StartupENGINEERING
One-pager

Determining questions

Every decision is settled by three to five determining questions — always the load-bearing part. This is the master list. It also converts into a test for any adviser: an honest expert names the conditions faster than the recommendation, because that's the order judgment actually runs in.

Loop 1
Problem →

Does this need to be built at all?

  • Delivered manually end-to-end once?
  • Customer pays for outcome or software?
  • What would ten manual deliveries teach?
  • What breaks first when demand doubles — your time or the tool?

Do you need to build anything yet?

What's the riskiest thing I'm assuming?

  • The post-mortem sentence?
  • Which promise makes an engineer wince?
  • Testable naked?
  • What number does the business need — who says it's achievable?

Will AI make this obsolete before I build it?

  • The rising-tide test — models improve: better, or replaced?
  • What are you waiting for, and what does waiting cost?
  • Which parts are slow-moving (own) vs fast-moving (rent and cage)?
  • Which three numbers replace the news feed?
Loop 2
Solution →

How real should my prototype be — and who should build it?

  • What question, answered by whom?
  • Real data going in?
  • Prepared for “delete it”?
  • Hour budget vs the rental price?

No-code, prototype, or real code for your first test

My AI-built prototype works — now what?

  • Real data in it?
  • Stranger, unsupervised?
  • What did it teach you that's written nowhere but the code?
  • What would you hand a fresh builder?
Loop 3
Product →

Who should build my MVP — and under what agreement?

  • Who wrote the spec, who profits from its size?
  • What do you possess when it ends?
  • Can you name the human?
  • Your honest weekly bandwidth?
  • Project or standing capability?
  • How does this builder use AI — and is the quote priced for it?
  • (Any founder-side partner: whose income grows when the scope grows?)

Agency vs. freelancer vs. first hire·Do you need a technical co-founder?·How to read an agency proposal and quote·How to vet a dev agency before you sign

What goes in — and what gets cut?

  • Which single journey proves the hypothesis?
  • Blocks the journey, or merely embarrasses?
  • What can a human do behind the curtain for fifty customers?
  • Which features are competitor-fear?

How small should your v1 be?

Which technology? (The question behind the question)

  • Older than your company?
  • Core or plumbing someone sells?
  • If the builder disappears, who nearby picks it up?
  • Vendor price at 10× — and the cost of leaving, one sentence per door?
  • Per AI feature: cost of one error, cheap to verify, will this customer accept machine judgment?

Does your v1 actually need AI?·Build on a platform or build custom?

What can't wait?

  • Builder vanishes — what can't you get back?
  • Who can log in where customer data lives, and who granted it?
  • Anyone ever restored a backup?
  • Your industry's one software-touching rule?

How do I know the build is going well?

  • When did you last click it?
  • Can the builder explain the hard part in your vocabulary?
  • What was promised two weeks ago?
  • Stop paying today — what do you possess?

What does “ready to launch” actually mean?

  • Ten strangers tonight — what breaks first, dashboard or angry email?
  • Cost of a week early vs compounding weeks late?
  • Which blocker belongs to a later loop in costume?
Loop 4
Market →

Ready to launch — to whom?

  • Which single segment is the beachhead?
  • Which two or three named, representative design partners?
  • What's the withdrawal schedule?
  • What, concretely, converts the pilot to production?

What should I measure after launch?

  • What single event is the value moment?
  • Where do users die on the way to it?
  • Is return instrumented from day one?
  • Which behaviors will you trust over compliments?

What happens when it breaks at 2 a.m.?

  • Whose phone rings Saturday, contractually?
  • Fix path without the original builder?
  • Real cost of an hour down, today?
  • What's in the retainer — and what's billed again?

What does one customer cost to serve?

  • Infra cost per customer vs your price?
  • Which costs double with users?
  • Cost after the free tiers, per vendor?
  • Heaviest user's most expensive day (AI)?
Loop 5
Fit →

Is this traction — or founder heroics?

  • The vacation test — who still gets the value?
  • Where does your week go; are exceptions repeating?
  • Is the repeat concentrated or distributed?
  • Same next feature, or divergent requests?
  • Does the per-customer math survive your absence?

When should technical ownership move in-house — and what should I own first?

  • Decisions rented last month, and their latency cost?
  • Edge in the software, or software as delivery?
  • Affordable for eighteen months?
  • Who evaluates skill — with what incentive?

Taking your product back from an agency·When do you need your own engineers?

And the two questions that stand outside every loop
  • Who profits if I take this advice?
  • Of any adviser: “What would you need to know about my situation for your recommendation to change?”