Our story
It started with a promise
Twenty years in the Marine Corps taught Mitch what he was made for: serving others is what God put in his heart, and that is where he finds his joy and fulfillment.
But too many small-business owners are left to carry it all alone. The builder. The contractor. The shop owner doing payroll at nine at night, drowning in the small stuff that no one should have to carry alone. We started Grace & Light to stand in that gap — to be the people who don't leave the owner behind.
The watchman
Mitch Arnold served more than twenty years as a United States Marine and retired a First Sergeant. He spent a career learning how to follow, how to listen, and how to develop, mentor, guide, and lead Marines in every situation imaginable — in every part of their lives, professional and personal. Because when one area of a person's life is out of order, it touches every other area. When the uniform came off, the mission didn't end — it changed shape. Today it's a wife, three kids, and a company built to carry the load for owners who are trying to do right by their people and their work.
As a First Sergeant, he was the one a unit turned to when something had to be done right and done now — accountable for the training, welfare, and readiness of the Marines in his charge. He carries that same standard into Grace & Light: show up, tell the truth, take ownership, and never leave a person to shoulder more than they should. He won't claim to be the smartest person in the room — he's the one who makes sure the room gets the job done and no one gets left behind.
That discipline is the backbone of how we build. Systems that are tested before they ship, promises that are written down and kept, and a refusal to dress up a problem instead of fixing it. When Mitch tells an owner he'll handle something, it's handled.
The heart
Shay didn't come from boardrooms or tech. She came from people. She keeps the human at the center of everything we build — because a system is only worth having if it makes life better for the person using it and the people they serve. As co-founder, her standard is simple: treat every customer like family, and never let the tools get in the way of the relationship.
What Mitch brings in discipline, Shay brings in heart. She reads people, not dashboards — she notices the owner behind the business and the weight they're carrying. As an equal co-founder, she sets the tone for how every customer is treated: with patience, honesty, and the sense that someone is finally in their corner. Nothing we ship gets past her if it would make a customer feel like a number instead of a person.
She's the reason Grace & Light feels like a relationship and not a transaction. Where most companies hand you software and disappear, Shay makes sure there's always a real person on the other end who actually cares how it's going.
Lead with grace. Be the light.
Our faith shows through our work, not our words — in how we treat people, what we build, and what we do when no one is watching. We don't preach at you. We serve you. That means we build the system, load your real operation into it, and run it with you. It means nothing goes live and no money moves without your explicit yes. And it means when you call, a real person answers.
For the broken who still choose to serve
If you've been through it — really been through it — and you still want to serve other people, there's a place for you here.
We're building more than software. We're gathering a community of people who have carried hard things and chose to turn it into service. If that's you, come build with us.
Founded by Mitch + Shay — retired USMC First Sergeant and co-founder partner. Come as you are. Let us serve.