Polly Barnes, operating partner at EQT Ventures.

Opinion

May 13, 2026

The talent profile Europe's top AI scaleups are chasing

Why Sana, Wayve and Synthesia are searching for the ‘Promethean founders’

Polly Barnes

4 min read

Research by Ali Tamaseb, a general partner at DCVC whose book Super Founders analysed the data behind every billion-dollar startup, found that many of the world's most successful founders had startup experience, successful or not, before they built the company that made them. The data shows it’s more likely to happen on your second, third, or tenth attempt.

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Polly Barnes

About Polly Barnes Polly Barnes is Operating Partner at EQT and the author of The Founder Six. Leveraging behavioural science, she helps founders navigate the demands of fast growth. At EQT, Polly leads the early-stage talent team and has met thousands of founders from companies such as Wellhub, Lovable, Harvey and Vinted, giving her deep insight into what drives high-performing teams.

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