Creating a Company Profile for WeFunder
Your company profile on WeFunder is the first introduction potential investors on the platform will have to your company. To that end, it should accurately and concisely sum up your company’s investment opportunity. This profile covers much of the same information as the “Business Plan” portion of your Form C.
WeFunder’s Company Profile can be broken down into 7 distinct sections: The Basics, Design Elements, Press & Quotes, Story and Numbers, Interview, The Team, and Miscellaneous.
Why do I need to fill this out?
WeFunder automatically fills in a lot of your campaign page information for you, based on how you fill out your company profile.
The Basics
This is where you will need to catch the attention of your potential investors.
What is your tagline?
- Describe your business as concisely and clearly as possible.
- Avoid using trite comparisons like “Uber for plants.” They lack originality and won’t stand out to your investors or make a memorable impression.
- Keep your tagline within 80 characters.
What does your company do right now?
- Avoid buzzwords
- Speak simply and be straight-forward with your language
- Be specific about the problem you’re solving, and how.
- Keep your description within 500 characters.
Why is your business important?
- What is your goal?
- Why should investors care?
- Lay the groundwork of the industry you’re in. If your investors don’t know your industry, this is the time to teach them about the industry and your company’s place in it.
- Keep your explanation within 500 characters.
Impressive facts about your business
- Have you had a noteworthy accomplishment in terms of growth or big-name partners? Customer retention?
- Share your proudest numbers or accomplishments to generate excitement amongst your investors.
- Your investors will want to know how you’ve grown since founding– phrase things in such a way as to include your rate of growth for a bigger impact. Multipliers sound more impressive than flat numbers.
- Use punchy bullet points here for the maximum impact. WeFunder will pull from these bullet points to fill out your company’s campaign “card” photo.
Downloadable Resources
You can include downloadable files to provide more information that may interest your investors in this section. Some examples could include:
- Pitch deck or business plan
- Longer documents that they may wish to review
The Design Elements
Media assets are the fastest way to appeal to your investors. There are three primary image elements that WeFunder uses for campaigns:
Header Graphics
- Image dimensions: 2500 pixels wide and 900 pixels tall
- Use images with darker background colors and avoid busy visual elements on the left–hand side. WeFunder will add an overlay with “Invest in [Company Name] in white text on the left side of your image by default.
- Don’t use text in your header image.
- You want to use images that showcase your product. Avoid images that scream ‘stock photo.’
Media Video / Photo
- Required: a photo of your product that WeFunder will pull for automated marketing emails. This should be in a 16×9 aspect ratio.
- Optional: video that showcases your investment opportunity. This doesn’t need to be overproduced– most follow the template of a founder being themselves and talking to the potential investors.
- While videos are not required, a pitch video will give your company a distinct advantage if it is done well. This is the closest you will get to having a direct conversation with your investors on the platform.
WeFunder Campaign Card
- WeFunder uses an element called a “Card” to feature companies on their Explore page. Three particular elements will impact the success of your card in attracting investors:
- Image – this should offer a broad idea of the product you’re presenting.
- A square 600×600 pixel photo showcasing your product.
- Avoid text or logos.
- Make sure your photo is high quality!
- Tagline – pulled from your Basics tab
- Milestones – pulled from your Basics tab, particularly the “Impressive Facts” section.
- Image – this should offer a broad idea of the product you’re presenting.
The Press & Quotes
Investors want to know if your company is able to garner media attention and how you handle that attention. Press articles and testimonials are a critical part of proving your product’s perceived value in the eyes of potential customers.
Linking to Press
- Article links for press articles paired with a 2×1 aspect ratio logo for each press media source.
- The logo provides immediate media-outlet recognition at a glance for your investors.
Adding Quotes
- If you already have quotes from previous investors or loyal customers, include them here. You’ll need the name and title of the person being quoted (elite investor, loyal customer, etc.), as well as the quote itself.
- Quotes should be 1-3 sentences long, and where possible, link websites to prove credibility.
