Insanitek started as a mere question: What if ?

What if we could make things that make a difference to the world, no matter how small of a scale? What if we could research things beyond the constraints of money and institutional politics? What if we could live a well balanced dream life, yet still make huge impacts on the world?

“What if” soon morphed into “why not” and we began living it.

Insanitek R&D, the business incubator for researchers and inventors, snuck into the world quietly while Grace Conyers and Ali Alarafat pushed through their university educations. Now, Insanitek is taking bold steps into the world to show people what happens when you live the what if.

To make The Dream come true for more people, Insanitek is also a science and technology apprenticeship. We teach beginning scientists how to do their craft, while also helping them communicate what they do to as many different people as they will come across in life. That means increasing science literacy across the world.

Insanitek is a business incubator for independent researchers and inventors that want to do more than just wish. We enable you to be a doer by helping you develop and market products from idea to the bank, develop a community that is interested in you and your ideas, and help you pick up the skills to make it all happen. We believe in bootstrapping ideas and working hard. But then again, when you are doing what you love, it’s not work. It’s play.

The Dreamers and Doers of Insanitek

Grace, the Captain, is the only member of Insanitek at this moment of regrowth. She’s a homesteader, soil scientist, herbalist, tea-addict, unrepentant bibliophile that spends her days working on the homestead, digging in dirt, and laughing with students.

Insanitek Values

Grace believes that values are the pillars of Insanitek that keep it standing tall. These are the values we fall back on when an offer is presented to us to see if we want to take it. These are the company values and how we use it here at Insanitek. (For transparency, this section will change from time to time to more fully explain or add examples to values.)

Integrity

The value of a person, company, or work is rooted in how honest it is. If someone were to ask us to fudge numbers, hide facts, or lie, that job is not for us. We also require that each student and family that works with us holds the same integrity.

Transparency

Grace believes in transparency in what we do. It not only makes keeping integrity easier, but falls in line with two other thoughts we stand behind: Science should be open and usable by everyone. Knowledge should be available for all. To meet this we add all the resources we use for articles, as well as occasionally make a transparency report on how things are going.

Wisdom

There is knowledge. There is intelligence. But then there is wisdom which combines the two with experience grounded in the real world over a breadth of multiple lives, not just one person’s experience.

Individual Responsibility

We help each other with instruction and passing down knowledge, but in the end each person is in charge of themselves.

Frugality

There is no reason to spend money frivolously, and wanton waste is frowned upon. While errors and mistakes happen, spending like we’re the government isn’t sustainable. At least we turn that into a lesson. 😉

Sustainability

If we can create or recycle what we have to get the same results, then we do so. That includes using the homestead food for healthy lunches for company barbecues.

Self-sufficiency

Insanitek strives to be a self-sufficient as it can be. Obviously we can’t make our own chemicals, but we have internal goals that will allow us to not rely on a shoddy supply chain to get things done. We want each of our group to also be a self-sufficient as possible, both in terms of research, but also as they learn and grow in their skills to craft the tools they need.

Logic over emotions

Being kind and considerate is a baseline, but being able to put emotions on hold to rationalize when life doesn’t go as planned is a necessity. We base things on logic and real science here, not the kind that has been politicized or twisted for social constructs.

Independent thinking

Every person has a different world view and desires in life. We demand that everyone respect that and listen with an open mind. We encourage each person, no matter their skill level or roll in the company think independently and respectfully have conversations and scientific challenges.

Willingness to keep improving

We all start somewhere, and we all have room to grow both professionally and personally. We embrace that and seek ways to level up at a rate that works per individual. We strive for the best we can personally be, which is an ongoing journey in life that extends well past a person’s time at Insanitek.