Breakaway Advisor Website
The website plan for advisors going independent.
A 2026 operating guide for advisors leaving a broker-dealer or wirehouse to start or join an RIA. When to build, what stays private until launch, which decisions you make exactly once, and what the site needs the day the firm announces.
Trevor spent a decade in enterprise sales and capital raising across fintech, private wealth, and family offices. This guide is general information, not legal, compliance, or investment advice, and your CCO or counsel makes every final call.
The Critical Path
Why the website is on the launch critical path.
The new firm's website belongs on the same planning calendar as registration, review, custody, communications, and domain cutover. Different transitions involve different stakeholders, but the public site should not be an afterthought.
Plan for the first public search
Once the approved announcement is public, clients, prospects, and referral partners may look up the new firm immediately. The website should present the same firm name, services, people, disclosures, and next step that the approved communications present.
Give reviewers a stable draft
Counsel, compliance, custodial contacts, or other operational partners may need to review parts of the website, depending on the transition. A controlled staging copy and change log give the approved audience one stable version to review.
The site has to match the pitch
The pitch to clients is that going independent is an upgrade. An empty page or an obvious template undercuts that story at the exact moment clients are deciding whether to follow. The site has to look like the firm you described, which is a trust-signal problem as much as a design problem.
The rules live in a separate guide
This guide covers sequencing and operations. For what the SEC Marketing Rule and FINRA 2210 actually require on the site, use the RIA website compliance guide. The 2 guides are built to be used together.
Sequencing
How to prepare the site while the transition is still private.
What can happen before a departure varies by employment agreement, firm policy, registration path, and transition plan. Counsel should define the permitted work, staging audience, and launch conditions before the build begins.
Use private staging when approved
TMN can write, design, and review on a private staging URL with a change log. Counsel and the firm's reviewers decide whether pre-departure work is permitted, who may see the staging site, and what access controls are appropriate.
Define the actual launch gates
Registration status, employment and resignation steps, firm review, custodian dependencies, and counsel approval can all affect timing. The responsible reviewers should turn the relevant items into a written launch checklist for this specific transition.
Check your agreements first
Your existing employment agreement and solicitation rules govern what you can say and when, before and after resignation day. If both firms are Broker Protocol members different rules can apply, and counsel confirms whether that applies to you. Settle those questions with counsel while the site is being built, because the answers shape the launch copy.
Keep the staging audience small
Staging viewers should be you, counsel, your compliance consultant, and the builder. The URL is private but it is still a URL, so treat it like a draft document rather than a soft launch. Sharing it with clients or colleagues before launch defeats the point of the sequencing.
Identity
Identity decisions you make exactly once.
These 4 decisions ripple into the domain, the filings, and every page of the site. Settle them early, because reversing any of them after launch touches all 3 at once.
Legal name vs marketing name
You can operate under the firm's legal name or a marketing name. A marketing name may require Form ADV disclosure, entity or assumed-name filings, other state requirements, and firm or broker-dealer approval. Confirm the requirements with counsel and your CCO, then use the approved name consistently on the site, domain, email, and filings.
Own the domain and email from the start
Register the firm's domain and set up email on accounts you control from day 1. Domains sitting in a vendor's account or an old employer's account are a known launch blocker. Register on your own accounts and the ownership question never comes up.
Confirm credentials in writing first
Confirm every designation and credential mark in writing with the issuing body before it renders anywhere on the site. A lapsed designation on a live website is exactly the kind of detail a review desk catches. Written confirmation is 1 email, and cleanup after launch takes far longer.
Nothing carries over from the old firm
Do not reuse the old firm's copy, photography, or client lists on the new site or in its launch outreach. The new firm's story gets written fresh, and counsel reviews anything that touches the transition. Writing new copy takes days, and a dispute over copied material takes much longer.
Launch Day
What the website needs the day it goes public.
Reviewers and clients both arrive on day 1. This is the short list the site carries at cutover, with rule detail in the compliance guide.
A disclosures page
1 clearly linked page holding the firm-supplied ADV brochure and the privacy notice. Delivery obligations still run through the firm's normal process. The page simply makes the documents easy to find from the first public hour.
Form CRS, posted prominently
An SEC-registered adviser that serves retail investors and has a public website must post its current Form CRS prominently on it. A labeled link in primary navigation or on the disclosures page is the working pattern.
A visible BrokerCheck link
For a FINRA member website serving retail investors, FINRA Rule 2210(d)(8) requires a readily apparent BrokerCheck reference and hyperlink on the initial webpage the member intends retail investors to view and on any other webpage containing a professional profile of 1 or more registered persons who conduct business with retail investors. Which pages need it and what placement satisfies the standard are covered in the compliance guide.
Archiving on before the public sees it
Advisers must keep copies of their advertisements, and the website is an advertisement. Turn archiving on from day 1, save the approved launch version, and start the change log the day the site goes live. The first exam request for advertising records is much easier when the record starts at launch.
The approved cutover
Coordinate publication with the announcement sequence your counsel and firm reviewers approve. Put the domain, DNS, analytics, archiving, and rollback checks on that plan so the public version appears when the firm is cleared to publish it.
Timeline Risks
What actually blows launch timelines.
The website build is rarely the slow part. These are the delays that move launch dates, and what removes them.
