Design Declares Australia

Chairperson

RENY®

We are in the business of creative exploration, pioneering transformation for organisations & brands focused on designing better outcomes for humanity.

Co-Founder / Managing Partner

Co-Founder / Design Director

Surfrider Foundation Australia

Advisory Board Member

Chumpy Pullin Foundation

Member Board of Directors

Skin Check Champions

Advisory Board

ELECTRIC ⚡️

Partner

Eon Labs

Mr Simple - Sidelife

mwah. making work absolutely human

Luxottica Group

General Manager Wholesale

Oakley Asia Pacific

General Manager - Arnette Sunglasses ANZ

Sales Director

CEO / Partner @ RENY®Studio | B Corp

As a co-founder and managing partner at Reny ®, I have the amazing opportunity to help transform companies through Orbital Design (picking up where Human-Centred Design left off, giving Mother Nature a seat at the design table, leading to social and climate impact). 

I am an award-winning writer for my publication Uncluttered White Spaces (2009-16), and my new book, Lessons in Creativity, will be available in all good bookstores from May 2025 through Wiley Publishing.

As a certified B Corp, we design creative solutions, products, and brands that impact the community, climate, and humanities.

I have experience working with driven leaders, obsessive designers, genius engineers, demanding CEOs, ambitious CMOs, hard-driving founders, eager investors, observant writers, precise technologists, insightful artists, visionary directors, gifted misfits, hopeful students and passionate up-and-comers.

Client/Project experience: Patagonia, Google, K-Mart, Canon, Nike, Adidas, American Apparel, Dolce & Gabbana, Ray-Ban, Chanel, Prada, City of Sydney, City of Melbourne, Tourism Australia, Cancer Council, Heart Foundation, Mr Simple, Herschel, ProBuild, Stone Island, CP Company, Boxfresh, Giro, Oakley, Electric, Luxottica, Bank of SA, Westpac Bank, St George Bank, Australia Post, Land Rover, Boody, Re-Design, Vandal, Warner, Carryology, IMG.

I have advised senior executives and boards and worked with some of the world's most important brands. I currently serve as Chair for Design Declares, the advisory board for the Surfrider Foundation, and I was the founding board member for The Chumpy Pullin Foundation. 

My insights and writing have been featured in Fast Company, ABC, Inc. Magazine, and other prominent publications, earning me recognition as an awarded writer. My new book, Lessons in Creativity, will be available in May 2025.

I frequently speak on the value of Orbital Design (For Impact), creativity, and technology through platforms like TEDx and Vivid Sydney. I was also invited to speak at Parliament House with the Prime Minister and government officials on the role of creativity and design in shifting our future.

Ben Rennie

Sara Simmonds

CEO Impact Innovator | Helping Purpose Driven Entrepreneurs Scale to $1 Million, $50 Million and Beyond | Follow Me For Systems On Sustainable Growth 🌎

Impact Innovator OS: 

The #1 In-House Growth System For Mission-Driven Founders, Conscious Coaches, and Innovators To Build Sustainable Scale As A Category Of One Business.

I help innovators simplify their business to a category of one so they can build sustainable scale to 7 figures, 8 figures and beyond.

I spent over a decade on the table as a buyer controlling $100M+ budgets for billion-dollar retailers. 

In 2006 I saw something that changed everything.

The Problem:

Each year, $49 trillion is spent on products & services globally. But buyers only choose the top 1% of businesses. The ones who lead as a Category Of One. The rest struggle. Their innovation never scales. It ends up as waste.

Why?

Corporations dominate because they know something most innovators don't: the proven system to lead as a Category Of One business.

My Mission:

I quit the corporate world to figure out how innovators who want to make an impact can actually scale.

My first company, Sharkah Chakra - The World's First Feel Good Sustainable Jeans Brand. I used my buyer intelligence to create a sellout launch. 

But we spent $150K trying to simplify our complex innovation. We outsourced our growth system to agencies. Our funding ran out.

