Onboarding Walkthrough
This guide walks you through each step of signing up for Need Theo. The whole process takes about 5-10 minutes.
The onboarding process focuses on getting your AI agent up and running as quickly as possible. Depending on your business type, you may see features like lead capture or appointment scheduling while testing — but configuration options for these features are available in your dashboard after you complete setup.
Step 1: Find Your Business
When you click to start registration, the onboarding process begins with a search box to find your business.
What to do:
- Type your business name in the search box
- Click on your business when it appears in the list (your location is detected automatically)
Pro tip: If your business doesn't appear, don't worry! You can enter all your information manually in the next step.
Why we do this
Searching for your business helps us automatically fill in your address, phone number, business hours, and business type. This saves you time and helps Theo understand your business faster.
Step 2: Confirm Your Business Details
Now you'll see all the information we found about your business.
What to review:
- Business Name - Make sure it's spelled correctly
- Address - Your full business address
- Phone Number - Your main business line
- Business Type - What kind of business you run (salon, restaurant, plumber, etc.)
- Business Hours - When you're open
- Timezone - Your business timezone
What to do:
- Review each field
- Click on any field to edit it
- Add any missing information
- Click "Continue" when everything looks good
Setting Your Business Hours
If you're an online business or always available, toggle Open 24/7 and you're done.
Otherwise, for each day of the week, you can set:
- Open time - When you start accepting calls/appointments
- Close time - When you close
- Closed - Toggle this if you're closed on that day
Example:
- Monday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
- Tuesday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
- Saturday: 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
- Sunday: Closed
Step 3: Test Your AI Agent
This is the fun part! You get to test your new AI agent and teach it about your business.
Chat Test
Use the chat window to talk to Theo as if you were a customer messaging your business.
What to try:
- Ask about your business hours and location
- Ask questions based on the knowledge you've added
- Test how Theo handles questions it doesn't know the answer to
You have 20 test messages during onboarding. After subscribing, chat is unlimited.
Voice Test
You can also test Theo over the phone to hear how it sounds.
How to test:
- Switch to the Voice Test tab
- Call the test phone number shown
- Enter your 4-digit PIN when prompted
- Start talking to your AI agent
You have 3 test calls during onboarding (90 seconds each). After subscribing, you can make unlimited calls with no time limits.
Add Knowledge
During this step, you can add knowledge to help Theo learn more about your business:
- Website: Import content from your website automatically
- Text: Add custom text content about your business
- Documents: Upload PDFs, menus, images, or service guides
- Audio: Upload audio recordings with business information
- FAQs: Add common questions and answers
Click Add knowledge to open the knowledge creation form, or drag and drop files directly onto the button.
After adding knowledge, wait for the green checkmark to appear before testing. Websites and documents need time to be processed. Your AI agent won't have access to the new information until processing is complete.
The more knowledge you provide, the better Theo can answer your customers' questions.
What to do:
- Type messages to test how Theo responds
- Upload any additional knowledge about your business
- Test again to see improved responses
- Click "Continue" when you're satisfied
Don't worry if the answers aren't perfect yet. You can always add more knowledge and fine-tune Theo's responses later in the dashboard.
Step 4: Create Your Account
Now it's time to create your login.
What you'll need to enter:
- Your Name - Your first and last name
- Email Address - You'll use this to log in and receive notifications
- Password - Must be at least 8 characters with uppercase, lowercase, number, and special character
What to do:
- Enter your details
- Click "Continue" to proceed to the next step
After completing onboarding, you'll receive a verification email. Click the link to verify your email address — you won't be able to log in until your email is verified.
Use an email you check regularly — we'll send important notifications there.
Step 5: Choose Your Plan
Subscribe to start using Theo for your business.
Founding Member Plan
The Founding Member plan is a special launch promotion and will be replaced by other plans in the future. If you subscribe now, you'll keep this rate as long as you remain an active subscriber and don't switch to another plan.
We're currently offering a special Founding Member subscription for early adopters:
| Founding Member | |
|---|---|
| Price | $49/month |
| Credits Included | 250 credits |
| Phone Numbers | 1 included |
| Additional Numbers | $10/month each |
| Agents | Unlimited |
| Overage | $0.45 per credit |
Each credit equals 1 minute of phone calls, 5 SMS messages, or 10 chat messages. The 250 included credits give you plenty of room to handle customer interactions.
Credit overage is disabled by default. You can enable it in Settings → Billing after subscribing.
Terms & Privacy
Before subscribing, you'll need to accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. These explain how the service works and how we handle your data.
What to do:
- Review the plan details
- Read and accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
- Enter your payment information
- Click "Subscribe"
Step 6: Deploy
This final step sets up your phone number and provides your website chat widget code.
Choosing Your Phone Number
You can't use your existing business phone number directly with Need Theo. Instead, you'll get a new phone number and forward calls from your business line to it. This way, Theo answers when you're unavailable, and you keep full control of your original number.
We'll automatically search for available phone numbers in your business's city. If we find numbers in your area, you can pick one that works for you.
If no local numbers are available:
- You can enter a specific area code to search
- Or browse numbers from anywhere in your country
Once you select a number, it's yours — Theo will answer calls to this number 24/7.
Setup Complete
After selecting your phone number, you're all set up! You'll see:
- Your new phone number — Forward your business calls here
- Website chat widget code — Copy and paste into your website
- Call forwarding instructions — Quick codes to set up forwarding from your phone
What to do:
- Copy the widget code if you want to add chat to your website
- Set up call forwarding from your business phone (see our Call Forwarding Guide)
- Click "Go to Dashboard" to start managing your AI agent
What's Next?
Now that you're set up, here are your next steps:
1. Verify Your Email
Check your inbox for a verification email and click the link to confirm your email address. You won't be able to log in until your email is verified.
2. Set Up Call Forwarding
Forward your business phone to your new number so Theo can answer calls when you're busy or after hours.
3. Explore the Dashboard
Learn how to manage your agents, view conversations, and more.
Common Questions
I can't find my business in the search
No problem! Just click "Enter manually" and type in your business information yourself.
I made a mistake in my business details
You can change everything later in Settings → General in your dashboard.
I didn't receive the verification email
- Check your spam/junk folder
- Wait a few minutes and check again
- Click "Resend email" to get a new verification link
- Make sure you entered the correct email address
What about lead capture, appointment scheduling, and other features?
To streamline the onboarding process, we focused on getting your AI agent working as quickly as possible. Features like lead capture, appointment scheduling, calendar integrations, and advanced settings are all available once you access your dashboard. Explore the Dashboard Guide to learn more.
Need more help? Check our Troubleshooting Guide or email support@needtheo.com.