What is the Small Business Health Check?

It is a structured, fixed-scope assessment of your technology and your team, run by senior practitioners. We review the code, the architecture, security, data governance, your vendor and third-party agreements, your AI strategy, and how your data and analytics support the business — and we evaluate the engineering team itself. You receive a prioritized recommendations deck and a readout session with Q and A. It is the complete outside read most small-business owners never get.

How much does it cost?

The public price is $11,200 to $18,600, set by the size and complexity of your product and team and confirmed in writing before you commit. The range reflects real differences in scope — a five-person team on one codebase sits at one end, a larger team with multiple systems, vendors, and integrations at the other. We give you a fixed price on the discovery call.

Why include a team evaluation, not just a technical review?

Because for most small businesses, the people and the technology cannot be judged separately. The code is a reflection of the team that wrote it, and the questions owners actually lose sleep over — Is this the right team for where we are going? Are we set up to scale? — are answered by looking at both. A code-only review tells you what is broken; pairing it with a team evaluation tells you why, and what to do about it.

I can't evaluate my developers myself. Isn't that what this is for?

Exactly. Many owners bring us in precisely because they cannot tell whether the work getting done is the right work, or whether the team they have can build what they need next. We give you a plain-language, senior read on the people building your product — their strengths, the gaps, and whether the structure fits where you are headed — so you can make staffing and leadership decisions with real information instead of faith.

What's the difference between this and Vibe to Production?

Vibe to Production ($7,200) is a focused technical read for a founder taking an AI-built or no-code MVP toward production. The Small Business Health Check includes everything in that assessment and goes further: a full team evaluation, a review of your vendor and third-party agreements, an AI strategy review, and a data science and business analytics review. Choose this when you have a product in market and a team, and you want the complete picture — technology and people together.

What do I get at the end, and how long does it take?

A prioritized recommendations deck covering both the technology and the team, plus a readout and Q&A. It is a fixed-scope engagement, and we confirm the timeline on the first call based on the size of your product and team. You will know what to fix first, who and what is working, and where to invest next — written for a business owner, not an engineer.

What happens after the health check?

You own the deliverable and decide. Some owners act on the recommendations directly or use them to guide hiring and vendor decisions. Others move into an ongoing fractional CTO engagement to execute the priorities with senior oversight and to lead the existing team. There is no obligation — the assessment stands on its own.

Small Business Health Check

You have a product in market and a team you are not sure how to evaluate. Get the complete picture — the technology and the people — from senior practitioners who have led both.

Book a Discovery Call

When the Small Business Health Check Pays Off

01

Product is live and the team ships — but you have no independent read on whether the technology or the people behind it are sound

02

You're carrying decisions you can't evaluate — vendor contracts, security exposure, AI bets, key-person risk — and "it depends" is all you ever get

03

Before a raise, acquisition, new hire, or leadership change, you need an outside read on your tech and team — before real money moves

You have a product in market and a team building it — and a quiet uncertainty you have never been able to resolve: is the technology sound, is the team the right one, and are you set up to scale, or are problems building that you cannot see? When you cannot evaluate the engineering yourself, every status update is an act of faith. The Small Business Health Check replaces that faith with an outside, senior engineering leader read on the whole picture.

This is a structured, fixed-scope assessment — typically in the range of $11,200 to $18,600 — covering the code, the architecture, and the people. You get the complete picture most small-business owners never have access to, delivered as a prioritized set of recommendations.

The technology and the people, evaluated together

For a small business, the code and the team cannot be evaluated separately — the code is a reflection of the team structures who wrote it, and the decisions you face about both are intertwined. We review the architecture, code quality, security, and data governance, and we evaluate the engineering team itself: their strengths, the gaps, and whether the structure fits where you are headed. That pairing is what makes the read genuinely useful. A technical review tells you what is broken; adding the team evaluation tells you why, and what to do about it.

A complete read on the business of your technology

Beyond the code and the team, we look at the commitments and capabilities that quietly shape your cost structure and your future: your vendor, third-party integration, and technical agreements, your AI strategy and where it can realistically create value, and how your data science and business analytics support the decisions you make every day. These are the areas owners rarely have the time or the expertise to examine — and where the lock-in traps and missed opportunities tend to hide.

A prioritized deck and a real conversation

You receive a prioritized recommendations deck — covering the technology and the team, ranked by risk and effort — and a readout with Q&A, written and delivered for a business owner rather than an engineer. The readout is where it becomes a plan: we walk you through the findings, answer every question, and make sure you leave knowing what to fix first, what is working, and where to invest next.

It is the same senior judgment the Develomentor team brings to founders and small teams every day — now pointed at the full picture of your business. Tell us about your product and your team, and we will scope it and confirm a fixed price.

What We Assess

Engineering Team Evaluation

The differentiator: an independent read on the people building your product — skills, seniority, output, key-person risk, and whether the team you have can deliver the roadmap you're betting on.

Architecture & Code Quality

How the system is built, where technical debt is slowing delivery, and whether the foundation supports where the business is headed — or quietly caps it.

Security & Compliance

Authentication, access control, dependency and infrastructure exposure, and the gaps that put customer data, contracts, and your reputation at risk.

Data Governance & Analytics

Where your data lives, who can touch it, how it's protected, and whether you're actually measuring what runs the business — or flying on gut and guesswork.

Vendor & Third-Party Agreements

The contracts, licenses, and external dependencies you rely on — what you're locked into, what it costs, and where a renewal or outage could blindside you.

AI Strategy

Where AI can create real leverage for your product and operations, where it's hype you can skip, and how your team and data stack up for the bets worth making.

Prioritized Findings & Readout

A ranked set of recommendations across technology and team, with a working-session readout so you leave with a clear, defensible picture of what to act on first.

$11,200–$18,600, fixed. Code, architecture & team. Prioritized recommendations deck. Readout and Q&A & Q&A.