The insight hit me: 

Entrepreneurs aren't taught to think like buyers. We think like sellers. We outsource to experts instead of building our own systems like corporations do.

My Second Company Changed Everything:

With Bespoke Your World, I built an in-house system to scale as a Category Of One. 0 to $300K in 12 months with the world's top 0.1% clients. Organically. No ads.

Then innovators started asking for the game plan.

So I Built Impact Innovator OS:

One integrated system using my Billion Dollar Buyer Intelligence Framework. 

Purpose. Positioning. Offer. Sales. Marketing. Organic scaling methods. Everything in house. Everything you own. Forever.

Founding Member Results:

→ Carol: $200K launches, scaling to $50M
→ Jo: $2M to $4M growth in 12 months
→ Amy: 0 to $300K launch in 90 days
→ Marie & Jason: 30% profit increase
→ Paula: Successful Exit Less than 12 Months

This Is Bigger Than Business:

This is a movement for every innovator working tirelessly to build a better world. For those who refuse to let their legacy innovation become part of the waste problem. For those ready to transform how we consume, how we scale, and how we lead.

Founding Member Access (Limited Spots):

DM 'SYSTEM' for founding member details
DM 'MASTERCLASS' for registration link
DM 'NEWS' for newsletter

Business Mentor

For a long time, I thought success was something you arrive at.

A destination.
A big moment.
A finish line.

I was wrong.

Success is built in the quiet moments no one applauds.

Last week, while hiking, I noticed something simple, but powerful.

I didn’t reach the top by feeling confident.
I didn’t reach it by having a perfect plan.

I reached it by choosing to move when stopping would’ve been easier.

Not fast.
Not perfectly.
Just forward.

That’s when it clicked:

Resilience isn’t loud.
It isn’t heroic.
It’s ordinary.

It’s the decision to keep going when you’re tired.
To keep building when you’re unsure.
To keep showing up when results are invisible.

My business didn’t grow because I had clarity every day.

It grew because I honored small progress:

One conversation.
One action.
One honest attempt.

Over and over again.

You don’t need to see the whole road.

You don’t need to know how it all works yet.

You only need to respect the step that’s in front of you.

Do that long enough…

And one day you look back and realize:

You’re much further than you ever imagined.

Keep walking.

Founder, Impact Innovator OS | The #1 Buyer Psychology Growth System for Mission Driven Founders, Conscious Coaches + Innovators to Scale Sustainably $1M-$50M+ as Category-of-One

Ten years ago, I made myself a promise.

One day, I would walk the trails of El Chaltén in Patagonia, not as an escape, but as a reminder of why I chose this path.

That hike wasn’t just about the mountains.
It was about following the footsteps of innovators who refused to compromise on what mattered.

The person who carried me through the hardest years was Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, the billion-dollar brand that was never meant to be one.

Yvon wasn’t a businessman chasing money.
He was a broke climber who simply wanted better gear.

So he taught himself blacksmithing.
Made tools for his friends.
Sold them out of his car for $1.50 each.

He didn’t set out to build a unicorn.
He just refused to abandon his values.

When being a purpose-led founder nearly broke me
when every part of me wanted to give up

I remembered his words:

“Impossible is the lamest of excuses.”

And I realised something important.

Quitting doesn’t make life easier.
It only delays the dream.

Because dreams don’t disappear.
They wait.
And they return louder.

What stopped me from walking away was understanding this:

Everything is figure-out-able including sustainable growth.

Just as Yvon built for climbers, I’ve spent the last ten years building for purpose-led founders.

When there wasn’t a roadmap, I created one.
And that work became Impact Innovator OS.

So here’s the question I keep coming back to:

What would change if you realised your purpose isn’t the obstacle, it’s the path?

