Your CFO just told you the IPO timeline.

18 months to S-1 filing.

You're scrambling to get financials audit-ready. Building out investor relations capabilities. Preparing for regulatory scrutiny.

And your website still looks like a Series B startup.

That's a problem.

Investment banks will audit your website. Institutional investors will judge your operational maturity by it. Regulatory bodies will scrutinize your public claims.

A scrappy growth-stage website that worked fine last year becomes a liability when you're preparing to go public.

I've helped three companies prepare their websites for IPO. Worked with counsel to ensure compliance. Fixed issues that would've delayed roadshows.

Let me show you what actually matters.

This isn't about making it "prettier." It's about passing institutional scrutiny and signaling you're ready for public market standards.

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Investment banks audit your website during IPO prep

Here's what nobody tells you:

Your underwriters will review your website as part of their diligence. They're checking for claims that could create liability, inconsistencies with your S-1, competitive positioning that might not hold up under scrutiny, and public statements about performance or growth that differ from filed numbers.

They'll flag anything that creates risk.

Real example from a company I worked with:

Homepage claimed "industry-leading security." But they weren't SOC 2 Type II certified yet. Just SOC 2 Type I.

Counsel flagged it immediately. "You can't claim 'industry-leading' without evidence to support it. And Type I certification isn't sufficient proof. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen post-IPO."

We changed it to "Enterprise-grade security with SOC 2 Type I certification (Type II in progress)."

Boring. Accurate. Won't get you sued.

Another company had a customer logo on their site. Turns out they'd had a free trial but never converted to paid.

Counsel: "That's misrepresentation. If they find out post-IPO and make noise, it's a credibility problem with shareholders."

Removed the logo. Added stricter criteria for what counts as a "customer."

These aren't hypothetical risks. Public companies get sued constantly for misrepresentation. Your website is evidence.

Everything on it must be defensible.

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What regulators actually look at on SaaS websites

SEC doesn't formally "approve" your website. But they review it.

During S-1 review process, they'll visit your site and compare claims to your disclosures.

What they're checking:

Claims about market size or position

‍If your website says "leader in the $50B market," your S-1 better cite that market size and explain your leadership claim.

Revenue or growth statements

‍Any public statements about revenue, growth rates, or customer numbers must match (or be clearly outdated and marked as such) what's in your S-1.

Product capabilities and roadmap

‍Can't claim your product does something it doesn't. Can't promise features that aren't built without clear "coming soon" or "roadmap" language.

Customer testimonials and case studies

‍Must be real, verifiable, and not misleading. Quotes need permission. Numbers need to be accurate.

Partnerships and integrations

‍Can't claim partnerships that don't exist or integrations that aren't live. Everything must be verifiable.

Real situation: A company had a blog post from 18 months prior claiming "fastest growing in the category."

That was true when written based on their Series B press release. But growth had slowed since then.

SEC comment: "Your website claims fastest growth. Your S-1 shows slowing growth. Explain the discrepancy."

Required amended disclosure and website update. Delayed the S-1 review by two weeks.

These details matter. Public market standards are different from startup standards.

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Legal compliance requirements nobody warns you about

Once you're public, you're subject to Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure), securities laws, and higher standards for accuracy.

Your website needs to comply before you go public, because fixing it afterward is harder.

Required elements:

Clear investor relations section

‍SEC filings (or link to SEC Edgar). Press releases. Corporate governance documents. Contact info for investor relations. Stock information (pre-IPO, note "pending public offering").

This usually lives at yourcompany.com/investors.

Accurate forward-looking statement disclaimers

‍Any claim about future performance needs appropriate disclaimers.

Standard language: "Statements regarding future products, features, or growth are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially."

Usually in footer or dedicated page.

Privacy policy that meets global standards

‍GDPR compliance (if you have EU traffic). CCPA compliance (if you have California users). Clear data collection and use policies. Cookie consent mechanisms.

This is table stakes for public companies.

Accessibility compliance

‍ADA requirements (WCAG 2.1 AA minimum). Public companies get sued over accessibility constantly. Fix it before you're public and become a target.

Terms of service and legal agreements

‍Updated to reflect public company status. Indemnification clauses appropriate for public entity. Liability limitations properly scoped.

Trademark and copyright notices

‍Proper TM and ® symbols on your marks. Copyright notice with correct entity name. Third-party attribution where required.

Most growth companies have sloppy legal pages. That doesn't fly for public companies.

Get counsel to review every word on your site. Not a suggestion. A requirement.

Enterprise credibility signals required at IPO stage

Public market investors expect operational maturity.

Your website needs to signal: We're not a startup anymore. We're an enterprise company with institutional-grade processes.

Security and compliance documentation

‍SOC 2 Type II certification (minimum, get this ASAP if you don't have it). ISO 27001 if competing internationally. GDPR and CCPA compliance documentation. Penetration testing and security audit results. Uptime SLAs and historical performance.

This isn't marketing fluff. Institutional buyers require this before they'll consider your stock.

