Јеrnе is a travel-tech platform that connects travel creators with hospitality brands through tools for collaboration, content management, and campaign coordination. As the platform expanded in scope, leadership engaged Startup Labs to perform a comprehensive technical due diligence assessment. The objective was to develop a clear understanding of the platform’s architecture, engineering practices, infrastructure, and development processes in relation to upcoming product and organizational requirements.
Assessment Scope
Team and Technical Leadership
Startup Labs evaluated the structure of Јеrnе’s engineering team, including how responsibilities were distributed, how technical decisions were made, and how the team collaborated during day-to-day development. The assessment reviewed communication patterns, workflow clarity, and the team’s approach to balancing product demands with technical considerations.
Application Architecture and Code Quality
A detailed code review examined the overall structure of the application, including its use of MVC conventions and how backend logic was organized. The assessment covered data modeling, indexing strategy, migrations, repository structure, and integration patterns across backend and frontend components. Front-end tooling was evaluated in terms of suitability for the current product direction and development workflow. Security-related practices, including environment variable management and code-level safeguards, were also reviewed.
Cloud Infrastructure and Technical Operations
Startup Labs reviewed the platform’s AWS environment, including compute, storage, load balancing, and database configuration. Deployment workflows, use of Elastic Beanstalk, scaling mechanisms, and backup processes were evaluated to understand current operational characteristics. Considerations included environment separation, monitoring practices, and the level of automation implemented within the development and deployment lifecycle.
Development Process and Workflow
The assessment reviewed how work was planned, tracked, and delivered, including backlog management, sprint structure, code review practices, and team ceremonies. Jira usage, branching patterns, pull request workflow, and documentation habits were examined to understand how effectively the team coordinated around feature development and roadmap execution. Password management, onboarding practices, and knowledge-sharing processes were also reviewed as part of operational readiness.
Assessment Approach
Startup Labs followed a structured process tailored for early-stage SaaS platforms:
- Discovery and alignment to map business objectives, product roadmap items, and architectural considerations.
- Interviews and team evaluation to understand engineering roles, communication patterns, and decision-making structures.
- Codebase review focused on architecture, maintainability, security practices, and framework usage.
- Infrastructure review covering AWS configuration, deployment processes, and operational characteristics.
- Process review addressing workflow consistency, agile practices, and cross-team coordination.
- Recommendations outlining technical, infrastructural, and process-oriented considerations for future planning.
Summary
Startup Labs performed a technical due diligence assessment for Јеrnе, reviewing engineering structure, application architecture, cloud infrastructure, and development processes. The assessment provided a clear, structured view of the platform’s technical state and the considerations relevant to supporting upcoming product and organizational needs.