Ryan H. Vaughn
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Winning a $500k pitch competition

Winning a $500k pitch competition

I locked myself in my hotel room, dressed in full suit and tie, and pulled out my laptop and presentation clicker.  Heart racing, I opened Powerpoint and scanned through the slides.  I had two hours to cut my investor pitch in half...

August 11, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn accelerate michigan, amic, happy gilmore, videos 0 Comments
DWYSYWD (Or: How being unreasonable with my word changed my life)

DWYSYWD (Or: How being unreasonable with my word changed my life)

After drinking and partying my way through college, I took a job waiting tables at Damon’s Grill my first job out of college. The same restaurant for which I’d stood at the host stand in high school. Three and a half years, fifty...

August 3, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn sports, unreasonable, vnn, westmiallstar 4 Comments
How to create something meaningful

How to create something meaningful

It starts with a dream. And with the first whisps of the dream, the machine locks in and the outcome is set. You create details, the most minute details, which bring the dream to life. It becomes real. Only for you at first, but the minute...

August 2, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn ambition, expressive action, right action 0 Comments

When to stop “crushing it”

I’ve been “crushing it” for almost as long as I’ve been running a startup. That’s not to say that things have always been up-and-to-the-right. We’ve had more than our share of WFIO moments along the way. But to...

August 1, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn crushing it, startups 0 Comments
Don’t settle for success, prioritize purpose over giving the people what they want

Don’t settle for success, prioritize purpose over giving the people what they want

The Lean Startup methodology has proven to be the most effective and efficient way to build a successful company. But if it’s your only North-star, you risk optimizing yourself into building a company your customers like, but about which...

July 31, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn lean startup, purpose 1 Comments
When quitting is the logical decision

When quitting is the logical decision

I went to bed crying about business once, years ago, and I remember feeling like the whole thing was fucked. We were running out of cash, over 70 employees and their families were counting on me to find more cash, and even though the business was...

July 30, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn choices, quitting, wfio 1 Comments
Failure makes for great leaders, if it’s shared

Failure makes for great leaders, if it’s shared

My failures have been the gifts that keep on giving. The time when my team almost mutinied. The time many of them did, leaving scathing reviews on Glassdoor. The time I went to jail. The time I got fired. This is not an exhaustive list...

July 21, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn competence, failure, leadership, vnn 0 Comments
What can white people do? Be willing to risk Thanksgiving

What can white people do? Be willing to risk Thanksgiving

At a Zoom happy hour last week, as is the case with most of my conversations these days, the topic of conversation turned to racism. I’ve had racism conversations with groups of all white men (my book club after reading White Fragility, the...

July 14, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn racism, white fragility 0 Comments
Ryan Vaughn: 100 Ideas Demo Day talk

Ryan Vaughn: 100 Ideas Demo Day talk

100 Ideas is an awesome platform created by Startgarden to launch early stage businesses. In it they seed 100 different fledgling businesses with $1k, add water and sunshine, wait a tick, and then invest $20k in the ten that show the most...

June 30, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn 100 ideas, speaking, startgarden, startups, video 0 Comments
Discussion on business, kabuki, meditation & life with SURGE

Discussion on business, kabuki, meditation & life with SURGE

One of my favorite people in Grand Rapids is Amanda Chocko. I met Amanda when I was first starting VNN, way back in 2010, so she’s watched an awful lot of growing up on my part (mentally and emotionally; I’ve been...

June 4, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn kabuki, lakeshore advantage, meditation, video 0 Comments
The indivisible grayness of COVID (or: how can we go back to work without going back to the way things were?)

The indivisible grayness of COVID (or: how can we go back to work without going back to the way things were?)

I read this article in WIRED today, sent to me by the lovely and thoughtful Laura, and found much of it resonating. It’s becoming more and more common (thankfully) to discuss the use of this weird COVID time to reevaluate our lives. Many...

May 5, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn albert einstein, covid-19, david foster wallace, elon musk, gray area, harvard business review, wired 0 Comments
For leaders, meditation is more useful than business school

For leaders, meditation is more useful than business school

Meditation makes people better leaders, and when done consistently can be more effective than any knowledge on leadership one could acquire, or class on leading one could take. Hard stop. If you are in a leadership position, nearly all acquired...

April 30, 2020 Ryan H Vaughn business, leadership, meditation 3 Comments
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About Me
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Ryan H. Vaughn
Hi, I'm Ryan Vaughn. I write and speak about leadership, entrepreneurship, and Work as a pilgrimage of identity. I have a highly developed sense of awe cultivated by a decade of meditation, and along the way founded VNN Sports, the largest and fastest growing media platform in high school sports.
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Ryan Vaughn
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  • Attention Presenters: When you put excel-level data on your slides, you will get excel-level questions. When you u… https://t.co/yKmJ6qADYP
    about 42 mins ago
  • @businessbarista @APompliano And important to note that as a leader it’s your responsibility to make your team feel… https://t.co/XeSJ5COR1n
    about 1 hour ago
  • Grateful to collaborate with https://t.co/LGrLvJRaqG on a deep dive into company culture. Inside: - Why most cu… https://t.co/47z5KQXM4t
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