What SURF Incubator does

SURF Incubator is a privately held, dual-purpose facility in downtown Seattle (999 3rd Ave, Suite 700, in the DocuSign Tower) that operates as both a startup community hub and a corporate events venue. Founded in 2009 by Seaton Gras, the company offers tiered coworking memberships (Network at $100/month up to Private Offices from $850/month) alongside 19 bookable event and meeting spaces (including the Hawaii, Maui, Sunset Beach, Waimea, and Moana rooms, plus the SURF Cafe event venue and a podcast/creative Studio) with hourly rates from $20 to $200. Its infrastructure includes 1 Gb/s symmetrical fiber for anchored desks, professional AV equipment, an on-site gym, catering-capable kitchens, and specialty rooms such as a whiteboard-walled UX design space and a podcast studio with Shure SM7B and Canon R7 equipment.

The business operates across two revenue streams: recurring coworking memberships (subscription-based, ranging $100-$850+/month) and usage-based event space rentals plus corporate event hosting services for enterprise retreats, hackathons, and offsites. Distribution is community-led and event-driven, anchored by 300+ annual networking mixers, workshops, and meet-and-greets, supported by a 1,000+ subscriber newsletter, an integrated Nexudus booking platform, in-person tours, and phone-based enterprise sales. Select enterprise clients including Snapchat, Avalara, and Nutanix have hosted corporate events at the venue, while the startup community has produced 50+ companies launched or scaled over the past 15+ years.

The customer base spans early-stage startups (1-2 person founding teams), growing startups needing flexible workspace, corporate enterprises seeking event venues, and individual entrepreneurs/freelancers. The company maintains a horizontal segmentation strategy, with primary segments being early-stage startups and corporate enterprises. SURF remains founder-led with 1-10 employees, no disclosed institutional funding, and operates exclusively in a single Seattle location within the Pacific Northwest market.

Name

SURF Incubator

Legal name

SURF Incubator

Website

https://surfincubator.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SURF Incubator operates a dual-purpose Seattle coworking and corporate events venue serving early-stage startups and enterprise clients with tiered memberships ($100-$850+/month), 19 bookable event spaces ($20-$200/hour), and a 1,000+ member entrepreneur community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Coworking Memberships: Recurring monthly memberships for float desks, anchored desks, private offices, and club/network tiers providing workspace access and amenities
2. Event Space Rentals: Hourly rental of meeting rooms, conference spaces, and event venues ranging from $20/hour for small rooms to $200/hour for large event spaces like SURF Café
3. Corporate Event Hosting: Hosting corporate retreats, hackathons, conferences, and team offsites for enterprise clients with full catering capabilities

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SURF Incubator operates a dual-purpose facility in downtown Seattle's DocuSign Tower combining flexible coworking memberships (Network, Club, Float Desk, Anchored Desk, and Private Office tiers) with hourly and daily rentals of 19 bookable event and meeting spaces. It serves as both a startup community hub providing incubation, mentorship, and networking for early-stage founders and a corporate events venue hosting retreats, hackathons, conferences, and team offsites for enterprises.

Product overview

SURF Incubator operates as a dual-purpose facility serving as Seattle's startup community hub and corporate events venue. The product portfolio consists of flexible workspace memberships (Network, Club, Float Desk, Anchored Desk, and Private Office tiers) and bookable event/meeting spaces (Hawaii, Maui, Sunset Beach, Waimea, SURF Cafe, Studio, and smaller conference rooms like Avocado, Banana, Cacao, Coconut, Kauai, Kona, Lanai, Mango, Moana, Oahu, Papaya, Pineapple, and Wave). Memberships provide tiered access to shared workspaces, conference room credits, internet speeds (300 Mb/s WiFi for Float Desks, 1 Gb/s for Anchored Desks), gym access, and networking events. Event spaces range from intimate 1-4 person meeting rooms to venues accommodating up to 100 attendees, with add-on services including podcast studios, creative studios, and catering kitchens.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Network Membership

Quantifiable outcome

• 50+ successful companies launched or scaled through the incubator
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Industrious: Premium flexible office provider combining coworking memberships with enterprise-grade meeting and event spaces — closely aligned with SURF's dual-purpose positioning targeting both startups and corporate clients.
• WeWork: Global coworking and flexible office operator offering memberships, dedicated desks, private offices, and event spaces to startups and enterprises — directly comparable service mix to SURF's coworking plus event venue model.
• Galvanize: Tech-focused coworking and startup community operator combining flexible workspace with educational programming and events — analogous to SURF's startup-incubator + community-event positioning.
• Knotel: Flexible office provider offering customized private offices and event-capable spaces to growing companies — directly comparable product offering for mid-market and enterprise tenants needing flexible terms.
• Convene: Operates premium meeting, conference, and event venues alongside flexible workspaces, targeting enterprise clients for offsites and corporate events — a near-twin of SURF's event venue + community model.

Broad incumbents

• Spaces (IWG): Global flexible workspace brand under IWG, offering coworking, private offices, and meeting rooms across thousands of locations — comparable service set but with significantly broader geographic and enterprise scale than SURF.

Others

• Techstars: Global startup accelerator with workspace components for portfolio companies. Different core model (equity-driven accelerator) but overlapping Seattle ecosystem and startup community footprint.

Regional players

• Founders Hall: Seattle coworking and event space operator serving startups and corporate clients in the Puget Sound region — direct regional competitor for SURF's Pacific Northwest member and event business.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SURFIncubator
• Facebookfacebook.com/SURFIncubator
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/surf-incubator

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SURF Incubator