Swagger Institute

What Swagger Institute does

Swagger Institute is a privately held, founder-led professional services firm headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, operating since 2014 with 1–10 employees. The company delivers motivational speaking, sales and leadership training, business consulting, and nonprofit fundraising consulting, principally through the personal delivery capacity of co-founders Derron Steenbergen (President) and Krista Steenbergen. Revenue is generated primarily through quote-based engagements — keynotes, training workshops, and consulting retainers — with multi-year contract cadence and no publicly disclosed pricing.

The firm's product portfolio is organized around four brands: the core Swagger Institute service offering, the Golden Rule Fundraising division (nonprofit fundraising, major gifts, grant writing, reporting a 90% grant award rate with documented outcomes including $8M and $5M gifts), the Ten Minute Trainer Network (a uScreen-powered mobile video platform with iOS and Android apps delivering pre-recorded and live-streamed short-form training content under a subscription model), and two branded podcasts ('What's Your Jump?' and 'HG Podcast') that function as top-of-funnel content marketing.

Go-to-market is direct and sales-led, relying on conference speaking bookings, association event keynotes, and inbound inquiries through the company website, supported by testimonial-driven marketing featuring named enterprise and nonprofit clients (Learfield, SNJ Today, Midwest Communication, College Heights Foundation, Foundry Christian Community Center). Distribution is primarily domestic United States with the mobile app available globally via app stores. The firm has no external institutional funding, no parent company, no disclosed M&A activity, and no API or technology integrations beyond the website, mobile app, and podcast distribution channels.

Name

Swagger Institute

Legal name

Swagger Institute

Website

https://swaggerinstitute.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Swagger Institute is a privately held, founder-led professional services firm in Bowling Green, Kentucky, delivering motivational speaking, sales and leadership training, business consulting, and nonprofit fundraising consulting through co-founders Derron and Krista Steenbergen, supplemented by a mobile video subscription platform and two branded podcasts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Training and Development Services

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Strategic Leadership & Business Acumen (EDABAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Coaching Leadership & Mentoring Skills (EDABAAAG), Strategy, Decision-Making & Business Acumen Coaching (EDABANAH), Career, Purpose & Executive Wellbeing Coaching (EDABANAI)

Keywords

• Motivational speaking services
• Sales training programs
• Leadership development training
• Nonprofit fundraising consulting
• Professional development content

Headquarters

HQ city

Glasgow

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Motivational Speaking Services: Keynote presentations and motivational speaking engagements for conferences, annual meetings, and corporate events. Pricing appears quote-based with inquiry contact form.
2. Sales & Leadership Training: Training programs for sales teams, marketing consultants, and organizational leadership. Delivered as live events, virtual training, and workshop sessions.
3. Business & Nonprofit Consulting: Strategic consulting engagements for business development and nonprofit organizational consulting, including fundraising strategy and grant writing services through Golden Rule Fundraising division.
4. Ten Minute Trainer Network Subscriptions: On-demand video training platform with short-form professional development content accessible via mobile app subscription.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Swagger Institute delivers motivational speaking, sales and leadership training, business consulting, and nonprofit fundraising consulting through keynote presentations, workshops, and coaching engagements. Its portfolio is anchored by high-energy live speaking and training for organizations, supported by the Golden Rule Fundraising nonprofit consulting division and the Ten Minute Trainer Network mobile video training platform.

Product overview

Swagger Institute is a single-brand professional services company offering a unified portfolio of personal and organizational development solutions. The core offering centers on motivational speaking and sales/leadership training services under the Swagger Institute brand. Supporting this are three distinct sub-brands: Golden Rule Fundraising (nonprofit fundraising and grant writing division), Ten Minute Trainer Network (mobile video training platform with iOS/Android apps), and two branded podcasts ('What's Your Jump?' and 'HG Podcast'). Together, these offerings provide comprehensive professional development through both direct service delivery and digital content platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Golden Rule Fundraising: A division of Swagger Institute offering over 30 years of senior level fundraising experience with success in major and planned giving, grant administration, advisory boards, and volunteer relationships. Provides comprehensive nonprofit organizational consulting, staff evaluation, and training with a 90% grant award rate.
• Ten Minute Trainer Network

