Atomic Squirrel
Atomic Squirrel

The Startup Checklist

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.

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  1. Idea
    +
    1.  
      Problem
      +
    2.  
      Validation
      +
    3.  
      Market sizing
      +
    4.  
      Viability
      +
    5.  
      Alternatives
      +
    6.  
      Education
      +
    7.  
      Friends and family
      +
  2. Legal
    +
    1.  
      Lawyer
      +
    2.  
      Company name
      +
    3.  
      Incorporation
      +
    4.  
      Equity
      +
    5.  
      Licenses and permits
      +
    6.  
      Federal and state Employer ID Numbers
      +
    7.  
      Insurance
      +
    8.  
      Intellectual Property
      +
    9.  
      Contracts
      +
  3. Financial
    +
    1.  
      Accountant
      +
    2.  
      Accounting system
      +
    3.  
      Taxes and annual reports
      +
    4.  
      Business bank account and credit card
      +
    5.  
      Monetization
      +
    6.  
      Pitch deck
      +
    7.  
      Raise money
      +
      1.  
        Bootstrap
        +
      2.  
        Loans
        +
      3.  
        Equity financing
        +
      4.  
        Crowdfunding
        +
  4. Product
    +
    1.  
      Design
      +
      1.  
        Platform
        +
      2.  
        Personas and user stories
        +
      3.  
        Design reuse
        +
      4.  
        Copywriting
        +
      5.  
        Visual design
        +
      6.  
        Usability testing
        +
    2.  
      Minimum Viable Product
      +
      1.  
        MVP Type
        +
      2.  
        Focus on the differentiators
        +
      3.  
        Target earlyvangelists
        +
      4.  
        MVP tools and resources
        +
    3.  
      Data
      +
      1.  
        AARRR Metrics
        +
      2.  
        The magic number
        +
      3.  
        Data-driven development
        +
    4.  
      Distribution
      +
      1.  
        Marketing
        +
      2.  
        Sales
        +
      3.  
        Branding
        +
  5. Technology
    +
    1.  
      Server-side
      +
      1.  
        Programming language
        +
      2.  
        Server-side framework
        +
      3.  
        Architecture
        +
      4.  
        Scalability & Performance
        +
    2.  
      Client-side
      +
      1.  
        Native apps, cross-platform app, or web-app
        +
      2.  
        Client-side framework
        +
      3.  
        SEO
        +
      4.  
        Accessibility
        +
      5.  
        Meta tags
        +
      6.  
        Terms & conditions and privacy policy
        +
      7.  
        Developer accounts
        +
      8.  
        Browser performance tools
        +
      9.  
        CDN
        +
      10.  
        HTTP Caching
        +
      11.  
        Compression
        +
      12.  
        Static content
        +
      13.  
        Lazy load
        +
      14.  
        BigPipe
        +
      15.  
        HTML5 preconnect, prefetch, prerender
        +
    3.  
      Data storage
      +
      1.  
        Schema management
        +
      2.  
        Data processing
        +
      3.  
        Query tuning
        +
      4.  
        Database tuning
        +
      5.  
        Caching
        +
      6.  
        Replication
        +
      7.  
        Partitioning
        +
    4.  
      Continuous Integration
      +
      1.  
        Version Control System (VCS)
        +
      2.  
        Build system
        +
      3.  
        Dependency management
        +
      4.  
        Automated tests
        +
      5.  
        Automated build servers
        +
      6.  
        Static analysis
        +
    5.  
      Continuous Delivery
      +
      1.  
        Deployment environments
        +
      2.  
        Hosting
        +
      3.  
        Configuration management
        +
      4.  
        Automated deployment
        +
      5.  
        Canary releases
        +
      6.  
        Feature toggles and A/B testing
        +
      7.  
        Change management dashboard
        +
    6.  
      Monitoring
      +
    7.  
      Security
      +
      1.  
        Network isolation
        +
      2.  
        SSL
        +
      3.  
        Secret storage
        +
      4.  
        User authentication
        +
      5.  
        Server hardening
        +
      6.  
        CSRF
        +
      7.  
        XSS
        +
      8.  
        Injection attacks
        +
      9.  
        Security headers
        +
      10.  
        Security audit
        +
      11.  
        Security advisories
        +
      12.  
        Spam and fraud
        +
    8.  
      Clean code
      +
      1.  
        Coding standards
        +
      2.  
        Code ownership
        +
      3.  
        Code reviews
        +
      4.  
        Documentation
        +
      5.  
        Split up the code
        +
    9.  
      Common functionality
      +
      1.  
        Search
        +
      2.  
        Email
        +
      3.  
        Notifications
        +
      4.  
        User Management
        +
      5.  
        News feed
        +
      6.  
        Monetization
        +
      7.  
        Microservice management
        +
      8.  
        File storage and upload
        +
  6. Team
    +
    1.  
      Culture
      +
      1.  
        Mission and values
        +
      2.  
        Organizational design
        +
      3.  
        Process
        +
      4.  
        Communication
        +
      5.  
        Motivation
        +
    2.  
      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
        +
    3.  
      Communication
      +
      1.  
        Email
        +
      2.  
        Chat
        +
      3.  
        Phone & fax
        +
      4.  
        Wiki
        +
      5.  
        Project management & issue tracker
        +
      6.  
        Business cards
        +
    4.  
      Hiring
      +
      1.  
        Co-founders
        +
      2.  
        Advisors
        +
      3.  
        Referrals
        +
      4.  
        Employer branding
        +
      5.  
        Job boards
        +
      6.  
        The interview
        +
      7.  
        The offer
        +
      8.  
        Promotions
        +
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.