Startup website development
Anatomy
What goes into a startup website?
Seven parts, each with a clear job. Leave one out and visitors leave without understanding what you do, or without knowing what to do next. Scroll on and watch the wireframe turn into a website.
Keep scrolling: the site assembles piece by piece
Header
Your logo, a short menu and one action that never leaves the screen: try it, book a demo, join the waitlist. It's for getting your bearings. Someone landing from an ad or a search needs to know at once where they are and what they can do.
Hero
One sentence on what you do and who it's for, one line of explanation, one call to action. This is where visitors decide whether to stay, so skip the abstract slogan and lead with the concrete benefit.
Social proof
Logos, quotes, numbers, press: whatever you have, as long as it's real. Early on, the team and its story can be enough. Making things up is worse than saying nothing, and the careful buyers notice.
Product
How it works, in a few steps, with real screens rather than stock illustrations. It turns the hero's promise into something a visitor can picture themselves using.
Pricing
Even if it's only "from" or "on request", make it clear. People looking for prices are close to a decision: hiding them drags out the sale and risks losing the very visitors who were most interested.
Questions
The real objections (data, integrations, contract terms, support) with short answers. They help whoever has to sign off, and they're text that search engines and AI assistants can quote as it stands.
Footer
Contact details, legal pages, languages, links to every section. It looks like an afterthought, yet it's often where investors and cautious buyers go for reassurance: who you are, where you are, how to reach you.
The pages
Which pages does a startup website need?
At launch, only a handful: home, product, pricing, about, contact and the legal pages. A blog, use-case pages and industry pages can wait until you have something to say and know the questions your customers ask.
| Page | Its job | What goes on it |
|---|---|---|
| Validation landing page | Find out whether the idea lands before you build it | The problem, the promise, a form or waitlist, no menu to wander off through |
| Home | Make clear within seconds what you do and for whom | Hero, social proof, how it works, the same call to action repeated |
| Product | Show how it's used, not just what it promises | Real screens, use cases, integrations |
| Pricing | Let ready buyers decide | Plans or tiers, what each includes, questions about the contract |
| About | Earn the trust of customers and investors | The team, the story, why you, direct contact details |
| Blog and resources | Get found for the questions customers ask | Guides and answers on the problems your product solves, with sources |
| Contact or demo | Turn interest into a conversation | A short form, an email address or a booking link, and when you'll reply |
| Privacy and cookies | Explain what data you collect and why | Privacy notice and cookie consent, checked by a qualified professional |
No product yet? Start with the landing page. We explain how to use it to measure demand on idea validation.
Custom or template
Custom Next.js website or a no-code template?
It depends on what the site has to do over the next few months. To test an idea within days, a template or a no-code builder is perfectly fine. Once the site has to bring in organic traffic, carry paid campaigns and talk to your product for years, a custom build pays off.
- Getting started
- Template or no-codeVery fast: pick a template and adapt it
- Custom Next.jsNeeds design and development, built from ready-made components
- Performance
- Template or no-codeDown to the platform and its plugins
- Custom Next.jsStatic, lightweight pages, under your control
- Technical SEO
- Template or no-codeDecent out of the box, limited on structure, languages and structured data
- Custom Next.jsMetadata, language versions and structured data written into the code
- Design
- Template or no-codeThe template shows; breaking out of its grid is hard
- Custom Next.jsDesigned for your brand, free of a theme's constraints
- Product
- Template or no-codeIntegrations through plugins or third-party services
- Custom Next.jsSame stack as the web app: login, data and payments talk to each other
- Editing
- Template or no-codeMarketing changes copy and pages on their own
- Custom Next.jsNeeds a developer, or a connected CMS
- Over time
- Template or no-codePlatform fees and lock-in to one vendor
- Custom Next.jsCode any developer can pick up; hosting costs remain
Our advice: if all you need is to see whether the idea lands, don't spend on code. Once the site becomes an acquisition channel, move to a custom build. Rebuilding later, with traffic already coming in, can cost more than doing it properly once.
Who builds it
Who builds your startup's website?
120+ My Web Lab projects across company websites, e-commerce and web apps
My Web Lab, MPN Group's web agency, based in Milan. It has more than 120 projects behind it across company websites, e-commerce and web apps, all custom-built in Next.js. No templates.
Technical and content SEO, Google Ads campaigns and tracking sit in the same team, so the site is ready from day one to be found and to show what it brings in. This website is built the same way: Next.js 16, static pages, a linked English version and structured data.
Questions about startup websites
How much does a startup website cost?
It depends on the number of pages, the design (bespoke or adapted), integrations with your product, CRM and payments, the languages and who writes the copy. We don't publish a price list: our pricing and timelines page explains the factors and how to read a quote.
Do I need a website before I have a product?
You need a landing page: a single page that explains the problem and collects waitlist sign-ups. It's the cheapest way to measure interest before writing any code. The full site can come once you have something to show.
How long does it take to build?
It depends on how many pages you need, how ready the copy and images are, and how many rounds of feedback you go through. A landing page takes far less than a multilingual site with a blog, and the content often sets the pace more than the code does.
Can we edit the copy ourselves?
Yes, if we plan for it from the start: we connect a CMS and your team updates copy, articles and images without touching the code. For a landing page that rarely changes, it's often simpler to ask whoever built it.
Will the site be ready for Google and AI assistants?
The technical groundwork, yes: fast, indexable pages, metadata, linked language versions, structured data that matches the visible text. Content and authority are separate work, covered on our SEO for startups page.
Can you build the site in English as well as Italian?
Yes, we work in both. The second language isn't a word-for-word translation: we rewrite it for the people reading it, with their questions and their examples.
Further reading
Your website starts with one page. Let's pick the right one.
We reply within one business day.
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