Entrepreneurs
2 Curated Dialogues
Pieter van der Does
Key Views & Dialogues
Inside the Future of Payments: Adyen CEO
Adyen’s one-stack model pairs direct control of acquiring infrastructure with AI on every transaction to improve authorization, fraud detection and payment costs. About a third of its workforce is in engineering, and avoiding acquisitions preserves that integrated platform as Adyen pursues incumbents that still hold “the vast majority” of the market. Payment data and banking licenses also support loans and card issuing, though van der Does says expansion is “early on that journey”; AI-enabled merchant onboarding and fraud remain key execution risks.
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- Adyen’s scale rests on owning the payments stack and proving better results to large merchants. Marriott cites $900 billion in prior-year processing and a $45 billion market capitalization. Van der Does’s premise was the entire processing chain in a single system: controlling acquiring infrastructure could improve acceptance and performance beyond what a layer over bank systems delivered.
- AI connects transaction acceptance, fraud detection and payment costs while changing the economics of merchant onboarding. Every transaction runs through AI, and a platform can bring 500,000 sellers requiring KYC. The complication is that fraudsters use AI too, making forged passports easier and creating an ongoing contest with criminals.
- Adyen has the licenses and payment data to expand financial services, although commercialization remains early. Platforms distribute loans and card issuing to smaller merchants; existing transaction data makes assessing a yoga studio’s few-thousand loan relatively inexpensive. Asked how far expansion has progressed, van der Does calls it still at an early stage.
- The competitive opportunity is winning incumbent volume through a single platform. Van der Does says “the vast majority” of the market remains with incumbents. About a third of Adyen’s workforce is engineering, while avoiding acquisitions preserves “one platform, one stack” and, he argues, lower overhead than competitors managing repeated migrations.
- Crypto demand is absent among Adyen’s large international merchants at the time of the interview. Van der Does reports no current merchant requests for it, while allowing that crypto makes more sense in very unstable countries. Recognizing returning shoppers across online and physical retail, with their history available for personalized treatment, remains “the holy grail.”
- Talent quality and shared credit underpin Adyen’s global execution. A customer won in Sweden can generate US business, making “winning is more important than ego” an operating principle. Global leaders still interview every hire to protect talent density, while van der Does accepts local cultural differences across a workforce spanning 115 nationalities.
Built to Last: Adyen’s 20-Year Edge | Pieter van der Does (Adyen) & Jason Karaian (NYT)
Adyen’s largest opportunity remains taking share from incumbents: newer players hold a single-digit share, and van der Does says 90% will migrate to more modern companies. Its platform strategy extends reach to smaller merchants, while 20 years of discipline keeps the product focused on needs that scale. AI analyzes transactions through Dynamic Identification, while agentic commerce still hinges on shopper identity and spending authority; Adyen says defining that authority “won’t be us.”
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- Adyen’s largest opportunity remains taking market share from incumbents. Pieter van der Does says newer players collectively hold only a single-digit share of the total addressable market, and that 90% of the market will “migrate to more modern companies for sure.” Today’s choices about services, investment and partnerships will shape who captures that migration.
- Adyen’s durability comes from solving merchant problems that scale. Jason Karaian introduces a company founded in 2006 with more than €2 billion in revenue, about €1 billion in profit, a market capitalization above €40 billion and 4,700 employees, half in the Netherlands. Van der Does credits “20 years of discipline”: listening closely while choosing needs that apply to more merchants and resisting an accumulation of custom solutions.
- Platforms became Adyen’s chosen route into smaller businesses. Five years in, one customer generated 70% of volume. The eBay deal, in “2017 I think,” demonstrated the platform opportunity. Adyen ultimately dropped direct small-merchant sales to support vertical SaaS platforms serving those customers.
- AI already feeds into Adyen’s products, while agentic commerce still faces unresolved questions. Adyen’s Dynamic Identification layer uses AI to analyze transactions. Van der Does says all transactions running through AI is extremely important to Adyen. He expects merchants to rely on Adyen for payment details, but the shopper’s identity and the agent’s contractual authority to spend must be clear, and “that won’t be us.”
- Long-tenured engineers underpin Adyen’s case for building in Europe. Van der Does links Amsterdam retention to the sustained work required to go deep into payments, build a bank and connect directly to payment methods. He says that kind of long-term commitment to one company is less common in San Francisco. Different national interpretations of European regulation remain a rollout obstacle.
- AI-focused capital mandates could make fundraising harder for other startups. After several weeks in San Francisco, Van der Does reports investors considering AI-only portfolios and some LPs telling funds they are “only allowed to invest in AI.” Non-AI companies could find funding harder “if that’s the trend.”
- Founders should judge their work by whether it improves survival odds. A one-in-100 chance is “probably still optimistic”; today’s actions should move it toward one in 50 or one in 25. His warning about “micro-celebrity syndrome”: recognition within a small peer group can create a feeling of success while the underlying odds remain unfavorable.