How to Submit to Startups.gallery
Startups.gallery is one of the more genuinely curated directories you can be listed in: a hand-picked gallery of 1,309 early-stage startups (a headline number that's literally true, we counted its sitemap), plus daily-updated funding news and 13,000+ live jobs, "Crafted by Louis and Gonzalo", two named makers with YC-startup and Unsplash pedigree. Submission is free through a short Tally form, every entry is reviewed by a human, and listings can't be bought. One thing to know before you count it toward SEO: profile links are nofollow (checked July 2026), so this one is about curation and exposure, not link equity. Here's the walkthrough.
Submitator submits you to startups.gallery automatically: $29 covers startups.gallery plus 29 more directories you pick (30 total). A real browser session completes their form with your real details, a unique description, and the CAPTCHA handled, and their curators make the call on merit, same as for anyone.
Startups.gallery at a glance
| Feature | Startups.gallery |
|---|---|
| Domain Rating | ~31 (FrogDR) |
| Size | 1,309 startups (matches its sitemap) |
| Listing | Free; can't be bought |
| Profile links | Nofollow (checked July 2026) |
| Review | Human-curated; no stated timeline |
| Paid options | Sponsorship only, separate |
| Audience | 40,000+ monthly uniques (their number) |
Startups.gallery is a hand-curated gallery of early-stage startups with funding news and job listings, updated daily, run independently by two named makers since 2024. Submission is free via a Tally form (startups.gallery/submit redirects to it); the form's intro says 'We actually review each and every submission and if it's a great fit, we'll add it to the site', and its About page answers 'Can I pay you to feature my company?' with 'No.' Sponsorships (a $1,000 30-day homepage feature, newsletter placements from $250) are sold separately from editorial listings. On the company profiles we sampled in July 2026, outbound links to the startup carry rel='nofollow'. Traffic and subscriber figures are the site's own. DR ~31 per FrogDR.
How to submit to startups.gallery, step by step
- 1
Open the form
startups.gallery/submit takes you straight to their Tally form. No account, no payment; the intro reminds you: 'Curated daily, by humans.'
- 2
The details, and the 10 words
Startup name, website, and a description in 10 words or less. This is the field a human reviewer reads first, so make it concrete (see below). Then pick your relationship to the startup (Founder, Employee, VC, Other) and the funding source (VC-backed, Bootstrapped, Other).
- 3
Submitted by
Your name and a real email ('Please use a real email. We never spam.'), plus an optional how-did-you-hear field. Third-party submitters are an anticipated case; the relationship field has options beyond Founder.
- 4
CAPTCHA, submit, and wait for a human
Tick the reCAPTCHA and submit. Every submission gets a human review with no published timeline; if it's 'a great fit', you're in. Acceptance is editorial, and nobody can buy their way past it.
The 10 words that decide it
The form's centerpiece is one field: "Describe the company in 10 words..." Those ten words are your pitch to a human curator who reviews every submission and cross-checks against sources like Crunchbase and LinkedIn. Concrete beats grand: say what you do and for whom ("Payroll for restaurants that closes books nightly"), not what you're revolutionizing. Answer the stage and funding fields accurately too; the gallery organizes companies by exactly those facts, and bootstrapped startups have their own curated collection, so there's no advantage in dressing up.
About that note on automated submissions
The form carries a warning worth reading: "note: due to extreme volume and the curated experience of our site, automated submissions will probably not be reviewed (they're pretty easy to spot)". What's easy to spot is sloppy automation: template descriptions pasted into every directory, garbage fields, throwaway emails. Fair enough; that deserves to be binned. Submitator's submission doesn't look like that because it isn't that: a real browser session fills their form the way a person would, with your real startup details, a unique description written for this directory, your founder email, and the reCAPTCHA completed. What lands in their queue is a complete, accurate submission, and their curators judge it on merit, exactly as the form promises: "We actually review each and every submission". We don't decide the outcome; a great fit does.
