E127: The 0.1% Founder: What Actually Separates Outliers with Petter Made

What actually separates the 0.1% of founders from everyone else?

In this episode of Perception Paradox, Zivile Einikyte sits down with Petter Made - co-founder of SumUp and Partner at EWOR - to explore the deeper mechanics behind exceptional entrepreneurship.

After co-founding an €8.5B fintech and now reviewing 40,000 founder applications a year, Petter has a rare perspective on what truly makes founders succeed.

We discuss:

why "spiky founders" outperform well-rounded oneshow AI is changing what a company even looks likewhy resilience and personal energy management matter more than strategyand why building a company is ultimately a journey of learning, not perfection

About Petter:
Petter Made is an entrepreneur and angel investor with 25+ years of experience in fintech, building platforms, products, and teams. He co-founded SumUp, a fintech empowering 5M+ SMBs across 37 countries with POS solutions and payment acceptance. Today, he is a full-time Partner at EWOR, the accelerator built by founders for founders, giving the brightest minds an unfair advantage in building companies that matter on a global scale.

Follow Petter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pettermade/

Learn more about EWOR: https://www.ewor.com/

Hosted by: Zivile (Zivi) Einikyte

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zivileeinikyte/

Chapters: 

00:00 Introduction to the Conversation

02:47 The Impact of AI on Development

06:35 Identifying Outlier Founders

10:12 The Unstoppable Gene in Founders

14:38 Building with AI: A New Era

19:09 The One-Person Billion-Dollar Company

24:26 Personal Development and Productivity

30:07 Balancing Life and Entrepreneurship