directory · saas · indie

Startup88: requirements, how to submit, and what you actually get

Visit

A press pitch wearing a directory's clothes

startup88.com
Startup88 homepage
Eligibility

Who Startup88 accepts

You need
A live public URL
A founder willing to answer questions about funding and market
You'll be rejected if
Nothing published about who is refused.
StartupsSaaS productsIndie productsHardwareBiotechCrowdfunding campaigns
What you actually get
A written-up post on a WordPress blog that publishes several startups a day, if an editor picks your pitch. This is not a listing you fill in and appear on: you are asking somebody to write about you, and nothing on the site commits to publishing, to a queue position or to a date. The product link inside a published post carries rel="nofollow external", so the value here is the write-up and its readers rather than the link.

How to submit to Startup88

  1. Open the Typeform
    Every Pitch Your Startup control on the site points at the same Typeform rather than at a page of their own.
  2. Answer the product questions
    Name, tagline, website, founder name, founder email, Twitter handle, then a two paragraph elevator pitch.
  3. Answer the business questions
    Target market, how you will make money, whether you are the founder, capital raised from a fixed band list, and your city and country.
  4. Upload a product image
    A product image or screenshot, under 10MB, at question 13. Its own OK button must be pressed before the form will move on.
  5. Decline or take the express review
    Question 14 asks whether you want an express review for $9.95. No is a valid answer and keeps the pitch free. Submit then returns a thank-you reading 'You made it :)'.

Startup88 requirements

Startup name
Tagline
Website URL
Founder name
Founder email
not a generic address
Twitter handle
including the @
Elevator pitch
2 paragraphs
Target market
Revenue model
Capital raised
None, or a band up to 5-10m
City and country
Product image or screenshot
under 10MB
Express review answer
yes at $9.95, or no

Gotchas

This is a press pitch, not a submission. Fourteen questions in, nothing has promised you a listing, and there is no dashboard, queue or status page to check afterwards: either an editor writes you up or you never hear.
The last question is a paid one and you cannot skip past it. It asks for $9.95 to jump the queue and be shared with their 12,000 followers, and the thank-you screen asks a second time on another form. No is free, so read question 14 before clicking.
It asks what a directory never asks. Capital raised, target market and how you will make money are all required, so have those answers ready before you start rather than inventing them at question nine.
The email question's own hint refuses generic addresses, so a role address on your domain may be turned away and a free mailbox almost certainly will be.

Let your agent submit to Startup88

Connect SubmitMap to your AI over MCP and this page stops being something you read and copy. Your agent asks for the Startup88 playbook and gets the brief for this exact form, with the values already taken from your submission pack instead of placeholders you fill in by hand.

What it does for this platform
Checks your product against the 3 Startup88 rules above, so you find out you would be rejected before you open a tab.
Hands your agent all 13 fields this form asks for, none of them optional, already filled from your pack.
Tells you what paying buys here, so you pick it on purpose: pitching is free. The fourteenth and final question is a required yes-or-no upsell: $9.95 for an express review that jumps the queue, puts you on the front page for 24 hours and shares you with their stated 12,000 followers. Answering No costs nothing and submits normally, and the thank-you screen offers the same upgrade again on a second Typeform.
Types it into Startup88 in your own browser, and stops for you when the form wants a sign-in.
Records what it sent, so the dashboard can answer "did I ever submit to Startup88?".
Connect your agentHow this worksTools and endpointsWorks with Claude Code, Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and Hermes.

Startup88 FAQ

How long does Startup88 approval take?
Startup88 does not publish how long approval takes.
How much does it cost to submit to Startup88?
Startup88 has a free submission option plus paid placement (Pitching is free. The fourteenth and final question is a required yes-or-no upsell: $9.95 for an express review that jumps the queue, puts you on the front page for 24 hours and shares you with their stated 12,000 followers. Answering No costs nothing and submits normally, and the thank-you screen offers the same upgrade again on a second Typeform.).
Does Startup88 give a dofollow backlink?
No, links from Startup88 are nofollow. The site has a domain rating of 22.
Does Startup88 require a backlink to your site?
No, Startup88 does not require a link back from your site.
What gets you rejected from Startup88?
Nothing published about who is refused.