Startups: Your Web Site Sucks and That’s OK! (For Now)

For an entrepreneur to get their startup launched, he or she has so many balls to juggle. Nearly every task that must be completed—and it seems your list is never ending—there is a compromise on how to prioritize the time and money allocated.

It’s clear that every startup needs a web site. It’s kind of funny that I need to even say it, but it does need to be said.

But I’m telling you, as professional in the field of branding and web design:

It’s OK if your first web site isn’t that great.

• Just going through the process of creating a web site will teach you so much both about how you market your product or service and also how to manage a web site.
• Taking that first stab at trying to express, using words and graphics, the benefits of your new offering will help you become better at articulating its benefits to everyone from partners to investors to employees to buyers.
• Reviewing your web site analytics and seeing where people spend their time will help you organize and prioritize content when you eventually get your web site professionally designed.
• Discovering how quickly the features of your product or service is changing and how that affects the web site will help you better plan the next iteration of your web site.

You don’t want your first web site to live on forever. In fact, many of the advanced startups we work with intentionally ask us to make sure they no longer look like a startup. An amateurish web site will eventually become an obstacle to your success, but learn everything you can from your early web site experience.