Author: blrb.ai Team

You’ve refined your pitch, rehearsed your story, and built a beautiful deck. But once you hit “send,” you lose visibility. Who actually opens it? Did they click the demo link? Are they forwarding it around?

This is where short links become a stealth power tool for startup founders.

Used right, short links give you insight, control, and credibility—without changing your workflow. They turn your email pitch, deck, or product demo into a mini analytics engine that helps you work smarter.

Here’s how founders are using them today.

1. Track Who’s Actually Engaging with Your Pitch

Sending your deck to investors? Replace raw URLs with unique short links:

• One link for each investor
• One for each version of your deck
• One for your product demo or waitlist page

That way, you can see:

• Who clicked your links
• When and where they clicked
• Which version of your deck is actually getting traction

It’s not just vanity metrics—it’s feedback. If your top link isn’t being clicked, maybe your subject line needs work. If someone’s opened your demo 3 times this week… it might be time to follow up.

2. Keep Control Over Your Links (Even After You Hit Send)

Let’s say you catch a bug in your product demo the morning after you send your deck out. Or your pricing page changes. If your links are raw, there’s nothing you can do. But with short links, you can update the destination behind the scenes—without changing the original link.

That means:

• No scrambling to resend updated decks
• No broken links floating around VC inboxes
• No loss of control once your content is shared

You stay agile, even when your materials are already in the wild.

3. Add Professional Polish with Branded Short Domains

Instead of sending out links like https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/xyz…, you could send:

pitch.yourstartup.co/deck
go.yourstartup.io/demo

These branded short links:

• Build trust (especially helpful if you’re sending cold emails)
• Signal professionalism and attention to detail
• Look better in investor briefs, media kits, and one-pagers

They’re also easier to remember and manually retype if someone’s reading from a printed version or screenshot.

4. Use Short Links in Your Hiring Pipeline and Early Growth

It’s not just about investors. Smart founders also use short links to:

• Track which job boards or referrals bring in the best candidates
• Create single-use or region-specific referral links
• Monitor early landing pages or waitlist interest by channel

Short links give you data on your earliest signals, long before you have deep analytics tooling in place.

TL;DR

If you’re a founder, short links give you:

• Insight into who’s engaging with your pitch
• The ability to fix or change links after you’ve sent them
• A more polished and professional presentation
• A low-effort way to gather real-world feedback from your early efforts

You don’t need to be technical. You just need to start tracking what matters.

Ready to track your pitch deck clicks? Try blrb.ai free and see exactly who’s engaging with your startup materials.

In our last post, we talked about how short links can give startup founders more control, better data, and a more professional edge when sending out decks, demos, and more.

Now let’s get tactical.

This guide shows you exactly how to set up and use short links—from your very first pitch to your early hiring funnel—without adding overhead or complexity.

🔗 Step 1: Set Up a Branded Short Domain

Before you start sending out links, grab a short domain that matches your brand. Examples:

• go.yourstartup.com
• pitch.getloop.io
• demo.withnimbus.co

You can usually get a short domain for ~$10/year. Once connected to your link service, all your short links will use it—so your links always look clean and trustworthy, even in cold emails.

📤 Step 2: Use Unique Links for Each Investor or Outreach List

You’re probably sending the same pitch deck or demo page to multiple people. Don’t use the same link for everyone.

Instead:

• Create a separate short link for each investor or firm (e.g., go.yourstartup.com/a16z).
• Create grouped links for outbound rounds (e.g., go.yourstartup.com/seed-round).
• Use short links for different platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter DMs, or cold emails.

Now when someone clicks, you’ll know where the interest is coming from—and when it’s time to follow up.

🧪 Step 3: Run A/B Tests Without Extra Tools

Short links can help you A/B test:

• Two different versions of your pitch deck
• Two different demo pages (one “feature first,” one “value first”)
• Different CTAs or subject lines in your cold email

Just generate separate short links and track the click rates. No code needed. You’ll start learning what resonates—and fast.

🧹 Step 4: Keep Control Over Your Links

One of the most powerful features of short links is the ability to change the destination later.

You can:

• Fix typos or broken demo links
• Switch out your deck for a newer version
• Redirect to your launch announcement after fundraising is complete

This is essential if you’re moving fast and want to avoid legacy decks floating around with outdated info.

👩‍💻 Step 5: Use Short Links in Early Hiring and Growth Experiments

Short links aren’t just for investors. You can also use them to:

• Track which job boards actually get clicks (go.yourstartup.com/jobs-hackernews vs. /jobs-linkedin)
• Compare early signup interest by channel (/waitlist-tiktok vs. /waitlist-email)
• See which referral partners or ambassadors are actually driving traffic

And because short links work in SMS, DMs, and printed QR codes, they’re great for scrappy growth hacks.

🧠 Step 6: Review the Data (But Don’t Overcomplicate It)

Most short link tools show you:

• Click counts
• Device types
• Time of day
• Referring source or location

That’s all you need early on. You don’t need Mixpanel on day one—just enough visibility to make smarter decisions and spot warm leads before they go cold.

TL;DR: You Don’t Need to Be Big to Act Like It

A solid link strategy helps you:

• Look more professional
• Learn faster from every round of outreach
• Stay in control of your materials
• Get better results from the same effort

The best part? It’s easy to set up, and it scales with you. Whether you’re pre-seed or post-Series A, smart links let you track and tweak everything you’re sending out into the world.

Ready to build your link strategy? Try blrb.ai free and start tracking your startup’s outreach from day one.