Ryan Vaughn

Ryan brings a rare combination of thoughtful/conscious leadership practices combined with rigorous operating principles learned in the trenches of running his own companies. His coaching significantly helped me uplevel as a leader and his practices improved the execution of our broader team. You will be hard pressed to find a better spiritual and strategic partner along the startup journey!

He’s the best coach I’ve ever met, and everyone I know who’s worked with him says the same. Ryan is the most skilled practitioner of Internal Family Systems and parts work I've ever encountered. But he's also incredibly skilled in running companies and has given me some of the best ideas on the business side of Climate Vine of anyone I know. One example that stays with me: I was navigating the difficult decision to let go of my first employee. This was someone I'd genuinely over-invested in, both emotionally and practically, partly because I'd misjudged how much her specific skillset would serve the company long-term. Ryan helped me understand what was really driving that over-investment and why I felt compelled to keep going above and beyond even after the writing was on the wall. Once we'd worked through what was underneath it, he asked whether I'd find it useful to hear how he'd approached something similar. I said yes. In the final ten minutes, he shared his own experiences, offered a few practical frameworks, and gave me concrete options for how to move forward with integrity that felt very aligned. Ryan holds together the best inner work and the best practical guidance I've experienced.

We have close to three times the revenue we had when I started working with Ryan, with about the same number of employees. What’s changed the most is my capacity to have hard conversations and be clear about what I want and what the business needs. Working on yourself is probably the best thing you can do for your business, no matter the stage.

Working with Ryan has been one of the most valuable investments I've made as a CEO. He has a rare ability to help me see where I can actually be most effective as a leader and where I might just be keeping myself busy. What I value most is that he keeps me centered in my strengths and values as a leader, while helping me discover the tools to make hard calls quickly. I come out of every session clearer, steadier, and more in tune with myself.

Ryan is an incredibly thoughtful coach for founders & CEOs unlike any others I’ve come across. For leaders who are genuinely looking to build an organization that is healthy from the inside out -- for themselves, their team & their customers -- I couldn’t recommend Ryan more. He integrates deep expertise of business with the wisdom of inner work, to allow every founder & CEO he works with to discover for themselves, what kind of leader they are and how they are designed to lead their organization.

It has been a pleasure to know and work with Ryan over the past few years. If you ask my team, they can identify the before and after: Processes were non-existent, leadership was scattered, and we spent our time chasing one thing after another. Working with Ryan, I've professionalized our company, our executive team, and the way we operate to create sustainable growth that has been resilient to the AI-driven shifts reshaping our industry. Even more important has been how Ryan has helped me grow as a leader, find my passions, and learn to listen to myself. I can't recommend him enough.

Working with Ryan has been incredibly valuable. He has helped me navigate the many critical decisions and difficult situations that you inevitably run into as CEO. He never says “here’s what you should do”, but consistently helps me reach the right conclusions through detailed questioning and exploration. I strongly recommend working with Ryan for any CEO that wants to grow and improve themselves (which should be every CEO!).

Thank you for your continued kindness and support of me and my work. Some days I am steel tough and nothing can get me and some days, man it’s right there on the surface. Our time always helps me bounce back and move forward more whole. For this I am so grateful.

Ryan, with his rich background as a founder, brings a profound depth of understanding to the entrepreneurial journey’s complexities. His keen insight and empathetic nature allowed him to connect with my unique experiences as a founder myself, making our sessions not only productive but personally meaningful. In my experience, it’s rare to encounter an executive coach who embodies such a potent mix of empathy, intuition, and wisdom.

Working with Ryan Vaughn has been a transformative journey for two years across a group of CEOs. Navigating the dynamics of a diverse group of leaders is no easy feat, but Ryan does it with a level of finesse that feels completely natural. His leadership style, marked by genuine vulnerability, lays the foundation for the rest of us to be more authentic and transparent in our interactions.

Working with Ryan has been a transformational journey that’s helped me rapidly grow as a leader, solve practical scale-up challenges along the way, and ultimately (and most importantly) understand myself better and bring clarity to what I want from my company and how I want to live my life.

Working with Ryan has returned value that is nearly impossible to quantify. I started my engagement with him entirely lost, without clear direction, and not knowing what great looks like. Ryan helped guide me there and enabled me to unlock the path forward for myself and my business. No hidden tricks or gimmicks. He has a keen understanding of people and what they need to get themselves to the next level on a personal, professional, and psychological level. The person I am today and the business I run are entirely unrecognizable from when we started working together, and I have Ryan to thank for that amazing transformation.

I started working with Ryan to address some deep-rooted issues I faced as a founder. He helped me shift my perspective and approach challenges at work with greater clarity. With a calmer, more conscious mindset, I was able to navigate difficult situations with a deeper understanding of myself.

It’s like playing the piano: as you understand the composition more deeply, you find the freedom to improvise and bring your own expression to each piece. Ryan has a gift for guiding that process; helping you recognise your own patterns and find your own way forward.

Ryan is a coach who gets right to the heart of things with his clients. He knows when to poke, when to set boundaries, and when to gracefully give people space. He led some of the most profoundly deep sessions I’ve ever been a part of — I didn’t know people could go that deep and be that vulnerable with each other. And finally, he has been there / done that — a former founder who knows the journey, inside out (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun)… so you know he’s coming at it from a place of deep understanding and empathy. And that makes a big difference.

I was honored to work with Ryan as my executive coach for over a year. Ryan is an exceptional coach who has a natural talent for helping founders uncover unique ways to approach problems they are facing. His willingness to share his own experiences as a former startup founder helped bring a level of relatability that I truly appreciated, especially during turbulent times. Ryan’s guidance and support were instrumental in my growth as a founder/executive, and I highly recommend him to anyone looking to get to the next level!

Working with Ryan has become essential to living my best life and building the kind of organization I want to build. Ryan’s approach is genuine, insightful, deep, fun, supportive and encouraging. After every discussion I understand myself better and have clarity on the next steps on my growth path as a leader and human.

Collaborating with Ryan has been a wonderful journey and beautifully transformational. Working together has been as natural as having a conversation with the part of myself that challenges me to grow.

Ryan was an integral part in my development as a leader, and I could not have reached my growth goal without his mentorship. Our work together was transformational -- he helped me gain clarity and confidence both professionally and personally. If you are serious about your growth and are considering working with a coach, I strongly recommend Ryan.

Ryan has an incredible skill for asking good questions, listening intently, and then asking the next deeper question. He gives good advice. But you’re really in the sweet spot with Ryan when the questions he asks help you solve your own problems, just by thinking about them from a slightly different perspective. He has an uncanny way of helping you drill down to the true core of an issue, look at it objectively, and decide on an action. I highly recommend spending time with Ryan Vaughn.

I’ve built and scaled companies before, but I’d never really seen what good leadership looked like, and it showed. I wasn’t the best version of myself for my team or the people I love. Working with Ryan changed that. He has a gift for asking the question you’ve been avoiding and helping you find an answer that’s true to who you are. I’m clearer, calmer, and more present at work and at home. I can’t recommend working with him enough.

What I’ve appreciated most about working with Ryan is how he helps me understand what’s actually going on beneath the challenges I bring to our conversations. He’s helped me recognize patterns in how I respond to pressure and become more intentional about how I lead. Through our work together, I’m learning to navigate the hard parts of being a founder with more perspective and find even more joy in building the company along the way. I’m grateful to have him in my corner.