We've helped 30+ startups avoid these expensive patterns.
Every mistake below costs $10K–$50K to fix after the fact. We know because we've been called in to fix most of them.
Building a native mobile app first
Why founders do it
Founders think "app = startup." Investors ask about the app. Users expect one.
What actually happens
A native iOS + Android app costs 3–4x more than a web app, takes twice as long, and requires ongoing updates for every OS version. Your first 500 users don't need native push notifications — they need a product that works.
The correction
Build a responsive web app or PWA. Ship in 4–6 weeks. Add native apps when retention proves demand.
Over-engineering infrastructure before customers
Why founders do it
Your technical advisor says you need microservices, Kubernetes, and a data lake. You don't want to "start wrong."
What actually happens
You have zero users and a $60K infrastructure bill. Your first 1,000 users need a PostgreSQL database and a basic API — not a distributed system designed for 10 million.
The correction
Start with a monolith. Use managed services. Refactor only when real usage data demands it.
Hiring developers before product-market fit
Why founders do it
You raised money. Hiring feels like progress. Everyone says you need a CTO.
What actually happens
A full-time developer costs $120K+/year with benefits. If your product pivots (80% of startups do), you're paying a salary to rebuild something you already paid to build wrong.
The correction
Partner first. Build fast. Validate. Hire when you know exactly what you're building long-term.
No ownership of your own code
Why founders do it
Your agency builds on their accounts, their repositories, their infrastructure. It's faster for them. They don't mention the lock-in.
What actually happens
When you try to switch providers, you discover you don't own your deployment, can't access your source code without their help, and your CI/CD only works in their environment.
The correction
Everything builds in your GitHub, deploys from your Vercel/AWS, and uses your Stripe. From sprint one.
Choosing the cheapest vendor
Why founders do it
$5K for an MVP sounds too good to pass up. You found a team on Upwork who can start this week.
What actually happens
The $5K MVP takes 4 months, has no tests, no documentation, and crashes under 50 concurrent users. You hire us to rebuild it for $20K. Total cost: $25K and 5 months wasted.
The correction
Cheap and fast exist. Cheap and good exist. Fast and good exist. All three together don't.
Building without user validation
Why founders do it
"I know what the market wants." Or: "We'll validate after we launch."
What actually happens
You launch after 4 months of development. 200 users sign up. 8 are paying after 30 days. You've built a product nobody asked for. The remaining runway won't support a rebuild.
The correction
20 user interviews before a single line of code. Test the riskiest assumptions manually. Build only what validated users are willing to pay for.
Speed is not the problem. Reckless speed is.
Every startup needs to move fast. The difference is how.
🔴 Reckless Speed
- ✗ No architecture plan — start coding day 1
- ✗ Skip testing — "we'll fix bugs later"
- ✗ No documentation — "the code is self-explanatory"
- ✗ Deploy manually — "it works on my machine"
- ✗ Build all features first, talk to users later
- ✗ Cheapest option wins every time
Result: fast start, 6-month rebuild.
🟢 Safe Speed
- ✓ 1-week architecture sprint — then build fast
- ✓ Core tests for critical paths — not 100% coverage
- ✓ Architecture docs & API specs — 2 pages max
- ✓ Automated CI/CD — deploys in 5 minutes
- ✓ MVP scope locked — ship in 30–45 days
- ✓ Proven stack, proven patterns, proven team
Result: fast start, product that scales.
Real mistakes. Real costs.
A fintech founder spent $40K on native iOS and Android apps. After 6 months, they had 150 users — all accessing via mobile browser anyway.
What we did: We rebuilt as a responsive web app in 4 weeks. Same UX, one codebase, $12K total. The native apps were never needed.
A SaaS founder hired an agency that built everything on their own AWS account. When the founder wanted to switch providers, they discovered they couldn't deploy without the agency's custom scripts.
What we did: We migrated the entire stack to the founder's own Vercel account in 10 days. Rebuilt the CI/CD pipeline. Full ownership restored.
A healthcare startup hired 2 full-stack developers at $280K/year total before validating their product. After 8 months, they had a polished app with 30 active users and needed to pivot.
What we did: The pivot could have been tested in 6 weeks with a partner model for $25K. Instead, they burned $190K on salaries for a product that needed rethinking.