Entrepreneur Profile: Daniel L. Nelson (BA ’07, MAcc ’08) — Grow Computer
It’s been a long and winding road from my humble academic origins in economics and accounting to the world of Food and Agriculture.
Originally from the suburbs of NY, I came to Michigan to with the goal of studying business and left with an undergraduate degree in economics and a Masters degree in Accounting. From UM, I received my CPA licence and came back to NYC to begin the winding odyssey of my career through big-4 accounting firms, early-stage startups, big tech companies, and started my first company, and worked and consulted with many more. While I currently consider myself a “recovering accountant”, the tools I learned at UM have propelled me through my career, and the Michigan network has been invaluable through my journey.
Until 2016, I hadn’t given much of a thought to into the world of Food and Ag , but that all changed around my wedding. For the previous few years, I had been keeping a small balcony garden, and as we were planning for the honeymoon was struck with the question of “How do I keep my plants alive for 17 while I’m gone?” This simple question fundamentally changed my life, and sent me down the rabbit hole into the world of Agtech and the future of farming. As soon as I got home, I began experimenting with remote monitoring, management and automation technology, but was shocked to find nothing available on the market that solved my challenges. Luckily, there is an amazing community of thought leaders, entrepreneurs and urban farmers here in NYC that I was able to connect with and learn from.
Speaking to Econ@Work on Jan 31, 2020. Video link below
These questions and more, have all been answered with Grow Computer. We have built something truly unique, which we are calling the ‘IoT Operating System for Indoor and Urban Agriculture’. What we have built is a seamless digital platform that provides ‘growers’ around the world with powerful digital tools to enable them to better monitor, control, automate and track their ‘grows’ from their phones, even with their grow’s own unique configuration. We are blown away by the responses we have gotten from farmers, entrepreneurs, teachers, researchers, craft cultivators, home growers and more. Our team has been bootstrapping and in stealth mode since 2017, and finally rolling out our first paid alphas to our earliest customers right now!
2020 is going to be a special year for our company as we start to show off and deliver on the amazing things we have been building, as well as raising our first round of capital. For more information, I am always reachable at Dan@growcomputer.com, additionally, please check out a few more links to resources below!
Go Blue!!!