--- title: "Quick Start" label: "Quick start" description: "Create your account, answer a few setup questions, and get a board on a 14-day Starter trial." publishedAt: 2025-12-31 updatedAt: 2026-11-03 order: 1 status: "published" faqs: - question: Can I skip the setup questions? answer: "Yes. Every question is skippable, and skipping still creates a board. If you skip the name, Cavuno gives you a temporary one you can change later. If you skip the audience description, AI job sourcing is unavailable and the board starts empty." - question: Do I need a credit card to start? answer: "No. New accounts get 14 days on the $39/mo Starter plan with no credit card. You can publish, connect a custom domain, and charge for job posts during that window." - question: What happens when the Starter trial ends? answer: "Your account returns to the Free plan. If you published during the trial and have not subscribed, the board goes back behind its password. Jobs and settings stay in place. Subscribe from Settings → Billing to keep the board public." - question: Do I need to connect Stripe before my board can go live? answer: "No. Stripe is only needed to charge for job postings. To make the board public, turn off password protection from the **Publish your job board** to-do on Home or Settings → Features." - question: Why is my new board password protected? answer: "New boards start private so you can review generated content before the public or search engines see it. When you are ready, disable password protection from the **Publish your job board** to-do on Home or Settings → Features." --- By the end of this guide, you'll have a board at a Cavuno subdomain, a 14-day Starter trial with no credit card, and a list of setup to-dos that matches the choices you made. Need help while you work through it? Open [Cavuno Companion](/docs/getting-started/contact-support) from the chat in your dashboard. It answers setup and how-to questions, helps you think through growth and pricing, shows what is left before you go live, and can make changes such as turning on job alerts once you approve them. If it cannot help or you ask for a person, Cavuno's founders continue in the same conversation. ## Before you begin You need a Cavuno account ([sign up](https://cavuno.com/auth/sign-up) if you don't have one). A board name is optional. An audience description is the most useful thing you can bring: it drives the theme, page content, SEO settings, and (if you ask for it) the job-sourcing rules Cavuno generates. Be specific. "Remote-friendly marketing roles at European climate-tech startups, for mid-career marketers in our newsletter community" works better than "Jobs." ## Create your account 1. Go to [sign up](https://cavuno.com/auth/sign-up) 2. Create your account 3. Confirm your email if Cavuno asks you to After you confirm, you land on the first setup question. If you already have an account, click **Create a job board** in the sidebar to open the same questions. You can have one unpaid board at a time, so subscribe your existing board first if it is on the Free plan or the Starter trial. Additional boards are billed separately and start on the Free plan. See [Running more than one board](/docs/billing/plans-and-pricing#running-more-than-one-board). ## Answer the setup questions There are four screens. Every question is skippable, and you can go back to change an answer. Your answers shape the board Cavuno creates and the setup steps that appear on Home afterward. ### Which best describes you? Pick the closest match: association or non-profit, community or media brand, standalone job board, staffing or recruiting agency, VC/PE/accelerator, school/university/bootcamp, or other. This is used to tailor generated content. Skipping records nothing — there is no default. ### How do you plan to monetize your board? Pick as many as apply: charge employers for job posts, job seeker subscriptions, sell access to your talent pool, sponsorships or ads, not sure yet, or I'm not planning to make money. If you choose **I'm not planning to make money**, Stripe will not appear in your setup to-dos until you later open **Settings → Products**. Skipping this question is treated as **Not sure yet**, so the payments step stays in the guide. ### Tell us about your board - **Board name** (optional). As you type, you'll see your Cavuno subdomain. Leave it blank if you haven't decided. Cavuno assigns a temporary name, and you can [change the name and address later](/docs/board-setup/change-cavuno-subdomain). - **Audience and focus.** Describe who the board is for and which roles belong on it. This is the field Cavuno generates content, design, and sourcing rules from. - **Board language.** The main language for generated content and board pages. You can change it later in settings. The setup list includes English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Swedish, Polish, and Japanese. After publishing an AI website builder site, you can also add [secondary languages](/docs/board-setup/board-language#secondary-languages). ### How do you want to fill your board with jobs? This is the last question, and it is also the step that creates the board. - **Let AI source jobs for me** (recommended). Cavuno writes backfill rules from your audience description and starts importing matching jobs. This option is unavailable until you write a description. - **I'll pick specific companies.** No rules are written yet. After you land in the dashboard, add the companies you want jobs from. - **Import my existing jobs.** For operators moving a board over. You'll upload a CSV or XML file, or connect a feed, from its setup to-do on Home. - **Start empty.** No automated sourcing. You post every job yourself. Click **Create my board**. If you skip this question after writing a description, Cavuno still sources jobs with AI. If you skipped the description, the board starts empty rather than inventing rules from nothing. ## Your board is ready The next screen names your board and states the trial in full: you're on the $39/mo Starter plan until a specific date, with no credit card required. During those 14 days you can publish the board, connect a custom domain with SSL, charge for job posts, and use Starter limits (500 active jobs and 1,000 subscribers). Click **Take me to my board**. The board exists at your Cavuno subdomain immediately, but it starts **behind a password**. Publishing is a later, deliberate step so generated content is not indexed before you review it. The sidebar plan pill reads **Starter trial**. Cavuno starts generating your color theme, page content, and SEO settings from what you described. If you chose AI sourcing, it also writes backfill rules. You can watch that work finish in the to-dos on Home. ## Work through your setup to-dos While setup is open, **Home** shows a **To-dos** card between the Companion prompt and your dashboard, so