S0: Yeah. In addition to the 800. Dang. So you're thinking was [01:00:41] S1: just between me and, like, my CTO. Mainly just me. So you make, like, a 150 mil just on the sign on bonus. 100 mil on the sign on, like, on the More than that. Retention. [01:00:51] S0: More like two fifty. In addition to the The cap table. The 800,000,000 on the cap table, which I own, I think, I don't know, 40% of the time. [01:00:59] S1: Holy smokes. Man, that's a lot of money. It is. And by the way, that Stripe stock now. Yeah. I mean, [01:01:10] S0: that that... Stripe was was $10,000,000,000. [01:01:12] S1: 10,000,000,000 was it now? [01:01:13] S0: Or 9,000,000,000. I mean, this... Now I think they just did around one sixty, so they they went 16 ads as well. Right? [01:01:19] S1: You've gotten 60 legs, and they've got 60 legs.
01:01:19 · Joubin Mirzadegan, Jack Zhang
[01:01:19] S1: You've gotten 60 legs, and they've got 60 legs. [01:01:22] S0: Yeah. Do you ever regret it? Yeah. When the things got really tough. Right? We almost got run out of money during COVID, and, you know, we we were very close to getting a term sheet from SoftBank before COVID happened, and then the WeWork stuff blowed up. And all of a sudden, the term sheet's gone. Gone. Pulled it. Yeah. Well, they didn't pull it. I mean, we haven't signed it yet, but we we kind of almost, getting the term sheet to sign. Right? And then they just disappeared after the WeWork stuff. And we're running out of money, then COVID happened. So we had to do a, you know, a convertible... You know, we had to do a convertible from the existing. Then we... Lucky we found an investor out of London called Hidosofia to kinda basically lead a lead a round at one point... I think 1.7, 1,800,000,000. What's... You know, like, without that round, we would have been running out of money again. Yeah. And that COVID happened, and we lost half our revenue in a day. [01:02:28] S1: And at that point, you're like, what? How did I not sell? [01:02:33] S0: You you had that moment, but it's not like a burden, if you know what I mean. It's just like, oh, fuck. You know? It's, you know, one of those things, you know, it's like... Yeah. Why why do I have to choose this path that's so hard? [01:02:46] S1: Right. Yeah. Yeah. And I imagine, like, you know, probably the reality of the head of APAC job settled in, you're like, come on. Do I really wanna do that job? [01:03:01] S0: Yeah. I think if I live
01:03:01 · Jack Zhang, Joubin Mirzadegan
[01:03:01] S0: Yeah. I think if I live [01:03:02] S1: in The US, I'll probably have done that. Done the acquisition? [01:03:06] S0: Yeah. Why? I think just everything is... Money is a lot more important in The US. And it's just a lot more... The society is a lot more kind of capital driven. [01:03:20] S1: Right? Then [01:03:22] S0: wealth means a lot in in in The States. Where in Melbourne, like, it doesn't matter you're a billionaire or you, like, work in an investment bank making 200 k a year, it's kind of the same. You You go to the same supermarket, everything's cheap. Know, twenty years ago, the best house cost $56,000,000. It's... Everything's cheap. You don't need a lot of money. And I already have money at that time because I started many businesses from real estate and everything so that, you know, I can afford to buy the best houses and living the best life in Melbourne. And that kind of played a big part of it [01:04:00] S1: as well. Oh, you had a decent amount of money from the coffee shop and the burger stand? [01:04:05] S0: Mainly real estate, real estate development and architecturing. [01:04:08] S1: Okay. So you did some other side projects in addition to the coffee shop and the burger stand. [01:04:13] S0: Yeah. I made, more than $10,000,000 before I started Airwalks. Woah. So you had a cushion. Not a lot, but you know, good enough in Melbourne. [01:04:23] S1: Enough where you weren't like starving. You weren't like a starving entrepreneur. No. Why didn't you move to The US? Why haven't you lived here?