Create a dedicated security/compliance page with: Certifications and badges, security whitepaper (technical details), compliance documentation, third-party audit reports, and contact info for security team.

Professional, stable executive team

‍Updated leadership page with full C-suite. Professional photos and bios. No cartoon avatars or casual photos. Board of directors listed (pre-IPO, list advisors). Clear organizational structure.

Public investors want to know who's running the company.

Enterprise customer proof

‍Fortune 500/1000 logos (if you have them). Case studies with verifiable results. Industry-specific solutions pages. Reference customers willing to talk to investors. Third-party validation (G2, Gartner, Forrester).

Institutional investors want to see you're selling to serious companies, not just startups.

Geographic and scale indicators

‍Office locations (signals real operations). Employee count (shows you're not tiny). Customer count and geography (market penetration). International presence if applicable.

Public investors evaluate market opportunity. Show them you're capturing it.

Mature content and thought leadership

‍Research reports and original data. Executive bylines in major publications. Speaking engagements at industry conferences. Analyst reports and recognition. Regular, professional blog content.

Public companies are expected to lead their categories. Show that leadership.

One company I worked with had a "Team" page with 8 people and cartoon avatars.

Pre-IPO, we rebuilt it: 40+ employees with professional photos. Executive team with impressive backgrounds highlighted. Board of directors added. Office locations shown.

Signal: We're not a scrappy startup. We're a real company with real scale.

That matters to institutional investors.

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Investor relations infrastructure before S-1 filing

You need IR functionality before the S-1 drops.

Once filed, institutional investors will visit your site immediately. They need to find what they're looking for.

Minimum IR section requirements:

SEC filings

‍Link directly to your Edgar page (once S-1 is public). Or host PDFs of all filings. Updated same day as filed.

Press releases and news

‍Every material announcement. Earnings releases (post-IPO). Product launches that affect financials. M&A announcements.

With dates. Reverse chronological. Clean formatting.

Corporate governance

‍Board composition and committees. Corporate governance guidelines. Code of business conduct and ethics. Audit committee charter. Insider trading policy.

This proves you have proper governance structures.

Stock information (post-IPO)Real-time or delayed stock price. Historical price charts. Volume data. Market cap. Analyst coverage (once you have it).

Financial information

‍Historical financials (usually from S-1). Key metrics dashboard. Supplemental financial data. Non-GAAP reconciliation if you use non-GAAP metrics.

Contact information

‍Dedicated investor relations contact. Email and phone for IR team. Request for analyst coverage. Email alerts signup for filings and news.

Investor events

‍Earnings call dates and times. Webcast archives of past calls. Investor presentations. Conference attendance schedule.

This infrastructure needs to be live before S-1 filing. Once you file, you're under scrutiny immediately.

One company filed S-1 without IR section ready. Day one, institutional investors couldn't find basic info. First impression: disorganized and unprepared.

Took three weeks to build it properly. Those three weeks, they were fielding confused investor calls.

Build it before you need it.

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What to remove before going public

Just as important as what to add: what to remove.

Growth-stage websites have informal or risky content that doesn't work for public companies.

Remove or revise:

Aspirational or exaggerated claims

‍"Revolutionary," "industry-leading," "best-in-class" without proof. Anything that sounds like startup hype. Claims about market position you can't defend.

Replace with specific, verifiable statements.

Unofficial statistics or metrics

‍Customer count unless you're tracking it properly. Usage metrics that aren't audited. Growth claims without time period and source. "Fastest-growing" without citation.

Only publish numbers you're reporting in S-1 or can verify.

Casual or unprofessional content

‍Blog posts with informal tone or controversial takes. Social media feeds embedded on site (too risky). Memes, jokes, or anything that could be misinterpreted. Employee social media that's not corporate.

Public companies maintain professional standards.

Customer logos without permission

‍Ensure every logo has written permission. Remove any where relationship ended. Add disclaimer about customer representation.

You'll get sued if you misrepresent relationships.

Outdated content

‍Press releases from Series B (unless relevant). Old team photos or bios. Deprecated product information. Links to old blog posts with inaccurate info.

Clean it up. Everything should be current.

Promotional language that could be misleading

‍Timelines for features that didn't ship. ROI claims without methodology. Competitive comparisons that aren't fair. Testimonials without full context.

Public company marketing must be defensible.

Real example: Pre-IPO company had blog posts from early days full of aggressive claims about competitors.

"[Competitor] is garbage. Here's why we're 10x better."

Counsel: "That's defamation risk. Competitor could sue. You're about to be a public company with deep pockets. Clean this up."

We removed 15+ old blog posts. Rewrote competitive positioning to be factual and professional.

Not exciting. But necessary.

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Performance and infrastructure requirements

Public companies need enterprise-grade web infrastructure.

Your Series B Webflow site might not cut it.

Technical requirements:

Uptime and reliability99.9%+ uptime SLA. Redundant hosting across regions. DDoS protection and mitigation. Failover systems for critical functions.

Public companies can't have website outages during market hours. Especially not on earnings days.

