Founder-led.
Built on craft.
Run on AI.
The R&D Dept. is a Costa Mesa, California brand strategy and Webflow studio that helps founder-led businesses get found and chosen in Google and AI search. It's led by founder and creative director Stewart Ramsey.
Co-founder of Krochet Kids intl.
Stewart co-founded Krochet Kids intl. with three friends, a nonprofit apparel brand that created jobs for women in Uganda and Peru and grew into Known Supply and Capable.org. He ran logistics, sales and marketing. It taught him that clarity is what makes people trust a brand.
Read the storyWe get paid when you grow
Most agencies bill by the hour and walk away at launch. We'd rather be partners. For the right businesses, we build the brand identity and first website at cost, or cost plus a small margin. Then we earn alongside you through revenue share, profit share, equity, or a mix. When you win, we win.
Talk about a partnershipThe R&D Dept. today
A senior studio in Costa Mesa doing brand strategy, identity, Webflow and Shopify websites, and AI visibility, run on an AI-native workflow. We work with everyone from publicly traded companies like TrueCar and global brands like Belkin to resorts, breweries, real estate firms and local contractors.
See our workBuilt at cost. Paid on performance.
We'd rather own a piece of your growth than bill you for hours. Here's how it works.
Build at cost
Brand strategy, identity and your first Webflow website, priced at our cost or cost plus a small margin. You get senior work without the agency markup.
Grow together
We stay on as your growth team: AI visibility, content, campaigns and site improvements, measured against real revenue, not deliverables.
Share the upside
Our compensation is tied to your results through revenue share, profit share, equity, or a combination we agree on up front.
It's not for every business. We partner with founder-led companies that have a proven offer and room to grow, and we're selective about who we take on. Prefer a fixed-fee project? We do those too.
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