traffic and activity are there from day one. Each setup step is a row with a short line on what it involves, and the count next to the title shows how many are done. The next step to do stands out. Click a row to go straight to where that step is done. Steps tick themselves as you finish the work, wherever you do it. The list adapts to your answers — a step you declined is absent, not sitting there incomplete. When the last step is done, the card shows **Setup complete** once, and from your next visit Home is the dashboard on its own. The same steps are also available as a compact widget on other dashboard pages. Typical items: | Step | What it does | When it appears | |---|---|---| | **Name your job board** | Edit the name and slug | Always | | **Brand your job board** | Upload a logo or change the theme. Spins while AI is designing | Always | | **Create a backfill rule** | Already complete if you chose AI sourcing. Spins while rules and jobs are processing | AI sourcing, or when rule setup failed and you need to create one by hand | | **Add companies to backfill** | Pick the companies whose roles you want imported | You chose specific companies | | **Import your jobs** | Upload a CSV or XML file, or connect a feed | You chose import | | **Set up Stripe payments** | Connect Stripe so you can charge employers | Hidden only if you said you are not planning to make money | | **Connect a custom domain** | Replace the Cavuno subdomain | Always on the trial and on paid plans | | **Publish your job board** | Turn off password protection | Always. During the trial this step says publishing is included free | For boards using the AI builder, also use **Publish** in the builder to release your checked draft. Turning off password protection changes access; it does not publish an unpublished builder version. See [Preview and publish](/docs/ai-website-builder/publishing). While AI is working on a step, its circle spins and the row says what is in progress. You can still connect Stripe or a custom domain while that finishes. ## Customize your design Open **Website builder** in the sidebar, describe the design you want in the chat, attach brand references, and review the draft in **Preview**. Ask in the chat for shared design choices such as colors, fonts, and corner radius too. Make one focused follow-up change at a time and check the result on desktop and mobile. Changes stay in the draft until you publish. If **Website builder** shows **Move your site to the new builder**, your board is still being moved from the retired section-based editor; follow any DNS steps it shows. See [Access](/docs/ai-website-builder#access). Follow [Build your first draft](/docs/ai-website-builder/get-started) for the complete walkthrough. ## Connect a custom domain A custom domain like `jobs.yoursite.com` builds trust with visitors and keeps board links under your brand. You can set this up now or come back later. The trial includes custom domains. 1. Click **Connect a custom domain** in your to-dos on Home, or go to **Settings → Domains** 2. Enter your custom domain 3. Add the DNS records shown to your domain provider 4. Click **Verify** DNS propagation can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. See [Connect a custom domain](/docs/board-setup/connect-custom-domain) for provider-specific instructions. ### If domain verification does not complete Compare every DNS value with the records currently shown in Cavuno, including the host name and record type. Remove conflicting records only when you understand what they are used for. Keep using the default Cavuno subdomain while DNS changes propagate, and follow the recovery checks in [Connect a custom domain](/docs/board-setup/connect-custom-domain) if the status remains incomplete. ## Set up payments Connect Stripe when you're ready to charge for job postings. If you said you are not planning to make money, this step is hidden until you open **Settings → Products** yourself. Decide when to monetize from the value and intent of your audience, employer demand, and the results you can demonstrate — there is no universal traffic threshold. 1. Click **Set up Stripe payments** in your to-dos on Home, or go to **Settings → Products** 2. Connect your Stripe account 3. Create your pricing plans See [Connect Stripe](/docs/monetization/connect-stripe) and [Create pricing plans](/docs/monetization/create-pricing-plans) for detailed setup instructions. ## Publish your board New boards start password-protected. Publishing is included during the Starter trial. 1. Click the **Publish your job board** to-do on Home, or go to **Settings → Features** 2. Turn off **Password protection** 3. Save Open the board URL in a signed-out browser. Confirm the homepage loads without a password, your branding is visible, at least one intended job can be opened, and its application path works. If the 14-day trial ends and you have not subscribed, a published board goes back behind its password. Content is not deleted. Subscribe from **Settings → Billing** to keep it public. See [Plans and pricing](/docs/billing/plans-and-pricing) and [Password protection](/docs/board-setup/password-protection). ## What to do next Return to your to-dos on Home for any step still processing or failing. Then, in this order: **Review how jobs are arriving.** If you chose AI sourcing, open **Grow → Backfill** and make sure the right companies and job types are importing. Tight, relevant backfill beats high volume. If you chose specific companies, add them there. If you chose import, start from **Jobs → Import**. See [Configure backfill](/docs/backfill/configure-backfill) and [Getting first jobs](/docs/getting-started/getting-first-jobs). **Customize your pages.** Open **Website builder**, name the page you want to change, and describe the result in the chat. Review the preview and use **Publish** when the version is ready. See [AI website builder](/docs/ai-website-builder). **Set up job alerts.** Job alerts give subscribers a direct way to return when new jobs match their criteria. Use your own subscriber and engagement data to judge their contribution. See [Job alerts](/docs/job-alerts). **Add your analytics.** Connect [Google Analytics](/docs/analytics/connect-google-analytics) from **Settings → Analytics**, and [Google Search Console](/docs/analytics/connect-search-console) from **Settings → Google Search Console**. Search Console is especially important because it shows you how your job pages perform in Google search results, including Google for Jobs impressions. **Invite your team.** Open **Settings → Members** to add collaborators. You can assign Admin or Member access; Members are read-only by default. See [Invite team members](/docs/team/invite-team-members). For a comprehensive launch plan covering everything from branding to marketing, see the [launch checklist](/docs/getting-started/launch-checklist).