1. Product & Engineering
Infrastructure readiness — ship with confidence
Webhook safety: configure idempotent Polar.sh async event handlers; test retry storm with 50 concurrent webhooks in staging
Whitelist decommissioning: remove all dev/staging IP whitelists; verify production auth is role-based, not network-based
Hide AI Import feature: feature-flag behind internal plan_id; ensure no /ai-import route is publicly discoverable
Sentry live: configure alerts for p95 >2s and error rate >1%; add release tracking to catch deploy regressions
Backups schedule & rollback test: verify daily automated DB snapshots; run full restore drill under 15 minutes
Cal.com widget embedded in Step 8 of onboarding flow; test timezone edge cases (UTC-11 to UTC+14)
CI/CD passes with zero warnings and TypeScript strict mode fail-on-warning enabled
Rate limiting on all POST endpoints (100 req/min per user) with Retry-After header on 429
2. PostHog Funnel
Tracking precision — measure every onboarding step
onboarding_started: fire on first onboarding page load; include referrer source and UTM params
profile_completed: fire on Continue after filling all required profile fields; store completion_time
sub_created: fire on Stripe/Polar subscription confirmation page; attach plan_tier and billing interval
sub_confirmed: fire on webhook confirming subscription is active (post-trial); attach payment provider
activation_role_selected: fire on role picker interaction; tag with role value and default-change flag
activation_artist_added: fire on first artist/brand creation; log count added in that session
activation_calendar_connected: fire on successful Cal.com OAuth callback; tag calendar provider
onboarding_completed: fire on final 'You're all set' screen; report total elapsed time across steps
Session recordings enabled (true) with PII masking active; verify no raw emails or passwords captured
Dashboard: https://us.posthog.com/project/395394/dashboard/1775793
Funnel alert: PostHog action triggers pager when >40% drop between sub_created and sub_confirmed
3. Lifecycle Emails
Automated communications — timing is everything
Abandoned Checkout (2-3h): trigger if onboarding started but not completed within 180 minutes; include direct support CTA
Activation Nudge (24h): trigger if sub_confirmed but activation_role_selected never fired; highlight first-week milestones
Welcome (instant): send on sub_confirmed; include getting-started video and Cal.com booking CTA
14-day Feedback Request: trigger on day 14 post-onboarding; NPS survey with open field for feature requests
Transactional failover: queue and retry with exponential backoff (5 attempts, 15-min intervals) if email API is down
Unsubscribe compliance: one-click unsubscribe in all emails; verify DMARC/SPF records are live
Send test emails to Gmail, Outlook, ProtonMail, Apple Mail; verify rendering and deliverability
4. Legal & Financial
Entity structure and compliance — keep the lights on
Dubai IFZA registration: confirm HALO MUSIC COLLECTIVE - FZCO is active in IFZA portal; verify license covers all planned revenue
Freezone: IFZA, License: HALO MUSIC COLLECTIVE - FZCO
Agency agreements: signed with all distributor/partner agencies; executed copies stored in shared drive with access log
Stripe VAT: enable Stripe Tax for all active markets; verify VAT/MOSS registration covers EU digital services
Polar.sh VAT config: match Stripe tax rates; test checkout with EU, UK, UAE, and US billing addresses
Privacy Policy and Terms of Service live at mgmtos.com/privacy and mgmtos.com/terms with version tags and effective dates
Data Processing Agreement (DPA) available for enterprise; signed with all subprocessors (Stripe, Polar, PostHog, Sentry, Resend)
Commercial liability insurance: verify tech E&O coverage; check certificate for HALO MUSIC COLLECTIVE - FZCO
5. Operational Debt
Cleanup and payables — the stuff no one wants to do
DistroKid payment: update billing email to nikita.konkin17@gmail.com; settle outstanding Q2 distribution invoice
Contact: nikita.konkin17@gmail.com
WHOOP payment: resolve pending charge on Visa ending 7083; update billing contact to Rob's email
Card: Visa *7083
nkonkin.me domain: configure Zoho or iCloud+ for email hosting; set up DNS (MX, TXT, CNAME); deploy landing page or redirect
ArtyOfficial domain renewal: expires early July; renew for 2 years; verify WHOIS privacy is enabled
Vendor payment calendar: recurring reminders for all monthly SaaS subscriptions (Polar, Sentry, PostHog, Resend, Cal.com)
Password audit: rotate shared service credentials; store in team vault with MFA enforced
Decommission stale staging environments: shut down unused Heroku apps to reduce monthly burn
6. Rob's Roasts
Tough love for founders who know better
Still debating the 404 page color while webhooks are unhandled? Users don't compliment error pages. They leave.
Staring at the PostHog dashboard for 3 hours saying 'huh, interesting' isn't analysis. It's window shopping.
The beta excuse: 'We'll fix it in beta.' No you won't. You'll ship beta, see 12 users, and call it validated.
Scaling concerns from a founder with 0 paying users. You are not Twitter. Your $50 VPS will be fine.
You want microservices? You have one product and three weeks. Monolith. Ship. Iterate.
Your 'strategy' is a Notion page with 14 unchecked boxes. If you can't finish this checklist, don't blame the market.