Founder resource
Startup readiness checklist: what must actually be working before you launch.
Launching is not the same as having a website. A startup is ready when the systems required to acquire, transact, onboard, observe, and support customers are working—and somebody has verified them.
This checklist is outcome-based. The vendor matters less than whether the company can prove the capability works.
1. Identity and domain
Your primary domain resolves correctly, HTTPS works, critical DNS records are intentional, and the public company identity is consistent.
2. Code and deployment
The production code path is known, deployment is healthy, environment configuration is controlled, and rollback is possible.
3. Billing
Customers can pay, intended products and prices are active, taxes and receipts are understood, and the payment flow has been tested end to end.
4. Transactional and lifecycle email
Required account emails work, sender authentication is correct, and the first useful onboarding or lifecycle sequence exists.
5. Analytics and acquisition
Core acquisition, signup, activation, and paid-conversion events are observable and can be tied back to a source.
6. Search and discovery
Search Console or an equivalent is connected, indexing is allowed, canonical metadata is sensible, and a sitemap is discoverable.
7. Support
Customers have a working support path and someone—or something—owns the queue.
8. Security and access
Provider permissions are intentionally scoped, secrets are not stored in source code, and production access is limited.
9. Operating state
The company knows what is verified, what is merely present, what is missing, and which next actions are most important.
The missing step: verification
Most checklists stop at “install the tool.” That is not enough. A payment account can exist while checkout is broken. Analytics can be installed while conversion events never fire. Praecis distinguishes what is working, what is unverified, what is missing, and what requires a founder decision.