Campaign Page Content Standards
In order to maintain a consistent and enjoyable content experience for investors on the platform, StartEngine’s Content Team must uphold certain standards. The following policies have been established to protect users from false or confusing information, objectionable material, and/or any content that could negatively affect the perception of StartEngine’s brand or the companies that raise capital on the site. Our standards are objective and are standardized for all offerings.
Campaign Page Standards
A campaign may not be approved by StartEngine’s content team if any of the following are true:
Cover Photo
- Missing
- Fails to accurately depict the nature of the business or service
- Includes text
- Includes company logo
- Low resolution
- Poorly cropped
- Imagery makes other fields difficult to read
- Unclear or unappealing design
- Includes prohibited content
Profile Photo
- Missing
- Not the company logo
- Low resolution
- Poorly cropped
- Includes prohibited content
Company Name
- Missing
- Includes “Inc,” “LLC,” or other distinctions unnecessarily
- Not the colloquial name of the company
- Includes prohibited content
Tagline
- Missing
- Exceeds 45 characters
- Fails to succinctly represent the company’s primary product or service
- Significant grammar or punctuation errors
- Includes prohibited content
Video
- Fails to accurately depict the nature of the business or service
- Low video quality
- Low audio quality
- Low quality titles or subtitles
- Unnecessarily longer than 3 minutes
- Includes prohibited content
Story
- Significant grammar or punctuation errors
- Lack of imagery
Visual assets must be utilized. Images must cover at least 30% of the page. - Lack of copy
All campaigns must have sections written directly into the StartEngine campaign editor. The majority of the content should be written into the editor, but a required 300 characters must be entered in the introduction. - Lack of coherence
Campaigns must logically represent the product or business involved in the investment opportunity. Content that greatly distracts from the offering or misrepresents the nature of the offering is not permitted. - Confusing hierarchy
All sections must utilize headers, subheaders, and text copy in a consistent and trackable manner. Sizing, boldness, italics, and font must follow a system of hierarchy that can be easily understood by a reader. - Illogical ordering
Stories must follow a logical flow from one topic to the next. Transitions and internal references must follow an organized system so an investor does not struggle to find the information he/she needs. - Insubstantial content
In a campaign, a company must fully and clearly explain the nature of its business. The pitch must include a complete and thorough representation of the company’s products and services. Content can be written from any point of view, but it must be directed toward an investor audience. Content should fill at least 10.0 folds of a standard desktop webpage. - Large blocks of text
Sections must be under 500 words each. Long sections must include imagery. Campaigns may not have copied and pasted information from their Offering Documents in the Story editor. - Poor readability on mobile
Readability must not be compromised on mobile. Usually, this means low res deck slides with small fonts cannot be utilized. All standards should effectively be maintained across all viewable mediums. - Poor readability on desktop
Readability must not be compromised on mobile. Usually, this means low res deck slides with small fonts cannot be utilized. All standards should effectively be maintained across all viewable mediums. - Design justification
When using columns, and/or mixing imagery with text, campaigns should abide by clean, consistent justification. This applies to the flow of text as well as the beginning and ending of sections. - Includes prohibited content
Timeline
- Significant grammar or punctuation errors
- Too few milestones
- Too many milestones
- Milestones descriptions are errored
- Events are out of order or misrepresent Past, Present, or Future
- Imagery errors
- Includes prohibited content
Press
Significant grammar or punctuation errors
- Too few press mentions
- Too many press mentions
- Press mention descriptions are incomplete
- Logos are wrongly cropped
- Logos are wrongly attributed
- Imagery errors
- Includes prohibited content
Team
- Missing
- Significant grammar or punctuation errors
- Low resolution photos
- Poor cropping
- Unprofessional photo
- Team member description is incomplete
Campaign Video Standards
StartEngine does not require that companies have videos in their campaigns. However, we highly recommend it. A video can evoke sentiments beyond the text and data of the campaign page. It can often better resonate with potential investors.
A video may not be approved by StartEngine’s content team if any of the following are true:
Video Quality
- Low resolution
- Problematic lighting
- Unnatural frame rate
- Blurry or out-of-focus imagery
- Shaky camera
- Poorly cropped
- Vertical or uncommon aspect ratio
- Unprofessional style
Audio Quality
- Missing
- Levels too low
- Muffled
- Wind-blown
- Unprofessional style
- Difficult to hear
Editing
- Poor syncing
- Blank cards
- Unprofessional style
- Unclear or unappealing effects
- Spelling or punctuation errors on titles
Content
- Insufficient content (under 30 seconds)
- Insufficient editing (over 2 minutes 30 seconds)
- Fails to accurately depict the business or service
- Includes prohibited content
Prohibited Content
Campaigns are not permitted to utilize any of the following content:
- Nudity
- Depictions of Violence
- Harassment or Depictions of Hate
- Unattributed Resources
- Misleading Information
- Illegally Sourced Material
- Extreme profanity
- Provocative
- Deck Slides
- Full Word Documents
- Extremely Low Resolution Imagery
- Low Resolution Text
- Long URL Links
- Outbound links, unless for sourcing data or news
- Dummy Text
Full Service
For companies who do not wish to build their own campaign page, StartEngine offers campaign page building as a part of its Full Service Package.