Stop shipping on vibes: a QA checklist for solo founders

A practical QA checklist for founders who ship fast but need evidence that signup, pricing, onboarding, and support flows still work.

Article

Shipping fast is good. Shipping blind is not.

Solo founders do not need an enterprise QA process to stop shipping on vibes. They need a short list of evidence-producing checks that match the product’s real buyer journey.

The checklist

Run these before a public post, email launch, Product Hunt launch, paid ad, or investor demo.

1. Homepage promise

Open the homepage and confirm:

the hero renders
the primary CTA is visible
the top navigation links move somewhere real
no broken image or layout issue blocks trust

2. Pricing clarity

Open pricing and confirm:

plan names and prices are correct
the recommended plan is obvious
CTAs route to the right signup or trial path
private tester credits are not exposed as public discounts

3. Signup or lead capture

Submit safe test data and confirm:

the form accepts a real-looking work email
success or next-step copy appears
errors are readable
the lead or user is visible in admin

4. Onboarding first screen

After login, confirm:

the app loads without runtime errors
the first action is obvious
empty states explain what to do
the user can recover if they are not ready to pay

5. Support path

Click contact, FAQ, help, or docs and confirm:

the link works
the page is readable
the user can ask for help without guessing

What proof looks like

A screenshot alone is not enough. A useful proof page shows:

the goal
the steps
the screenshots after browser movement
the pass or failure status
the exact URL tested

That makes the result shareable with a cofounder, contractor, customer, or QA reviewer.

What not to test first

Avoid risky flows until you have a safe setup:

real checkout payments
destructive admin actions
private customer data
production-only flows without permission

Public, non-destructive paths are enough to catch many launch-killing issues.

The founder rule

If you would be embarrassed for a customer to see a broken path, run a proof check before you send traffic to it.

Vibe testing · live in private beta

Test a URL with the AI planner.

Paste a URL and one sentence — the AI planner drafts a Playwright scenario, the browser runs it, the vision pass scores it, and you get a shareable proof page.

Test a URL

Free gives you 3 runs per month to prove the loop; Starter and Growth have a 7-day trial (card on file, no charge if you cancel).