Account Setup — Step-by-Step Walkthrough
Overview
Setting up a Vantage account is a guided 4-step wizard that walks you through creating your personal account, providing company information, selecting a billing plan, and completing registration. The entire process takes approximately 2–5 minutes.
Step 1: Create Your Account
This is the first screen you see when visiting the sign-up page. You'll create your personal user credentials and name your company workspace.
Fields
| Field | Type | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Name | Text | ✅ Yes | Your given name. Cannot be empty. |
| Last Name | Text | ✅ Yes | Your surname. Cannot be empty. |
| Email Address | ✅ Yes | Must be a valid email format (e.g., john@company.com). This will be your login username. | |
| Password | Password | ✅ Yes | Must be at least 8 characters long. A show/hide toggle is available. |
| Confirm Password | Password | ✅ Yes | Must exactly match the Password field. |
| Company Name | Text | ✅ Yes | The name of your company workspace (e.g., "Acme Analytics"). This creates your initial company within the platform. |
Validation Rules
- All fields are required — the form will not advance if any are empty.
- Email must match standard email format (
user@domain.com). - Password must be at least 8 characters.
- Password and Confirm Password must match exactly.
What Happens Behind the Scenes
At this point, nothing is saved yet. The data is held in memory until you complete Step 3 (Billing), at which point your account, company, and organization are all created simultaneously.
Already have an account? Click the "Sign in" link at the bottom to go to the login page.
Step 2: Tell Us About Your Company
This step collects information about your company to help the AI provide more relevant, industry-specific insights. All fields on this step are optional — you can skip ahead if you prefer to fill them in later.
Fields
| Field | Type | Required | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company Website | URL | ❌ No | Your company's website (e.g., https://www.yourcompany.com). If provided, you can click "Auto-fill with AI" to have Vantage scan your site and automatically populate the Industry and Description fields. |
| Industry | Dropdown | ❌ No | Select from 20 predefined industries: Technology, Healthcare, Finance & Banking, E-Commerce & Retail, Manufacturing, Education, Real Estate, Marketing & Advertising, Consulting, Legal, Energy & Utilities, Transportation & Logistics, Food & Beverage, Entertainment & Media, Non-Profit, Government, Agriculture, Construction, Telecommunications, or Other. |
| Custom Industry | Text | ❌ No | Only appears if you select "Other" from the Industry dropdown. Type in your specific industry. |
| Company Description | Textarea | ❌ No | A brief description of what your company does, your products/services, and your target audience. This is used as AI Context — meaning the platform's AI features will reference this information when generating insights, summaries, and recommendations. |
AI Auto-Fill Feature
If you enter your company website and click "Auto-fill with AI", Vantage will:
- Scrape your website using AI
- Extract your industry and company description
- Auto-populate the Industry and Description fields
The button shows "Scanning..." while processing and "Scanned ✓" when complete. If the scrape fails, you'll see an error message and can fill in the details manually.
What Happens Behind the Scenes
The company description, industry, and website you provide here are stored as AI Context Snippets after your account is created. These snippets are automatically included in all AI requests, giving you more relevant and personalized insights across the platform.
Step 3: Choose Your Plan
This step presents the available subscription plans, fetched directly from Stripe. You'll select a plan and proceed to enter your payment details.
How It Works
- Plans are loaded dynamically from Stripe when you reach this step (you'll see a loading spinner briefly).
- Each plan card shows the plan name, price, billing interval (e.g., /month), description, and a feature list with checkmarks.
- Plans tagged as "Popular" display a badge at the top.
- Click a plan card to select it — it will be highlighted with a blue border.
- Click "Subscribe & Add Billing" to proceed.
What Happens When You Click Subscribe
This triggers a multi-step process:
- Account Registration — Your user account, company, and initial organization are created via the
/api/auth/registerendpoint. - Automatic Sign-In — You are automatically signed in with your new credentials.
- AI Context Creation — The company info from Step 2 (description, industry, website) is saved as AI context snippets.
- Stripe Checkout — An embedded Stripe checkout modal opens where you enter your payment information (credit card, billing address, etc.).
- Subscription Activation — Your subscription is confirmed via Stripe webhooks.
Stripe Checkout Modal
The checkout is handled via Stripe's embedded checkout experience — a modal appears over the wizard where you enter your payment details securely. Vantage never handles or stores your credit card information directly.
Step 4: You're All Set!
This is the confirmation screen. You'll see a green checkmark and the message:
"Your account is ready. We've set up your workspace and you're good to go. We'll walk you through the platform on your first visit."
Click "Go to Dashboard" to enter the platform and start using Vantage.
After Setup: What's Been Created
When you complete the sign-up wizard, the following entities are automatically created:
| Entity | Description |
|---|---|
| User Account | Your personal login with the name, email, and password you provided. |
| Company (Client) | A company workspace named after the Company Name you entered in Step 1. |
| AI Context Snippets | Up to 3 context snippets (Company Overview, Industry & Market, Company Website) that personalize AI responses. |
| Stripe Subscription | An active subscription to the plan you selected, linked to the payment method you provided. |
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| "Passwords do not match" | Re-enter both password fields, ensuring they are identical. |
| "Please enter a valid email" | Make sure your email follows the user@domain.com format. |
| "Scraping failed" | The AI couldn't read your website. Fill in Industry and Description manually. |
| "No plans available" | Contact support — this means Stripe plan configuration is missing. |
| Checkout modal won't load | Check your internet connection and try again. You can also disable browser ad-blockers that may interfere with Stripe. |
| "Sign-in failed after registration" | Your account was created but the auto-login failed. Go to the sign-in page and log in manually with your new credentials. |