How to Review Code Quality as a Non-Technical Founder

You hired a developer and they're sending you code. You can't read it. How do you know if it's good? Here are practical ways non-technical founders can assess code quality without needing a computer science degree.

Test the Product, Not the Code

The most important quality check you can do: use the product yourself and try to break it. Enter invalid data. Click the back button at unexpected moments. Use it on mobile. Test with a slow internet connection. Bugs you find this way are more valuable to catch than reading code you don't understand.

Check Performance

Use Google's PageSpeed Insights (free, no account needed) on any page of the app. A score below 70 suggests performance problems. Ask your developer to explain any score below 70 — good developers can always explain what's affecting performance and what they'd do to improve it.

Run a Lighthouse Audit

In Chrome, open Developer Tools (F12), go to the Lighthouse tab, and run an audit. You'll get scores for Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO. Any score below 80 deserves a conversation. "Best Practices" below 90 often indicates security issues.

Ask for Code Explanations

Ask your developer to explain a specific, non-trivial piece of code in plain English. "Walk me through how user authentication works in this app." A developer who built solid code can explain it clearly. A developer who slapped something together often can't explain their own decisions coherently.

Run a Security Check

Ask: "Are you using any hard-coded API keys or passwords in the code?" The answer should be "No — all secrets are in environment variables." Ask to see the environment configuration. If they show you a .env file with production keys committed to a code repository, that's a serious red flag.

Code Ownership

Ensure you have access to all code, all credentials, and all infrastructure. A developer who controls the hosting environment and won't give you access is a dependency you can't afford. Everything should be in accounts you own or have admin access to.