About Labsistant
Lab inventory management for R&D labs. Not a LIMS. Not an ELN. The inventory layer your lab is missing.
Why We Built This
We met at the University of Oregon studying computer science. After graduating, we ended up at the same company, where we built two things that turned out to matter: a point-of-sale and inventory system for restaurants, and then a heavily government-regulated inventory system. The kind where every transaction has to be tracked, every change auditable, and every record compliant.
We both ended up leaving the company eventually, but reconnected and started looking at where to build next. The same problem kept coming up: research labs are still managing hundreds of thousands of dollars in reagents with spreadsheets, paper logs, or nothing at all. 81% of labs don't use a purpose-built inventory tool. The ones that do exist hide pricing behind sales calls, take months to implement, and charge enterprise rates for what should be straightforward software.
We'd already built compliant inventory systems. We knew the problem. So we founded 2nd Foundry and built Labsistant, a lab inventory platform that a grad student can sign up for and start using in five minutes, without calling anyone or asking for permission.
Labs Deserve Better Tools
24% of researchers report missing scheduled experiments because the reagents they needed weren't available. 70% say their biggest inventory problem is simply not knowing what they have or where it is. 58% lose at least three days of work every month to inventory issues. The median lab loses around $9,600 a year just to expired chemicals and disposal costs, and for some labs that number is over $84,000. In fact, 17% of labs report losing 10% or more of their inventory to spoilage and expiration each year. Barely half say they feel prepared for an unannounced audit.
40% of all laboratory chemical waste comes from chemicals that were never even used. They sat on a shelf, expired, and now cost 100 to 1,000 times more to dispose of than if someone had just known they were there — one university reported paying over $1,000 per barrel for hazardous waste disposal.
And 81% of labs are tracking all of this with spreadsheets, paper, or nothing.
Most tools in this space are bloated, expensive, and take weeks if not months to implement. They bundle inventory into larger platforms that try to do everything and end up doing none of it well. Labsistant focuses on inventory. It's cheaper, it's faster to set up (minutes, not weeks), and it's built for labs that are done wasting money on unused reagents and expensive software.
We built Labsistant for them. Transparent pricing on the website, self-serve signup, and a product that saves your lab money from day one.
Sources: C&EN BrandLab/MilliporeSigma, 2020 (n≈1,000); ACS; ACS Chemical Health & Safety, 2024
The Team
John Brawner
Co-Founder · Product & Growth
Computer science, University of Oregon. Previously built point-of-sale and compliant inventory systems. Leads product direction, go-to-market, and growth at Labsistant.
LinkedInMatt Almenshad
Co-Founder · Engineering
Computer science, University of Oregon. Previously built point-of-sale and compliant inventory systems alongside John. Leads engineering, infrastructure, and product development at Labsistant.
LinkedInEdna
Chief Entertainment Officer
Oversees morale, nap scheduling, and keyboard quality assurance. Has never once used a spreadsheet to track inventory.