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Talks about #impact, #entrepreneurship, #productinnovation, #businessinnovation, and #businessmentorship

Founder, Impact Innovator OS | The #1 Buyer Intelligence Growth System for Mission Driven Founders, Conscious Coaches + Innovators to Scale Sustainably $1M-$50M+ as Category-of-One

The secret to 6 and 7 figure sales increase (no matter the industry or objections):

The world feels quite uncertain at times.

But building sustainable growth CAN feel certain.

I was just speaking to a founder yesterday. 

She was stressed about sales. 
People who were paying less wanting more.

I hear you. 

It's HARD.

You're not powerless against the market. 

Trust me, you're not. 

Social selling is the answer to your problems. 

So here's is my solution to help you sell 24/7:

Be where your dream clients are.

Both online AND offline. 

Here are the 9-steps for the social selling formula:

1. OBSESS over your ICP: who/where they are
2. Focus only on this EXACT ICP online/offline 
3. Build EVENTS to educate your ICP
4. Plan your 2026 monthly events schedule 
5. Collaborate to connect to new audiences
6. Build your dream strategic partnership list 
7. Launch your events 
8. Analyse what works and what doesn't 
9. Repeats refine and scale 

Your social selling game plan should be incredibly simple, yet work incredibly well.

You and your team should understand it. 

Simplicity sells.
Simplicity scales.

Together we will transform our world.

P.S. We have a few slots left to sign up for our March 3rd Masterclass to get the growth secrets for FREE: https://lnkd.in/e6S62RhM

See you soon!

One of my clients just secured a $1B+ partnership using my Sustainable Growth System.

When we met three months ago, she was stuck - talented, capable, and ready for more… but unable to break meaningfully into her next level of scale.

She was already brilliant.
The problem?

Buyers couldn’t instantly see what made her different.

Here’s the truth about your unique brilliance:

It’s exactly what buyers want to understand - immediately.
No fluff.
No confusion.
No long explanations.

They want your brilliance clear.
Simple.
Memorable.

They want to know, in seconds, why you’re a category of one.

That’s my work.
That’s my team’s work.

We help you uncover your unique brilliance and turn it into a Category-of-One Framework in 30 days.

So ask yourself:

If you could clearly communicate your unique brilliance in 10 seconds…
Consistently…
Without fluff…

What level of impact could you be creating 30 days from now?

Your legacy is waiting.

Greatness was never meant to whisper.

And neither were you.

When founders first come to me, many are unconsciously running an outdated internal program.

They downsize their vision to feel safer.
They underprice their work to feel acceptable.
They water down their brilliance so others don’t feel threatened.

None of this is because they lack talent.

It’s conditioning.

But here’s what I learned working alongside billion-dollar buyers:

The most influential founders don’t try to be palatable.

They don’t negotiate their presence.

They don’t ask for permission to be powerful.

Not because they’re ego-driven.
But because they understand:

Their energy is part of the product.
Their presence is part of the value.

Nature doesn’t self-edit.

Oceans don’t shrink.
The sun doesn’t dim.
Peaks don’t lean down to be less imposing.

They simply exist as they are.

And that certainty is what commands respect.

So let this land:

You get to price boldly.
You get to hold high standards.
You get to design a business that isn’t for everyone.
You get to be extraordinary even if it unsettles some people.
You get to expand without apologizing.

Stop waiting for approval.

Step into the space that was always yours.

When Standing for Something Gets Expensive And You Choose It Anyway

Most brands talk about purpose.

Very few are willing to risk anything for it.

Ben & Jerry’s just showed what real purpose looks like.

Founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield recently launched a campaign to reclaim control of their company from parent company Unilever, saying the corporation has restricted Ben & Jerry’s ability to speak and act on its social mission.

They’re not protecting a product.

They’re protecting a point of view.

As the founders put it:
Ben & Jerry’s became successful because people know it stands for something bigger than ice cream.

And here’s the part most people miss:

Purpose didn’t hurt their growth.
It fueled it.

Ben & Jerry’s has outperformed other Unilever ice cream brands in multiple recent years.
Their activism has driven massive engagement, loyalty, and list growth.
Thousands of people actively choose them because of what they stand for.

