The Situation
Chris Adams had built a government technology consultancy — but like a lot of entrepreneurial ventures, the company had grown organically, and a collection of service brands had come together somewhat unintentionally under one umbrella. Each one solved a real problem for its clients, but from the outside, it was hard to tell how they fit together or why they belonged in the same company. The brands didn’t obviously connect – in naming, positioning, or visual association, and leadership struggled to articulate a coherent story about what each one did and how they related to the whole. One brand in particular, a public budget simulation tool called Backseat Budgeter, carried real promise but had never gained the traction Chris knew it deserved. He had envisioned civic leaders embracing it as a way to bring residents into the budget process — but without a compelling brand story, that vision wasn’t translating.
What They Hired Darwin to Do
Chris came to Darwin twice. First, to make sense of the consultancy as a whole — establishing a logical, cohesive story that connected all the service brands under a single umbrella. Then again, to reimagine Backseat Budgeter for its next chapter.
How We Helped
In the first engagement, we found the connective thread across all of Chris’s service brands — the shared purpose that made clear why they all belonged together. It gave the company a coherent identity and a story leadership could actually tell.
For the second engagement, we started with the insight that Chris already had — that this tool could genuinely transform the way municipalities engage residents around budget decisions. The problem wasn’t the product. It was the story. We renamed the tool Balancing Act, capturing the very real dilemma public officials face every day: making consequential budget decisions on behalf of the people they serve. The new name and brand story did what Backseat Budgeter never could — it made the right people pay attention.
Municipalities across the country took notice. And in 2023, Balancing Act was acquired by Polco, a government-focused company serving communities nationwide.
“Darwin’s process helped us to go from a promising idea to shared excitement about who we are and where we want to go. At every step, Darwin challenged us to go deeper, to be clearer and more authentic. The result has been a brand that excites our team and communicates to the market the value we provide. Without Darwin, we would not have had the success we have found.”
– Chris Adams, Founder, Balancing Act.