Products and services

• Motivational Speaking & Keynote Services High-energy keynote presentations and motivational speaking engagements delivered at conferences, association events, annual meetings, and corporate events for business and nonprofit audiences.
• Sales & Leadership Training Training programs for sales teams, marketing professionals, and organizational leaders, delivered as live events, virtual training sessions, and workshops to improve sales performance and leadership communication.
• Golden Rule Fundraising Consulting Nonprofit consulting division delivering major gift fundraising, grant writing, campaign management, planned giving, endowment development, and organizational capacity building for nonprofits, foundations, educational institutions, and faith-based organizations.
• Ten Minute Trainer Network Subscription-based mobile video platform delivering curated short-form (10 minutes or less) professional development and motivational training content, accessible via iOS and Android apps for offline viewing by busy professionals.
• What's Your Jump? Podcast Branded podcast exploring life-defining moments, resilience, growth, and faith through real-life stories and intimate conversations as a content marketing channel.
• Hustle and Grace (HG) Podcast Podcast featuring Krista, Kellie, and Amy discussing what it takes to build a business with grit, grace, and guts, offering bold conversations filled with insight, humor, and hard-earned wisdom.

Quantifiable outcome

• 90% grant award rate reported for Golden Rule Fundraising clients
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• P1 Learning (Speed Marriott)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDerron Steenbergen, in partnership with Speed Marriott of P1 Learning, co-founded the Ten Minute Trainer. This strategic partnership created the broadcast training platform offering curated 10-minute training videos accessible via mobile app. The collaboration leverages both founders' expertise in professional development and broadcast training.
• Western Kentucky UniversityminorOthersKrista Steenbergen serves on the faculty for the nonprofit certificate program at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. This academic affiliation provides credibility for the Golden Rule Fundraising division and connects the firm to university alumni and student pipelines.
• Studio22 MarketingminorOthersStudio22 Marketing designed the Swagger Institute website as noted in footer copyright. This is a vendor relationship for web design services.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Dale Carnegie Training: Long-established provider of sales, leadership, and professional development courses delivered globally through a franchise network. Comparable to Swagger Institute across sales training, leadership development, and corporate keynote offerings, but with much broader scale and recognized brand.
• Tony Robbins: Global motivational speaker, performance coach, and business strategist with events, books, and coaching programs. Client testimonials explicitly benchmark Derron Steenbergen against Tony Robbins, making this the most direct motivational-speaking and coaching comparable, but at vastly larger scale.
• FranklinCovey: Enterprise leadership and execution training firm offering content-based programs (e.g., 7 Habits), workshops, and consulting. Overlaps with Swagger Institute's leadership, communication, and team engagement offerings, primarily serving large enterprise buyers.
• Grant Cardone: Sales training, motivational content, and coaching business serving sales professionals with keynote events, online programs, and certification. Comparable to Swagger Institute's sales training and motivational speaking business, particularly for sales team audiences, but at significantly larger scale.

Emerging players

• Heller Consulting: Nonprofit and fundraising consulting firm providing CRM, campaign, and development strategy support to nonprofits. Comparable to Golden Rule Fundraising for nonprofit consulting engagements, though more focused on technology enablement and CRM strategy than grant writing.
• The Curtis Group: Nonprofit fundraising and capital campaign consulting firm offering feasibility studies, campaign management, and development coaching. Comparable to Golden Rule Fundraising for nonprofit and faith-based fundraising engagements, particularly around major gift and capital campaigns.

Direct peers

• Sandler Training: Global sales training franchise delivering structured sales methodology, coaching, and reinforcement programs to SMB and mid-market teams. Directly comparable to Swagger Institute's sales training and leadership development offering, though scaled via a franchise model rather than founder-led delivery.
• Cargill Associates: Nonprofit fundraising and capital campaign consulting firm supporting major gifts, planned giving, and campaign management for nonprofits, foundations, and faith-based organizations. Directly comparable to Swagger Institute's Golden Rule Fundraising division across nonprofit consulting and major gift fundraising.
• John Maxwell Team: Leadership development and coaching certification platform offering workshops, keynote speaking, and team training built around John Maxwell's content. Closely parallels Swagger Institute's leadership training, motivational speaking, and executive coaching portfolio for corporate and association audiences.
• Ken Blanchard Companies: Leadership training and management education company built around Situational Leadership and related content, delivering workshops, coaching, and keynote content. Directly comparable to Swagger Institute's leadership development and management training business for corporate and association buyers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/SwaggerInstitute
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/swagger-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 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 Swagger Institute