Hi, I'm Colin.
Corran Labs helps growing businesses and their founders with content strategy, AI implementation and growth marketing, with a sideline in course evaluation for the education world. I run it from the Scottish Highlands. I've spent fifteen years building online businesses, and a fair chunk of my life studying how people actually learn. This is the story of how those two things ended up in the same lab.
Book a Free Discovery CallA teacher who accidentally
became a business owner.
The short version: I started out teaching, wandered into building online businesses, and spent fifteen years figuring out how to do both at once. Corran Labs is what happened when I finally admitted the two jobs were the same job.
I began my career at a university in Edinburgh, helping to run a Masters course on how to teach with technology (yes, a course about teaching, taught online, about teaching online... it gets recursive quickly). Along the way I picked up a PhD in online education, became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and spent six years lecturing. I even won an award for course design at MoodleMoot in 2014, for a build I did at Edinburgh Napier University. (Quite possibly the most niche trophy available to a human being, but I'll take it.) I loved the teaching. The committees, slightly less so.
Then podcasting got its hooks into me. What started as a wee side project became The Podcast Host, which grew over the years into one of the world's leading podcast education platforms: more than 2 million visitors a year, a top 1% show in PodCraft, a YouTube channel past a million views, five-figure newsletters, and online courses that taught thousands of students to make shows worth listening to.
Off the back of that, I built Alitu, a piece of software that makes podcast production simple enough that you can focus on the talking rather than the tech. It grew to thousands of paying customers and over $1M in annual revenue. In February 2026 The Podcast Host and Alitu were acquired together, so I've now seen a full exit from the sold side, due diligence and all.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, AI arrived. Rather than panic (well, after a brief panic), I got to work: building AI into our content production, our customer support, our courses, and our team's workflows. Years of hands-on experimentation taught me where AI genuinely helps, where it quietly ruins things, and where you need a human in the loop no matter what the tool's landing page promises.
So that's what Corran Labs is: everything I've learned about content, AI, and teaching, offered to businesses who want to grow with all three. I set it up in 2025, and it's run from the Scottish Highlands, though our clients are everywhere.
Three ways we can help.
Content Strategy
We help you build a content engine that grows your business: audience research, channel strategy, editorial systems, and AI-powered production workflows that let a small team publish consistently without burning out. Explore Content Strategy →
AI Implementation
We find where AI actually fits in your business, build the workflows, and train your team to run them. No jargon, no shiny-tool chasing, and no slide decks gathering dust. Explore AI Implementation →
Course Evaluation
We audit online courses and memberships against real learning science, then help creators rebuild them into products that students actually finish. This is where the PhD earns its keep. Explore Course Evaluation →
The people this is built for.
- Businesses of 10 to 200 people (professional services, agencies, e-commerce, media, SaaS) who've been meaning to "sort out the AI thing" for months and want it working across the whole team, not just in one person's browser.
- Founders and marketing leads at growing businesses who know content matters, have a stretched team, and need a strategy and a production system that a small team can actually run week after week.
- Course creators, membership owners and coaches with a signature programme that sells, but where students stall, ask questions module three already answered, or quietly ask for refunds. You want a course people finish.
- Education businesses and training providers who can see that AI is making raw information worthless, and want their product to be the thing AI can't replicate: structured practice, real feedback, and a path to the end.
We're probably not the right fit if you're after a big-agency retainer, a done-for-you content factory, or someone to pick the shiniest AI tool of the month. Every engagement here ends with your team able to run the thing without us.
What working with us
actually looks like.
Colin, directly.
Corran Labs was founded in 2025 and it's run by me. Where a project needs skills that aren't mine (design, video production, development), I bring in trusted partners I've worked with before. You'll always know who's doing what, and I stay your point of contact throughout.
A call first, then email.
Everything starts with a free discovery call: no pitch, just a conversation about where you are and whether we're the right fit. From there it's email and video calls as needed, in whatever tools you already use. You'll hear back within three working days, usually much sooner.
Price and timescale in writing, up front.
Every project gets a written proposal after the discovery call, with a price and a timescale before you commit. Fixed fees where the work allows it (the Course Effectiveness Audit, for example, is £1,500–£2,500 and takes 10 working days). Corran Labs projects need no ongoing retainer. Advisory, board and fractional roles with me are different: they run on a retainer or day rate, and they're covered on Work with Colin.
The Highlands, on UK time.
The practice runs from the Scottish Highlands. The work is remote and the clients are across the UK, the US, Europe and Australia, so calls get scheduled around your timezone. In-person workshops and speaking are available where the project calls for it.
A few things we hold to.
