Obviously, the details matter and there are few here so I guess I can only make a generalized statement... Think really hard about the "standards" you have set

Obviously, the details matter and there are few here so I guess I can only make a generalized statement... Think really hard about the "standards" you have set and ask yourself if they are necessary. Depending on what phase of development and release your product is at, maybe you can get by with a whole lot more ducktape than you think. Is it maybe worth to accumulate some technical debt in order to release faster? Do you need that fancy micro services architecture or could you get by with one monolithic service in the beginning? Does all your development have to be done by top notch developers? There are features and aspects of your product which are a competitive advantage and there are just as many things which are just plumbing. Can less experienced, cheaper or outsourced resources work on the plumbing? All these choices and standards you have set in your mind about what your product must be have an associated cost to them. As an engineer you want to build the best possible solution using the most "correct" approach your engineering ego strives for. I doubt any of that matters to your end user who can't see any of it...as long as it works. So, if you are in the seed funding stage, maybe you should consider every single nasty ugly horrific shortcut to release something that works just to stay alive.