Why European Founders Need to Think Bigger: Petter Made, EWOR (EP#571)

Timestamps:

00:45 – Petter’s Journey Into Startups

14:29 – Bringing More Founder Energy to Europe

24:26 – Europe’s Next Big Opportunity

39:24 – The Cost of Founder Obsession

Episode description:

Petter Made is a founder, operator and partner at EWOR. He has spent more than 25 years in payments, fintech and company building, including as part of the founding team behind SumUp. There, he helped build a simple idea into a global payments company used by millions of small businesses. Today, he is back at the very beginning of the founder journey, working with early-stage entrepreneurs at EWOR and helping them avoid some of the mistakes he made himself.

In this episode, Petter looks back at the early days of SumUp and explains why the first three years can shape so much of what comes after. He talks about why zero to one is still his favourite stage, why speed mattered so much at SumUp, and what it cost him personally to run at that pace. One of his biggest reflections is also one of the least glamorous: they might have built the company faster if they had slept more.

The conversation also turns to Europe’s place in the global startup race. Petter shares why he thinks European founders need to build with a bigger ambition from the start, and why American investors can sometimes create the kind of pressure the ecosystem needs. He also talks about why obsession can be such a powerful signal and what it will take for more global companies to be built from Europe.
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