Our Story
Praxplay was born from a simple observation: professionals need a safe space to practice difficult conversations before they happen in the real world. Whether it's a therapist learning to navigate complex emotional situations, a manager preparing for a tough performance review, or a team member practicing conflict resolution, these moments require skill, empathy, and confidence.
Traditional training methods—roleplays with classmates, scripted scenarios, or waiting for real situations to arise—all have significant limitations. We believed there had to be a better way. That's why we created Praxplay: an AI-powered platform that provides realistic, responsive, and judgment-free practice for the conversations that matter most.
Today, Praxplay serves students in therapy programs, corporate professionals developing their leadership skills, and private practices looking to extend therapeutic support between sessions. Our platform combines cutting-edge AI technology with pedagogical best practices to create learning experiences that are both effective and engaging.
Meet Our Founders
Dr. Paul Hoard
Co-Founder & Chief Strategic Officer
Dr. Paul Hoard is a licensed counselor, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. For over a decade, he has trained graduate students and professionals in how to listen carefully, discern layered relational dynamics, and exercise sound judgment in complex human settings.
Praxplay emerged from his work in clinical training and his scholarship on play and simulation as environments for professional formation. He saw that meaningful skill development requires more than information — it requires structured practice grounded in psychological insight.
As Chief Strategic Officer, Paul provides the philosophical and psychological foundation of Praxplay. He leads the development of the company's conceptual frameworks, scenario architecture, and evaluative models, ensuring that the platform remains grounded in behavioral science while adaptable across industries, including clinical education, leadership development, and organizational training.
He maintains a private practice, provides professional supervision, and writes at the intersection of psychology, culture, and human development. He is co-author (with Billie Hoard) of Eucontamination: Disgust Theology and the Christian Life.
Ryan Barnard
Co-Founder & CEO
Ryan Barnard is a technology and product leader and co-founder of SavvyTech. He previously founded Vizzlie, a communications and scheduling platform used by over 100,000 small businesses and acquired by CommentSold in December 2021. Following the acquisition, he served as Senior Director of Product at CommentSold, leading product strategy and engineering execution at scale.
At Praxplay, Ryan leads product vision with a focus on making complex systems feel intuitive, flexible, and easy to personalize. He designs tools that instructors can adapt to their curriculum, clinicians can tailor to their practice style, and students can navigate with ease. His goal is to build technology that fades into the background—so learning, reflection, and growth stay at the center.
Paul Crawford
Co-Founder & CTO
Paul Crawford is a co-founder of SavvyTech and former CTO of CommentSold, where he scaled engineering and product teams through high-growth phases and complex platform expansion. His leadership blends technical depth with operational discipline, helping teams ship quickly without sacrificing reliability or long-term maintainability.
At Praxplay, Paul leads platform architecture and engineering strategy. He oversees the systems, infrastructure, and development practices that keep the product secure, stable, and extensible as it grows across new use cases and customer segments.
His focus is to build a foundation that supports long-term enterprise deployment: strong security standards, scalable performance, and an engineering culture that turns ambitious ideas into dependable software.
Our Values
Learning First
Every feature we build is designed to maximize learning outcomes and skill development.
Safety & Ethics
We prioritize data privacy, security, and ethical AI practices in everything we do.
Human-Centered Practice
We design Praxplay to strengthen real human-to-human connection. Our simulations prepare you for meaningful conversations, not replace them.
Accessibility
Professional training should be accessible to everyone, regardless of background or resources.
Join Us on Our Mission
Whether you're a student, instructor, or professional, we'd love to have you be part of the Praxplay community.