Strip Away What Weighs You Down: Simon Dixon and Aporva Baxi of DixonBaxi | The Fabulist

Simon Dixon and Aporva Baxi have been building DixonBaxi together for 24 years — and they are more excited about what comes next than anything they have already done. In this conversation, we get into the philosophy behind one of the most distinct creative studios in the world: how they run on principles instead of trends, why they stopped pitching, what each of them had to unlearn to become better leaders, and what it actually means to build a studio that reaches billions of people without losing its point of view. We also talk about the monograph they just released — a 4-kilo artifact of 24 years of work — and what DixonBaxi's expansion into America really means after nearly three decades of working there. If you have ever wondered what it looks like to build something that outlasts every shift in the industry, this conversation is it. THANK YOU Lovingly produced with support from Coupe Studios http://coupestudios.com and Nocaut https://nocaut.tv. Filmed at The Pod Shop in Shoreditch, London. ABOUT THE FABULIST The Fabulist is a podcast about mastering the art of the business. Each season, a small number of studio founders are invited to pull back the curtain on the decisions behind how they built their company. No polish. No case studies. The real story. ABOUT JOEL PILGER Joel Pilger helps creative studio founders build on purpose. He spent two decades inside his own studio before spending the next decade working with hundreds of them. He is the founder of Forum, a private decision and execution environment for studio founders in the $250K to $10M revenue range, and the host of The Fabulist. GO DEEPER If this conversation resonated and you are running a creative studio, Forum is where studio founders work through the real decisions in real time. Learn more and book an Invitation Session at https://joelpilger.com/forum CHAPTERS 00:00 — Introduction: Fuse Salon London and what happens when creative leaders get honest 03:45 — What the DixonBaxi monograph is really about 08:00 — 24 years together: the alchemy of Simon and Aporva's partnership 12:45 — Running on principles: no pitching, no awards, hire for aptitude and attitude 18:00 — Strip away what weighs you down 21:00 — Human first, strategic second, aesthetic third 25:15 — The belief each of them had to kill 26:45 — Why is it still exciting 32:50 — Boutique at scale: designing for billions without going generic 36:30 — Managing change at the scale of Formula One, Roblox, and category leaders 47:00— DixonBaxi comes to America