Investor surfaces
Crunchbase, AngelList, Y Combinator alumni directory, deck cover slide.
Founder headshots
Investors read your Crunchbase photo before they read your deck. Founder headshots for startup founders, cofounders, and startup CEOs.
Upload 10 selfies. Get stage-appropriate founder headshots in under 90 minutes. Built for Crunchbase, AngelList, and the deck cover slide.
- Trustpilot reviewed
- 18+ years behind the lens
- 15,000+ studio sessions
- Under 90 minutes
- Plain-language redo policy
Stage-appropriate
What makes a stage-appropriate founder headshot?
A founder headshot signals the stage your company is at. Investors pattern-match every photo against the round you are raising. One customer told us Aurawave has been instrumental in helping me build a strong personal brand online and in my industry.
Pre-seed reads casual. Series A reads confident-but-real. Series C trends executive. Another founder said Aurawave saved me valuable hours I would have spent at a traditional photo studio.
The Wikipedia entry on entrepreneurship traces the founder role across stages.
Samples
Sample founder headshots
Stage-appropriate looks across pre-seed, Series A, and Series C.
How it works
How it works
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1
Upload 10 selfies
Phone photos are fine. Take them in the last year.
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2
The engine builds and grades your photos
Failures get killed and regenerated.
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3
Get your curated set in under 90 minutes
Ready for Crunchbase, press kit, and deck.
Where it lives
Where does your founder photo actually live?
Press surfaces
TechCrunch and The Information feature photos. Forbes 30 Under 30. Press kit page.
Company surfaces
Hiring page hero, About page, meet-the-founder block, LinkedIn profile photo.
Disambiguation
Are founder headshots the same as executive headshots?
No. Executive headshots dress for the board book and the Form 10-K. Founder headshots signal stage to investors and journalists. The two looks should not collapse.
For the polished C-suite version, see Aurawave executive headshots.
The difference
What separates a stage-appropriate founder photo from a generic one?
Looks like you, at this stage
Same hair, skin tone, age, dressed for the round you are raising. Identity preservation is the floor.
Curated, not a 120-photo dump
Every output is graded. Failures get killed and regenerated until every photo passes.
A working photographer's eye
Joshua spent 18 years behind the lens. Photographer-led, not engineer-led.
Real customers
Real reviews from real customers
Aurawave has been instrumental in helping me build a strong personal brand online and in my industry.
Aurawave saved me valuable hours I would have spent at a traditional photo studio. It's a real time-saver for busy professionals.
I needed headshots for a last-minute conference, and Aurawave delivered in record time. The speed doesn't compromise quality.
Aurawave gave me a professional look that I couldn't achieve with selfies or amateur photography.
I was initially skeptical about AI-generated headshots, but Aurawave's results are truly remarkable and authentic-looking.
The AI-generated results are unnervingly accurate, like someone extracted the professional version of me that exists.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about founder headshots
Can I use an AI headshot on Crunchbase and AngelList?
Yes. Both accept founder photos from any provider. Use the same set across Crunchbase, AngelList, LinkedIn, and the press kit.
Is a founder headshot the same as an executive headshot?
No. Founder photos signal stage. Executive photos signal fiduciary polish. For the board-deck look, see Aurawave executive headshots.
Will my AI founder headshot actually look like me?
Yes. The grading step throws out any photo that drifts from your face. Same hair, same skin tone, same age.
Will investors be able to tell my photo is AI?
Investors pattern-match for stage and consistency, not the rendering pipeline. A stage-appropriate, identity-preserved output reads as a real founder portrait.
What should a startup founder wear?
Button-down or soft blazer-no-tie reads Series A confident. Hoodie and tee still works for consumer and dev-tools founders. Upload your real wardrobe.
How fast, and do I own the photos?
Under 90 minutes from upload. Full commercial use across Crunchbase, AngelList, LinkedIn, and your email signature.
Related
Other headshots we make
LinkedIn headshots
The photo walks in before you do.
Executive headshots
Board-deck ready, C-suite polish.
Lawyer headshots
Earn the call.
Doctor headshots
Earn the appointment.
Nurse headshots
First patient impression.
Real estate headshots
Earn the listing.
CPA headshots
Trust at the firm bio.
Women's LinkedIn headshots
For women on the founder team.
Availability
Available wherever your founders are
Aurawave is a SaaS, not a studio. YC batch in SF, Techstars in Boulder, On Deck from wherever. Cofounders across time zones get the same set. The Y Combinator library on founder operations covers founder-portrait conventions.
Get founder headshots that signal the stage you are at
Upload 10 selfies. Curated set in under 90 minutes. Photographer-graded, identity-preserved.
About the author
Joshua Albanese, founder and working photographer
Joshua Albanese has photographed more than 15,000 founders, partners, and executives in studio across an 18-year career. He built Aurawave so the founder photo on Crunchbase passes the same grading bar as a Joshua Albanese studio shoot.