Founders

The launch-week security checklist for non-technical founders

You don't need to become a security engineer to launch safely. You need seven checks, one hour, and the discipline to actually run them before the launch tweet. Here they are.

The seven checks

• 1. The stranger test — open your app logged out in a private window; confirm nothing private renders and direct URLs to account pages bounce to login
• 2. The secrets sweep — search code for sk_live, sk-, AKIA, service_role; any literal match gets moved to environment variables and rotated
• 3. The database rules check — Supabase/Firebase dashboard: access rules enabled on every table, scoped to the logged-in user
• 4. The dependency check — every imported package exists and isn't known-vulnerable
• 5. The crash check — no console errors on the live site; forms handle bad input without dying
• 6. The mobile check — tested on a real phone, not just the responsive preview
• 7. The scan — an automated security scan shows zero critical issues; keep the report

What to do with findings

Fix criticals before launch, full stop — they're the exposed keys and open databases that end companies. Warnings can ship with a plan to fix in week one. Keep the scan report: it's your evidence of diligence for investors, clients, and your own peace of mind.

The habit that matters more than the checklist

AI-built apps change wholesale with every regeneration — last week's fixes can vanish in this week's prompt. Re-run the checklist (or at least the scan) after every significant AI-generated change. One founder-hour per launch; that's the entire cost of not being a cautionary tale.

VibeSafe automates checks 2, 4, 5, and 7 in about ten seconds each, in plain English — and the launch checklist in the dashboard tracks the manual ones.

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