One studio, one datum
ASALA is a boutique studio in the Bay Area. We brand web applications and build AI products. Identity, interface and production code come from one studio.
The people
Founder
Jordan Richter
Founder, ASALA
Jordan Richter founded ASALA and leads its work. Before software, he was a professional skateboarder: one of five skaters in Video Days, the 1991 Blind film, and later the founder of the Jordan Richter Skateboard Academy. He taught himself to build software. Since October 2025 he has shipped about a dozen live web products for his own brands and for clients, writing the specs, designing the interfaces and directing AI coding agents through to review.
He founded and runs Tarife Attar, a perfume-oil brand, so the commerce work here comes from someone who sells online himself. His own AI products include Madison Studio, a creative workspace for brands, and Sydbar, a CRM for agencies. For Best Bottles he is shaping a storefront, still in progress, for a catalogue of about 2,300 products and about 5,600 product images, with a bottle configurator that only offers parts that fit. He works from the Bay Area.
Operations
Ziah Dean, PhD
Operations, ASALA
Ziah has spent 12 years translating complex systems into clear outcomes, at UCSF, Nikon, Stanford and Genentech. He is a computational biophysicist who learned that the most sophisticated systems are worthless if people can’t use them.
He has trained scientists at top-tier institutions, built curricula adopted by multiple universities, and led AI adoption initiatives that doubled software sales. He knows how to take something complex and make it operational.
At ASALA he makes sure what we build actually works: operations, delivery and stewardship.