What People Before Things does

People Before Things, Inc. is a Denver, Colorado-based leadership development and executive coaching practice founded in 2015 by Chris Laping, a four-time CIO and former technology CEO. The company sells a tiered curriculum built around the "Unignorable" framework: keynote speaking engagements, a $595 six-week cohort-based course called Becoming Unignorable, and a $76,000 twelve-month Leadership Operating System (LOS) engagement. A weekly newsletter with 13,356+ subscribers and a forthcoming Unignorable book (late 2026) sit at the top of the funnel, while the People Before Things book is offered as a free digital download.

The offering is a services business, not a software platform. There is no proprietary technology stack, no AI/ML components, and no disclosed product engineering team. Distribution is concentrated on founder-led channels — LinkedIn (35,000 followers, 1.5M+ weekly reach, ~10 inbound leads per day), the newsletter, and event-based speaking. Light tool-level integrations with POPin, Working Genius, and 16Personalities are referenced but appear to be partner referrals rather than embedded technology.

The business model is direct-to-consumer and sales-led, with three distinct price points targeting different buyer types: individuals or early-career professionals at $595, mid-market leaders via keynotes, and senior executives or teams at $76,000 for the LOS. Customers are referenced through individual testimonials rather than enterprise logos, and no enterprise customer concentration or ARR is disclosed. The company has no disclosed outside funding and operates as what appears to be a bootstrapped, founder-attached practice.

Name

People Before Things

Legal name

People Before Things, Inc.

Website

https://peoplebeforethings.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

People Before Things is a Denver-based leadership development practice founded in 2015 by Chris Laping, selling keynote talks, a $595 cohort course, and a $76,000 twelve-month executive Leadership Operating System to individual professionals and senior leaders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Executive Coaching and Leadership Development

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430), Professional and Management Development Training (61143), Management Consulting Services (54161), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

C-Suite & Senior Executive Coaching (EDABANAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Executive Leadership & C-Suite Development (EDABAAAA), Team & Group Executive Coaching (Leadership Teams) (EDABANAF), Executive Leadership Summits (C-Suite, Board, Strategy Offsites) (THAHAMAA), Thought Leadership & Executive Visibility (BPAFADAG)

Keywords

• Executive coaching services
• Leadership development programs
• Keynote speaking
• Organizational change consulting
• Influence training

Headquarters

HQ city

Denver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Cohort Program - Becoming Unignorable: 6-week live cohort program teaching the Unignorable Five behaviors. One-time purchase per cohort enrollment at $595 per participant. Includes 6 live sessions, coaching, recordings, exercises, templates, assessments, and private community access.
2. Leadership Operating System (LOS): 12-month enterprise accelerator combining coaching, consulting, and tools for leadership teams. Fixed engagement fee of $76,000 inclusive of travel. Payment schedule: $19,000 upfront + $19,000 per quarter. Includes quarterly onsites, ongoing coaching, tools, templates, and assessments.
3. Keynote Speaking: Fee-based keynote speaking engagements for conferences and corporate events. Chris Laping delivers keynote talks on leadership, influence, and change management topics.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

People Before Things delivers leadership development and executive coaching services through three primary offerings: a 12-month Leadership Operating System (LOS) enterprise accelerator for leadership teams ($76,000), live keynote speaking engagements on influence and organizational change, and the 6-week Becoming Unignorable cohort program for individual professionals ($595 per participant). The company is built around founder Chris Laping's 30+ years of executive experience as a 4-time CIO and tech CEO.

