About
A small lab that likes annoying problems.
Growing Research Labs is a small independent R&D lab in Kentucky. We build automation, custom software, websites and tools for people who have a problem, not a spec.
Who we are
We’re a lab, which means we’re curious for a living. Part of our work is practical: someone tells us what’s eating their week, and we work out whether it can be fixed and what that would take. Part of it is research into better ways for people, software, intelligent systems and machines to work together.
We’re independent. What we recommend is what we think will work for you, and sometimes that’s “don’t build anything”.
You won’t find a wall of client logos here. What you’ll find on our work is what we’ve built, how it was done, and worked examples of the problems people bring us. Anything illustrative says so.
The name on the paperwork
GRL and Growing Research Labs are the public names of Growing Research and Infrastructure Laboratories, LLC, a Kentucky limited liability company. That’s the name you’ll see on a proposal or an invoice.
- Based in
- Kentucky, United States
- Write to us
- hello@growingresearch.org
The person behind GRL
Nicholas AndrewsHead of R&D, Growing Research Labs
GRL is led by Nicholas Andrews, a builder and researcher working across software, automation and experimental systems. The lab exists because too many useful ideas die somewhere between “there should be a better way” and actually building one.
Send GRL a problem and it doesn’t land in a faceless support queue. A real person reads it before anything is proposed or sent back.
How we work
Four habits. They’re the reason you can send us a problem without bracing for a sales pitch.
In writing
We work mostly by email. There's a record of what was asked and what was promised, and nobody has to remember what got said on a call.
On your schedule
You reply when it suits you, and so do we. No standing meetings, and no need to block out an afternoon to get started.
People review everything
A person at GRL reads every problem that comes in, and people make the decisions about what to propose and what to build.
You approve scope and price first
Before any work starts you get a written proposal that says what we'll build and what it costs. Nothing is charged until you've said yes.
That’s us. What about you?
Tell us what’s slow, repetitive or just plain annoying. We’ll take a look.