Even when Unilever allegedly removed their CEO over his commitment to the brand’s social mission, the founders didn’t retreat.

They pushed harder.

That’s the line between marketing-purpose and lived-purpose.

Real purpose isn’t a tagline.
It’s not a campaign.
It’s not something you keep only when it’s convenient.

Real purpose costs you leverage.
Control.
Comfort.
Sometimes money.

And you choose it anyway.

Two founders in their 70s could be enjoying a quiet, ultra-wealthy life.

Instead, they’re challenging a multi-billion-dollar corporation to defend the soul of what they built.

Not for headlines.
Not for profit.
For integrity.

Here’s the takeaway:

You don’t scale by diluting your values.
You don’t win by becoming safer.
You don’t build iconic brands by trying to please everyone.

You build them by standing so clearly for something that the right people feel it in their bones.

When purpose costs you something and you still choose it -
people know you’re real.

And real brands don’t create customers.

They create believers.

Most companies retreat the moment values become inconvenient.

Category-of-one founders double down.

Because they understand:

Purpose only becomes powerful once it has a price.

Your move:

What are you willing to defend when it would be easier not to?

DM HELL YA if you want to join Impact Innovator and build businesses that change the world.

Warm wishes,
Sara

Exciting news: I just heard one of our members signed a multi billion dollar partnership... 

(90 days ago, they were treading water)

We used my Billion Dollar Buyers Guide to achieve this goal (after years of trial and error).

And it all started by growing a business with a purpose with a fouder who has a heart. 

To be honest, it's easy. 

Someone shared this in my masterclass:

"Sara, with so many competitors today, business is hard, but your systems make it easy to stand out and scale."

Being overlooked is a real problem today for founders, and it no one's fault. 

Buyers will love you, but they need to understand these 7 things:

1. Your Unique Business Hook
2. How your Offer changed your world first
3. How your Offer changes others' worlds second.
4. Why you are a must have now and forever
5. How to sell you in one sentence 
6. Who your followers are
7. Why are you the number one in what you do

This list is a game changer for 2026, to stand out, get seen, sell in, and sell out.

Give buyers instant clarity on your unique power and purpose.

Let your brilliance shine.

If you'd like to know more billion dollar buyer secrets, sign up for my newsletter here:

https://lnkd.in/dsVQABvv

Together we will transform our world.

10K Clients. $300K Launches. $300K+ Funding. Billion-Dollar Partners.
Member wins from just the last 7 days.

I didn’t set out to become a business growth mentor.

I became one because I spent years trying to scale… and watching other purpose-led founders struggle with the exact same problem.

Here’s what I discovered:

Scaling isn’t hard because you’re not working hard enough.
It’s hard because innovation is complex—and buyers crave simplicity.

Buyers want to instantly understand:

Who you’re for
What you solve
Why you’re different
Why they should trust you

You can’t outsource that clarity.

Because it’s connected to everything:
Your positioning.
Your offer.
Your pricing.
Your marketing.
Your sales process.
Your brand story.
Your thought leadership.
Your community.
Your impact.

Buyers don’t look at these as separate pieces.
They see your business as one system.

And they decide in seconds if it makes sense.

I spent 20 years inside buyer behavior and buying decisions learning how that system actually works.

After my own painful experience buying fragmented “expert help,” I built a buyer-centric framework that creates certainty around how to scale:

✔ One holistic system
✔ One custom roadmap
✔ Five steps to sustainable growth

What I see every week:

Founders go from invisible → category leader
From inconsistent sales → $300K launches
From no funding → hundreds of thousands raised in 90 days

Not because of hacks.
Not because of funnels.

But because their entire business finally makes sense to buyers.

This framework is for conscious founders, coaches, and consultants who are ready to scale with integrity.

(I personally invite only the top 1% into the program.)

