From my experience, it is not a good idea to jump into building backlinks right away. I always tell my clients - focus on the content first. There should be at least 20-25 high-quality, informative and user-intention-oriented articles. Because if the foundation of the site is not strong, then no matter how many backlinks you build, Google will not keep it. If you build a good foundation, Google will see the site as a 'good signal' - and then the backlinks will reveal its true value.
So I would say, focus on the content first, then fix the technical aspects and move on to the off-page step by step.