Stripe head of design Katie Dill reviews startup websites

Executive overview

Most startup websites fail at the same thing: they don't quickly answer who it's for, what it does, and why it matters. Every pixel either earns its place or erodes trust — including grammar, iconography, and scroll behaviour.

Every design detail is a trust signal — getting the small things wrong makes users question whether you get the big things right.

Communicate value before asking for attention

• State what the product does and who it's for above the fold — don't make users scroll to find out.
• Headlines should stand alone: if scanning only the H-tags gives a coherent story, the hierarchy is working.
• Avoid scroll-jacking; users will leave rather than wait through a forced animation sequence.
• Never instruct users how to interact with your site (e.g. "scroll to explore") — it should be intuitive.
• Start with the concrete ("blood work and personalised insights to help you live healthier") not the vague ("predict your future health").

Product shots and social proof

• Show the actual product UI as early as possible — it grounds the value proposition.
• Video thumbnails must carry value even if the user never clicks play.
• Logo grids build credibility; don't add a redundant label like "trusted by" above them — the logos speak for themselves.
• Choose example data that mirrors your real customer (e.g. don't show a 21-year-old profile if your customer is older).

Calls to action and conversion

• CTAs should be visible at every stage of scroll, not just at the top.
• Establish a clear CTA hierarchy: primary actions (e.g. "book demo") should visually outrank secondary ones (e.g. "learn more").
• Telling users a trial is free can help — but only if a free trial fits your product's value-exchange model.
• Map the full user journey: the ad or link that brought someone to the page shapes what the landing page must deliver. A mismatch there is often the real conversion problem.
• The best way to improve conversion is user testing: watch someone land on the page cold and narrate what they see.

Visual design and brand coherence

• Define brand adjectives before designing (e.g. "optimistic, exuberant, precise") and test every visual decision against them.
• Decorative animations (blobs, gradients) are fine only if they reinforce the brand — if they communicate nothing, cut them.
• Excess visual noise — competing type sizes, glowing buttons, unexplained arrows, background video — dilutes focus.
• Check mobile responsiveness every time; many users are on the go when they first encounter a product.
• Logo mark should reinforce the brand story; an inadvertently broken or truncated icon undermines it.

Copy and typography

• Use your users' language for the headline, not internal jargon or metaphor ("give your TVs superpowers" obscures who it's for; the subline does the real work).
• Pick one case convention (title case or sentence case) and apply it everywhere — inconsistency signals carelessness.
• Don't bold the negative words when scanning ("trial and error", "random mutations") — bolding draws the eye to your key value, not your problem statement.
• Fun, energetic design is valid in B2B — but not at the cost of legibility or clarity about what you're selling.