- Your first quote should usually be from a previous or current investor, in order to create social evidence for potential investors.
- Don’t include quotes from people in your company!
Story and Numbers
This is where you can provide more information about your investment opportunity and really showcase your product or service. Provide concrete evidence of your growth, revenue, customer retention, etc. Follow our tips below to get the most out of your Story & Numbers section.
Keep Explanations Brief
Don’t make this section too long! Investors will leave your page if this section is too lengthy. It is generally recommended to not have any blocks of text longer than 5 lines. Keep your information brief and concise.
Use Photos Selectively
Too many photos or low-quality photos can deter investors, as well as make your page take longer to load. If a photo does not add anything to the information you are trying to convey, consider leaving it out.
Use Reader-Friendly Language
Avoid complicated or industry-specific jargon or terminology where possible. You want to make it sound like a human wrote your page, and make it simple enough to understand.
Use Headers for Important Topics
Many investors prefer to skim the profile initially, and if their interest is piqued, may go back over it for more details later. Use headers to provide a clear overview of what you are offering at a glance.
Sample Section Layout
The Problem
Explain the problem you are attempting to solve. What is the scope?
The Solution
Why is your product or service best-suited to solving the problem? What makes your solution the best? Why should investors back your product, rather than another that attempts to resolve the same problem? This is where you bring up your major selling points and any targeted solutions you may have that set you apart.
Your Growth as a Company
How have you grown? Use graphs to showcase items such as your revenue growth, customer growth, and users/products sold, if applicable.
Your Revenue Stream
What is your revenue stream? How is your project making money? What are your revenue/income sources? What drives your sales?
Your Plan for the Future
How will you grow your company? Let investors know that their contributions will be used, and the ways in which your company intends to grow. If you have a particular goal for this capital that will be used to further your growth, explain it here. Explain your ambitions for the company’s growth and future value.
The Interview
This is your Q&A section. Keep your answers brief but concise, and make sure you focus on questions that your investors will most want the answers to. This section is liable to get pretty long, but large walls of text can deter potential investors.
- Don’t avoid hard questions. Your investors know that there will be risks and pitfalls of any investment– don’t be afraid to talk about how you plan to address them.
- Don’t cherry-pick your questions. Showcasing your business is great, but remember to be as accurate as possible in your representation rather than glamorize it.
- Paying close attention to the questions and answers you provide will show that you have a good understanding of the industry you are moving into and build confidence in your company’s potential for success.
The Team
Introduce and sell yourself and your team as the best possible group to make your product a reality. Potential investors are more confident backing a company that has prominent names behind it already. If you have any prominent previous investors, you will want to reveal them here.
Introduce Your Team
- Your Founder bio should include a professional photo that shows who you are, and a description (typically the best parts of your resume condensed to 1-2 sentences).
- Team bios are limited to 100 characters and should include a brief description of what they do at your company.
- All team bios should include a photo of the team member.
- When you invite team members and investors from your profile, they can either provide their bio information themselves, or you can do it for them.
Tell Your Story
Do you have a unique reason behind your startup? Share it here! Investors respect Founders and companies that have a story and a focused drive behind the hustle to get their business going.
Investors want to learn more about you than they would from a resume. Tell them what drives you to succeed in your company’s goals. Let your potential investors see your passion as well as your skill.
Miscellaneous
WeFunder also allows companies to add extra elements to their campaign page, such as custom URLs, tags, privacy settings, and analytics.
Campaign Page URL
Your WeFunder URL is automatically assigned, but if you have a specific URL preference, you can change it from your profile. Try to keep the URL short so that it is easier to share via social media.
Campaign and Industry Tags
For greater discoverability, try to group yourself with other businesses in your category.
Privacy Settings
You have the option to make your profile public or limit visibility to users that you share the URL with.
Tracking and Analytics
You can use Google Analytics or Ad Tracking Pixels to measure your traffic to the WeFunder profile and your ad campaign’s effectiveness. Your Google Analytics ID is needed to track how many hits and visitors you receive on your WeFunder profile.