About GrowthUP Partners
AI that works because
the people do
We are not another consultancy. We are the partner who stays in the room while your team learns to work a different way, and who measures whether it actually paid off.
Client satisfaction rating
125+ clients served
15+ years of experience
Founder
Abigail Merrill
CEO and Lead AI Consultant
Abigail Merrill is a Certified AI Practitioner (CertNexus), a Google Generative AI Leader, a Microsoft AI Product Manager, and HubSpot Certified, with 15+ years at the intersection of AI and business growth and more than 125 projects delivered. Based in North Carolina's Research Triangle, she founded GrowthUP Partners to help growing teams turn scattered AI experiments into measurable results, through strategic consulting, training, and implementation.
She specializes in sales enablement and go-to-market strategy in complex, regulated industries like pharma, fintech, and real estate, where getting AI right means getting governance right. A passionate speaker and educator, she is known for breaking AI adoption down into clear, actionable steps, whether she is leading a workshop, building a custom GPT, or designing a smarter system. Earlier in her career she led marketing and brand strategy for companies like Nectar Mattress, OpenTable, and the AICPA.
Credentials
- Certified AI Practitioner (CertNexus)
- Generative AI Leader (Google)
- AI Product Manager (Microsoft)
- HubSpot Certified
15+
Years experience
125+
Clients served
4.8/5
Client satisfaction
Organizations We've Helped
What We Do
Nobody on your team owns AI. That is usually the real problem.
Most teams we work with do not have a Chief AI Officer, and do not need one. They need someone who has done this before.
- We look at the whole business, not one department.
- We start from what is real: your workflows, your budget, your risk tolerance.
- We hand the drudgery to AI. Your people keep the judgment.
- We teach the tools your team has never opened.
- Strategy, workshops, training, and implementation, whatever gets you there.
Want the detail? See how we work with teams.
Tool agnostic, on purpose
We work in the tools you already pay for, and bring in what is missing.
Our Values
Our values guide our approach & strategy
Human-Centered Innovation
AI augments your people. It never replaces the judgment that makes the work good.
Practical Solutions
We build inside the tools and workflows your team already uses, not around them.
Measurable Impact
Every engagement is tied to a number you can point at, not a feeling of progress.
Collaborative Partnership
We work with your team, not at them. You own the result when we are done.
Signature Frameworks
Proprietary tools you will not find anywhere else
We built these because the work needed them. Both are used in every engagement, and both are yours to keep using after we leave.
The AI Personality Assessment
Eight AI personality types that show who on your team is driving adoption, who is hesitating, and which voice you are missing. Free to take.
Take the assessment
The AI for ROI™ Framework
A three-phase method for turning scattered AI experiments into measurable return. Align goals and governance, integrate a structured pilot, then scale what works.
See the frameworkAlso in the toolkit
- The 5 C's of Responsible Prompting. How to get real work out of an AI tool without handing it something you should not.
- The Human-First Flywheel. The human sets direction, AI accelerates execution, the human owns the output.
We also teach The 5 C's of Human Intelligence, created by the educators at the Human Intelligence Movement. That one is not ours, and we say so, because the human skills it names are exactly what AI adoption depends on.
Speaking
Book a human-centered AI speaker for your next event
Keynotes, panels, workshops, webinars, and podcasts, from five-person roundtables to five-thousand-seat conferences. No hype, no doom, and nothing your audience cannot use on Monday.
Recent stages: the AI for Women Conference, All Things AI Ignite, Duke Fuqua, and the American Marketing Association.
Book Abigail to speak
FAQs
What kinds of businesses benefit most from GrowthUP Partners?
We work best with teams with real workflows and real revenue, but no dedicated AI function yet. Pharma and life sciences, financial services, professional services, real estate, education, and cybersecurity are where we spend most of our time.
How long is a typical strategy or training engagement?
We offer everything from the AI Opportunity Audit and quick advisory calls to team workshops and ongoing monthly or quarterly advisory. Most clients start with the Audit.
What will I walk away with from the Audit?
An AI Opportunity Report naming your three highest-ROI first moves, plus a clear, prioritized action plan you can implement right away. Prefer to talk first? Book a free discovery call.
What is human-centered AI or responsible AI?
Designing and integrating AI in a way that protects your data, aligns with your values, and amplifies rather than replaces human creativity and judgment. We help businesses create safe, strategic, people-first AI solutions that keep your team and brand protected.
Where are you located? Can you work with remote clients?
We're based in the Research Triangle of North Carolina, available for local on-site sessions or collaborating virtually with clients worldwide.
Do you offer the workshops virtually?
AI Foundations is virtual, 90 minutes, and works well over video because it's a briefing. The two 3-hour workshops are in person only. They run on hands-on group work and real conversation in one room, and that's the part that makes them work.
Ready for an AI partner who puts your people first?
Start with the AI Opportunity Audit, or take thirty minutes and just talk it through. Either way you are talking to a person.