Onwards into the technological future, with Jonathan from Airtasker.
“I think it began when me and my cofounder were moving places over the weekend, and we called up a couple of friends to help out. That’s when we realised we could build an app for services,” says Jonathan, founder of Airtasker. “Since then, it’s been an incredible five years till where we are now, with a million users on our platform.”
He says this plainly, without a hint of drama, despite how few entrepreneurs have grown a company to Airtasker’s scale. Now, he’s taken a step back from the helm of company, and is mulling over some new ideas. Even when he doesn’t speak, you can feel his mind ticking away.
“It was definitely difficult starting out, especially back then. But with the arrival of Airbnb and Uber, marketplaces for shared services is very accepted now, so I guess I’m looking for new challenges,” he says.
As an engineer, it is far from strange when he tells me that he enjoys solving problems. Visualising a solution comes second nature, as does his penchant for efficiency and scalability.
“You could be building a hamburger store or a tech company. The effort required is going to be about the same. The difference is that if you’re working with technology, the potential to solve a big problem in a big way, is much bigger. It’s about trying to pick opportunities where the potential is not limited.” His opinion is offered with a warm smile, without a hint of doubt in his speech.
I push on and quiz him for examples of opportunities, and he responds quickly, like the answers have been swirling around his head for all this while.
“Energy is always an amazing opportunity, but it’s difficult. Another one is AR and VR, although it’s mainly for geeks now. But if you could integrate technology into a visual space, it’s going to change human behaviour in a major way. It’s a matter of time before it all becomes mainstream.”
In his view, VR will move quickly from a platform to consume content and games, into something that is a major enabling technology, akin to smartphone technology. The gap between technology and consumer behaviour is shortening, and those who build businesses that help to accelerate adoption, will be the most successful in the coming years.
“But the hardest thing, is always building a good team. Not just building it, but maintaining a team’s motivation,” he says. “Authority is never going to be as good as motivating someone by vision and example, which I’m constantly trying to get better at.”
We talk a bit further, and arrive at a common interest — poker. For him, it’s a game that teaches you about yourself, and helps him learn to restraint against external influences under duress. It’s much like business, where you have to focus your energy solely on the things that you have control over.
“My favourite player? Definitely Antonio Esfandiari. He’s such a stable player, even when he loses,” he says. “You’re going to lose three percent of the time, and that’s okay.”
