What should a deep tech startup's website say before a raise?
What investors check on a deep tech startup's website before a raise, what to leave off, and how to keep it in line with your pitch deck.
Before a raise, your website should tell an investor in plain words what problem you solve, who has it, how your science solves it, what proof you have and who is on the team. It should match your pitch deck, so the investor who looks you up after your meeting finds the same story. It should not publish unfiled inventions, and it should not advertise the raise itself.
Why does your website matter during a raise?
Most investors read your deck, then look you up. Your website is where they check that the story holds together. Partners, customers and the people you want to hire do the same.
A site that still describes last year’s market, shows an old team or uses different numbers from the deck creates questions you then have to answer in the meeting. A site that says the same thing as the deck, more simply, lets the conversation move on to the opportunity.
What should the home page say?
Keep it short and write it for a smart reader outside your field. In order:
One line on what you do. What the company makes, for whom, and why it matters, with no jargon.
The problem. Who has it, and what it costs them today.
How it works, at one level of detail. Enough to show the science is real. Talk about the result your technology delivers, not the recipe.
Proof you can stand behind. Patents filed or granted, peer reviewed papers, pilots, grants awarded and partners, but only with their permission and with dates.
The team. Founders, scientific leads and advisors, with the credentials that matter to this business.
A way to reach a named person. A founder’s name and a simple contact form beat a generic inbox.
Put the words on the page as text, not inside images, so search engines and AI tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity can read and quote them.
What should you leave off the website?
Two things: inventions you have not protected yet, and the raise itself.
Unfiled inventions. IP Australia’s advice is to keep an invention secret until you have filed a patent application or chosen another option. It says not to post your invention on social media or anywhere on the internet, and when you discuss your area of business, to talk only about the problem your invention solves, not your solution. If you have already gone public, Australia gives a 12 month grace period to file a standard application, but IP Australia notes that not all countries offer one, which can limit protection overseas. A provisional application gives you 12 months to decide whether to proceed and IP Australia does not publish its technical details, but it does not give patent protection on its own. Check with your patent attorney before the science section goes live.
The raise. ASIC explains that many early raises rely on an exemption for personal offers: fewer than 20 people in 12 months and no more than $2 million raised in that period. ASIC’s note on that exemption is direct: you must not advertise the offer when you rely on it. Where a disclosure document is needed, you cannot advertise the offer until it has been lodged. So keep the round size, terms and “invest now” buttons off your site, and talk to your lawyer about what the site can say while you raise.
One more check: your name. IP Australia says registering a business name does not give you exclusive rights to it. A registered trade mark does. Check your name before you spend on a brand and website built around it.
How do you make the website and the deck tell the same story?
Write the one line description once and use it everywhere: deck cover, home page, LinkedIn and email signature. Then:
Use the same numbers, milestones and dates in both, and update the site whenever the deck changes.
Show the same team, with current titles.
Use the same name for your technology. If the deck calls it one thing and the site calls it another, readers think they are two things.
Match the visuals, so the deck and site look like they come from the same company.
Check the site on a phone. Many people open your link from an email.
This is how we approached PendingAI‘s brand, deck and website, built to make quantum-AI drug discovery explainable in a single meeting.
Want a second opinion before you raise?
If you are preparing to raise and want to know whether your website and deck tell the same clear story, send us both and book a 30 minute chat. We will tell you what is working and what we would change first.
Sources
ASIC: Disclosure documents to be provided to potential investors when raising funds
ASIC: Fundraising: restrictions on advertising and cold calling
This article is general information, not legal advice. Check the current rules with the relevant government body before acting.
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