What a listing is worth (and what it isn't)
Be clear-eyed about both halves. What it isn't: a backlink play. Profile links to your site carry rel="nofollow" on every page we sampled, so no link equity flows. What it is: an unbuyable, human-curated placement next to companies the site itself describes as "funded by leading investors like Y Combinator, Sequoia, and a16z", a rich profile page (your investors, funding history, and a live jobs feed) that's indexed and can rank for your name, a spot in collections browsed by stage, industry, and city, and a weekly newsletter the site says reaches 4,500 subscribers. The site reports 40,000+ monthly unique visitors, its numbers, but the freshness is checkable: funding news and job listings on the site were days old when we looked. For an early-stage startup hiring or fundraising, that's a genuinely useful room to be seen in.
| Feature | DIY (free) | Submitator |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $29 for 30 directories, this one included |
| The form | You fill it, CAPTCHA and all | Real browser session, handled |
| The 10 words | You write them | Unique copy written per directory |
| Acceptance | Their editorial call | Their editorial call; rejections credited +1 |
Submitting to startups.gallery yourself is free and takes a few minutes; this guide covers everything you need. Submitator's $29 plan submits you to startups.gallery plus 29 more directories you pick (30 total), with unique copy per directory, CAPTCHAs handled, live links as listings complete, and rejections credited back as +1. Startups.gallery's human review and acceptance decision apply either way.
Startups.gallery + 29 more, from $29.
One batch: startups.gallery plus 29 directories you pick, unique copy per directory, CAPTCHAs handled, live links as listings complete. One-time.
You can't buy this listing. That's the point.
Startups.gallery refuses payment for listings and reviews every submission by hand. A placement you can't purchase is a placement worth having, so give the curators a submission that makes the call easy.
FAQ
Is startups.gallery free to submit to?
Yes, completely. Submission runs through a short Tally form (startups.gallery/submit redirects straight to it), every submission is reviewed by a human (the site is independently run by two named makers), and listings can't be bought: their own FAQ answers 'Can I pay you to feature my company?' with a flat 'No.' The only paid products are sponsorships (a homepage feature and newsletter placements), which are separate from the editorial listings.
Is a startups.gallery listing dofollow?
No. On every company profile we sampled in July 2026, the links to the startup's site carry rel="nofollow". So value the listing for what it verifiably is: a hand-curated, unbuyable placement in a gallery whose own tagline is startups 'funded by leading investors like Y Combinator, Sequoia, and a16z', a rich indexed profile page (investors, funding history, a live jobs feed), and a weekly newsletter audience. Treat any SEO effect as a bonus, not the point.
How long does startups.gallery review take?
No timeline is published. The form's intro says it plainly: 'We actually review each and every submission and if it's a great fit, we'll add it to the site.' It's a human-curated gallery run by two people, so expect an editorial decision, not an automated queue, and no guaranteed acceptance.
What should the 10-word description say?
The form's field is 'Describe the company in 10 words...', and those 10 words are what a human reviewer reads first. Say what you do and for whom, concretely, in plain words: 'Payroll for restaurants that closes books nightly' beats 'Revolutionizing the future of hospitality finance.' Accurate stage and funding-source answers help too; the curators cross-check against sources like Crunchbase and LinkedIn.
Who is startups.gallery best for?
Early-stage startups with real traction signals. The gallery skews toward funded companies with open roles (profiles show investors, funding rounds, and live job feeds), but bootstrapped startups have their own curated collection, and the form's funding-source field lists Bootstrapped as a first-class answer. A serious startup of either kind fits; a weekend side project is unlikely to be, in their words, 'a great fit'.
Does Submitator submit to startups.gallery?
Yes, automatically, as part of your batch: $29 covers startups.gallery plus 29 more directories you pick (30 total). Our real browser automation completes their form the way a person would, with your real details, a unique description written for this directory, your founder email, and the CAPTCHA handled. Their form warns that automated submissions are 'pretty easy to spot' and probably won't be reviewed; what that catches is sloppy automation, template text and fake emails, and fair enough. Ours isn't that: the submission lands complete and accurate, and their curators judge it on merit like any other. If a directory declines you, it's credited back as +1.
More submit-to guides.
Curated by humans. Submitted by us.
Startups.gallery plus 29 more directories you pick, unique copy per directory, CAPTCHAs handled, rejections credited back. $29 one-time.