How to make a funding announcement video

Every startup announces its round: the amount, and who backed it. Because it's reputation. It says you're serious, and it pulls in what comes next - new investors, customers, great engineers and designers. They see you're about to invest in the product, the team and the marketing, and they want to be part of it.

The problem is, dozens of rounds go public every week. And products are easier to build than ever. What sets you apart now is how you look and how clearly you say what you do.

A press release is a post. Most people scroll past it. A founder-led video with motion on top gets watched and shared. And it does a few things the press release can't:

You control the story. Press coverage tells your news their way. Your video tells it yours.

It gives everyone something to repost. Your investors, angels and team all share the news. A video is far more worth resharing than a headline.

It keeps working after the day. Pinned on X and LinkedIn, on your announcement page and careers page, in recruiting and sales emails.

Investors get a clean pitch to forward. Under two minutes, your face, your idea.

All of them. Customers see you'll be around and you're investing in the product. Candidates see a team going somewhere, with money to build. Current investors see their money used well. Future investors see a company that knows how to market itself. And your own team gets a moment to be proud of and share.

That's four audiences in one short video, so the message has to be simple.

Your video shows your vision. Quality video, quality motion and a quality story is what makes great people want to join your team.

No bragging. Be fully transparent about the round and who backed it, then move on.

Spend most of the video on your vision. Why did you raise this money? What are you trying to change? What are you trying to improve? If that's clear, it attracts the right people in every sense.

Don't turn it into a product demo. Talk about the problems you solve, and visualize those solutions in motion. No screen recordings, no clicks through the app, no feature list, no walkthrough. That's a different video.

Founder-led works best for announcements: you on camera, pitching the idea, with a motion layer on top. Motion makes what you're saying far easier to follow. Shoot it horizontal.

60-90 seconds is the sweet spot. 45 seconds is short for a founder-led video. Up to two minutes can work if you have enough to say. Don't judge it by the length, though. Ask: have we said everything we need to? Is it getting boring?

X and LinkedIn are made for this. People repost, comment, and that's how it spreads. On your website, give it a home in an announcement article or a secondary page. Not the hero. Your homepage has its own job: converting people who already know who you are.

Start 5 weeks before the announcement, 6 if your team has to travel to film together. Founder-led takes longer than a motion-only video, which can be closer to 3 weeks.

Roughly: 7-10 days for story and script. About a week to shoot and edit the footage, with revisions. Then around two weeks to add motion, music and sound. The ideas are already in the script by then, so this part moves fast.

We shape the story and script first. Then we shoot - with our own crew in Europe, or with our partner crew in the US, who have filmed 10+ of these in the SF Bay Area. Then we build the motion, sound and final cut on top. One team owns the story from start to finish.

• No clear vision. The amount and the investors aren't the story. Why you raised is.
• Turning it into a demo. Lots of screen recordings, a list of features, a walkthrough.
• Bragging. State the round, thank your backers, move on.
• Starting too late. A filmed video needs 5-6 weeks. Three weeks means everything is rushed.
• Putting it in your homepage hero. It belongs on X, LinkedIn and your announcement page.

Stacks premiered its launch video at the Stacks Summit. If you've got a round to announce, tell us the date and we'll plan backwards from it.