Sometimes it is advantageous to enlist the services of a professional website designer. For example, MFN parent organization Lever utilizes Mungy, a Berkshire-based creative studio, for their own website and other needs. I had the opportunity to ask Mungy’s Susanna Sharpe some questions about how a new business should approach finding a vendor to help them get a website up and running.

How do you pick someone to help you with a website?

Start with the people, not the pixels. A good website partner will ask about your goals, your audience, and the bigger picture of where you’re headed. Design matters, but only when it serves the story you’re trying to tell. The right partner should make you feel like they’re in it with you, asking smart questions and explaining their process in a way that makes sense.

Red flags: generic templates with no thought to your business, teams where you never know who’s actually doing the work, or anyone who skips straight to “what it looks like” without first talking about who you are.

What are your hosting options, and which one is right for your company?

Think of hosting as the foundation your whole website sits on. If it’s shaky, everything else will give you problems. Shared hosting often feels like cramming into an apartment with too many roommates. It’s slower, less secure, and prone to issues you don’t want to be fixing at midnight.

We host our sites on cloud-based, containerized servers. It’s fast, secure, and optimized for WordPress, which is the platform we trust and build on. It means fewer headaches for you and a much smoother experience for your visitors.

What’s in the standard package you offer to get companies on their feet?

Every business comes with its own story, so no two projects look exactly the same. But most founders choose between two main paths.

The first is our custom design-build. That’s where we go deep: brand discovery, competitor research, custom design, development, copywriting support, SEO, and launch. Everything is built from scratch around your voice, your audience, and your goals. It’s the best fit for companies ready to invest in a site that can truly grow with them.

The second is our template-based design-build. We use templates from our own library, all clean and professional, and handle the full build with your content. It’s faster and more affordable, but still feels intentional and well-crafted. This is a great place to start for early-stage companies that want something high-quality without a large investment.

Whichever path you take, we stay close. Most clients continue with Mungy Management after launch because it means they don’t have to touch the tech. We handle hosting, updates, backups, performance, and security so your site keeps running smoothly while you stay focused on building your business. It’s the kind of support we wished we had when we were starting out, and it’s one of the reasons our clients tend to stay with us for years.

Do you make any suggestions on the rest of a client’s infrastructure?

Yes. A website doesn’t live in isolation. It connects with your email, scheduling, analytics, and whatever systems you use to run your business. We help make sure those pieces work together so the site isn’t fighting against the rest of your setup.

How do you help with SEO and getting listed in directories?

Every site we launch comes with foundational SEO in place. That means page structure, titles, metadata, link retention, redirects, Google Analytics setup, speed optimization, and more. The goal is to protect the traffic you already have and set you up to grow from there. It’s the behind-the-scenes work that makes sure your site can be found and your visitors land on the right pages.

How much flexibility do your clients have in managing content?

The sites we build are fully editable, so clients can update them anytime. But the truth is most of our clients don’t want to spend their time learning the backend. They’d rather send us an email and have it done. That’s why our management service exists. You always own the site and have full access, but we handle the updates so you don’t have to.

What are the most important features for early-stage sites?

Clarity. A clean design. Easy ways to get in touch. Strong mobile performance. Quick load times. And simple trust signals like testimonials or logos from happy customers. Founders sometimes think they need to say everything on the first site, but less is usually more. Clear beats clever every time.

When should they upgrade?

Your site should never hold you back. If your audience changes, your product evolves, or you’re preparing for a new stage of growth, it’s time to revisit. A website is a living part of your business, and it should move forward with you.

What new tools or features are you exploring at Mungy?

We’re exploring smarter systems that make websites more flexible and efficient. That includes modular designs that scale as businesses grow, AI-supported workflows that speed up content creation, and new offerings for startups who aren’t ready for a fully custom site but still want something that feels professional and true to them.

If you have questions on getting a website set up feel free to ask in the MFN Slack community, a free resource for entrepreneurs!