Venture Shape
The Hidden Red Flags That Turn Investors Off Your Biotech Website
Investors scrutinize biotech websites for clarity, credibility, and momentum. Here are the signals that quietly erode trust—and how to fix them.
September 8, 2025
Matt Dennis
Biotech investors don’t just read your deck. They Google you.
Your website is often the first touchpoint they see after an introduction, and in that moment they’re not looking for creativity or clever taglines. They’re looking for clarity, credibility, and signals that your company is as serious as the science it claims to advance.
Too many biotech websites quietly undermine that trust. Below are the hidden red flags that make investors question whether your company is ready for their capital.
1. Generic Messaging That Says Nothing
“Revolutionizing medicine.”
“Transforming patient outcomes.”
“Changing the future of healthcare.”
These statements are so vague they could apply to thousands of companies. They don’t differentiate your platform, your pipeline, or your vision. For investors, generic messaging raises the suspicion that leadership hasn’t clarified the story—or worse, doesn’t have one.
Case Example: An early-stage oncology biotech with a Series B deck proudly claims it is “changing cancer care forever.” But the deck shows a single preclinical candidate. The website reinforces the same generic claim with no mechanism of action, no indication focus, and no competitive landscape. For investors, that reads as over-hype, under-substance.
Fix: Replace platitudes with a precise thesis. What indication are you addressing? Why does your approach matter now? What’s the moat that makes you hard to copy?
2. Incomplete or Outdated Pipeline Information
Your pipeline is the backbone of your investor narrative. If it’s missing, outdated, or hidden three clicks deep, you’re signaling disorganization or worse—lack of progress.
Case Example: A biotech raises a strong Series A around a promising autoimmune therapy, but the pipeline page on its website still lists “undisclosed targets.” Two years later, investors revisit the site and see the same vague graphics. The assumption isn’t “they’re being stealthy.” The assumption is “nothing moved.”
Fix: Keep your pipeline page current. Stage clearly, include targets or indications, and date your last update. Even if progress is incremental, showing the timeline of work builds credibility.
3. Leadership Pages Without Real Depth
Investors bet on teams as much as science. A leadership page with only headshots and vague titles is a red flag. If investors can’t quickly assess the caliber of your team, they’ll assume you’re hiding weaknesses.
Case Example: A gene therapy startup lists a CEO and CSO with headshots but no bios. On LinkedIn, the CEO has three unrelated ventures in retail and crypto. The missing detail on the site forces investors to fill in the blanks—and they won’t fill them charitably.
Fix: Highlight credentials, relevant past successes, and affiliations. Use short, sharp bios that show why this team can execute. Include advisors only if they’re active—not just names for decoration.
4. No Evidence of Momentum
A silent “News” page or empty “Press” section tells investors nothing is happening. Worse, it suggests a company that isn’t getting traction.
Case Example: A Series A biotech quietly makes progress with IND-enabling studies but doesn’t update its site for 18 months. The next investor who visits sees a stale press release about a seed round. It creates the impression of stagnation, even if work is happening behind the scenes.
Fix: Post updates even if they’re modest—conference presentations, new hires, partnerships, preclinical milestones. Momentum doesn’t have to mean a Phase 3 readout. It means visible progress.
5. Bloated, Outdated Technology
Many biotech sites are still trapped in outdated CMS setups, overbuilt with plugins, or designed on legacy templates. Investors won’t inspect your code—but they will notice when your site loads slowly, breaks on mobile, or looks five years old. That translates to poor operational discipline.
Case Example: A publicly traded biotech launches a new pipeline candidate but announces it on a website that takes 12 seconds to load on mobile. Investors may not know the cause (plugin bloat, legacy theme), but they will register the signal: this company doesn’t sweat operational details.
Fix: Invest in a clean, scalable site built on modern WordPress blocks or equivalent. Think fast, secure, and easy for your team to update. Infrastructure is part of the signal.
6. Hard-to-Find Contact Pathways
If an investor can’t easily reach you, they may not try twice. Buried forms, missing emails, or generic info@ addresses all give the impression of inaccessibility.
Case Example: A biotech’s website features only a “General Inquiries” form with no direct investor contact. A potential investor hesitates to use it, unsure where the message will land. In early-stage fundraising, friction like this can mean a missed conversation that never comes back.
Fix: Prominently feature an investor contact email. Make sure it goes to someone responsible and responsive. Don’t overcomplicate the funnel—accessibility signals professionalism.
7. Visuals That Don’t Match the Story
Stock DNA helix backgrounds and vague lab imagery don’t instill confidence. They make your company blend into a sea of indistinguishable biotech startups.
Case Example: A CNS biotech touts a differentiated platform but illustrates it with the same double-helix vector image used by dozens of peers. Investors don’t see science—they see sameness.
Fix: Use visuals that actually communicate your science. Pipeline diagrams, mechanism of action illustrations, and investor-ready graphics help reinforce the story. A picture of your differentiator is worth more than a thousand stock icons.
Conclusion: Websites Are Signals, Not Just Brochures
Investors don’t expect your website to close the round. But they do expect it to align with the story they’ve heard in your deck or pitch. A clean, credible site signals operational strength, investor readiness, and momentum. A sloppy site signals the opposite.
The hidden red flags above can be the difference between a warm follow-up and a quiet pass. In biotech, trust compounds—and your website is the first, easiest signal to get right.