Startup founders tell us their biggest tech challenges and we solve them

Launching a startup is hard. Scaling one? Even harder. 

We recently ran a poll in a WhatsApp group filled with tech startup founders, asking a simple question: 

“What’s your biggest technical challenge right now?” 

The results were telling: 

• 60%: Building and scaling our product 

• 20%: Choosing the right tech stack 

• 10%: Hiring the right tech talent 

• 10%: Other 

If you’re nodding along, you’re not alone. These challenges face nearly every early-stage startup. But the good news? They’re all solvable with the right approach. 

Let’s break them down and talk about how you can tackle them head-on. 

Challenge #1: Building & scaling your product (60%) 

This was the overwhelming winner by far. And it makes sense. Turning an idea into a working, scalable product is one of the hardest parts of startup life. 

Many founders fall into one of two traps: 

• Over-engineering: spending too much time perfecting a product before launch. 

• Under-engineering: rushing to market with something that breaks as soon as users pile in. 

The key? Think MVP, but plan for scale. 

Start small, but architect smart. Use modular design principles, microservices, or serverless approaches so you can scale up later without a complete rebuild. 

Automate early. CI/CD pipelines, cloud-based infrastructure, and strong DevOps practices will save you from painful scaling problems later. 

Build for real users, not just your vision. Too many founders build what they think people want. Launch fast, get feedback, iterate. The market will tell you what to do next. 

Feeling stuck? Novidian can help guide your strategy while keeping costs lean.  

Challenge #2: Choosing the right tech stack (20%) 

Choosing a tech stack isn’t like choosing what to have for dinner. Your choice affects everything. Get it wrong and you’ll be stuck with costly rewrites, hiring nightmares, and performance headaches. 

So how do you make the right call? 

• Prioritise long-term maintainability. Will this stack still make sense when you have 100K+ users? Will it be easy to find developers to work on it? 

• Consider your team’s expertise. It’s tempting to pick the “popular” stack, but if your team doesn’t know it well, you’ll burn time and money learning instead of building. 

• Don’t chase trends—chase reliability. The best tech stacks are the ones that balance speed, scalability, and community support. (Novidian Hint: JavaScript frameworks come and go, but solid backend choices like Node.js, Python, and Go stand the test of time.) 

Challenge #3: Hiring tech talent (10%) 

Hiring great engineers is hard. Hiring them as a startup? Even harder. You’re up against well-funded competitors who can throw six-figure salaries at top talent. 

So how do you compete? 

• Sell the vision, not just the job. Talented engineers don’t just want a paycheck—they want to build something meaningful. Make them excited about your mission. 

• Be flexible with compensation. Maybe you can’t match American tech salaries, but can you offer equity? Remote work? A chance to lead and grow? These things matter. 

• Don’t wait too long to bring in senior tech leadership. A lot of early-stage startups try to get by with junior developers. The problem? Without strong technical guidance, they build slow and make expensive mistakes. 

Challenge #4: Everything else (10%) 

A few founders reported other challenges—things like security, managing remote teams, and dealing with investor pressure. While these may seem separate, they all tie back to one thing – strong technical leadership. 

Without it, scaling a startup becomes a guessing game. With it, you can tackle these challenges with confidence. 

Tech challenges are hard but solvable 

If you’re facing one (or all) of these challenges, you’re not alone. Every successful startup has been in your shoes. The key is knowing when to ask for help. 

Whether you need advice on scaling, picking a tech stack, or hiring the right people, we’ve helped dozens of startups overcome these same hurdles. If you’re ready to get unstuck, let’s talk. 

Book a consultation with us today.