Simon D'Arcy

Simon is a speaker, author, executive coach, Founder/CEO advisor, and partner at Evolution, a coaching, consulting and investment firm, where he focuses on helping companies scale without losing their soul. For more than 25 years, he has been part of company-wide culture transformation efforts at Fortune 500 companies and has helped early-stage startups discover and cultivate cultural identities from their earliest days.

Simon has consulted and coached leaders at over two hundred companies, including startups like Slack, Glassdoor, Dropbox, Yahoo, Iterable and Bandcamp. He has also coached leaders atFortune 500 companies such as ConocoPhillips, Rohm & Haas, and Genentech. He’s seen how culture building can be the difference between creating a mediocre company and creating something iconic and lasting.

Simon also recognizes that the “Founders Culture Dilemma” is real. It’s challenging for founders and leaders to focus on culture in the early stages while trying to survive and build a fast-growing business. By the time they feel stable enough to focus on culture they realize it’s too late; a strong, unintentional “culture-debt” has already been incurred.

In an effort to avoid the founder’s dilemma and build a company they’re proud of, Simon guides leaders in focusing on culture from the beginning so culture becomes a company’s superpower rather than its kryptonite.

In a culmination of his research and expertise, he published “Scale Without Losing Your Soul” with Todd Emaus, co-author and partner at Evolution. The book guides leaders through a step-by-step process to design and embed culture into their company as they scale.

Beyond impacting a company’s bottom line, Simon believes that the problems we face – as a team, company, or country – will require new ways of working together. It will also require that founders and leaders be willing to keep culture at the forefront of their approach and strategic initiatives. He is available to support leaders who are committed to building a different type of company.