One operator, not an agency.

Simon Fletcher runs Dida Labs from Barcelona. The route here ran through operating seats, not agency ones: co-founder at IOPn, where he secured the RAK DAO government contract and the $100m Phoenix Group JV it led to; co-founder at Megavrse (Arabian Business Start-Up of the Year 2024); builder of Tipser’s content engine before Bolt acquired it; and narrative lead on NAGA’s $65m ICO back in 2017.

Current work includes Crypto Snack’s repositioning around real-world utility and global partnerships with N3ON Sports.

The premise of the studio is simple: most companies in complicated markets don’t have a product problem, they have an explanation problem — and it’s far cheaper to fix the explanation than to out-spend it.

Operator first, adviser second. Most people offering positioning have only ever written about it. Simon co-founded ventures, ran operations and negotiated the partnership deals himself before advising anyone. For a small team that difference matters: the story problem usually shows up as stalled partnership conversations and investor updates that don’t land, not as bad copy. Where the fix is commercial rather than editorial, he says so.

That is also why the work extends past messaging when it needs to — partnership strategy, investor narrative, go-to-market and ecosystem introductions. For early-stage teams it is closer to hiring a senior operator you could not otherwise afford than to commissioning a brand project.

Dida Labs is deliberately small. One senior operator, from strategy through to the actual words, for a small number of clients at a time. Teams that want ongoing support work with Simon on retainer — growth direction, founder content and partner narrative.