Built in Beaumont. Built for Business.
Vaughn Labs LLC exists because local businesses deserve the same technology advantages that big companies have — without the big company price tag or the out-of-town agency that doesn't know your market.
We're a Beaumont-based technology lab specializing in AI, automation, and digital infrastructure for businesses that are ready to grow. Whether you need your first website or a fully automated sales and marketing engine, we build it, manage it, and make sure it works.
No complicated contracts. No offshore teams. Just local expertise, modern technology, and results you can measure.
$25M+
Verified Revenue
30+
SaaS Products Built
15,000+
Global Customers
6
ClickFunnels Awards
Meet the Founders
An American factory-floor dropout from Indiana and an Indian engineering graduate from West Bengal — building a bootstrapped software empire together.
Jon & Aunkita Vaughn
Co-Founders — Tier5 · Vaughn Labs LLC
Jon and Aunkita share the same birthday — both Cancers — a coincidence that became the foundation of one of the most unlikely and successful co-founder stories in the SaaS world.
They met in 2015 in Kolkata, India, and co-founded Tier5 in January 2016 with two rented computers, one developer, and zero clients. Today, Tier5 has grown to 70+ full-time employees, 30+ SaaS products, and 15,000+ customers globally — generating over $25 million in verified, documented online revenue.
Now based in Beaumont, TX — where they train jiu-jitsu at 10th Planet Beaumont — they're channeling everything they've built into Vaughn Labs, bringing enterprise-grade AI technology to the small businesses that power Southeast Texas.
6× Award Winners
30+ SaaS Products
70+ Employees
Jon & Aunkita at Funnel Hacking Live — Six ClickFunnels awards including the $25M+ Two Comma Club C
The Tier5 team in Kolkata, India — built from 2 rented computers to 70+ employees and $25M+ in revenue
Tier5 is the SaaS software company Jon and Aunkita built from scratch starting in January 2016. What began with two rented computers and zero clients grew into a multi-million dollar company with 30+ SaaS products and 15,000+ customers worldwide — almost entirely through organic marketing.
Tier5 is still owned and operated by the Vaughns today. It runs largely hands-off now, but the lessons learned building it — from product development and marketing to hiring and scaling — are the foundation of everything we do at Vaughn Labs. We're taking that same experience and applying it to help local Southeast Texas businesses grow online.
Building software, training jiu-jitsu, and exploring the world together
Jon Vaughn
Co-Founder & CEO, Tier5 · Founder, Vaughn Labs LLC
Jon Vaughn doesn't fit the typical Silicon Valley founder mold — and that's exactly the point.
Born in Florida and raised in Indiana, Jon had an unconventional path to entrepreneurship. His father, a traveling preacher, frequently uprooted the family, leading Jon to be homeschooled for much of his childhood. From an early age, he was drawn to how things worked — particularly machines — and started working in a factory young, teaching himself CNC machining and eventually repairing the very equipment he ran.
Rather than following a traditional academic route, Jon enrolled briefly at Indiana University before dropping out to pursue software engineering on his own terms. He ground his way up — from team lead and CNC machinist at Tecumseh Products and Kennametal, to Corporate Trainer at ACCENT Marketing, to CTO roles at Amtek Signs and Miramix — developing a rare combination of industrial-floor work ethic and enterprise-level technical depth.
In 2015, a work trip to Kolkata, India changed everything. Jon met Aunkita Nandi — a software engineer with her own entrepreneurial fire — and together they founded Tier5 in January 2016. They started in a cramped two-room office with just a couple of rented computers and no clients, relying entirely on organic social media marketing to land their first business.
Jon pioneered what he calls the "community-owned and operated" software model — fully funding Tier5 through Facebook organic marketing, eventually building tools like Friend Connector to automate and scale that very process. By 2019, he had fired all service clients and transitioned Tier5 entirely to its own SaaS product line. Today, Tier5 has grown to 70+ full-time employees, 30+ SaaS products, and 15,000+ customers globally.
Jon is also the founder of the Mu Ecosystem, a blockchain-based cryptocurrency project, and currently leads Vaughn Labs, LLC — delivering AI-powered websites, automation, and digital infrastructure to local and regional businesses across Southeast Texas.
ClickFunnels Awards
"I don't let those experiences define me. I use them as fuel to succeed. Every time I face a challenge in my business, I think back to those days and remember that if I could survive that, I can survive anything."
— Jon Vaughn
Aunkita Vaughn
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Tier5 · Founding Partner, Vaughn Labs LLC
Aunkita Vaughn grew up dreaming of building something that would create opportunities for others.
Raised in a middle-class family in Burdwan — one of the oldest towns in West Bengal, India — Aunkita's father was a government employee and her mother a homemaker. She wasn't the top of her class, but she was driven. By college, she was already building API-based software applications alongside her studies. After earning her Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from University Institute of Technology in Burdwan, she moved to Kolkata and began freelancing as a software developer.
In 2015, she met Jon Vaughn — an American software engineer who had come to Kolkata on a work trip. Their shared obsession with software and business led to something bigger than either had planned. In January 2016, they co-founded Tier5 with two rented computers, one developer, one HR executive, and zero clients.
Aunkita became the operational backbone of the company. As Managing Director, she led the Kolkata office — handling hiring, development teams, and product management — while building Tier5 into what the Kolkata Mail would call a $12 million valued company by 2021. Under her leadership, Tier5 launched 25+ software products, grew to 100+ employees, and served customers on every continent.
Aunkita also founded and leads Helping Hands, Tier5's corporate social responsibility wing, focused on empowering underprivileged communities through education and professional development.
Today she serves as a founding partner of Vaughn Labs, LLC, bringing the same product instincts, operational discipline, and community-first mindset that built Tier5 to a new mission: helping local businesses in Southeast Texas compete in the digital age with AI-powered websites, automation, and marketing tools.
A SaaS CEO and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, Aunkita is proof that great founders aren't made in boardrooms — they're built through decades of building things that actually matter.
Recognitions & Awards
Building software, training jiu-jitsu, and exploring the world together
What We Stand For
Local First
We know this market because we live in it.
AI-Powered
We use the latest tools so your business doesn't fall behind.
Results Driven
We don't just build things. We build things that work.