Seattle runs on coffee and teriyaki.
Everyone knows about the coffee. Locals know the other half: teriyaki shops on every other corner, a Seattle invention story as old as the espresso carts, plus salmon seasons, Ballard breweries and Capitol Hill everything. SIGNL is forming its Seattle founding roster now: creators who post the city locals actually eat in, and businesses ready to comp them.
The post is the job.
SIGNL is free for creators. Always. Businesses pay the platform. You never pay to join, to list, or to get booked.
Comp visits are the core. Paid bookings sit on top: set your own rate, the business pays it, and the platform fee is 6 percent total, split evenly, so you keep 97 percent of your rate. Paid bookings are held by SIGNL until your post is live. Headliners (15,000+ followers) are also first in line for featured paid campaigns when businesses run them.
Beyond the Needle
Teriyaki, the unsung staple
Seattle-style teriyaki, charred chicken, sweet glaze, iceberg salad, a mountain of rice, is the city's true everyday food, and every neighborhood guards its favorite shop. That loyalty is the product.
Coffee is a craft scene
Beyond the famous names, Seattle's independent roasters and cafes are neighborhood anchors from Ballard to Columbia City. Anchors have regulars, and regulars have feeds.
Neighborhoods with borders
Capitol Hill, Fremont, Ballard, West Seattle across the bridge: Seattleites are tribal about their side of the water. A post from inside the tribe beats any citywide campaign.
Seafood seasons
Salmon runs, oyster winters, crab when it lands: Seattle eats on a seasonal clock, and creators who post the season teach the city what to order.
How it works for Seattle creators
Claim your founding spot
Sign up free with Seattle as your market and finish your profile: your handles, your neighborhoods, what you post about. Founding creators are reviewed in sign-up order, and your tier is set automatically by your total audience.
Go be a customer
Show up, redeem the comp in the app, and experience the business for real. Bring a guest when the offer covers two.
Post within 48 hours
The Standard Visit: 1 post or reel plus 1 story that shares the post, posted to a 48-hour standard with a week as the outside limit, honest and clearly disclosed as comped. The platform tracks the post, so the business gets proof and you get credit for the visit.
Teriyaki counters to Capitol Hill nights
Comps run across the city: teriyaki counters, independent coffee bars, seafood houses, Ballard brewery taprooms, Fremont cafes, salons, barbershops and fitness studios. Post the Seattle your followers actually live in.
Students count here. If you are at the University of Washington, Seattle University or Seattle Pacific, name your school when you sign up or finish your profile: your profile carries your campus, so businesses near your school can find you first. A Standard Visit fits between classes, and alcohol offers are 21+ only.
Where do you land?
Tiers are set automatically by your total audience across platforms, and they rise as you grow. A small, genuinely local audience beats a big, scattered one.
- Everyday people with a local following
- Comp visits, and paid bookings at your own rate
- Perfect first step into local posting
- Regular local posters, the roster's sweet spot
- Comp visits, and paid bookings at your own rate
- Priority access to new businesses
- Established local creators
- Comp visits, and paid bookings at your own rate
- First pick of grand openings and launches
Under 500 followers, or just starting out? Apply anyway. Your tier is set by your follower count, and it moves up as you grow. What matters most is not the number, it's that your audience is actually local and actually engages. Nobody picks their own band.
Seattle businesses: your side of the water wins
Seattle does not cross the bridge for dinner on an ad's advice. It goes where its own neighborhood points. Founding businesses get pointed to by the creators their neighbors already follow: comped at your cost, posting honestly, tracked end to end.
Ads reach everyone except the people who live nearby. SIGNL puts Seattle creators who live here inside your business, posting to neighbors who can walk in this week.
Join the founding business list
Apply in a few minutes. Your category spot in your trade area is held in application order, and nothing is charged today.
Founding pricing, held for you
$199 a month for Self-Service (up to 5 creator visits a month, about $40 per creator visit), $349 a month for Growth (up to 10 creator visits a month, about $35 per creator visit) or $699 a month for Managed (up to 20 creator visits a month), with a 3-month minimum and then month to month. Founding businesses get $100 off the first month. Visits you don't use roll into the next month, then expire. The only other cost is the comp the business chooses to offer, provided at its cost, not retail. Founding businesses keep founding pricing while they remain subscribed, and the plan begins when the Seattle market opens.
Activate when Seattle opens
Pick creators from the founding roster, offer a comp at your cost, and get honest, tracked posts delivered in 48 hours* of each visit.
*Creators have up to one week to post. 48 hours is the standard they are held to, and hitting it earns their Momentum. If a week passes with no post, the visit is replaced and does not count against your plan.
If a booked creator does not show up or does not post, that visit does not count against your monthly visits. It is replaced.
How content rights work: on a comp visit, you can share the creator's post natively with the creator credited, and nothing more: no downloads, no reposting the file, no ads. On a paid visit, you can also repost the content on your own channels and run it as an ad for 90 days under the standard license included in the booking. The creator always owns the content. Rights follow the visit, never the plan.
Neighborhood by neighborhood
The founding roster lives where Seattle actually eats, drinks and caffeinates.
- Capitol Hill
- Ballard
- Fremont
- Columbia City
- Wallingford
- West Seattle
- Greenwood
- Beacon Hill
- University District
- Georgetown
Questions, answered straight
Is SIGNL live in Seattle yet?
Not yet. Founding sign-ups are open now, the founding roster is forming, and founding businesses are joining the founding list. Offers begin when the Seattle market opens, and founding creators see every offer first.
Does it cost anything to join SIGNL as a creator?
No. SIGNL is free for creators. Always. Businesses pay the platform. You never pay to join, to list, or to get booked. Your compensation on standard visits is the comp itself: the meal, service or experience the business provides.
What would I actually post about in Seattle?
A teriyaki ruling from your neighborhood shop, a Ballard brewery night, a Capitol Hill dinner, oysters in season. The Standard Visit is 1 post or reel plus 1 story that shares the post, posted to a 48-hour standard with a week as the outside limit, honest and clearly disclosed as comped.
I am a student at the University of Washington. Can I join?
Yes. Name your school when you sign up or finish your profile and your profile carries your campus, so businesses near your school can find you first. The Standard Visit fits between classes, and alcohol offers are 21+ only.
How does a Seattle business join, and when is it charged?
Apply for the founding business list and your category spot is held in application order. Nothing is charged today. Your plan begins when the Seattle market opens, at founding pricing: $199 a month for Self-Service (up to 5 creator visits a month), $349 a month for Growth (up to 10 creator visits a month) or $699 a month for Managed (up to 20 creator visits a month), with a 3-month minimum and then month to month. Founding businesses get $100 off the first month. Visits you don't use roll into the next month, then expire.
Which parts of Seattle does the roster cover?
Neighborhood by neighborhood: Capitol Hill, Ballard, Fremont, Columbia City, Wallingford, West Seattle, Greenwood, Beacon Hill, the University District and beyond. If your followers live here, your audience counts as local here.
This page is the Seattle founding story: why this city, and what founding means here. The Seattle market page carries the directory view: founding terms and roster details for this market.
Seattle's founding roster is forming now
Creators join free and are reviewed in sign-up order. Businesses join the founding list at founding pricing, charged nothing until the market opens.