Hans Petter Hoel is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of X-Receipts. His career spans from IBM and Capgemini to interim CEO of BankAxept and Managing Director of Aera. It is that journey that has given him perspective on what moves a payments market.

From IBM, he took with him a sales culture and a simple lesson: KPIs must match what you want to achieve. "When the focus was on the team but the KPIs were individual, teamwork lost out," he says. At BankAxept, the challenge was getting competing banks to collaborate on a shared solution.

As CSO, he shapes X-Receipts' position in a market with many players and conflicting interests: banks, card networks, point-of-sale providers and accounting software. It is a complex landscape to navigate, and precisely for that reason a market where relationships and core expertise carry more weight than speed. "We simplify with the consumer in focus: an infrastructure that is universal for everyone," he says.

Outside work, he seeks out nature. Cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, cycling, running and paddling. Adventurous and curious, preferably with his family.