Built Different. Built With Intent.
Ryan Jonas builds businesses, develops people, and pursues opportunities with a simple philosophy: growth means more when you stay true to what got you there. From the trades to entrepreneurship, acquisitions, investments, and new ventures, he has built his career by taking calculated risks, challenging conventional thinking, and moving when the path isn't obvious.
About Ryan
Ryan Jonas is an entrepreneur, business owner, and investor focused on building strong companies, creating opportunities for people, and advancing the blue-collar service industry without losing what makes it great.
His career didn't begin in the trades. After progressing through tech sales and management, Ryan made an unexpected career change in 2016 and entered the plumbing industry with no previous plumbing experience. He learned from the ground up: starting in a service truck, working directly with customers, and developing an understanding of the industry from the field outward.
That experience shaped the way he approaches business today. Ryan believes the best companies aren't built from a spreadsheet alone. They're built by understanding the work, respecting the people doing it, creating a strong culture, and giving great people room to grow.
In 2021, he founded Upfront Plumbing & HVAC. Since then, his work has expanded into additional service divisions, acquisitions, investments, marketing, partnerships, and new markets.
-
2016Started from zero.Entered the trades at 30 with zero plumbing experience.
-
2021Built Upfront.Founded Upfront Plumbing & HVAC.
-
4And counting.Companies founded, built, or invested in.
Growth Without Losing Who You Are.
There is a difference between making a company bigger and building something better. Ryan's approach to business is rooted in four principles.
Integrity.
Do what you say you're going to do, especially when nobody is watching.
Passion.
Care deeply about the work, the people, and the outcome.
Intent.
Make decisions with purpose. Growth for the sake of growth isn't the goal.
Growth.
Create companies where the business and the people inside it have the opportunity to become more.
From Starting Over to Building Forward.
Ryan's career has never followed the conventional route.
-
2016
Starting From Zero
After building a career in tech sales and management, Ryan stepped into the plumbing industry at 30 years old with no previous trade experience. He learned the business firsthand from inside a service truck.
-
The next chapter
Field Experience to Leadership
What began as learning a new industry developed into sales, management, team leadership, and a much deeper understanding of how successful service companies operate. Ryan saw the business from both sides: the work happening in the field and the decisions happening behind the scenes.
-
2021
Building Upfront
Ryan founded Upfront Plumbing & HVAC with a vision for a service company built around transparency, strong culture, great people, and a different approach to growth.
-
Today
Building Beyond One Company
What started with one business has continued to evolve. Ryan's work now extends across home services, roofing, marketing, acquisitions, investments, strategic partnerships, and business development, with an increasing focus on identifying opportunities that can create long-term value.
The common thread has never changed: build good companies with good people, and don't be afraid to take the risk required to move forward.
Building. Investing. Partnering.
Ryan's experience spans multiple sides of entrepreneurship, from starting companies to expanding service lines, acquiring businesses, investing in existing operations, and building partnerships.
Each venture represents a different chapter, but the objective remains consistent: identify potential, bring the right people together, and build something positioned to last.
Real Experience. Real Conversations.
Ryan brings an operator's perspective to conversations about entrepreneurship, leadership, growth, risk, and the future of blue-collar business.
His approach isn't built around theories from the sidelines. It's shaped by experience: starting over in a completely unfamiliar industry, learning the trades from the field, building teams, launching companies, expanding into new markets, investing in businesses, and navigating the decisions that come with growth.
Ryan is available for select:
Building & Scaling Service Businesses
What changes as a service company grows, and what shouldn't.
Keeping Blue Collar, Blue Collar
How to modernize and grow a trades business without losing the culture, work ethic, and identity behind it.
Calculated Risk
Knowing when an opportunity is worth pursuing, even when the outcome isn't guaranteed.
Building People While Building Companies
Why developing the people around you can become one of the strongest drivers of sustainable growth.
Entrepreneurship From the Operator's Seat
Lessons from building, acquiring, investing, expanding, and learning along the way.
Podcast name & branding coming soon
Conversations With People Who Build.
Business is rarely as clean as the final success story makes it sound. Ryan's podcast is built for the conversations behind the outcome: the decisions, risks, failures, pivots, opportunities, and lessons that don't always make it into the headline.
Featuring entrepreneurs, founders, investors, operators, and people building interesting things, the show explores what it actually takes to create something meaningful.
No highlight reel required. Just worthwhile conversations with people who have something real to say.
Ryan is always interested in meeting entrepreneurs, founders, investors, operators, industry leaders, and unconventional thinkers with experiences worth sharing.
If you've built something, learned something the hard way, challenged the way your industry operates, taken a meaningful risk, or have a perspective that could help other business owners think differently, we'd like to hear from you. Tell us who you are, what you've built, and what you think would make for a great discussion.
The Right Opportunity Changes Everything.
Ryan's next chapter isn't about building one company. It's about finding the right people and opportunities to build with.
He is actively interested in conversations surrounding strategic partnerships, investments, acquisitions, business development, service-company growth, and expansion into new markets.
He is particularly drawn to opportunities where his experience as an operator can bring value beyond capital: strategy, leadership, marketing, growth, team development, and an understanding of the service industry from the field up.
-
Strategic PartnershipsBuilding relationships where complementary experience and resources can create something stronger. -
Investment OpportunitiesExploring businesses and ideas with strong people, meaningful potential, and room to grow. -
Business DevelopmentCreating new divisions, entering new markets, and identifying opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked. -
AcquisitionsWorking with owners and operators to explore thoughtful opportunities for the next stage of a business.
Still Building.
Ryan has never been particularly interested in following the path simply because it's the path everyone else takes. His focus today is on continuing to build strong companies, developing the people around him, expanding into new markets, finding great partners, and pursuing opportunities with the potential to become something meaningful.
- Another marketworth exploring.
- Another businessworth building.
- Another personworth betting on.
- Another calculated riskworth considering.
The goal isn't to be finished. It's to keep building with intent.
Let's Build Something
Worth Talking About.
Whether you're looking for a speaker, exploring a strategic partnership, considering an investment or business opportunity, interested in appearing on the podcast, or simply want to connect, start the conversation here.