If this resonates and you want to understand how the framework works, join me live:

👇 Free Masterclass – Next Tuesday
The 5 Steps to Build Sustainable Growth

https://lnkd.in/dqNVxTFy

It’s time to unleash your unique brilliance.

Systems = Your License to Step Back

Most founders think systems are about tighter control.

More rules.
More approvals.
More oversight.

But real systems do the opposite.

They give you the confidence to step away.

Great systems are not built so you can monitor everything.

They’re built so things run even when you’re not watching.

Recently, I took time off without checking Slack.
No daily standups.
No constant pings.

The business kept moving.
Clients were supported.
Work went out on time.

Not because I was hovering.

Because the team had clear outcomes, clear frameworks, and real ownership.

Here’s the difference most founders miss:

Control-based systems say
“Follow this exact process and ask me before acting.”

Ownership-based systems say
“Here’s the result we need. You decide how to make it happen.”

Control-based systems create dependency.
Ownership-based systems create leaders.

Control-based systems make you the bottleneck.
Ownership-based systems make you optional in day-to-day operations.

And being optional in daily operations is not a risk.

It’s the real definition of scale.

So the better question isn’t:
“How do I track everything?”

It’s:
“How do I build systems that don’t require me to track everything?”

When your systems work, you don’t feel anxious stepping away.

You feel calm.

That’s not losing control.

That’s finally earning freedom.

Companies that tackle "impossible" problems are achieving 400% higher returns.

This is the trend 99% are overlooking.

Businesses chasing quick wins are failing rapidly.

However, the 1% of entrepreneurs addressing seemingly insurmountable challenges to improve our world?

Purpose-driven companies recorded 400% greater returns on the stock market compared to the S&P 500. 

Brands that enhance quality of life outperform the market by 120%.

The problems that cautious investors deem "unprofitable" are, in fact, generating the most value.

Here's the evidence:

Companies that align purpose with business report 25% higher revenue and 22% higher pre-tax profit. 

Purpose-aligned companies: 31% profit increase. Others: 3%.

Why does solving the "impossible" yield more than addressing the obvious?
Because impossible problems face no competition.

While everyone competes over marginal improvements, purpose-led companies forge new categories.

They are not competing; they are pioneering.

Companies solving easy problems = Commodities
Companies solving difficult problems = Monopolies
Companies solving impossible problems = Movements

Purpose enterprises grew by 1,681% while the S&P 500 averaged 118%.

Every boardroom dismisses these opportunities. Every spreadsheet indicates "no return on investment."

And that is precisely why it works.

The market rewards the courage to tackle what others avoid.

5 Reasons Purpose Is Winning

Starbucks learned a painful truth the hard way:
Purpose doesn’t save a business. Clarity does.

When Starbucks’ CEO recently reflected on their strategy, he admitted something rare:

They lost focus by chasing a version of “purpose” that diluted what made them great.

Not because purpose is wrong.
But because it became vague.

When your mission gets fuzzy, execution follows.

You can’t build community if you can’t deliver great coffee.
You can’t change the world if you’re failing your core customer.

Strong brands don’t start with “What impact can we claim?”
They start with “What do we do better than anyone else?”

Then they build impact from there.

That’s the difference:

🚫 Purpose as decoration
✅ Purpose as infrastructure

Real purpose isn’t a paragraph on your website.

It’s the filter behind every decision:

Who you hire

What you build

Who you say no to

How you operate

Patagonia doesn’t treat sustainability as a marketing angle.

It treats the business as a vehicle for the mission.

Product excellence isn’t separate from purpose.
It is the purpose.

If your operations contradict your message, your audience will feel it.

Stop attaching purpose after the fact.

Design your business so purpose is unavoidable.

Build from it.
Operate through it.
Let everything else be downstream.

If you want weekly insights on building brands that matter and win,
subscribe to my newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/dsVQABvv

Most founders think they need a louder brand, a prettier website, or a more “unique” offer.

