diff --git a/spec/__snapshots__/welcome.spec.ts.snap b/spec/__snapshots__/welcome.spec.ts.snap
index 0299429f..ed0a8351 100644
--- a/spec/__snapshots__/welcome.spec.ts.snap
+++ b/spec/__snapshots__/welcome.spec.ts.snap
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ exports[`welcome should render correctly 1`] = `
           className="Welcome-main-container-podurl-box"
           onChange={[Function]}
           type="url"
-          value="https://my.symphony.com"
+          value="https://[POD].symphony.com"
         />
       </div>
       <div
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ exports[`welcome should render correctly 1`] = `
       className="Welcome-message-label"
     />
     <button
-      className="Welcome-continue-button"
-      disabled={false}
+      className="Welcome-continue-button-disabled"
+      disabled={true}
       onClick={[Function]}
     >
       Continue
diff --git a/src/app/window-handler.ts b/src/app/window-handler.ts
index 400cfbf8..80d0fe97 100644
--- a/src/app/window-handler.ts
+++ b/src/app/window-handler.ts
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ export class WindowHandler {
     public screenShareIndicatorFrameUtil: string;
     public shouldShowWelcomeScreen: boolean = false;
 
-    private readonly defaultPodUrl: string = 'https://my.symphony.com';
+    private readonly defaultPodUrl: string = 'https://[POD].symphony.com';
     private readonly contextIsolation: boolean;
     private readonly backgroundThrottling: boolean;
     private readonly windowOpts: ICustomBrowserWindowConstructorOpts;
@@ -472,7 +472,7 @@ export class WindowHandler {
                 this.mainWindow.webContents.send('welcome', {
                     url: userConfigUrl || this.startUrl,
                     message: '',
-                    urlValid: true,
+                    urlValid: false,
                     sso: false,
                 });
             }
diff --git a/src/renderer/components/welcome.tsx b/src/renderer/components/welcome.tsx
index f38d1c8d..f166f196 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/welcome.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/welcome.tsx
@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ export default class Welcome extends React.Component<{}, IState> {
     constructor(props) {
         super(props);
         this.state = {
-            url: 'https://my.symphony.com',
+            url: 'https://[POD].symphony.com',
             message: '',
-            urlValid: true,
+            urlValid: false,
             sso: false,
         };
         this.updateState = this.updateState.bind(this);
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ export default class Welcome extends React.Component<{}, IState> {
     public updatePodUrl(_event): void {
         const url = _event.target.value;
         const match = url.match(/(https?:\/\/.)?(www\.)?[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%._+~#=]{2,256}\.[a-z]{2,6}\b([-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_+.~#?&/=]*)/g) != null;
-        if (!match) {
+        if (url === 'https://[POD].symphony.com' || !match) {
             this.updateState(_event, {
                 url,
                 message: i18n.t('Please enter a valid url', WELCOME_NAMESPACE)(),