Partner with The SWELL
Partner with the next wave of Seattle founders
The SWELL soft-launches at Seattle Tech Week in July and spends 2026 building alongside the first 50 women-led businesses. We are looking for partners in six categories for GA later in Sept 2026.
Why now
Seattle has events. It doesn't have a room.
Nearly half of new US businesses are now started by women, and Washington leads the country for women business owners at 42% of employer businesses. What Seattle has plenty of is events. What it lacks is a place where women founders work alongside each other week after week, with advisors who know their sector and peers who know their week.
The SWELL is that place. A working community at SURF Incubator in downtown Seattle, equity free, caregiving aware, and built for every definition of success. Bootstrapped, purpose-led, venture-backed, or still an idea.
We are building it in public, with the first 50, in 2026.
Six ways to partner
Pick the shape that fits your firm
Each partnership is designed around a real role in the community. We will help you find the one that best matches your team, budget and time.
Founding Partner
Help establish the 2026 pilot and be recognized as one of the partners who made the first year possible. Named across the launch, the space and the programming.
Program Partner
Back a practical area of founder support: AI and technology, financial confidence, customer growth, leadership, operations or founder wellbeing. Your team can deliver it, or we will bring the right expert.
Access Partner
Fund scholarships, subsidized memberships, childcare-related access or transportation, so cost and caregiving are not the reasons a promising founder is left out.
Expert Partner
Contribute advisor hours, tools, services, workspace or introductions. This is the category for firms whose expertise is the product: legal, accounting, banking, insurance, design, recruiting.
Resources Partner
Provide a package of member perks plus education and expertise from your specialists. Think Canva, AWS, Google Cloud, Intuit, Gusto: tools founders already need, delivered with someone who knows how to teach them.
Community Partner
Co-host programming and build referral pathways with us. We are a convener rather than a competitor, and we will send founders to you when you are the better fit.
What partnership makes possible
What partnership makes possible in 2026
Keeping membership at a price women can fund themselves. Paying the advisors, facilitators and coaches who make the experience worth showing up for. Funding scholarships for founders with financial or caregiving constraints. Building programming that is genuinely useful rather than merely well intentioned. And measuring what works, so 2027 is built on evidence.
What we are not
We are not selling logo placement
A logo on a banner does nothing for you and nothing for the founders in the room.
Partnership here means your people are in the building. Running a masterclass, taking office hours, meeting founders in year one, before anyone else is paying attention. That is the version that works for both sides, and it is the only version we offer.
Who this tends to suit
Who this tends to suit
- Firms that serve small and growing businesses and want relationships rather than impressions.
- Companies with community, DEI or small business budgets looking for something local and specific.
- Founders and operators who have already done well in Seattle and want to put something back somewhere they can see it.
- Venue, food and beverage partners who want their product in front of a room that hosts events every week.
Prefer to give rather than partner?
Some supporters want to back the founders directly rather than take on a partnership. You can, through our partner organization Sound Startups. Donations go straight into founder access: scholarships, subsidized memberships, and the practical costs that keep caregiving and money from being the reason a woman does not take part.
Sound Startups is a non-profit in registration and handles charitable donations on our behalf. Contact us if you would like to direct your gift to a specific program.
A swell is the energy that gathers before a wave. Come and be part of it.
The SWELL is a mission-based for-profit. Partnership contributions are a business expense rather than a charitable donation. If you would like to make a charitable gift, you can do so through Sound Startups, and those funds go directly to founder scholarships and access.