Advanced 90-Day Tech Checklist for Startup Founders
Your tech is probably a mess. Not your fault, most early-stage startups are held together with hope and duct tape. This checklist helps you figure out what's actually broken, what's costing you money, and what investors will hone in on during due diligence.
Pick one pillar per week. Fill in the tables honestly. Revisit your answers in 90 days.
Pillar 1: System Intelligence - Risk Map
Map all core dependencies, identify bottlenecks, and highlight single points of failure.
| Task | Done? | Notes (example) |
|---|---|---|
| Map all core dependencies (hosting, APIs, frameworks) | ☐ | AWS, Stripe, Firebase, React |
| Identify bottlenecks (tech, process, people) | ☐ | Only one dev knows deployment; manual testing |
| Identify tech debt silently increasing spend | ☐ | Old Firebase functions still running |
| Ask: "If this fails tomorrow, what breaks?" | ☐ | Checkout fails → revenue stops |
| Highlight single points of failure | ☐ | Dev laptop is only source of truth for code |
Pillar 2: Revenue Map
Map the path from 'someone clicks your ad' to 'money hits your bank account.'
| Feature / System | Revenue Impact | Cost Centre | Done? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signup flow | High | Engineering | ☐ |
| Checkout/payment | Critical | Finance | ☐ |
| Key growth feature | Medium | Product | ☐ |
Pillar 3: Delivery Review
Count how often you ship code. If it's less than weekly, your process is broken.
| Aspect | Current | Desired | Done? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feature shipping frequency | Weekly / Ad hoc | Predictable cadence | ☐ |
| Testing before production | Manual / Limited | Staging / Feature flags | ☐ |
| Firefighting vs proactive | 60% urgent fixes | <20% urgent | ☐ |
Pillar 4: Security
Enable two-factor auth everywhere. Test your backups. Search for hardcoded secrets.
| Component | Risk if fails | Access Control | Done? |
|---|---|---|---|
| AWS / Cloud | Service downtime | MFA enabled | ☐ |
| Payment Gateway | Revenue loss / fraud | Limited admin | ☐ |
Pillar 5: Tech Strategy
Pick three things you can fix in the next 30 days that will meaningfully reduce risk or speed up delivery.
| Timeframe | Focus | Key Items | Done? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short-term (0-30d) | Leverage / Risk Reduction | Backup automation; Fix critical bugs; Feature flags | ☐ |
| Medium-term (30-60d) | Scale & Stability | Staging environment; CI/CD pipeline; Logging | ☐ |
| Long-term (60-90d+) | Visionary Play | Modular architecture refactor | ☐ |
Want help running through it?
If you'd like 20 minutes of free guidance, we'll walk you through your Tech Health Snapshot and help prioritise the next moves.
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