Simon Crawford-Ash: Building a $100M Company, Trying to Become A Professional Golfer, Investing, and Meaning Through Meditation
The Ben & Tony Podcast: Episode 5. New episode every Wednesday & Saturday.
Welcome to Episode 5 of the Ben & Tony Podcast, where the world’s most interesting people tell their stories.
Simon Crawford-Ash is general partner at Helix Collective, an early stage VC fund and venture studio based out of Sydney, Australia.
Anthony’s Take:
Simon is someone who has struggled with major life decisions, which is something we can all relate to. His life path has taken a series of unconventional twists and turns. Who decides to drop out of university to become a professional golfer? Also, who starts a telecommunications infrastructure startup--an unsexy and unnecessary difficult business venture? Unpacking these wild decisions, I began to learn that Simon is truly a kind soul who cares about creating companies with a deeper purpose that bring people together. It’s hard for me to relate to the specifics of Simon’s story, but his life lessons are universal. Simon has found meaning and happiness in the messy middle.
Ben’s Take:
Simon’s done it all, from trying to become a professional golfer without previous golfing experience, to founding and growing his own company to over $100mn with a friend. We really get to know a more intimate side of Simon. He’s obviously an incredibly high performing professional, moving at pace through strategy consultancy, and now into the world of venture investment. But behind that ambition and achievement, we learn about the journey of someone who has slowly learned to act with more intention and self-reflection in his life, and the impact that’s had on him. Simon has been through his own personal journey, always setting himself tougher goals when he reaches the peak of the last, which I think a lot of people will relate to and take comfort from. Perhaps less relatable though, is that Simon sometimes uses a form of meditation that he discovered to sleep no more than 3 hours a night.
A Bit More on Simon:
When Simon was younger and going through an existential crisis, he dropped out of university to pursue a career as a professional golfer. He then went on to become one of the youngest, most senior strategy consultants at McKinsey spinoff Port Jackson Partners, excelling in a whirlwind business life that took him all over the world. Simon then became co-founder and CEO of Stilmark Group, a telecommunications infrastructure company while has also gotten deep into the world of meditation and mindfulness. Simon has always been motivated by organisational design and is fascinated by how you can create more meaningful working communities.
What did we talk about?
Simon dropping out of university to become a professional golfer and asking the big life questions
Becoming one of the youngest, highest achieving partners at his strategy consultancy
Taking a sabbatical and then starting a telecommunications infrastructure company
Trying to hack productivity by sleeping only 3 hours a day
Life lessons through experiences in mindfulness, yoga, and meditation
Setting up Helix Collective to help support early stage entrepreneurs
Find Simon here: https://twitter.com/scrawfordash
Find Ben here: https://twitter.com/BenHart36
Find Anthony here: https://twitter.com/AnthonyMcG2
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We hope you enjoyed this one & look forward to seeing you next time!
Your friends,
Ben & Tony