The Burned Founder's Dev-Audit Checklist
Don't double down on a bad bet. Use these 7 questions to verify if your "Senior Developer" is actually building a rock-solid product or just waiting for the next invoice.
1. The "Black Box" Test
"Can I see the live staging environment by Friday?"
If they say "it's not ready yet" for more than 2 weeks, they are hiding a lack of progress or a buggy mess.
We show you a working demo every Friday. No exceptions.
2. The Multi-Tasking Invoice
"Can you break down exactly how much I'm paying for User Auth vs. the Dashboard?"
Vague estimates like "Phase 1: $10,000." You have no way to verify the value of what's being built.
Task-level pricing. You know where every dollar goes.
3. The "Yes Man" Syndrome
"What if we add [Complex Feature X] tomorrow?"
If they say "Yes, no problem" without asking about ROI or business impact, they are a "code monkey," not a partner.
Strategic pushback. We prioritize business outcomes over billable hours.
4. The Sunday Silence
"Send a non-urgent message on a Thursday afternoon."
If it takes 48 hours for a reply during the work week, abandonment anxiety usually follows.
Proactive daily updates via Slack/Telegram.
5. The "Rewrite" Catch-22
"Who owns the code if we stop today?"
If they host it on their personal servers or refuse to grant GitHub access immediately.
Full ownership and Zero Lock-in from Day 1.
6. The Documentation Vacuum
"Ask for a README file."
If another developer can't get the project running in 15 minutes, you are trapped in a "technical debt" prison.
Clean, documented code that belongs to you.
7. The Post-Launch Ghost
"What happens if a bug appears 2 weeks after the final payment?"
"I'll be busy on another project, but we can talk then."
30 days of post-launch support included.
Feeling a Red Flag?
Stop stalling and start verifying. We don't ask for a leap of faith—we earn it with a 5-day paid test task. Get a real deliverable before committing to the full project.
Current lead time: Discovery call availability within 48 hours.