Built by Operators. For Operators.
WE'VE BEEN BUILDING THINGSSINCE BEFORE WE COULD SPEAKENGLISH.
We're first-gen kids who watched our families build real businesses with their hands. Now we build the systems that help operators do the same.
Sam's Roots
EL SALVADOR → SAN DIEGO
Mario's Roots
BRAZIL → SAN DIEGO
Sam
0+ YEARS BUILDING
Mario
0+ YEARS DESIGNING
Why We Built This
Agencies keep failing the trades.We're done watching it happen.
2014
FIRST CLIENTS SERVED
Started building brands and websites for small operators across multiple industries.
2018
VENTURE-BACKED PLATFORM WORK
Rebuilt dashboards and brand systems for event-tech platforms serving millions of users.
2022
POWERED BY SURGE FORMED
Launched our custom branding and web design division for venture-backed and regulated industries.
2024
SAW THE GAP
Watched home service operators get burned by templated agencies and twelve-month contracts.
2026
THE SURGE AGENCY LAUNCHES
Opened our home services division — AI-native execution, custom code, full ownership, no contracts.
2014
FIRST CLIENTS SERVED
Started building brands and websites for small operators across multiple industries.
2018
VENTURE-BACKED PLATFORM WORK
Rebuilt dashboards and brand systems for event-tech platforms serving millions of users.
2022
POWERED BY SURGE FORMED
Launched our custom branding and web design division for venture-backed and regulated industries.
2024
SAW THE GAP
Watched home service operators get burned by templated agencies and twelve-month contracts.
2026
THE SURGE AGENCY LAUNCHES
Opened our home services division — AI-native execution, custom code, full ownership, no contracts.
Two divisions. One team. Powered by Surge handles ventures and regulated industries. The Surge Agency builds for the trades.
Agencies sell deliverables. Operators need outcomes.
Templates vs. Custom Code
Every site we build is hand-coded. No themes, no page builders.
PDFs vs. Live Dashboards
You see what's working in real time. No monthly reports nobody reads.
Contracts vs. Relationships
Month-to-month. You own everything. Walk anytime.
WE BUILT SURGE BECAUSE OPERATORS DESERVED BETTER.
Two operators. Thirty years combined.
No middle management.
You'll never get handed off to a junior account manager. You'll never wonder who's actually doing the work. It's us. That's it.
Co-Founder
Sam Delgado
Strategy + Execution
First-generation Salvadoran-American. Sam's dad was a master builder — homes, kitchens, brickwork. His brother runs Delgado Builders, a custom home building company in Maryland. He grew up watching what it actually takes to run a trades business in America.
20+ years in tech, web design, and marketing. Built brands and acquisition systems across cannabis (Klover), hospitality (Focus Restaurant Group / Señor Tequilas), and home services. Has served as a direct extension of operations teams for businesses doing $1M+/month — building SOPs, training programs, tech stacks, and full marketing systems.
Lives in San Diego. Speaks fluent operator.
Co-Founder
Mario Goncalves
Design + Brand
First-generation Brazilian-American, raised in Cape Cod. Same story, different language at the dinner table. Mario's family built everything they had from the ground up, the immigrant way.
UI/UX and brand designer with 10+ years working across venture-backed platforms, including dashboard and brand system rebuilds for event-tech platforms serving millions of users. Mario brings enterprise-grade design discipline to industries that have been getting templated work for decades.
If your website looks like every other roofer in town, that's why he exists.
We're not just marketers.
We understand business.
Most agencies have never run a business outside of an agency. We've built and operated inside companies doing $1M+/month. We know what operators actually need because we've been in the seat next to them.
Cannabis Retail
KLOVER
San Diego dispensary doing $1M+/month. Sam serves as a direct extension of the operations team — building SOPs, compliance systems, staff training, sales playbooks, tech stack design, and full marketing strategy execution. Cannabis retail is one of the most regulated, complex retail environments in America. We know how to operate inside that.
Señor Tequilas
FOCUS RESTAURANT GROUP
Multi-location restaurant group doing $1M+/month. Sam built operational frameworks across hospitality including onboarding, training, marketing systems, and tech infrastructure. Hospitality runs on margin, speed, and consistency. Same principles that win in trades.
Powered by Surge
TEN YEARS BUILDING BRANDS
Our parallel branding division, Powered by Surge, builds custom websites and brand systems for venture-backed platforms, regulated industries, and operator-led businesses across the country. Every system we build for Surge Agency clients is informed by what we learned doing enterprise work for a decade.
Industries we've operated in
Cannabis Retail · Hospitality · SaaS · Event Tech · Home Services · Restaurant Groups · Custom Home Building · Marketing Tech
The Surge Standard.
Sam Delgado + Mario Goncalves — Co-founders, San Diego
"We only work with operators who get it. Who want to embrace AI, leverage automation, and build something that compounds. We say no a lot. That's why our yes means something."
Most agencies will take any client who can pay. We don't. The Surge system works because it's installed properly, in the right business, with enough runway to compound. Rushing it for the wrong client doesn't serve anyone.
We're selective. We're accountable. And everything we build lives in your accounts because the moment we start doing great work for you, you should own what made it great.
- We only take clients we are confident we can help
- Everything built in your accounts from day one
- We own the outcome, not just the deliverable
- Transparent reporting on revenue, not vanity metrics
- We share what we learn, even outside our engagement
We love operators who get it.
Operators We Love
Not the Right Fit
Embrace AI and want efficiency baked into operations
Want a button to push that prints leads
Future-thinking, ready to build systems that compound
Looking for a 30-day miracle
Know their numbers, their margins, their goals
Can't tell us what a closed job is worth to them
Want a relationship, not a vendor
Want to micromanage every ad headline
Invest in their business like operators, not gamblers
Ad spend equals their entire growth budget
Trust experts to do what they hired them for
Need to approve every decision before it ships
We share tips, tricks, and operational frameworks with our clients all the time — including stuff outside our engagement. That's how we work. If that sounds like the partnership you want, we should talk.
Stop chasing leads.
Own your pipeline.
Book a free 15-minute strategy call. No pitch deck, no presentation. We'll map out what the Surge Acquisition Engine looks like for your business, your market, and your revenue goals, and whether we're the right team to build it.