That’s why they stay overlooked…
While weaker competitors get chosen.

After years inside billion-dollar buyer rooms, I saw how real decisions are actually made.

Here’s the truth:

Buyers don’t pick the “best” offer.
They pick the offer that aligns with five specific decision criteria that almost no one talks about.

On February 17th at 12:00 PM EST, I’m hosting a private masterclass.

We’re breaking down all five.

No surface tactics.
No marketing gimmicks.

Just the real buyer levers that make you the obvious choice.

You’ll learn:

• Why “being different” often hurts your positioning and what top buyers look for instead.
• How purpose-led founders sell out $200K launches in 24 hours without ads or agencies.
• The two hidden drivers that turn scattered growth into owned, sustainable momentum.

This is the same playbook I used to approve over $100M in buying decisions.

Founders have used it to scale from $1M to $50M+
- without bloated agencies,
- without fragile systems,
- and without burnout.

Only 25 seats are available.
Not public.

Save your seat + unlock the private pre-video series:
https://lnkd.in/dqNVxTFy

Most founders think they need a louder brand, a prettier website, or a “more unique” offer.

That’s why they stay invisible...
While weaker competitors get chosen.

I spent years inside billion-dollar buyer rooms watching how real decisions are made.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Buyers don’t choose the “best” offer.

They choose the offer that aligns with 5 specific buyer decision criteria almost no one understands.

On March 3rd at 12:00 PM EST,
I’m running a private masterclass.

We’re revealing all 5.

Not surface-level tactics.
Not marketing tricks.

The real buyer levers that make someone see you as the only obvious choice and confidently say yes.

Here’s a taste:

1. Why “being different” actually backfires, and what top buyers use instead to decide who wins the deal.

2. How certain purpose-led founders sell out $200K launches in 24 hours with zero ads or agencies.

3. The 2 hidden mechanisms that turn random growth into sustainable momentum you actually own.

This is the same playbook I used to approve and greenlight over $100M in buying decisions.

Founders have used these frameworks to scale from $1M to $50M+:

→ Without hiring bloated agencies,
→ Without stacking systems they don’t control,
→ And without burning out.

Seats are limited to 25 business owners.
This masterclass will not be public.

Register now to unlock the private pre-video series before we go live.

Save your seat: https://lnkd.in/dqNVxTFy

Founder Impact Innovator OS | #1 Buyer Psychology Growth System for Mission Driven Founders | Scale $1-$50MN As Category Of One

Most founders believe they need a bigger brand, a better-looking website, or a more differentiated offer.

That belief is exactly why they get ignored while less capable competitors keep getting chosen.

Here’s what most people miss:

Buyers don’t pick the best solution.
They pick the solution that aligns with a small set of decision criteria they care about.

On Feb 17 at 12 PM EST, I’m hosting a private masterclass where I break down those five buyer decision drivers.

No fluff.
No gimmicks.
Just the real levers that position you as the obvious choice.

Limited to 25 seats. Not public.

Save your seat and unlock the private pre-video series:
👉 https://lnkd.in/dqNVxTFy

Going live in 4 hours!

Most founders (like yourself) think they need to be louder, more complex, or more "unique."

Not true.

This is why most founders are being overlooked.

Competitors with MUCH worse offers are finding much more success because of this.

Think of it like this:

Your buyers do not choose the best offer.

They choose what fits 5 specific decision criteria that almost no one talks about.

And I'll be breaking down these decisions live on February 17th @ 12 PM EST.

We are hosting a private masterclass for the community at no cost.

You can use this as leverage to become the obvious choice in your industry.

There are 25 seats.

⏳ 4 hours to go

Save yours + unlock the private pre-video series here:
https://lnkd.in/e6S62RhM

taplio

The Battle

Ben Rennie

Sara Simmonds

Followers

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Engagements

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Performance ScoreSara Simmonds's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Ben Rennie

Sara Simmonds

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sara Simmonds's LinkedIn Performance

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