The person behind it

Hi, I'm Robb.

Founder · Chowen Labs, LLC · Bainbridge Island, WA

I'm a pilot and a builder. For most of my career I've been flying Boeing 737s, and like a lot of pilots, I've been frustrated by tools that don't work the way people actually think — apps that feel like spreadsheets, calculators that require a manual, software clearly designed by someone who never had to use it under pressure.

So I started building my own. Chowen Labs is the name I gave that effort — a small, serious studio where I can build things with the same standards I'd apply in the cockpit. Precise, reliable, and designed for the moment you actually need them.

Not everything is aviation. FerryOrNot comes from life on Bainbridge Island, where the ferry schedule shapes the whole day. EstateTend comes from the world of concierge property care, where good tools are surprisingly hard to find. FltMinder replaces the printed notebook I carry on every trip. Each one started as a real problem I couldn't find a good solution to.

That's the whole philosophy: build what you wish existed, and build it well enough that someone else might actually use it.

👨‍✈️
Robb Crawford
Founder & Developer · Chowen Labs, LLC
Location
Bainbridge Island, Washington
Background
Boeing 737 Pilot
Studio type
Solo indie developer
Platforms
iOS & web
In the works
FerryOrNot · EstateTend · FltMinder
Get in touch →
The co∞ mark — C + O, infinitely
The name

What's a Chowen?

Chowen Labs is named after my sons — Charlie and Owen. The name is a reminder of who I'm building for, and the kind of work I want to model for them.

The logo carries that forward: the infinity mark forms a C and an O — Charlie and Owen — woven together in a continuous loop. A metaphor for the work too: iterating, connecting, never quite finished.

Every app I build carries a little of that. The standard isn't "good enough for an app store" — it's "good enough to put their name on it."

What we stand for

Built on six beliefs

These aren't marketing words. They're the filter every decision gets run through before anything ships.

🎯
Purpose over features
Every app has one job. We don't add features to make the app feel bigger — we cut until only the essential remains.
✨
Premium by default
Craft is the standard, not a tier. Every screen gets the same care, whether it's the first users see or the tenth.
Committed
🔒
Privacy without compromise
Your data is used only to make the product work — never mined, never sold, nothing else, ever.
✓ No ads — not now, not ever
✓ No tracking or behavioral analytics
✓ No selling or sharing of usage data
✓ No third-party data brokers
🛠️
Built from experience
Each app starts as a lived problem, not a market opportunity. We build what we've needed ourselves.
🌱
Small and intentional
Staying small is a choice. A small studio ships things with a clear point of view, not a committee's compromise.
♾️
Always iterating
Shipping is the beginning, not the end. Every app gets better with real use and real feedback.

Want to work together?

Interested in what we're building, or have a project worth discussing?

Get in touch →