Content and headshots stall first
The build rarely blocks launch. Bios, headshots, fee language, and the firm-supplied disclosure documents do. Book the photographer and start the bio drafts the week the entity is formed, before design begins.
Review rounds discovered late
Counsel and the CCO review the site in rounds, and each round takes calendar time. Finding that out 2 weeks before launch is a common self-inflicted delay. Put the review rounds on the project calendar the day the build starts, and use the compliance guide to see what reviewers will look for.
Vendor lock-in on the old site or domain
If your current site or domain sits in a vendor's account or the old firm's account, getting it out can take longer than building the new site. Check what current vendor terms say about exit before you need to leave. The new firm's domain goes on your own registrar account from the start.
How the TMN timeline changes the path
Starter Refresh and Full Site Rebuild projects typically target a first full draft within 72 hours of kickoff. Custom Studio Build projects typically target a first review within 7 to 10 days. Final launch timing depends on firm-supplied content, integrations, compliance review, and approvals, and is confirmed in the project agreement. See the advisor website cost guide for the package comparison and published pricing for full scope.
See a draft before you commit
TMN's free homepage preview takes 48 hours and needs no credit card. For an advisor mid-transition it is a low-risk way to see the new firm rendered before signing anything.
TMN Fit
A build partner who has sat on your side of the table.
TMN Creative is a husband-and-wife studio in Fort Worth. Trevor and Taylor Niemann personally scope, write, design, build, and launch every site, with 50+ sites shipped and a 5.0 Google rating. Live client sites and third-party profiles are listed on the verify page. Trevor spent a decade in enterprise sales and capital raising across fintech, private wealth, and family offices before founding TMN, so the positioning conversation starts at fluency with how advisors win clients. Breakaway builds run on a private staging URL with staged drafts, copy written for firm review, and a change log the CCO can file. Fees are flat with no retainers, and after full payment you own the completed project files TMN created for the site, subject to the signed agreement.
TMN does not provide investment, legal, or compliance advice, and interpretation of the rules and final approval always remain with the firm's CCO, counsel, or broker-dealer review desk. For a named advisor build, read the Hilpan Moxie Wealth Management case study: an SEC-registered RIA site that went live 4 days after the first inquiry, with the firm's compliance consultant's disclosures placed as written. Confidential private wealth work is described at category level without naming the client.
FAQ
Questions advisors ask.
Short factual answers. Your CCO or counsel interprets the rules for your firm and approves the final site.
Can I build my new firm's website while I still work at my broker-dealer?
Sometimes. Counsel should first confirm what your employment agreement, firm policies, registration path, and transition plan allow. When private staging is permitted, the site can be written, designed, and reviewed by the approved group without public promotion. Counsel and the firm's reviewers determine who may see the draft and when it may go public.
How long before launch should I start the website?
Start as soon as the firm's name, domain, and registration path are settled. Starter Refresh and Full Site Rebuild projects typically target a first full draft within 72 hours of kickoff. Custom Studio Build projects typically target a first review within 7 to 10 days. Final launch timing depends on firm-supplied content, integrations, compliance review, and approvals, and is confirmed in the project agreement.
Can my new website say I previously worked at my old firm?
Factual work history stated accurately is normal resume information, and advisor bios routinely list prior firms. Counsel reviews anything that touches the transition itself, and the site should never imply that the old firm endorses you or the new firm. When in doubt, state the history plainly and leave the commentary out.
What does a breakaway advisor website need on day 1?
A disclosures page with the firm-supplied ADV brochure and privacy notice, Form CRS posted prominently if the firm is SEC-registered and serves retail investors, and a readily apparent BrokerCheck link if you operate under a broker-dealer. Archiving should be on from day 1, and every name, credential, and registration statement should match the firm's filings exactly. The RIA website compliance guide on this site covers each requirement in detail.
Should I announce the move on the website?
A website launch can be one part of the approved announcement sequence. Your agreements, firm policies, registration status, and solicitation rules shape what may be said, to whom, and when. Counsel and the responsible firm reviewers should clear both wording and timing.
Do I need a marketing name or can I use my own name?
Either can work. A marketing name may require Form ADV disclosure, entity or assumed-name filings, other state requirements, and firm or broker-dealer approval, depending on your structure and registrations. Confirm the requirements with counsel and your CCO before registering the domain. Then use the approved name consistently across the website, email, logo, and filings. Keep the domain and email in accounts you control.
What does a breakaway advisor website cost?
TMN's published pricing: Starter Refresh from $2,250 for a single page or homepage refresh, Full Site Rebuild from $3,750 with messaging and conversion strategy, and Custom Studio Build from $5,000 for RIAs and multi-advisor firms. Website build fees are flat. Optional monthly care for advisory firms is RIA Site Care at $100, the Managed Publishing Portal at $150, or Compliance Site Care at $250, with scope and price confirmed before care begins. Other vendors set their own prices and terms, so check current vendor pricing when comparing.
Who approves the site before launch?
The firm's CCO, counsel, or broker-dealer review desk interprets the rules and approves the final site. TMN drafts supportable copy for that review, structures disclosure placement, and provides private staging URLs and change logs for the reviewers. TMN does not provide investment, legal, or compliance advice or approval.
Launching a firm on a deadline?
Tell us the target date, the registration path, and who reviews the site. We build on a private staging URL from the first draft, and you work directly with the founders.