/ Case study
Ensemble VC
Ensemble VC liked its new Webflow site enough to send us two referrals within weeks of launch.
Fri3nds project record and client emails, 2025
Who Ensemble VC is and why it needed a new website
Ensemble VC is an early-stage venture firm that uses a data science platform it built in-house to find exceptional teams. One of the partners' favorite founder lines is that Ensemble looks more like a software company than a VC firm. Its website did not. It was a Squarespace site, set up quickly when the firm started, and it said little about what made Ensemble different. Rooney Pitchford, Ensemble's Chief of Staff, came to us looking for a website revamp, and Managing Partner Collin West joined the second call. The ask was a site that founders would trust at first glance, in Webflow, so the team could run it themselves.
"I was going to say that they feel refreshed that we're different because everybody looks the same to them."
— Rooney Pitchford, Chief of Staff, Ensemble VC
The challenge: founders decide in five minutes
Most founders meet Ensemble through a warm introduction, then look the firm up before the call, sometimes five minutes before. In our content workshop the partners walked us through that moment from the founder's side. A first-time founder with no context lands on the site and has to decide fast whether this firm is credible and worth thirty minutes. Collin put the stakes plainly. Rooney's bar for the new site was a baseline every founder would read the same way: this firm knows what it is doing.
"And if I don't know who you are, I'm just going to assume you're the bad VC."
— Collin West, Managing Partner, Ensemble VC
How we designed and built Ensemble's Webflow website
We kept Ensemble's logo and colors and started from the people who read the site. Two workshops with the partners mapped the founder and investor audiences and the story each needed, then wireframes, then four rounds of visual direction until the look felt futuristic without losing substance. Portfolio companies lead the home page in a carousel, with a page for each company, and the team and research sections run on Webflow's CMS. Serggio, our designer, worked through every round with the partners until the direction landed.
- 3 CMS collections the Ensemble team runs: team, portfolio companies and research
- 4 rounds of visual direction with the partners
"I'm going to be so proud to show people our website versus what it is now."
— Conrad Shang, Managing Partner, Ensemble VC
How we launched and handed Ensemble the keys
We built the site with motion on a staging link, and Rooney reviewed it page by page with comments left right on the design. Then we moved the domain off Squarespace and the site went live on Webflow in January 2025, in Ensemble's own Webflow workspace. Before signing off, we sent a handoff guide and short video walkthroughs, then ran a live Webflow session so Rooney could add team members, research posts and portfolio companies without us. Ensemble announced the new site in its newsletter.
"Okay, I am feeling very confident and I will watch all your videos if anything comes up, but I don't think I need to waste your time."
— Rooney Pitchford, Chief of Staff, Ensemble VC
What happened after launch
Within weeks, Rooney introduced us to two other investors looking for help with their own sites. One had asked to meet Ensemble's website designers; the other replied to Ensemble's newsletter about the new look. The research section keeps growing, published by Ensemble's own team. In the summer of 2025 Rooney came back for a second project, a simple contact page with its own form, now linked from the bottom of the home and team pages.
- 2 referrals from Ensemble within weeks of launch
- 2 projects together: the Webflow site, then a contact page
"thank you guys the website's awesome and everybody loves it and we're very proud"
— Rooney Pitchford, Chief of Staff, Ensemble VC
Credits
Client: Ensemble VC. Rooney Pitchford (Chief of Staff), Collin West (Managing Partner), Conrad Shang (Managing Partner), Gopi Sundaramurthy (Head of Data Science)
Design: Serggio Montilva
Introduction: Monttilva, Serggio Montilva's studio
Account and project management: Jaime Pons
Webflow build, launch and training: the Fri3nds team, with Federico Rano and Richard Reynolds
Contact page (2025): Nicolas Picotto and Federico Rano
Services: Brand sync and personas, wireframes, visual direction, Webflow design and development, CMS setup, domain migration from Squarespace, CMS training, contact page
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