Building a Business with Grit and Revolutionizing Workplace Safety

Wally Steidley is the founder of Indigo Compliance and Co-Founder of The Safety Sherpa, bringing over 25 years of expertise in workplace safety. His consulting firm provides high-touch, hands-on safety solutions that protect workers and reduce workplace incidents. Meanwhile, The Safety Sherpa provides the world’s first fully mobile-friendly safety training platform to bring safety training to the workforce regardless of location. A business builder, innovator, and safety advocate, Wally’s mission is to keep people safe while driving operational excellence.

In this episode of Get Vertical!, Wally Steidley shares his entrepreneurial journey, from building Indigo Compliance to launching Safety Sherpa, a mobile-first safety training platform. He discusses the importance of embedding safety into company culture, how to drive real change in organizations, and what it takes to scale a business in a tough industry. Wally also dives into lessons learned from business challenges, the role of technology in workplace safety, and the grit required to keep going when things get tough.

Memorable quotes from the episode:

1. “How many people are you willing to hurt to make your product? If the answer isn’t zero, we’ve got a problem.”
2. “We’re the phone call you make after 911. That’s when safety gets real.”
3. “A good safety program doesn’t just prevent injuries—it makes everything about your business better.”
4. “I don’t quit. I may rethink, I may adjust, but I don’t quit.”
5. “Culture changes slowly, but when leadership buys in, the impact is transformational.”