What is a good minimum email infrastructure setup for a small product team?

A good minimum email infrastructure for a small product team is usually:

1) A proper domain

• Buy and use your own domain, e.g. yourcompany.com
• Set up email addresses like:
  • hello@yourcompany.com
  • support@yourcompany.com
  • founders@yourcompany.com
  • billing@yourcompany.com

2) A reliable email provider

Pick one mainstream provider and use it for both sending/receiving:

• Google Workspace
• Microsoft 365
• Fastmail
• Zoho Mail

For a small team, Google Workspace or Fastmail are common choices.

3) DNS authentication records

This is essential for deliverability:

• SPF: says which servers can send mail for your domain
• DKIM: cryptographic signature for outgoing mail
• DMARC: policy for handling spoofed mail and reporting

Minimum recommendation:

• Start with DMARC set to p=none for monitoring
• Then tighten later to quarantine or reject

4) Shared inboxes or aliases

Instead of giving out personal emails everywhere:

• Use aliases like support@, sales@, press@
• Route them to one or more team members
• Use a shared inbox tool if you need collaboration:
  • Google Groups
  • Front
  • Help Scout
  • Zendesk
  • shared mailbox in Microsoft 365

5) Transactional email service

If your product sends app emails, don’t send them from your normal mailbox provider. Use a dedicated transactional email service:

• SendGrid
• Postmark
• Mailgun
• Amazon SES
• Resend

Use this for:

• sign-up verification
• password resets
• receipts
• notifications

6) Basic monitoring and logging

At minimum:

• Keep records of sent transactional emails
• Track delivery failures/bounces
• Set up alerts for sending issues
• Monitor DMARC reports if possible

7) Security basics

• Enable MFA for all mail accounts
• Use strong password policies
• Limit admin access
• Set up account recovery carefully
• Consider separate admin and daily-use accounts for founders

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A practical “minimum viable” setup

If you want the simplest solid setup, I’d do:

• Google Workspace for team email
• Transactional email via Postmark or SendGrid
• SPF + DKIM + DMARC
• Aliases/shared inboxes for support@ and hello@
• MFA on everything

This is enough for most small product teams to look professional and avoid common deliverability problems.

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a very cheap setup,
2. a best-practice setup, or
3. a step-by-step DNS checklist for configuring SPF/DKIM/DMARC.