Built by Operators, For Operators
Two decades of combined agriculture experience, transformed into technology that drives real operational impact.
Joe Vargas
Co-Founder & CEO
Joe spent nearly a decade in tree fruit and berry operations, most recently as Director of Business Intelligence for the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council and North American Blueberry Council. Before that, he led marketing analytics and business intelligence at FirstFruits Marketing, where he witnessed firsthand how poor data access leaves money on the table. After rebuilding 1980s-era systems with modern cloud solutions—saving and generating over $100k in revenue—he saw the transformative power of democratized data. He founded Grow Solutions to bring that same transformation to the entire perishable agriculture industry.
Focus Areas
- Product Vision & Strategy
- Agricultural Operations Expertise
- Customer Success & Industry Relations
Amanda Kuelker
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Amanda is a technical leader specializing in end-to-end cloud data solutions and emerging AI technologies. With over a decade of experience architecting data platforms for enterprise clients—most recently as Director of Service Delivery for Emerging Technologies at Bytecode IO—she combines deep technical expertise with a passion for making complex systems accessible. She co-founded Grow Solutions to bring cutting-edge data and AI capabilities to an industry ready for transformation.
Focus Areas
- Platform Architecture & Engineering
- AI/ML Integration & Data Joe Development
- Data Infrastructure & Scalability
- Client Success & Technical Strategy
Our Story
The Problem We Saw
Joe spent a decade watching agricultural operators make decisions with one hand tied behind their backs. Not because they lacked skill or experience, but because critical data was trapped.
Quality trends that could prevent waste sat in databases, only surfacing in weekly reports—too late to act. Pricing opportunities disappeared while sales teams waited for analyst insights. Supply-demand forecasts relied on gut feel because historical data was inaccessible. Floor managers couldn't answer basic questions without submitting data requests.
The industry had accepted this as normal. "Forecasting is impossible in agriculture," people would say. "There's just too much variability."
Amanda had seen the same pattern across multiple industries—brilliant operators bottlenecked by inaccessible data. As a solution architect, she'd built the technical solutions. She knew exactly what modern cloud platforms, intelligent ETL, and AI-powered interfaces could do.
When Joe and Amanda connected, they realized they were looking at the same problem from complementary angles: one with deep operational pain points in agriculture, the other with proven technical solutions for data democratization. The opportunity was clear.
The Solution We Built
Grow Solutions democratizes data access across agricultural enterprises. Our platform, powered by Data Joe, puts powerful analytics directly into the hands of the people making operational decisions every day.
No more waiting for reports. No more queuing up analyst requests. No more making decisions in the dark.
Whether you're on the packing line checking quality trends, in the warehouse optimizing inventory, or in sales setting prices, Data Joe gives you instant access to the insights you need—in plain language, right when you need them.
What Drives Us
We're not just building software. We're on a mission to transform how the perishable agriculture industry operates:
Increase grower returns through better supply-demand optimization
Slow family farm consolidation by leveling the playing field with enterprise-grade data capabilities
Reduce retailer dominance through insights that drive better negotiation and pricing decisions
Minimize waste through real-time quality tracking and inventory optimization
We've lived the operational reality. We've felt the frustration of leaving money on the table. We've seen the impact that good data access can create. Now we're bringing that transformation to the entire industry.
Our Values
We build for the people on the floor, in the field, and on the phone—not just the analysts and executives.
Success isn't measured in features shipped; it's measured in dollars saved, waste reduced, and better decisions made.
We ship at 70% to learn 100%. Rapid iteration based on real customer feedback beats perfect planning every time.
We're not tech people trying to understand agriculture. We're agriculture people who learned tech.