Steven Simon

Steven C. Simon is the founder and CEO of Simon Ventures, LP, a Minneapolis-based private equity firm he established in 1996 to build a diversified portfolio of growth-stage companies. Rather than early-stage venture bets, the firm pursues control or majority positions in established lower-middle-market businesses in the manufacturing, service, and distribution sectors, backing them with capital plus operational and financial expertise.

Before founding Simon Ventures, Simon was President and CEO of American Sharecom, Inc., a long-distance telecommunications company. He is credited with bringing the company out of bankruptcy, growing it both organically and through acquisitions, and ultimately selling it to Frontier Communications in 1995 — the transaction that appears to have funded his move into private equity. Earlier in his career he served as Vice President of Operations for the Donaldson Industrial Group (with chief operating responsibility for five divisions of industrial air/liquid filtration manufacturing) and, before that, as Donaldson's Vice President of Finance. He began his career as a securities analyst at Dain Bosworth (now part of the Dain Rauscher lineage), a Midwest investment bank, and as a financial analyst in the private-placement department of Aetna Insurance Company.

Simon was educated at Lawrence University (graduated 1968) and earned a graduate business degree from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Graduate School of Business (1971). At Simon Ventures he works alongside Vice Presidents Michael J. Ryan (Minneapolis) and Ryan S. Simon (Sausalito, CA).

Beyond the fund, Simon serves as a Director on the board of Cardio Flow, Inc., a medical-device company developing atherectomy technology for peripheral artery disease — a seat connected to Simon Ventures' 2024 investment in the company.

• Stage & size: Focuses on established companies with $5M–$50M enterprise value, writing initial equity checks of roughly $1M–$15M — clearly a growth/buyout mandate rather than seed.
• Control-oriented: The firm's stated philosophy is to prefer "sole owner or majority owner" positions and will not take "a minority role where management effectively controls the voting shares."
• What makes them say yes: Companies with "experienced management," "established products or services," a "well-defined market niche," and "significant growth opportunities" that are constrained by "inadequate growth capital" or positioned for "industry consolidation."
• Operating partnership: Provides expertise in "planning, operations, systems and finance," relying on professional management to execute while aligning "management goals in line with those of the shareholders."
• Prudence & patience: Uses leverage but insists portfolio companies "maintain financial flexibility"; operates with no pressure to deploy capital annually or exit on a fixed clock, aiming to build "a portfolio of quality growth companies capable of sustaining an above average growth record over the long term."