A raise, a launch or a press moment is about to send people to a site built for an earlier version of the company. Here is how to get it ready in time.
How long before a raise or launch should you start?
Plan for three to six weeks. Rewrite the story, rebuild the few pages that new visitors open, and launch at least a week before the announcement so nothing is still changing on the day. If you have less time than that, ship one strong page now and rebuild the rest after.
Who opens your site, and what they check
Visitor | What they check | Page that answers it |
|---|---|---|
Investors | Whether the company looks as serious as the round | Homepage, product, team, proof |
Buyers | Whether you solve their problem and who else uses you | Product or solution pages, case studies |
Journalists | A clear one-line description, founders and a press contact | About and press page |
Recruits | The team and what it is like to work there | About, team and careers |
What to fix first
1. Homepage message: one sentence on what you do and for whom.
2. Product or solution pages that match how buyers search.
3. Proof: logos, results and case studies.
4. About, team and careers.
5. Press kit and contact.
Startup website launch checklist
Run through this before the announcement goes out. Anything unticked a week before the date gets cut or simplified, not rushed.
Story and message
One sentence on the homepage that says what you do and for whom, in words a journalist could quote.
The new story reflected everywhere: homepage, product pages, about page and page titles.
Old positioning removed, including retired products, old pricing and stale team photos.
Pages and proof
Product or solution pages for each buyer you want to reach after the announcement.
Current customer logos, results and at least one case study.
An about page with the founders, the team and the story behind the company.
A careers page if the raise means you are hiring.
Press page and press kit
A short company description in one line and one paragraph.
Founder names, short bios and photos.
Logo files and product images people can download.
Recent announcements and a named press contact with an email address.
Technical checks
Titles, meta descriptions and social share images set for every key page.
Forms, analytics and CRM wiring tested on the live domain.
Every changed URL redirected, so links already out there do not break.
Every page checked on phone, tablet and desktop.
What investors look for on a startup website
Investors use the site as a quick check on whether the company is as far along as the deck says. They look for a clear description of what you do, a product that looks real, customers or results, and a team they can put names and faces to. A site that still describes an earlier product, or shows a seed-stage design next to a Series A announcement, raises questions you do not want in a diligence call.
What to put on your press page
Journalists on deadline want to copy, not ask. Give them a one-line description, a longer paragraph, founder bios, photos, logo files, recent announcements and a press contact. Put it on one page linked from the footer so it is easy to find on announcement day.
Working back from the date
When | What happens |
|---|---|
Six weeks out | Brief and story |
Five weeks out | First designed page on staging |
Two weeks out | Content complete |
One week out | Launch quietly and fix issues |
Announcement day | Nothing left to change |
Launching a week early matters more than it looks. It gives you time to catch broken forms, missing pages and typos while traffic is still low, and it means the site is already live and indexed when the press link goes out.
How long it takes and what it costs
A full Signature Site starts from $10,000 and goes live in three to six weeks. A Landing Page starts from $2,500 and goes live in about five working days. If the site is close but not ready, a Tune-Up is a fixed $5,000 over two weeks. All prices are fixed before work starts and paid half up front, half at launch. For the full breakdown, read what a startup website redesign costs and how long it takes.
How Wisk, Sydecar and GetScope did it
Wisk, the Boeing-backed autonomous aircraft company, went to a Webby-nominated site in two months. Sydecar rebuilt its site after its Series A so the website matched the company it had become, on a 50+ page Framer system its team uses to run 10x more growth experiments. GetScope went to an enterprise-ready site in 14 days.
If you launch often
Some companies have a moment every few weeks, not once a year. Reka, the NVIDIA-backed AI lab, works with us as its embedded design and development team, and its pages go live the day each model ships. That is what our Embedded Team is for, from $2,000 a month on a rolling basis.
Common mistakes before an announcement
Redesigning every page when visitors will only open five. Rebuild those first and leave the rest for after.
Waiting for perfect copy. Lock the one-line message early; the rest can be edited once the site is live.
Launching on announcement day. Anything that breaks then breaks in front of investors and press.
Changing URLs without redirects, so links from earlier coverage and partners stop working.
If the date is too close
Ship a Landing Page in five working days for the announcement, then rebuild the full site after. We cover how in how to launch a landing page in a week.
Work back from the date
Tell us the date and we will tell you what fits. Book a 20-minute call.
Frequently asked questions
How long before a funding round should I redesign my website?
What should be on a website launch checklist?
What do investors look for on a startup website?
What should a startup press kit include?
Can you build a website in time for a launch next week?
Should we launch the new site before the announcement?
What does a pre-launch website redesign cost?
What if we have announcements every few weeks?
Harish Malhi
Founder of Goodspeed
Harish Malhi is the founder of Goodspeed. He left Google in 2019 to build his own product, and started Goodspeed to give other founders the same head start. Today the studio designs and builds websites and the whole digital experience around them for funded tech companies, at the moments that matter: a raise, a launch, a press cycle. Goodspeed is a Framer Enterprise Expert, was Bubble’s Agency of the Year in 2024, and has shipped 300+ products, including launch pages for an NVIDIA-backed AI lab and a Webby-nominated site for a Boeing-backed aviation company. It holds a 5.0 rating from 46 reviews on Clutch.
