Courageous

What Courageous does

Courageous is a small San Diego-based creative consultancy, founded in 2017 and operating with 1–10 employees, that delivers strategy consulting, keynote speaking, and workshops to enterprise clients under the brand promise of "brave what's hard." The firm's core offering, branded "Courageous Work," helps organizations facilitate difficult conversations, challenge risk-averse thinking, and pursue bold action; named enterprise clients include Google, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Heinz, Procter & Gamble, Major League Baseball, Caesar's Entertainment, Kellogg's Europe, SpartanNash, Primal Kitchen, Bausch & Lomb, Atlanta Falcons, and Curio Hotels, spanning entertainment, hospitality, events, healthcare, food and beverage, sports, technology, and consumer goods. Core technology is not disclosed, and the value proposition rests on human-delivered facilitation and the personal brand of founder Ryan Berman rather than any software platform.

The business model is predominantly professional services revenue generated through three streams — speaking engagements, workshops, and strategic advisory — supplemented by a direct-to-consumer merchandise line (branded apparel, currently listed as coming soon). Go-to-market is community-led: the firm operates an "Honest Conversations" podcast, quarterly "Action Chats" video meet-ups, and an in-person "Courage Week" program that collectively function as both product and demand-generation engine, paired with direct enterprise outreach and event/conference appearances. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; clients are routed to direct contact. The firm maintains a horizontal segmentation approach, targeting large organizations across industries rather than specializing by vertical, and operates without disclosed funding, partnerships, patents, or certifications.

Name

Courageous

Legal name

Courageous

Website

https://couragebrands.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Courageous is a San Diego-based creative consultancy, founded in 2017, that delivers strategy consulting, keynote speaking, and workshops to enterprise clients to help them facilitate difficult conversations and drive bold action.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting

NAICS

Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAFADAG

Thought Leadership & Executive Visibility

Business & Public Services/Marketing, Advertising & PR Services/Public Relations & Communications

SECONDARYMPAAAOAF

Corporate Reputation & Thought Leadership

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Advertising, Marketing & PR Services/Reputation Management & Crisis Communications

Keywords

• Executive coaching services
• Leadership development consulting
• Corporate keynote speaking
• Team workshop facilitation
• Organizational courage training

Headquarters

HQ city

San Diego

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Speaking Engagements: Keynote speaking services at corporate events and conferences, delivering inspirational messages on courage and bold action.
2. Workshops: In-person and virtual workshop facilitation helping teams and leaders develop courage and effective communication.
3. Strategy Consulting: Strategic advisory services for organizations seeking to challenge safe thinking and drive bold action.
4. Merchandise: Sale of branded merchandise including apparel items such as black t-shirts.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Courageous is a creative consultancy that helps organizations facilitate tough conversations, shape effective teams, and take bold action. The firm delivers three integrated professional services — strategy consulting, keynote speaking, and workshops — to enterprise clients across industries such as entertainment, hospitality, food & beverage, healthcare, sports, technology, and consumer goods. Community programming (Action Chats, Honest Conversations podcast, Courage Week) and a branded merchandise line extend the company's reach and brand.

Product overview

Courageous is a professional services company offering a unified portfolio of consulting and programming services focused on organizational courage and leadership development. The core offering consists of client services (strategy, speaking, and workshops) delivered under the 'Courageous Work' brand, complemented by community programming including Action Chats (quarterly video meet-ups), Honest Conversations (podcast interviews), and Courage Week (in-person leadership events). The company also operates a merchandise line (Courageous Merch) as an extension of its brand. These products and services are designed to work together as an integrated approach to helping organizations facilitate tough conversations, challenge conventional thinking, and inspire bold action.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Courageous Work (Client Services)

Named customers16 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• The Barrett Values Centre: Barrett Values Centre offers cultural values assessment tools, leadership workshops, and consulting for culture transformation. It overlaps with Courageous's culture-change and "challenge safe thinking" positioning and is sold to similar HR/L&D buyers.
• Ragan Consulting Group: Ragan Consulting Group provides workshops, keynotes, and advisory engagements for internal communications and culture teams. It overlaps heavily with Courageous on workshops, keynotes, and serving internal-communications/HR buyers at Fortune 500 brands.
• The Humphrey Group: The Humphrey Group is an executive communication and leadership presence consultancy serving Fortune 500 audiences with keynotes, workshops, and coaching. It mirrors Courageous's strategy/speaking/workshop trinity and its target buyer (senior leaders, internal comms heads).
• Crucial Learning: Crucial Learning (parent of VitalSmarts and The Other 80) trains leaders and teams on difficult conversations and culture change via courses, coaching, and keynotes. It overlaps directly with Courageous's "tough conversations / courage" positioning and similar enterprise training/workshop delivery model.

Emerging players

• Start With Why (Simon Sinek): Start With Why is a founder-led leadership consultancy/personal brand built around Simon Sinek's keynote speeches, workshops, and team programs. Like Courageous, it relies on a strong personal brand and sells courage/leadership messaging to enterprise audiences.
• Brené Brown Training and Consulting: Brené Brown offers keynotes, workshops, and Dare to Lead leadership programs focused on courage, vulnerability, and brave leadership. It is the closest thematic competitor to Courageous, also monetizing a personal-brand-built curriculum targeting the same enterprise buyer.

Others

• Big Speak: Big Speak is a keynote speaker bureau representing business speakers for corporate events. While Courageous is itself a speaker-led consultancy, Big Speak represents the broader outsourced speaker-procurement ecosystem Courageous competes in for keynote budgets.
• Giant Spoon: Giant Spoon is a creative strategy and brand consultancy that combines strategy, content, and experiential work for large advertisers. It sits in Courageous's "creative consultancy" orbit but is positioned more toward marketing than internal courage/leadership.

Broad incumbents

• Korn Ferry Leadership & Culture Consulting: Korn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm with deep leadership development, culture change, and executive coaching practices. It is a scaled incumbent that competes with boutique shops like Courageous for enterprise culture and leadership transformation engagements.
• FranklinCovey: FranklinCovey is a large, established leadership and execution consultancy selling The 7 Habits, Leading at the Speed of Trust, and other enterprise training programs. It competes with Courageous for the same corporate L&D budgets but offers a much broader catalog and global delivery network.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ryanberman4457
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/courage-brands
• Instagraminstagram.com/couragebrands
• Xx.com/couragebrands

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Courageous