Know your Xinjas:
Jon Preston
Introducing the latest member of Xinja’s finance and ops team, Jon Preston (aka #eagerxinja). Jon is a bit of a jack of all trades; meaning he’s across multiple facets of the business. You can find him on the phones, smashing spreadsheets, and generally doing anything he can to get the job done.
What am I excited for? Creating something completely new which will change the market.
Tell us what you do at Xinja
I cover finance and operations – there is no set day to day role, I work on our home loan journey and ensuring we are meeting our requirements from a risk and finance perspective. It’s a case of getting involved in whichever area needs you most.
What is your Xinja origin story?
I worked at Santander and Barclays in London and then I was keen to take what I had learnt and build something innovative and new. Xinja has a blank piece of paper to create something great, so what an opportunity!
What does a typical day look like for you?
Each day is never the same – I can cover customer service, risk, finance and our home loan project all in the same day. Xinja gives you a lot of responsibility and autonomy which makes a great challenge
Who do you work with and how does the team run?
I mostly work with the Xinjarati and Home Loan squad. 🏚 However I think I probably interact with all areas on a daily basis.
What are you most proud of working with Xinja?
Creating something completely new, which will change the market. Once we have finished building, I think the products will be fantastic for customers.
What have you learned in your time working at Xinja?
To adapt and change – in a fast environment we are constantly building, testing and changing things to ensure we get the best customer journey
What are you most looking forward to in the coming months?
I think in the next 6 months Xinja will be completely different from where it is today – each week about 10 more people turn up and the pace at which projects progress is very quick!
What technology are you most excited about?
Virtual Reality – I have a headset and it is great to play with. Once people start to commercialise it into real life scenarios, products etc, it will be a game changer 😎
If you weren’t at Xinja, what would you be doing?
Probably failing at learning to surf! 🏄
List 3 words to describe Xinja?
Exciting, fast and fun
What is your Spirit Animal?
I reckon a beaver – the power of working hard, and attaining a sense of achievement over a long time (According to google!)
Weekend hobby:
Any sport 🏅
Unexpected fact:
I used to own a smart car (I can confirm it doesn’t increase your intelligence)
Check out other members of the xinja team here.