Choosing a development partner is one of the highest-stakes decisions a non-technical founder makes — and the hardest to evaluate. Anyone can show a nice portfolio. What you actually want to know is how they will behave when the project gets hard. These ten questions surface that.

On ownership and risk

• Do I own 100% of the code and IP, and when does it transfer to me?
• What happens to my project and access if we stop working together?
• How do you handle security and protect sensitive data?

On process and communication

• What does a typical week look like — how and how often will I see progress?
• Who exactly works on my project, and will that team stay consistent?
• How do you handle scope changes and the estimates around them?

On quality and the long term

• How do you test code, and what is your standard for "done"?
• What does support look like after launch?
• Can you show work that is live in production, not just designs?
• Can you point to a project where something went wrong — and how you handled it?

Hire for how a partner behaves under pressure, not for how their portfolio looks at rest.

The best answer to that last question is not "nothing ever goes wrong" — it is an honest story about a problem and a fix. Look for transparency, a clear process, and a partner who hands you the keys instead of holding them. At LaunchWe we are glad to answer all ten on a discovery call, before any commitment.