Genuinely struggling with this and could use some help from people who've been through it.

I'm about to start a fintech project, have the money to do it properly, but picking the development partner feels like the most high stakes decision I've ever made. I got burned on a much simpler project two years ago by a team that looked great on paper and was a disaster in practice. Fintech feels like an industry where getting that wrong doesn't just cost you money, it can kill the whole thing legally and reputationally.

What I can't figure out is what criteria actually matter when choosing. Like everyone talks about Clutch ratings and portfolio logos but those feel pretty easy to fake or at least inflate. There must be smarter questions to ask or smarter ways to evaluate these companies.

Is there a solid resource out there that breaks this down in a way that's actually useful for someone making this decision for the first time?