EWOR names Adjust veteran Simon Dussart as COO to scale its €60M founder fellowship

EWOR, the operator-run fellowship that commits €60 million to early-stage founders, named Simon “Bobby” Dussart as Chief Operating Officer (COO). 

Dussart was appointed CEO of Adjust in 2022 and guided mobile-analytics unicorn Adjust from Seed stage to more than €150 million in annual recurring revenue and a €1 billion exit, giving him the operator insight EWOR now embeds directly into its program.

EWOR is a radically selective fellowship backing the world's top founders, built and led by unicorn builders.  It sifts through 35,000 + applications annually yet admits only 35 founders (0.1 per cent). Each selected founder receives a €500,000 cheque – one of Europe’s largest pre-seed tickets – and weekly one-to-one sessions with unicorn operators from SumUp, ProGlove and Adjust. Participants include Aeon and Zero One Creative. 

Over the past two years, alumni have gone on to raise €1-11 million follow-on rounds within six months of graduation, underlining the effectiveness of EWOR’s operator-led model.

 “Slide decks don’t build companies. Relentless operators do, and that’s exactly who our 0.1 per cent founders sit beside every week,” said EWOR Co-Founder Daniel Dippold.

 “Simon lived every scaling trap – from the first thousand euros to nine-figure revenue. His repeatable playbook lets us serve fellows with the rigour of a co-founder, not the detachment of an investor.”

That said, Adjust is not without controversy. In late November, Adjust laid off 304 employees. A company source told Tech.eu:

"We got an automated, pre-recorded message from the CEO, and then we were all locked out of their devices. Such a nice, caring 'family'.

Fortunately, everyone was paid appropriate severance. 

As COO, Dussart will architect EWOR’s next growth phase. 

“I know how to balance growth with profits with headcount with innovation, all while avoiding jail time for failing audits,” Dussart said. 

“At EWOR we build a data-driven growth engine so founders can out-execute yesterday’s playbooks and build Europe’s next category leaders. EWOR exists to keep them two steps ahead of the market.”