WHERE AMBITION MEETS MASTERY.

Leadership clarity for founders building with intent.

founders and executives come to arc studio to refine how they lead, decide, and scale.

Our Core Beliefs

Leadership is not a personality trait.
It is a discipline.

At Arc Studio, we work with founders and executives at moments where leadership decisions carry real consequence for teams, culture, and long-term outcomes.

We believe clarity is not a “nice to have”. It is the leader’s primary responsibility.
And when clarity is absent, growth amplifies friction rather than progress.

This work exists for leaders who want to build with intent, not instinct.

  • Leadership is judgment, practiced under pressure.
    Not intuition. Not charisma. Judgment.

  • Clarity is the leader’s primary responsibility.
    Everything else follows from it.

  • Growth does not create problems. It exposes them.
    What is avoided early becomes costly later.

  • Most organisations stall because people decisions are delayed, diluted, or avoided.
    These decisions shape performance whether they are made consciously or not.

  • Intentional leadership means choosing what to protect as deliberately as what to pursue.
    Focus is as much about restraint as ambition.

  • A founder’s behaviour becomes the organisation’s operating rhythm.
    Leadership is always louder than intent.

TRUSTED BY founders and investors

OVER A DECADE PARTNERING WITH HIGH-IMPACT founders and EXECUTIVES.

Most founder mistakes are people decisions in disguise: who you hire, how you lead, and what you allow to persist.

Arc Studio works with founders building in tech, luxury, and wellness, where leadership decisions and brand integrity are inseparable.

Our work is aimed to sharpen leadership judgement at moments of consequence:

  • Before growth introduces friction.

  • Before people decisions dilute the brand.

  • Before instinct replaces intention.

This is not mindset coaching.

It is thoughtful, disciplined leadership work grounded in organisational clarity and long-term brand integrity.

We fix the real constraint before it compounds. Fast. So you can lead the company at the level it actually needs.

request a Clarity Call

Partnering with Arc Studio means having an advisor with sharp judgement across leadership, people, and performance.

Someone who tells the truth early, before small decisions quietly compound.

Ways We Partner with extraordinary founders

We offer clearly defined partnerships.
Each engagement is shaped by the moment you are in: the proximity required, the decisions at stake, and the outcomes that matter..

Whether as a trusted advisor, an embedded partner for a defined period, or through a focused intervention, the work is always precise, time-bound, and grounded in real organisational impact.

THE GROUNDED LEADER™

Founder & CEO Advisory

A founder’s behaviour becomes the company’s operating system.
As the company evolves, leadership must evolve with it.

The Grounded Leader™ is a confidential founder and CEO advisory engagement focused on leadership judgement at moments of consequence.

The work brings structure, clarity, and steadiness to leadership enabling founders to lead with discipline, presence, and intent, without eroding the brand or themselves in the process.

request a clarity call

Leadership & Organisation Architecture™

Embedded Advisory Partnership

A strategic leadership engagement designed for founders leading in pivotal moments, where the company is changing faster than the leadership system supporting it.

The work combines close advisory with selective embedded support, aligning leadership judgement, decision-making, and organisational rhythm around what the company actually needs next.

The outcome is clarity, pace, and a leadership system that holds under pressure without unnecessary complexity.

request a clarity call

Strategic resets

Focused Leadership & Organisation Reset

Time-bound engagements focused on resolving a specific leadership or organisational issue, from leadership team friction to foundational people decisions that can’t be left unresolved.

The work is precise, contained, and outcome-led, designed to restore clarity, alignment, and momentum.

request a clarity call

arc studio founder, Federica

Federica De Cillis is a clarity, performance, and leadership advisor trusted by funded founders navigating the most complex and emotionally charged moments of building a company.

Her work removes emotional fog and operational noise, helping founders see clearly what is actually happening inside their leadership and organisation, often before issues fully surface.

With over a decade of experience in high-growth companies, Federica specialises in moments where leadership decisions, performance, and team dynamics begin to compound in the wrong direction: from leadership friction and performance breakdowns to communication misalignment, cultural drift, and scale-induced instability.

She blends behavioural insight, emotional clarity, and organisational judgement to stabilise leaders, restore momentum, and build conditions for sustained performance.

Having seen both excellence and the quiet mistakes that cost companies millions, Federica now works with founders to turn pressure and ambition into clarity, direction, and decisive leadership.

Discover My Story

founder’s behaviour is the company’s operating system.

As a company grows, the pressure changes and so do the demands on leadership.
What worked at one stage can quietly begin to create friction at the next.

Many founders experience the same patterns as they scale:

  • hesitation where clarity is needed

  • overthinking decisions that once felt instinctive

  • tension within the leadership team

  • a sense of carrying too much, too closely

These are not personal flaws. They are signals that leadership needs to evolve with the company.

When leadership steadies, the organisation follows:

  • clearer decisions

  • stronger communication

  • renewed confidence

  • momentum without chaos

This is the work. And it is not meant to be done alone.

request a Clarity Call
  • "There is truly no one who does what she does"

    “When my mind feels foggy and I start leading from emotion instead of clarity, I call Federica. She combines deep organisational understanding with powerful, practical leadership coaching - a profoundly effective mix I’ve never experienced before. She is my right hand, and I’ve saved more than a million this quarter thanks to her.”

    — Seasoned founder in Tech

  • "I didn’t know where to start or what to prioritise. Federica made the path clear."

    — First time founder in Luxury

  • "Fede turned the invisible into the visible in just one session".

    ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

    “She helped me see how my emotions were driving the company into a spiral of poor performance. I asked her to help me exit people, but she made me pause and finally see what I had been avoiding for years. The clarity I have now - and the actions I took because of it - rebuilt my relationship with the team and restored trust with the board.

    Forever grateful to her”.

    — Seasoned founder in Tech

  • "There isn’t an issue Federica hasn’t seen and fixed first-hand."

    ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

    “After layoffs, I needed to rebuild trust across the organisation. She worked closely with me and the team to create a strong rhythm of communication and clarity.”

    — First time founder in fashion

  • "Fede transformed my organisation in six weeks".

    ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

    “I stepped into a co-founder role with no playbook and overwhelming expectations from the team and CEO. Federica grounded my leadership in my values and strengths, and gave me the clarity and confidence I desperately needed.”

    — First time co-founder in Tech

“My promise is simple: after just one call, you will gain:

Clarity for you.
Stability for your team.
Momentum for your company.”

request a call with federica

the grounded leader

Download our free guide to intentional weekly rituals, designed by Arc Studio to bring awareness into your leadership.

This guide will help you focus, stay present, and lead with clarity and intention.

WHEN SOMETHING FEELS OFF, START HERE.

If decisions feel heavy, the team is drifting, or you can’t see the full picture, let’s talk.
A short diagnostic call will reveal what’s really happening and what to do next.

Schedule your free discovery call today, and let’s explore the possibilities together.

request a call