3. Who is going to build this thing?

Shortage of engineering talent is a major challenge for early stage startups. As a result, the availability of engineering team members will play a role in determining the right tech stack for your company.

Certain tech stacks attract different types of candidates and will influence your company culture. Many talented developers are excited by the prospect of working with latest tools, and actively avoid technologies that aren’t considered innovative.

When choosing a tech stack make sure there are enough engineers in your area with the skills you require. A fun new technology like NodeJS might attract your preferred cultural fit, but you will be recruiting from a relatively limited talent pool.

Available talent also varies by industry. For example, financial tech platforms have historically been built using Java or .NET because of regulatory and compliance issues. Even though these languages are often looked down upon by the startup community, if you are operating in the financial sector they have merits and can open up a larger pool of candidates.