Security infrastructure

‍WAF (Web Application Firewall). Regular penetration testing. Vulnerability scanning and remediation. Secure development practices. Incident response plan.

Public companies are targets. Security must be institutional-grade.

Performance requirementsSub-2-second load time globally. CDN for global distribution. Mobile-optimized for all devices. Accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA minimum).

Institutional investors are often checking your site on mobile. It needs to work perfectly.

Compliance and monitoring

‍Cookie consent and privacy controls. Analytics with privacy safeguards. Regular compliance audits. Uptime monitoring and alerting. Change management processes.

Public companies need documentation for everything.

Scalability

‍Handle 10x traffic spikes (earnings releases, major news). Auto-scaling infrastructure. Load testing and capacity planning. Disaster recovery plan.

You don't want your site crashing when CNBC mentions you.

One company went public on Webflow. Fine for normal traffic. On IPO day, site crashed from traffic surge.

Couldn't handle 50x spike in visitors. Looked terrible.

They migrated to enterprise hosting within a month. But the damage to perception was done.

Plan for scale before you need it.

Timeline and budget reality

Here's what this actually costs and how long it takes.

Most companies start 12-18 months before IPO. That's realistic.

Phase 1: Audit and planning (Month 1-2)Legal audit of all content. Compliance gap analysis. Competitive review. Technical infrastructure assessment.

Cost: $30-50K (mostly legal counsel time)

Phase 2: Content remediation (Month 3-5)Rewrite risky or non-compliant content. Remove or update old material. Create new compliance pages. Build IR infrastructure content.

Cost: $40-80K (writers, designers, legal review)

Phase 3: Design and build (Month 6-9)Redesign if needed for enterprise positioning. Build IR section. Implement compliance features (cookie consent, accessibility). Mobile optimization.

Cost: $100-200K depending on scope

Phase 4: Technical infrastructure (Month 8-10)Migrate to enterprise hosting if needed. Implement security requirements. Set up monitoring and compliance tools. Load testing and optimization.

Cost: $50-150K depending on current state

Phase 5: Legal review and approval (Month 10-12)Counsel review of entire site. Underwriter review and feedback. SEC readiness audit. Final compliance checks.

Cost: $40-60K (legal counsel, consulting)

Total budget: $260-540K depending on starting point.

If you're already on solid infrastructure with good content, lower end. If you're on a startup website with compliance issues, higher end.

Most companies spend $300-400K total.

That's expensive. But it's 0.1% of your IPO raise. And required.

Don't shortcut this. A compliance issue that delays your S-1 costs way more.

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What happens if you skip this

Some companies try to go public with startup websites. Bad idea.

Real consequences:

SEC comments and delaysS-1 review gets held up over website discrepancies. You have to amend filings or fix the website. Each round of comments adds 2-4 weeks. Your window might close.

Underwriter concerns

‍Investment banks may refuse to take you public if website creates liability. Or demand higher discount/fees to compensate for risk. Could lose your preferred underwriter.

Institutional investor doubts

‍Large investors see sloppy website as operational immaturity signal. They pass on the IPO or demand lower valuation. Your book builds more slowly. You might have to cut pricing.

Post-IPO lawsuits‍

Shareholders sue over any discrepancy between website and reality. Ambulance-chaser law firms watch for this. Defense costs millions even if you win.

Regulatory scrutiny

‍SEC may investigate if claims don't match filings. Potential enforcement action or fines. Sets negative tone with regulators. Harder to raise capital later.

One company I consulted with (didn't hire us, went cheap) had their S-1 delayed 8 weeks over website issues.

During those 8 weeks, market conditions changed. Their valuation got cut 30%.

They lost over $200M in market cap because they didn't want to spend $300K on proper website prep.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

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Start this process 18 months before filing

Most companies wait too long.

They focus on financials and operations. Website is an afterthought until 3 months before S-1.

Then it's panic mode. Rushed fixes. Expensive rush fees. Potential delays.

Better approach: Start 18 months out.

You have time to do it right. Fix issues systematically. Get proper legal review. Test and validate everything.

Plus, having an institutional-grade website helps during IPO prep in other ways:

Easier diligence conversations with banks. Better positioning with potential investors. Stronger executive recruiting (going public attracts talent). Better press coverage and analyst attention.

Your website is evidence of operational maturity. Build that evidence early.

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The uncomfortable truth

Going public changes everything about how you communicate.

Your website can't be a startup marketing tool anymore. It's a regulated disclosure channel for a publicly-traded security.

That sounds boring. Because it is.

You can't say "revolutionary" without proof. Can't claim "fastest growing" without data. Can't show customer logos without permission. Can't make promises you can't keep.

Everything is scrutinized. Everything creates liability.

The fun, aggressive startup website that got you to Series B? That's a risk now.

You need the boring, compliant, professional public company website.

It won't win design awards. It won't get featured on Awwwards.

But it will pass SEC review. Satisfy institutional investors. Protect you from lawsuits.

That's what matters when you're going public.

Start preparing now. Your CFO will thank you.