The Startup Checklist

This is a list of everything you need to do to launch a startup. After using it for years to successfully launch a variety of projects, we're excited to share it with all of you. Every time you launch something new, consult this list to make sure you didn't forget any important steps. Did you set up Google Analytics? Is your website showing up in search results? Are you tracking business expenses correctly? Did you set up social media accounts and a mailing list? Is your database backed up regularly?

We hope you find this list useful for launching your startup. If you need help with any of the items, or just need feedback and advice, contact us at Gruntwork.

  1. Idea
    +
    1.  
      Problem
      +
    2.  
    3.  
      Market sizing
      +
    4.  
      Viability
      +
    5.  
      Education
      +
    6.  
      Friends and family
      +
  2. Legal
    +
  3. Financial
    +
    1.  
      Taxes and annual reports
      +
    2.  
      Pitch deck
      +
      1.  
        Bootstrap
        +
      2.  
        Loans
        +
      3.  
        Equity financing
        +
      4.  
        Crowdfunding
        +
  4. Product
    +
    1.  
      Design
      +
      1.  
        Platform
        +
      2.  
        Design reuse
        +
      3.  
        Copywriting
        +
      4.  
        Visual design
        +
      5.  
        Usability testing
        +
      1.  
        MVP Type
        +
      2.  
      3.  
        Target earlyvangelists
        +
      4.  
        MVP tools and resources
        +
    2.  
      Data
      +
      1.  
        AARRR Metrics
        +
      2.  
        Data-driven development
        +
    3.  
      Distribution
      +
      1.  
        Marketing
        +
      2.  
        Sales
        +
      3.  
        Branding
        +
  5. Technology
    +
    1.  
      Server-side
      +
      1.  
        Programming language
        +
      2.  
        Server-side framework
        +
      3.  
        Scalability & Performance
        +
    2.  
      Client-side
      +
      1.  
        Native apps, cross-platform app, or web-app
        +
      2.  
        +
      3.  
        Terms & conditions and privacy policy
        +
      4.  
        Browser performance tools
        +
      5.  
        HTTP Caching
        +
      6.  
        Static content
        +
      7.  
      8.  
        HTML5 preconnect, prefetch, prerender
        +
      1.  
        Schema management
        +
      2.  
        Data processing
        +
      3.  
        Query tuning
        +
      4.  
        Database tuning
        +
      5.  
        Caching
        +
      6.  
        Replication
        +
      7.  
        Partitioning
        +
    3.  
      Continuous Integration
      +
      1.  
        Deployment environments
        +
      2.  
      3.  
        Configuration management
        +
      4.  
        Automated deployment
        +
      5.  
        Canary releases
        +
      6.  
        Change management dashboard
        +
    4.  
      Monitoring
      +
    5.  
      Security
      +
      1.  
        Network isolation
        +
      2.  
        Secret storage
        +
      3.  
        Security headers
        +
      4.  
      5.  
        Security advisories
        +
      6.  
        Spam and fraud
        +
    6.  
      Clean code
      +
      1.  
        Coding standards
        +
      2.  
        Code ownership
        +
      3.  
        Code reviews
        +
      4.  
        Documentation
        +
      5.  
        Split up the code
        +
    7.  
      Common functionality
      +
      1.  
        Email
        +
      2.  
        Notifications
        +
      3.  
        User Management
        +
      4.  
        News feed
        +
      5.  
        Monetization
        +
      6.  
        Microservice management
        +
      7.  
        File storage and upload
        +
  6. Team
    +
      1.  
        Process
        +
      2.  
        Communication
        +
    1.  
      Office
      +
      1.  
        Type of office
        +
      2.  
        Location
        +
      3.  
        Electrical
        +
      4.  
        Temperature control
        +
      5.  
        Bathroom facilities
        +
      6.  
        Kitchen facilities
        +
      7.  
        Access control
        +
      8.  
        Fire safety measures
        +
      9.  
        Space for focused work
        +
      10.  
        Space for collaborative work
        +
      11.  
        Furniture
        +
      12.  
        Supplies
        +
      13.  
        IT
        +
    2.  
      Communication
      +
      1.  
      2.  
        Chat
        +
      3.  
        Phone & fax
        +
      4.  
        Project management & issue tracker
        +
      5.  
        Business cards
        +
      1.  
        Co-founders
        +
      2.  
        Advisors
        +
      3.  
Unfinished tasks:

About the Checklist

This checklist will automatically save your progress in your current browser window using Local Storage. You can print it out at any time. The list doesn't go into much detail on each task, so for a deeper look, check out the book Hello, Startup: A Programmer's Guide to Building Products, Technologies, and Teams.

Bear in mind that this checklist is always a work in progress. It has grown over the years and now covers the most common tasks you'd need to do at just about every startup. However, the startup world is constantly changing, and every startup is a little different, so some items may not apply to your startup and some items that your startup needs may be missing. The list is open source, so we welcome any corrections, updates, and additions on GitHub.