Why a checklist beats a memory
The work an agency does after a client says yes is not complicated. The problem is that it is scattered: a contract in one tool, intake in a form, assets in Drive, and account access buried in a Slack thread. When onboarding lives in your head, things slip, and the launch date slips with them.
A repeatable checklist fixes that. Here is the one we recommend, in the order you should collect it.
1. Agreement and scope
Send your own contract or statement of work for signature, and gate the rest of onboarding behind it. Nothing else should start until the agreement is signed. Track viewed and signed status so you are not guessing.
2. Intake that maps to the work
Skip the generic questionnaire. Ask only what this engagement needs, and make the answers flow straight into the brief and the tasks they trigger. Good intake covers goals, target audience, brand voice, current performance, and the points of contact who can approve work.
3. Brand assets
4. Account access
This is the step that quietly costs the most time. Collect access to the accounts the work depends on:
Grant access through each platform's permission system, never shared passwords, and confirm the access level when you set it up.
5. Billing and logistics
Payment details, billing contact, invoicing cadence, and the kickoff meeting on the calendar.
6. The readiness check
Before kickoff, you should be able to answer one question: is this client actually ready to launch? That means the agreement is signed, intake is complete, assets are in, and access is granted at the right level. If any of those are missing, you are not ready, no matter what the calendar says.
Why onboarding is worth the rigor
This is not just admin. In OnRamp's 2025 State of Onboarding report, 57% of leaders said onboarding friction directly hurts revenue, and 62% said they have no real-time visibility into onboarding progress. Wyzowl's research found 90% of customers think the companies they buy from could onboard them better. The first two weeks set the tone for the whole relationship.
Run it as one flow, not seven tools
A checklist in a doc still leaves you chasing each item by hand. The point of AutoStack is to run this exact checklist as one branded flow: the client gets a single link, completes intake, uploads assets, and grants access, and Otto follows up automatically on whatever is missing. You watch a readiness score fill in instead of sending "just checking in" emails.
If you want the checklist as a working flow instead of a static doc, [see the product](/product).