About Groover Labs
“Groover Labs is a space big enough to house people with big ideas.” — Co-Founder Curt Gridley
Groover Labs reflects Curt Gridley and Tracy Hoover’s commitment to collaboration, intellectual exploration and local philanthropy. Since its inception in 2000, their Gridley Family Foundation has donated more than $2 million to charitable causes — including more than $1 million to Wichita State University.
Groover Labs — a combination of their last names — is dedicated to providing space and opportunity for people who are ready to take the next step forward developing products, new skills and startup businesses.
They are investing $5 million in Groover Labs.
“It’s been our longtime desire to help rekindle the already strong entrepreneurial history of Wichita by providing a supportive environment for people with dreams like ours,” Curt says. “We’ve built and sold a successful startup from the ground up. We are looking forward to helping other local entrepreneurs succeed as well.”
Groover Labs is large enough to house all of the key elements necessary for successful product prototyping — providing members access to advanced equipment as well as a place to hold meetings and learn new skills.
What sets Groover Labs apart from other makerspaces is dedicated staff and people such as Curt and Tracy who want to be mentors to people hungry for success.
“We envision Groover Labs as a place that provides all of the tools necessary for people to bring their ideas to fruition,” Curt says.
Our Team
Curt Gridley
Co-Founder
A software engineer, Curt is the big-picture guy at Groover Labs. His mind is always churning. He might have failed shop class at his small-town Kansas high school, but he went on to earn a master’s in math at Dartmouth and founded Amber Wave Systems, a venture-backed Boston startup that he sold to USRobotics. He’s a lifelong learner and a big proponent of online education. His life goals include gaining a fundamental understanding of Maxwell’s equations and rebooting his jazz guitar skills.
Jeremiah Burian
Metal Shop Lead
Of the 20 students in Jeremiah’s Tulsa Welding School program, only four graduated. He was one of them. He has earned several welding certifications from the American Welding Society in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Jeremiah enjoys teaching, continually learning and giving back to the community by sharing what he has learned along the way. He and Paul co-own Immortal Metal, which builds metal sculptures, custom fabrication and plasma art.
Amy Huser
Community Associate
Welcome to our new community associate Amy Huser. Amy will be the first person you meet when you walk through our front doors. She is a local artist with a background in customer service and a passion for building community. With an MFA in painting, Amy has taught foundation art and design courses at Wichita State University. She also has gallery coordinating experience. When Amy isn’t at the front desk, she enjoys getting outside for a hike, interior decorating, weaving, and brainstorming ideas in her sketchbook.
Tracy Hoover
Co-Founder
Attention to detail is Tracy’s forte at Groover Labs. She worked as a software engineer for Hewlett-Packard before becoming a full-time parent to Henry and Fiona. She manages the financial side of Groover Labs, handling bookkeeping, payroll and purchasing. She plays the viola da gamba, a bowed Renaissance string instrument, and taught private lessons at Wichita State University. Her superpower is being able to construct a garment that fits a human form with just two sticks and a string.
Parker McConachie
Community Development Manager
With a master’s in English and an MBA, Parker is as likely to quote Shakespeare as he is an article from The Wall Street Journal. Parker has operated a program that renovated homes for injured veterans returning from overseas, worked on $250 million multi-platform marketing campaigns and taught English and business communications at Wichita State University. He and his wife love adventure, including kayaking, mountaineering, biking and paddle boarding.
Paul Maseberg
IT Manager
Paul has been around metal work since he was 5 running water to his Dad and Grandpa as they built projects from windmills to bale movers at the ranch in Nebraska where he grew up. In the years since, Paul's hobbies have included woodworking, construction, electronics and anything to do with computers. He earned a degree in physics and then followed that up with one in computer science, which enabled him to work his day job as a software engineer at AccuWeather.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is coworking?
Coworking is a collaborative environment where startup founders, small business owners, freelancers and remote workers share a common workspace and equipment to lower overhead costs and build networks. At Groover Labs, we hope our members find greater success by bouncing ideas off each other.
What is a makerspace?
A makerspace is a place to innovate. Featuring equipment that most people can’t afford or don’t have access to — think circuit board assembly and a 3-axis CNC machine — Groover Labs is a next-level product lab where people can work together to bring concepts from the idea stage to the market.
What sets groover labs apart?
Groover Labs isn’t just a coworking space or just a makerspace. It’s more than the sum of its spaces and its 42,000 square feet. Groover Labs is where collaboration, entrepreneurship and prototyping meet — in downtown Wichita’s hottest new area. Count on our team of mentors and staff members to help you get where you want to be.
why the name “Groover Labs”?
Curt Gridley and Tracy Hoover are the co-founders at Groover Labs.
Gridley + Hoover = Groover.