Product overview

People Before Things is a leadership development and professional coaching company founded by Chris Laping, a former 4-time CIO and tech CEO. The company operates as a services business offering a portfolio of interconnected products: keynote speaking engagements, the Leadership Operating System (a 12-month team accelerator combining coaching and consulting), the Becoming Unignorable Cohort (a 6-week live training program), two published books (People Before Things and the forthcoming Unignorable), and a Weekly Unignorable newsletter. These offerings are designed to help professionals and organizations build trust-based influence, improve leadership effectiveness, and drive organizational change.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Leadership Operating System (LOS) A 12-month enterprise accelerator that combines coaching, consulting, and tools to install an evidence-based framework within leadership teams. Includes quarterly onsites, ongoing practice/observation/feedback, 1:1 coaching, leadership team sessions, tools/templates/playbooks, diagnostics, Org Health Quiz, and POPin platform access. Priced at $76,000 inclusive of travel, paid as $19,000 upfront and $19,000 per quarter.
• Keynote Talks Public and corporate speaking engagements delivered by Chris Laping on influence, leadership, and organizational change. Topics include the psychology of high-trust influence and how healthy organizations lead change. Target audience: conference organizers and corporate event planners.
• Becoming Unignorable Cohort

Quantifiable outcome

• 500,000+ professionals worldwide helped through coaching, courses, and keynotes
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Patricia Wooster (Wooster Media Books)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 June 2025Patricia Wooster is Chris Laping's book coach and collaborator on the LinkedIn Bootcamp workshop (June 4). Also mentioned as partner for content creation and marketing programs. Co-hosted 2-hour live LinkedIn Bootcamp event.
• POPin (Honest Conversation Platform)coreTechnology or IntegrationPOPin platform is licensed for use within the Leadership Operating System engagement. Included as part of the LOS toolkit for team diagnostics and honest conversation facilitation.
• Working GeniuscoreTechnology or IntegrationWorking Genius Assessment is included as part of the LOS deliverables and cohort program. Used for team diagnostics and individual development planning.
• 16PersonalitiescoreTechnology or Integration16Personalities Assessment is included as a bonus for cohort participants. Used for personality/behavioral insights supporting the Unignorable framework.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Dorie Clark: Dorie Clark is an executive coach, Duke professor, and bestselling author who sells keynote speaking, online courses, and one-on-one coaching around executive presence and personal branding — closely mirroring People Before Things' cohort + keynote + book model.
• David Burkus: David Burkus is a keynote speaker, podcaster, and bestselling author on leadership and innovation who monetizes through speaking fees, books, and online courses — highly comparable to People Before Things' speaker/author/cohort profile.
• Marie Forleo: Marie Forleo built a self-serve cohort-based training business (MarieTV, B-School) with strong personal-brand marketing — a comparable founder-led cohort/course model with similar target customer of ambitious professionals.
• Ryan Hawk: Ryan Hawk runs the Learning Leader Show podcast, keynote speaking business, and leadership coaching/curriculum, monetizing through courses and corporate engagements — a near-identical content-to-coaching funnel to People Before Things.
• Tasha Eurich: Dr. Tasha Eurich is an executive coach, organizational psychologist, and bestselling author (Insight) who delivers keynotes, workshops, and corporate leadership programs — a strong peer in the executive self-awareness and leadership development space.
• Todd Caponi: Todd Caponi is a sales leadership author and keynote speaker who sells cohort-based courses (Revenue Transparency), books, and consulting — directly comparable in business model and revenue mix to Chris Laping's Becoming Unignorable offering.
• Sara Canaday: Sara Canaday is a leadership author and executive coach who delivers keynotes, workshops, and corporate coaching — directly comparable in scale, content type, and customer base to People Before Things.

Broad incumbents

• Marshall Goldsmith: Marshall Goldsmith is one of the most recognized executive coaches globally, with #1 New York Times bestselling books and a large corporate coaching practice — a broader incumbent in the same executive coaching category that anchors the upper bound of the addressable market.
• Brendon Burchard: Brendon Burchard is a high-performance coach, bestselling author, and large-scale course creator (High Performance Academy) — a broader incumbent demonstrating the scaled end-state of the founder-led coaching/content business model People Before Things operates.

Emerging players

• BetterUp: BetterUp is a tech-enabled coaching platform serving enterprise leadership teams with on-demand coaching and assessments — an adjacent, platform-driven competitor to People Before Things' LOS offering at the enterprise tier.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/people-before-things-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 People Before Things