QA Testing for Startups: How to Ensure a Bug-Free Product on a Budget

A critical bug, no matter how small or insignificant, may cost you your business. Those that are lucky not to lose customers will undoubtedly lose money. In fact, according to research done by IBM’s Systems Sciences Institute, post-release bug fixing may cost up to 100x more than if you caught it during development and testing.

It’s clear that QA matters, especially for startups. Young companies cannot afford to lose users and tarnish their reputation the way other, bigger and more established companies may.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through exactly how to build a cost-effective QA testing framework that works for your business. Focusing on a strategy that adjusts to your production process ensures testing will not slow you down or limit you in any way but rather help you hit all the deadlines without a hitch.

Why QA Matters for Startups

Bugs are not just annoying, they are expensive.

For startups, finances are often at the top of the list of priorities, so quality assurance should be one of the priorities right from the start.

Here is a short list of reasons why startups must pay attention to QA if they want the best results.

1. The cost of a software bug can range anywhere from a handful of dollars to thousands. The later they are caught, the higher the costs of repairing them.
2. Risking the company reputation is not a game, and having glitchy updates can indeed trigger a wave of bad reviews, churn, and even social media backlash.
3. Investors notice when you pay attention to QA, which can only be beneficial for you as you grow your business. A stable product is what builds confidence during demos and due diligence.
4. Besides finances, focus on time too. Having to retrace the steps and fix bugs post-release is time-consuming, not just money-consuming. And it can be easily avoided by testing products on time.

The advantages of QA – and disadvantages of avoiding QA – are aplenty and may vary from business to business. Still, time and money are often the main reasons why young companies avoid QA, but it’s precisely why they should focus on QA testing as they cannot afford to lose customers even before they hit it big.

A Real-World Fumble: Clubhouse and Android

Not many people think about Clubhouse anymore. It’s no wonder, given how many apps are launched each year. But back in 2021, Clubhouse was lauded as one of the biggest and fastest-growing startups that everyone wanted to have. But there was a catch: it was an invite-only social media platform that offered live audio content, instead of photo and video like other social media.

Not even 2 years after its launch, Clubhouse was worth $4 billion, which was a massive success. However, the app first launched as an iPhone app for iOS users. Android users were feeling left out, as there was no way to join the platform. The rollout of an Android app kept getting delayed, which slowly led to a loss of valuable momentum, as competition did not waste time in trying to overturn the rise of Clubhouse.

There were many reasons why that delay happened, but fragmented QA was one of them. But by the time the app launched, Clubhouse lost its momentum, and it quickly started losing customers. Today, it exists, but it’s not one of the main platforms used for social media content. So, in conclusion, skipping early QA may not be the main reason a business fails, but it can contribute greatly.

Unique Startup QA Challenges

Young companies face a different reality from major enterprises. In terms of quality assurance, here are some of the main challenges startups face when they consider testing.

• Teams are smaller. Startups often work without a dedicated QA engineer. Moreover, developers also double as testers (and even other members of the team).

• Tight budgets. The missing QA team is often a result of a limited budget, as resources are often channeled towards other departments (like marketing).

• Pressure from release dates. The products must be delivered quickly, and everything works on a tight schedule. There’s little to no room for long, drawn-out test cycles.

• Things are constantly changing. Everything works at a faster pace than usual and so test cases can get outdated almost as fast as they’re written.

It is easy to see that new businesses have their reasons for skipping QA. However, not focusing enough on QA, or not focusing at all, may lead to a so-called “testing debt”. This is just like technical debt, it accumulates silently and explodes later. You miss one bug, then two, and before you know it, your progress is held back by constant regressions.

Budget-Friendly QA

QA does not have to be expensive. In fact, it can adjust to businesses of every size and with different needs and requirements.

Here are some examples of lean, budget-friendly QA frameworks that can work for startups.

Shift-Left + Risk-Based Testing

Shift-left testing refers to performing tests at early stages of the development lifecycle. The name comes from the fact that testing is indeed taken (shifted) to the left, when looking the lifecycle as a linear timeline.

Startups are encouraged to introduce testing as soon as possible. With that, they can focus on risk-based testing, which is essentially testing that’s focused on flaws tied to revenue, customer retention, or even onboarding.

The Startup QA Pyramid

A testing pyramid is all about finding the balance between different types and levels of testing. The goal is stability, which means tests are performed quickly, bugs are found easily and solved right away, etc.

A testing pyramid helps you determine the order and scope of testing, which is why it could be of great help for young companies.

