With venture funds multiplying in today’s market, you need a website that separates you from the noise and embodies what makes you unique. Whether it's your investment thesis, strategy, or portfolio success to date, think of your website like your firm’s personality. Does it have a strong sense of self? Is it innovative, edgy, or inspiring?
For example, if you believe your portfolio companies will define the trajectory of society, your website should show it. Visitors should enter your site curious to learn more about the future your startups are building.
After researching and exploring dozens of venture capital firm websites, we’ve narrowed it down to a list of 8 of our favorite based on the following criteria: Navigation, Design, Web Tools, and Content.
How easy is it for visitors to move around your website? When your website is easy to navigate, visitors can find the information they are looking for quickly.
Is your website visually appealing? When your website has a clear, cohesive design, a viewer’s eye will be guided to the right focus points, engaging with the content and messaging you want them to. Responsiveness across various screen sizes also plays a key role in your website’s design.
Does your website host interactive tools that help visitors learn or access key resources? Keeping up with the latest in website tools for VCs can help you attract more visitors to your site, like talent networks and job boards.
Does the content on your website appeal to your network? Providing insights into topics that are relevant to your audience through a blog, forum, or even an industry news page is a great way to provide your audience value, not to mention boost your SEO efforts.
Andreessen Horowitz’s website has a distinctive homepage, focused on showcasing industry relevant content. The design is simple, making it easy to digest informative news, podcast topics, and trends.
It goes without saying that this site scores high for content with articles, videos, podcasts, and newsletters on a variety of topics. Its portfolio page is also interactive. You can easily view companies by growth stage and industry, as well as explore jobs with its startups on the firm’s job board.
Playground Global’s homepage has a stunning slideshow element that features its portfolio companies, sharing in each slide how a company is changing the world.
You can easily maneuver around the site, using the menu bar on the right. Check out the portfolio tab, which hosts rather engaging motion graphics for each company. It’s easy to browse the firm’s companies here, with a search bar that includes a few filter options, viewable in a grid or list form.
Another aspect of this website we love is its copy and messaging, which isn’t afraid to show some personality with headlines like, “Where we play best,” when referring to its industries of focus. The firm’s career page includes web tools, like a job board and talent network. Further, a small but helpful tool is the featured article widget on the bottom right of the screen.
Union Square Ventures’ website sets a standard for crystal clean, clear, and concise content. The homepage introduces who they are and chronologically states the evolution of the firm’s investment thesis. It's easy to skim the site’s pages with every page’s content structured in columns and rows.
In terms of web tools, a visitor can search anything on the site using the search button on the top right hand corner, lending the website an extra point for navigation capability too. The site’s “Network” page has a call to action to explore jobs within their network, driving to the firm’s interactive job board and talent network.
Lastly, we noticed the “Writing” page features articles written by people in their network, who work for USV or at one of their portfolio companies. Showing the authorship from their network adds a personal and community-oriented feel to its content.
Balderton Capital’s web design makes a statement with bold letters and stark contrasting colors. When you land on their website, you get the feeling that this firm means business with a slideshow of images showing the faces of founders in their network.
The design is well aligned with the brand’s values. For example, the “Our beliefs” page states: “We believe in people with grand plans. Who think big. Who are fearless and determined.” Is that not exactly what their design communicates? Well done, Balderton.
The content on the site is geared towards celebrating the successes of startups in their portfolio and sharing advice for founders. Check out the “Build” tab, which includes several pages about scaling, marketing, fundraising, and more.
We appreciate Oregon Venture Fund’s website’s ability to tell a story about the firm’s purpose and relationships with its portfolio companies. Visually appealing graphs and images, guide a visitors eye to different sections on the site well. In addition to the powerful image of the city of Oregon above the fold, the firm’s impact is clearly communicated through facts and figures below.
The website’s “Companies” tab highlights its startups and founders well with a description of each portfolio company, driving to another page with more detail.
Lightspeed’s website is visionary and even a bit edgy with animation on just about every page. The firm lets its startups “do the talking” on the homepage with intriguing headlines that emphasize their impressive business ideas.
You can easily skim the firm’s portfolio companies, which are laid out in a grid framework on the “Portfolio” tab.
The website’s content is divided into 3 sections: Blog, News, and Newsletter. Blog topics range from founder advice articles, like “Do I need general counsel at my startup,” to relevant industry-focused pieces, like “The State of Healthcare Investing.”
Further, the firm hosts valuable conversations with founders, CEOs, and executives and to create and host video content under the “About Us” tab.
Any visitor on Freigesit’s website will be taken back by the images featured on its homepage. Browse a slideshow of striking images associated with a portfolio company’s tech product to easily become interested with the firm’s investments. The slideshow includes helpful buttons that redirect to the portfolio company’s website to learn more about what they are building.
The website’s “Focus” page also has stunning animated visualizations that represent the firm’s different areas of expertise, like artificial intelligence, 3D printing, synthetic biology, and robotics.
Sequoia’s website is designed like a modern art gallery, featuring news, perspectives, and spotlights with engaging visuals. As you move your cursor around the page, animations make the buttons more clickable and the content enjoyable to explore.
Prominent entrepreneurs’ faces are displayed, signaling Sequoia is a community of top notch visionaries. Visit the “Our Companies” page to see some of the most successful companies in tech and learn more about them by clicking on their respective designed graphic representation.
You can also easily explore all of the firm’s portfolio companies and filter by category, partner, current stage, and first investment here.
For job seekers looking for a new role with a startup backed by Sequoia, they can easily check out opportunities with the firm’s startups on their job board.
Every VC on our list has made an investment in their website with special attention to navigation, design, web tools, and content. These are the factors that communicate to web visitors your values, purpose, and beliefs- what makes your brand unique.
Of course, these elements require special attention from web specialists, designers, and user experience experts. One simple way you can take your web tools to the next level is by hosting a portfolio company job board.
With Consider Job Boards, every job and every company in your portfolio is accessible to applicants from a central career page on your website. The board aggregates all open roles with your firm’s portfolio companies, giving the companies greater visibility in the job market, and one place for candidates to find open roles with venture-backed startups.
The best part is that the job board is completely hands free and keeps itself up to date. Set up a 15 minute meeting with us to see Consider in action.
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