Does Your Startup Website Pass The First Impression Test? | Design Review

When someone visits your website you only have a few seconds to convince them it’s worth their time. So how do you do that? In this episode of Design Review, Aaron Epstein is joined by Zack Onisko, the former CEO of Dribbble, to review user submitted websites in under 10 seconds and give their first impression feedback. They’ll provide expert advice on how to leverage animation, improve UI and design the most effective messaging for potential customers.

Thank you to these companies for volunteering:

YC

Non YC

*Keep in mind that some of the featured websites may be updated between the time we film and publish

00:00 - Coming Up
01:04 - Artisan AI
02:52 - Bottomless
06:07 - Cloudthread
09:21 - Integrated Reasoning
12:27 - Kapacity
14:21 - Rollstack
17:30 - Ampstem
19:12 - Bert Labs

[chapterme]

Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - Coming Up
00:24 - Intro
01:04 - Artisan AI
02:52 - Bottomless
04:44 - Using animation to draw attention and become more memorable
06:07 - Cloudthread
09:21 - Integrated Reasoning
12:27 - Kapacity
14:21 - Rollstack
15:18 - Design Rule #1: Don't Make Me Think
17:30 - Ampstem
19:12 - Bert Labs
19:57 - Why Google deprioritizes websites with heavy load?
20:38 - Outro

[ycombinator]

What's your strategy for making a good first impression with your startup website?

[mandadtabrizi]

The bottomless website made me think it was a grocery delivery system that never runs out of an item so you can keep ordering without the sad out of stock notification from other grocery ordering sites. I don’t think I ever heard from a regular person to refer to their supply of stuff at home as stock.
Maybe say “ never run out of stuff with automated reordering” or even give a good descriptive name to what your process is “smart scale?”
The nature of the business also allows for some comedic relief opportunities which can actually make people relate or remember the time that they reached for something and it wasn’t there.

[ChrisWilsoners]

When you click on a YouTube recommended video and... whoe, that's Aaron Epstein! 😀 What's up, my man!

[stage_meta]

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing your insights on different websites, it actually helps us understand what we can do better on our website!

[Rollstack-Nate]

Very useful feedback, Zack and Aaron! Thank you.
- Nate from Rollstack.

[leadgenjay]

Great insights on website first impressions! To add to the discussion, remember that the unique value proposition (UVP) should be crystal clear within those first few seconds. A/B testing headlines can significantly optimize this and increase conversion rates.

[johnstalkernet]

Great examples. Would love to hear a discussion about relative importance of things like taglines, copy, imagery, animation. It seemed that you both reacted favorably to minimal, yet descriptive examples. Kind of a goldilocks middle.

[ShoaibMahmudOfficial]

When I deisgn a website for startups, I always make sure that Above the Fold (without scrolling) information is very clear, simple & engagaging. So that target audience can resonate with that in just seconds. I avoid complex copy, distracting colors instead I prefer using simple high quality graphics that clearly resonate with primary goal of this website.
Call to action should be very clear so that user can understand their next steps whether it's signing up, book a demo, watching a video or request for more information.
Additionally it should load very fast & support mobile experience.

[GetArtisanAI]

We’re launching a completely new website in 6 weeks with a stronger focus on Ava, our AI BDR - stay tuned… 🤠

[weStartupFounders]

note to self buy dont make me think by steve krug. and one new thing i learned was that you have around 5 seconds to capture an audience and if most of that is spent on page loading thats time lost. prioritize load time and then capturing them afterwords. also update the tsc website as soon as you can remove all images and stick to gif based videos on the theme of the website so the load time is faster and animated at the same time. must get done 1 month after SHS

[AlexWilkinsonYYC]

Are fancy graphics actually important? Do they actually drive more sales? Or is it more the copy/text on the page that drives sales?

[upstartfenix]

Love yc but what this video should be about: “Do we know the specific problem you solve for customer” after a 3 second glance

[honecode]

Next time do mobile review design as well

Lots of times the design falls apart on mobile and, depending on the product, most people will visit from their phone

[Sammi]

More sites should use hand drawn illustrations as their front page material.

AI stuff and stock photos and illustrations are boring at best.

Show me some simple and clean hand made art. That will impress anybody.

[megham_]

Have a look at Servcy next time please : )

[nileshtiwari]

I'm a simple guy i see a new video on YC - i click

[utkashdubey]

I suggest staying silent during the 7-second look. Hard to look at the website at all when someone is narrating what they're reading at the same time

[techsinite]

i know first priority should not be design at least for startups but it should be how effieciently and really you diffrentiate your self from others which is innovation!

[neugey]

At the risk of sounding too traditional, I think most of these websites need less animation and stronger branding.