Get Started with Cortado
When you sign up for Cortado Pro, a Getting Started wizard walks you through the essentials in seven groups — company, plan, services, lead intake, client portal, team and connections, then launch. This page mirrors that flow so you know what to expect.Create Your Account
1
Sign up
Go to the Cortado Pro sign-up page and create an account with your email and a password. If you’d rather not set a password, you can sign in later with a magic link sent to your email.
2
Complete your profile
Enter your first name and last name. You can also add an optional phone number — we’ll use it in the future for important alerts about new leads and activity.
Company
The first group creates your workspace, then captures the business details customers will see.1
Create your organization
Enter your business name and contact email. This creates the workspace where your leads, events, quotes, and invoices will live. Later groups stay locked until this is done.
2
Tell us about your business
Add the profile details that appear on quotes, invoices, and the client portal — website, address, logo, and similar fields. You can refine these anytime under Settings > Company.
Choose Your Plan
Pick a billing interval and start your subscription through a secure checkout that stays inside Cortado. Trial length comes from the plan you choose. Your trial begins immediately, and a countdown shows when the first charge happens. This step is required.Only a teammate whose role includes Billing access can start the trial. Everyone else sees a prompt to ask an owner. You can also start or manage billing later from Settings > Company.
Services
Build what you sell before you send the first quote.1
Add services
Choose from preset items or create your own. These catalog items power quotes and your inquiry form. You can add, edit, or remove them later from Settings > Services.
2
Name your event types
Rename the defaults or add your own (wedding, corporate, and so on), then drag to set the order they appear in dropdowns.
3
Set sales tax
Add the rates you charge, or skip if you don’t collect tax yet. Rates can be applied per line item on quotes.
Lead Intake
Configure how new inquiries arrive.1
Set up your inquiry form
Choose the questions the form asks, with a live preview of how it will appear on your website. The form can run as a multi-step wizard or a single page.
2
Match the form to your brand
Set theme colors, fonts, and corner style so the form looks like your site.
3
Decide what happens after submit
Write a thank-you message and, optionally, send visitors to your own confirmation page.
4
Host the form on your domain
Use a Cortado subdomain or attach a custom domain. You can finish this later under Settings > Inquiry Form.
Client Portal
Set up the branded pages customers use to review quotes, accept, and pay.1
Portal domain
Host the client portal on a Cortado subdomain or your own domain.
2
Terms
Add the clauses customers agree to when they accept a quote.
3
Tips
Choose whether customers can add a tip at checkout, and which percentages appear.
Team and Connections
Bring people in and connect the tools you already use. All of these except payments can be skipped.1
Invite teammates
Add people by email and assign one or more roles. Cortado includes a built-in Admin role with full access. Custom roles use a permission matrix — see the Staff guide.
2
Connect email
Link Gmail so you can send from Cortado. Once connected, Cortado can set it as the default sender for system emails.
3
Connect calendar
Choose which Google Calendar Cortado should sync booked events to. Calendar sync needs a connected Gmail account.
4
Set up payments with Stripe
Connect Stripe so customers can pay by card or ACH. A contact email on your organization is required first. This step is required to finish onboarding.
5
Connect Slack
Optionally post new inquiry alerts to a Slack channel.
6
Connect an AI assistant
Optionally give Claude — or another supported AI app — access to this organization’s data. It can look up leads and quotes, check whether a date is free, and take a few actions you already have permission to do. See Claude.
Launch
When the required steps are done, Launch summarizes what you completed or skipped and sends you to the dashboard. You can revisit anything later from Settings.Next Steps
Once onboarding is done (or even before — most steps are skippable), you’ll land on your dashboard. Here’s where to look next.Dashboard
Your daily command center.
Leads Pipeline
Work incoming inquiries through to booked.
Events & Calendar
See every booking in one calendar.
Inquiry Forms
Get your form live on your site.
Features
Tour everything Cortado can do.
Integrations
Connect Stripe, Gmail, Calendar, and more.
Need help? Reach out to our team at support@cortado.pro, or use the in-app support chat from anywhere in Cortado.