Ship in weeks, not quarters
At pre-seed and seed the site's job is to exist, be specific and be credible. A three-month process to launch a site you will rewrite after your next ten customer conversations is the wrong trade.
San Francisco
Startup websites in San Francisco cheap to change, because it will.
The most expensive startup site is the beautiful one built around positioning that changed six weeks after launch.
Overview
What an early stage site needs
Startup website design in San Francisco costs $4,000 to $20,000 depending on stage. Before Series A the goal is not a definitive site, it is one that ships quickly, says something specific, and can be rewritten by your own team the week the positioning moves. Building for permanence at this stage wastes money.
Specific beats polished
Investors and early customers are reading for what you do and who it is for. A plain page that says something precise outperforms a beautiful one that says something universal, and it is dramatically cheaper.
Your team rewrites it, not us
Positioning changes at this stage constantly. If every headline edit is an agency ticket, the site is stale within a quarter. We build so a founder can rewrite the homepage on a Sunday.
What you do not need yet
A custom design system, a blog you will not maintain, six use case pages before you know the use case, an animated hero. We will say so, because we would rather build the next thing for you than the wrong thing now.
Careers matters earlier than you expect
Bay Area hiring is competitive and engineers read the careers page carefully. Team, what you are building, how you work and what the stack is. It is frequently the second most visited page on a startup site.
Set up so you can measure
Analytics, event tracking on the actions that matter and a clean structure to add pages against. Retrofitting measurement after you have traffic means the first months of data are gone.
Pricing
What a Bay Area startup site costs
| Project | Range (USD) | Timeline | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed launch site | $4,000 to $8,000 | 2 to 4 weeks | Home, product, about, careers, contact, editable by your team, analytics |
| Seed stage site | $8,000 to $15,000 | 4 to 7 weeks | Above plus use cases, blog, deeper product content, design system basics |
| Series A rebuild | $15,000 to $30,000 | 8 to 14 weeks | Full component system, multi-audience structure, migration, performance |
| Rewrite only | $1,500 to $4,000 | 1 to 2 weeks | New positioning applied to the site you already have |
| Support retainer | $500 to $3,000 per month | Ongoing | Pages, changes, testing, monitoring |
If you are pre-product and unsure of the positioning, spend at the bottom of this range. The money is better kept for the rebuild you will want once you know who is buying.
Detail
What to ask any agency you shortlist
| Ask them | A good answer sounds like | Walk away if |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the code and design files? | You do, unconditionally, in the contract | Ownership ends when the retainer does |
| What does month two cost? | A number, before you sign | We can discuss that later |
| Price each integration separately | A line and a number per system | Integrations listed as one bullet |
| Who is actually doing the work? | Named people, and what is subcontracted | The team you meet is the sales team |
The maintenance question is where most of these relationships actually go wrong.
Comparison
Where early stage sites waste money
| Mistake | What it costs |
|---|---|
| Building for positioning you have not proven | A rewrite six weeks after launch |
| A three-month process before revenue | Time that mattered more than the site did |
| Every edit requires the agency | A homepage frozen at last quarter's story |
| A blog nobody will maintain | Three posts and a stale date that reads badly |
| No careers page | Losing engineers to companies that wrote one |
| Analytics added after traffic arrives | The only months of data that would have taught you something |
FAQ
Common questions
How much should a startup spend on a website?
Pre-seed, $4,000 to $8,000 and ship it in a month. Seed, $8,000 to $15,000. Series A rebuilds run $15,000 to $30,000. Spending more before the positioning is proven usually funds a rewrite rather than a result.
How fast can we launch?
Two to four weeks for a focused launch site if you can make decisions quickly and the content is ready. The constraint is almost never the build, it is how long a founding team takes to agree what the product actually is.
What if our positioning changes?
It will, which is why we build so your team can rewrite it. Headlines, sections and pages editable without a developer, so the story on the site matches the story you told in yesterday's sales call.
Do we need a blog?
Only if someone will actually write. Three posts and a stale date does more damage than no blog at all, and at this stage founder time is usually worth more in customer conversations than in publishing.
What should we skip at this stage?
A custom design system, use case pages before you know the use cases, elaborate animation and a content programme nobody owns. We would rather tell you that now than sell you the larger project.
Do we need a careers page?
Earlier than most founders expect. Bay Area engineers read it closely, and team, mission, how you work and what the stack is will do more hiring work than a job board listing does.
Can you work with our designer or a template?
Yes to both. Plenty of good early stage sites start from a strong template and get the positioning and build right instead. We will tell you honestly when custom design is not where your money should go.
Do you have an office in San Francisco?
No. We work with Bay Area startups remotely on overlapping Pacific hours and would rather state that than imply otherwise. Not carrying Bay Area overheads is part of why our numbers differ.
Next step
Building for positioning you have not proven?
Send us the URL and we will come back with a range and a scope in writing. You get that in writing, whether or not you hire us.