How would you structure a small community web project so it can grow later?

Hi Guys!

I am a computer science student building a community-focused web project that I hope could eventually grow into something bigger, possibly even a nonprofit.

Right now, I’m building it mostly by myself, so I want to keep the setup simple and affordable. At the same time, I don’t want to make early technical decisions that make the project hard to maintain later.

I am trying to learn how more experienced developers would approach this.

A few things that I am thinking about:

• Is simple hosting like Netlify or Vercel enough at the beginning?
• When should I add a backend?
• When does it make sense to add a database?
• Should the project stay under my personal GitHub account or move to a GitHub Organization?
• When should I buy a custom domain?
• Should I create separate project emails and accounts early?
• What is the best way to handle API keys and environment variables?
• What should I do for backups?
• What should I know before adding authentication or user accounts?
• What security and privacy issues should I think about before collecting user data?
• What should I avoid over engineering?

I am not expecting huge traffic anytime soon.

My goal is to build something simple now, while keeping the project organized enough that it can grow without needing a complete rewrite.
If you were starting something like this today, what would your setup look like?

I would also love to hear about mistakes you made on early projects that you would avoid now.

Thanks!