Systems beat willpower. Consistency doesn't come from trying harder. It comes from workflows that make the right thing the easy thing. That's true for publishing content, adopting AI, and finishing courses alike.
AI handles the scaffolding. Humans provide the substance. The research, the first drafts, the repurposing, the admin: let the machines have it. The ideas, the stories, the voice, the judgement: that's yours, and it's the only part your audience actually cares about.
We build engines, not dependencies. Every engagement ends with your team able to run the thing without us. Anything else is a subscription dressed up as a service.
Teaching is a design problem, not a charisma problem. Whether it's training your team or rebuilding your course, learning happens when it's structured properly. That's not an opinion so much as several decades of research (and one fairly stubborn PhD).
Corran Labs at a glance.
- Company
- Corran Labs
- Type
- Independent, founder-led consultancy
- Founded
- 2025, following 15 years doing the work I now teach
- Founder
- Colin Gray (PhD in online education, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy)
- Based in
- Scottish Highlands, UK. Clients worldwide, all work remote.
- Website
- corranlabs.com
- Core offering
- Content strategy, AI implementation and growth marketing for growing businesses and their founders. Course evaluation and learning design for education businesses and course creators.
- Services
- Content Strategy; AI Implementation and team training; Course Effectiveness Audits, course rebuilds and learning intervention builds; Speaking and workshops; Advisory, board and fractional roles with Colin
- Pricing
- Content strategy, AI implementation and growth marketing projects: scoped and quoted after a free discovery call. Course Effectiveness Audit: fixed fee, £1,500–£2,500, delivered in 10 working days. Course rebuilds typically £5k–£15k.
- Engagement terms
- Corran Labs projects: price and timescale agreed in writing before you commit, no ongoing retainer required. Advisory, board and fractional roles with Colin: monthly retainer or day rate, with equity possible alongside a reduced retainer for advisory roles.
- Team
- Colin Gray, plus trusted partners brought in for specific skills when a project needs them
- Communication
- Free discovery call to start, then email and video calls. Replies within three working days.
- Track record
- 15+ years building online businesses. Founded The Podcast Host (2M+ annual visitors, courses taught to thousands of students) and Alitu ($1M+ ARR), both acquired together in February 2026. Six years lecturing in online education; MoodleMoot course design award, 2014.
- Speaking
- Inbound, Podcast Movement, ProBlogger, and events across the UK, US and Australia
- Social
- LinkedIn · X / Twitter · Instagram
- Contact
- Send a message or book a discovery call
Questions people ask
before they get in touch.
Mostly, yes. Corran Labs was founded in 2025 and it's run by Colin. For skills a project needs that aren't his (design, video production, development, that sort of thing), he brings in trusted partners he's worked with before. You'll always know who's doing what, and Colin stays your point of contact throughout.
Yes. The practice is based in the Scottish Highlands and runs on UK time, but the work is remote and the clients are wherever they are: across the UK, the US, Europe and Australia. Calls get scheduled around your timezone, not ours.
Content strategy, AI implementation and growth marketing projects are scoped after a discovery call, and you'll have a price and a timescale in writing before you commit to anything. The one fixed-price product is the Course Effectiveness Audit, at £1,500 to £2,500 depending on the size of the course.
Within three working days, and usually a lot sooner. If something's urgent, say so in the message and it moves up the pile.
We talk about where you are, what's in the way, and whether Corran Labs is the right fit. No pitch deck, no pressure. If we're not the right people, we'll say so and point you towards someone who is.
Where it helps, yes, and we'll always tell you where. AI does the scaffolding: research, first drafts, repurposing, admin. The strategy, the judgement and the recommendations come from a human who's done this before. That's the same balance we help clients strike in their own businesses.
Colin founded both. The Podcast Host is the podcast education platform he built up over more than a decade, and Alitu is the podcast production software that came out of it. Both were acquired together in February 2026. Corran Labs is the consultancy that grew out of everything he learned building them: content, teaching and AI, applied to other people's businesses.
Alongside Corran Labs, Colin works directly with founder-led companies as an advisor, non-exec or fractional lead, one to three days a week. He's built and sold two companies of his own, so it's operator help rather than theory.
Advisory, Board & Fractional Work →Colin speaks on content strategy, AI in business, and building systems that let small teams create big things. He's spoken at Inbound, Podcast Movement, ProBlogger, and events across the UK, US, and Australia.
Explore Speaking & Workshops →That's the story.
Now, what's yours?
If any of this sounds like the kind of help your business needs, book a free discovery call. We'll talk about where you are, where you're headed, and whether we're the right people to help. No pitch, no pressure.