Protecting the Margin: Viktor Popovic on Payments, Pressure, and Founder Decisions

Every entrepreneur loves the sound of a sale being made. The customer says yes, the invoice gets paid, the transaction goes through, and for a brief moment, everything feels like it’s working.

But then comes the part we don’t always talk about.

The fees. The margins. The systems. The hidden costs of getting paid. And for many business owners, those small percentages add up to something much larger than they realize.

Today’s guest is Viktor Popovic, President of Avendo, a company focused on helping businesses rethink the way they process payments, protect margins, and build smarter systems around one of the most basic parts of business: getting paid.

But this conversation isn’t just about payments. It’s about the entrepreneurial journey behind the solution.

Viktor has built, sold, and returned to business ownership. He understands the pressure of making big decisions without perfect information, the importance of resilience, and the challenge of building a company that doesn’t depend entirely on the founder.

In this episode, we’ll talk about how his early life experiences shaped his view of risk and leadership, what motivated him to jump back into entrepreneurship after selling his first business, and the moment he recognized that the payment industry needed a better answer.

We’ll also talk about systems, margins, founder dependency, and what entrepreneurs can do before they’re forced to adapt under pressure.

Avendo

https://www.avendo.tech