Startup studio · Santa Barbara
Startups are like wave sets. Many are seen, and few are ridden.
Swellhouse is a new Santa Barbara studio built to find the few worth riding. Founders bring a problem they know well. We pay for the customer research, build the first version with them, and stay until ten customers are using it. Our investors are in from the start.
How it works
We expect most ideas to stop after a few weeks of interviews. Finding that out costs ~$5,000, mostly paying people for their time in interviews. A year of building something nobody buys costs far more.
STAGE 1
A founder tells us the problem and who has it. We continue if we can name a buyer and the founder can sell to them.
STAGE 2
We pay for interviews with buyers and experts, a quick test of the hardest technical piece, and a first look at pricing and costs.
STAGE 3
The founder and a studio engineer build a first version with AI tools, then work with pilot customers until ten are using it and some are paying.
STAGE 4
An outside investor sets the price of the first round. Our fund then invests ~$250,000–$500,000 alongside them.
How we judge interest. Buyers take a second call, introduce us to colleagues, and ask when they can start using it. If we have to chase people just to get interviews, we stop.
What the studio brings
The founder runs the company. We provide money for the early work and the help a new team usually has to find on its own.
An example from our own work
RadiusOS is a CRM for small trades businesses such as roofers, painters and HVAC contractors. An owner records a job walk by voice and photo, and RadiusOS turns it into customer records, quotes and invoices. Chad built it alone with AI, and it is live with free and paid plans.
Our model
Founders keep the idea and majority ownership. Swellhouse pays for the research, runs the process, and introduces the first customers.
| Question | Accelerator | Swellhouse | Classic studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idea comes from | Founders | Founders, screened by us | Mostly the studio |
| Who builds | Founders | Founder plus a small studio core | Studio staff, then a hired CEO |
| Customer research | Founder pays for it | Studio pays, then decides go or no-go | Studio pays, then decides go or no-go |
| Ready to raise when | Demo Day | Ten customers are using it | The studio judges it fundable |
| Typical stake | ~7% plus a SAFE | 20–25%, founder majority | Often 30–40% |
The Operator’s Playbook
Built from the Alchemist Accelerator founder textbook and updated for today’s founders. It runs online with hired facilitators. Founders who finish it will already know how our research works, and many of our studio founders will come from it.
Module 1 · Screen
What kind of company you are building, how it will make money, and how to agree terms with a co-founder.
Module 2 · Research
How to interview buyers, sign pilot customers, and build a list of your first ten.
Module 3 · Build
Selling as the founder, running a sales meeting, and closing the deal.
Module 4 · Raise
When to raise from angels or funds, and how to run a fundraise from start to finish.
Module 5 · Build
The handful of numbers to track at your stage, and when to build more or sell more.
Module 6 · After the raise
Your first five hires, working with a board, and marketing with little money.
Working with us
Founders
We work with operators, industry experts and early startup employees who know a problem well and have not started a company yet. You run the company. We pay for the research and build the first version with you.
Investors
The studio company will pay for the team, the research and the builds, and hold a 20–25% stake in every company. A separate fund, starting as one SPV per deal, invests in each company’s first round alongside an outside lead.
Someone who has raised and run an early-stage fund, can bring a fund to invest in our companies’ first rounds, and wants to help decide which ideas move forward.
Why Santa Barbara
Procore, AppFolio, Sonos and Invoca were all built here.
About $293M of venture capital went into the county in 2025 across 35 deals, an average of $8.4M each. Very little of it went to companies at the very start.
UCSB engineers and alumni of local companies, with no studio here to start a company inside.
Swellhouse is built for the stage before the first check. Today, founders here either do that stage alone or move away to do it.
VC figures: Colliers report on Santa Barbara County, 2025.
Contact
Write to Chad Newell, founder of Swellhouse. Chad founded and sold Snapwire and Media Bakery, ran business products at VSCO, and mentors founders at Alchemist Accelerator.
chadrnewell@gmail.com