At the base of a startup QA pyramid is unit testing. The pyramid starts with a narrow scope, which slowly broadens as we progress to the top of the pyramid.

Test units are at the bottom because they are fast and cheap, and easy. The next stage of testing is API testing, which is a stage that may yield data for UI tests and where testers catch issues across services and platforms. UI testing is used for critical paths and is succeeded by exploratory UX testing, which sits at the top of the pyramid.

The pyramid might look different for your business, which is normal and okay. What matters is to understand that you don’t need 100% test coverage; you need smart coverage.

Stage-Specific QA Roadmap

Startups don’t need a full-blown QA department right from day one. However, it’s important to have at least some version of QA when you start working on the products.

The key is to match your testing strategy to your startup’s current stage. Here’s a simple breakdown that can be a helpful guide.

Necessary tests refer to tests that are must-have, while optional tests are tests that would be beneficial to have but are not required like those in the first column.

In the MVP phase, start small and focus only on the essentials, which is logic, stability, and user flow. As your product grows, your testing should too. Move from basic tests to deeper, more automated ones. And don’t forget that open-source tools and smart automation can cover a lot of ground without burning your budget.

Affordable Tools & Frameworks

Enterprise tools are excellent, but they are not required, even if we are talking about good QA. Here’s a list of tools that work for young companies with tight budgets.

Open-Source

• Selenium
• Cypress
• Playwright
• JUnit / Mocha

Low-Cost SaaS

• BrowserStack
• TestingBot
• LambdaTest

These tools might not solve all your problems, but they can surely help you go far before you need to consider other options.

When & What to Automate (Without Overspending)

Not everything should be automated.

Automation is very powerful, but only when it helps save you money and time.

So how to know when to start automating QA?

To be able to tell whether it’s time for your startup to introduce automation, you need to fully understand what kinds of tests you are performing and what kinds of issues you are running into. Essentially, first check whether automation is going to help you or produce further hiccups along the way.

Check out our full guide on test automation for startups right here.

Should you decide to introduce automation, it’s important to decide how and at what pace. New businesses are advised to start by automating smoke tests, regression tests, and API contract tests as they are fast, repeated, and stable.

Outsource vs. In-House vs. Hybrid

Outsourcing QA, in-house QA, hybrid QA – these are all terms that refer to teams of QA testers that are hired by your company to perform testing. That is, it’s not about assigning different testing roles to various members of the DevOps or other departments. Instead, hiring a team that can either work within your company or outside can be of great help for you, but there are differences in costs with the three options.

Here’s a brief overview of costs that come with outsourcing or hiring in-house QA teams.

Exact prices are hard to tell, as they depend on a variety of factors. Still, it’s clear that outsourced QA is very suitable for startups as it provides quick results with minimal costs.

Common Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them

Startups often move fast, which is why it’s not hard to make the wrong step or make mistakes. However, if time and money are precious – as they often are – some mistakes can be very expensive, and not just monetarily.

Here are some of the most common mistakes that are made in QA and how to avoid making them.

Over-Automating Early

While automation is a time-saving tool, it can turn against you if you overuse it or use it too early. At early stages, code may change daily, so if automation is introduced too early and used too much, it may lead to test debt. Instead, companies are advised to automate only what’s stable and high-impact – such as smoke tests or core API flows. The rest can be introduced later.

Skipping Documentation

If over-automation makes test debts bad, skipping documentation will then make it even worse. What we mean by that is that a lack of proper documentation may cause a lot of confusion, which hinders productivity. No one knows what has been tested or what the next step is, which makes it easy to make mistakes such as missing bugs, wasting time on duplicated testing, etc. Testers are thus encouraged to keep organized notes about important testing steps to ensure clarity.

Ignoring Analytics

Not everything needs to be tested, and not all elements need to be equally tested as users may not use all product elements equally. Ignoring analytics, which provides insights into how the users are using the product, may cause a great waste of time on testing edge cases while most-used features have bugs that you might’ve missed. That’s why young companies are also encouraged to use product analytics tools to see what areas to focus on first.

Fast, Cheap, and Bug-Free – Can You Have It All?

A budget-friendly QA strategy isn’t just nice to have if you are a startup. It’s a survival tool. Use tools such as open-source tools and risk-based thinking to develop a system that helps you catch bugs before users do – but which does not offset your budget or roadmap.

For more tips and industry insights into QA, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team. Book a consultation with our team and see the benefits of experts helping you design a QA strategy for your startup.