Adyen co-founder: Europe does not need more ambition. It needs to stop hiding it
· Fortune
In 2018, the company I helped build, Adyen, went public in Amsterdam, becoming Europe’s most valuable fintech at the time. I joined in 2007 as employee number 009. I would have preferred 007, but that position had already been taken.
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Over the next 11 years, I watched Adyen grow from an ambitious startup into a global payments leader. It remains one of the achievements I am most proud of, and I remain deeply grateful to the team that made it possible.
After that, I stepped away. I travelled, joined boards, invested in companies, and spent more time on hobbies (still not great at Tennis) But eventually, I realised I missed building. I missed the energy of creating something from an idea. I missed working alongside ambitious people chasing a difficult goal. Most of all, I missed the sense that a small group of people could change an industry.
Then, in March 2024, I met my co-founder, Shah Ramezani. When you know, you know. What struck me immediately was his energy, conviction, and belief that stablecoins could fundamentally improve how money moves around the world. A little over a year later, we launched Noah with a simple mission: to build the infrastructure for money that moves at the speed of the internet.
Looking back, the lesson I learned at Adyen is not that Europe lacks ambition. The lesson is that Europe hides it. Adyen’s success was never built on hype. We focused relentlessly on customers, execution, and product. That discipline remains one of Europe’s greatest strengths. Many of the continent’s most successful technology companies were built the same way.
But that strength can also become a weakness. Europe didn’t confuse ambition with arrogance. It confused humility with silence. We are taught to build quietly, to under-promise and over-deliver, and to let the work speak for itself. There is value in that mindset. Great companies require substance. Great products matter.
Yet talent, capital, and customers do not rally around products alone. They rally around belief. The best people want to join a mission. Investors want to back founders who can articulate a future that does not yet exist. Customers want to understand not only what a company does, but why it matters.
Too often, European founders assume that if they build something exceptional, the world will notice. It rarely works that way. This is where Europe can learn from the United States. American founders are often far more comfortable talking about the future before it arrives. Sometimes they overdo it. Sometimes the vision gets ahead of reality. But they understand something important: people invest in possibilities before they invest in outcomes.
Storytelling is not about exaggeration. It is about creating belief. The most effective founders can describe a future so clearly that talented people want to help build it. They attract momentum long before they achieve scale.
Ironically, many of Europe’s perceived disadvantages are actually advantages. Because our home markets are fragmented, European companies are forced to think globally from the beginning. Companies such as Adyen, Wise, and Revolut did not have the luxury of building a billion-dollar business in one domestic market before expanding internationally. Going global was never a later phase. It was day one.
The same is true of capital. European founders often operate with fewer resources than their American counterparts. While frustrating at times, it creates a level of discipline that can become a powerful competitive advantage. Companies that learn to earn growth often outperform those that simply buy it.
Europe already produces exceptional founders. It already produces world-class technology. It already produces global companies. Storytelling is not hype. It is not a substitute for execution. It is how companies attract talent, capital, customers, and momentum before the outcome is certain. The companies that define categories are rarely those with the best products alone. They are the ones that combine great execution with a compelling vision of the future.
Europe does not need more ambition. It needs to stop hiding it — and start telling its story.
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com