Why is my main image important?
Your main image and Your 10-second Elevator Pitch are the first things an investor sees of your campaign.
This visual shapes an investor’s first impression at a visceral level that eludes logic and language. If the investor is drawn to your visual paired with its caption, they’re more likely to click into your pitch. On the flip side, if they’re inexplicably repulsed by the image, they’ll keep scrolling, guaranteed.
Where does my main image appear?
Your main image appears at the top of your campaign page. If you have a video, the main image will turn into your video thumbnail.
What makes a great main image?
The goal of your cover image is to make people feel something.
While your 10-second elevator pitch (above the photo) speaks to logic by explaining exactly what your company does, your cover image should evoke a positive emotional response.
Whether that’s excitement, happiness, trust, hope, or hunger, the feeling transmitted by your image will capture an investor’s attention and invite them to learn more.
You and your product
If your company is centered around a physical product or space, bring it front and center while showing your own humanity as the founder.
Founder & Product Examples
A user with your product
Show how real humans interact with your product. You can stage a shoot with a model, use real user-generated content that puts your product front and center, or even pose with your product as if you’re the user.
User with Product Examples
Just your product
Maybe your product is more powerful as a standalone visual. This can work well for food, fashion, hardware, and spaces, but usually won’t work well for digital products.
Just the Product Examples
Just your team
Maybe you ship code, science, or something else that’s challenging (or boring) to capture in a photo. In this case, showing the humans behind the product can go a much longer way than missing the mark with a cheesy stock photo, rendering, or literal product shot of your code.
Just your Team Examples
A symbolic photo
So you don’t have a product, customer, team, or founder that photographs well and carries emotion. In this case, curate an image that speaks to your offering or the feeling behind your brand.
Try to avoid low-quality or cheesy images with an unrealistic stock image feel. The feeling that these images can give investors is fear and aversion—like maybe you’re a scam.
Dedicate some time to find an evocative, visually stunning, and high-quality visual. You might have better luck on a stock photography site featuring real artists' work, versus Google Images or a mass-manufactured stock photo farm.
Popular free options include Unsplash and Pexels. Popular paid options include Stocksy and Death to Stock.
Symbolic Photo Examples
A meaningful mockup or screenshot
If you want to show your software or app, there’s only one way to do it meaningfully: stage the product close enough to actually see what it does.
Meaningful Mockup Examples
Restrictions on your main image
- No text overlays: Unless it’s inherent to your product, don’t overlay text on your image. Doing this very quickly makes both the text and image hard to see.
- No standalone logos: Your image can’t just be your logo. Unless you’re as famous as Airbnb, your logo won’t tell investors anything meaningful about your company.
Recap
- Use your cover image to make investors feel something. Invite them into your pitch by evoking curiosity.
- Use real humans and your real product in your image if you can.
- Use your 10-Second Elevator Pitch beneath the photo to pair a powerful descriptor with your visual.
