Why Startups Need the Cloud

A startup needs computing resources to develop successfully, but it is difficult and expensive to buy and maintain your own physical servers. On the one hand, it is impossible to predict how many resources will be needed in the future, and on the other hand, rapid growth can lead to severe capacity shortages. This is where cloud providers come to the rescue, allowing you to flexibly scale resources and meet the challenges of growth without large capital investments.

A cloud provider helps startups grow their business without having to build and maintain IT infrastructure. They provide access to powerful computing resources and virtual data centers with minimal investment. This is especially important for startups that need to flexibly increase capacity for product development and testing, while avoiding risks and unnecessary costs.

Why Do Startups Use Cloud Services?

The cloud servers offered to startups are virtual machines hosted on the provider's physical hardware. These servers are easily scalable and can be centrally configured and managed via a web interface or API. Instead of buying and maintaining physical hardware, startups rent computing capacity on an as-needed basis, significantly reducing upfront costs.

Let's take a look at the advantages of virtual infrastructure over in-house hardware and what startups need to consider before migrating to the cloud.

Economy

Cloud servers allow you to pay only for the resources you use. This eliminates the need for capital investment in hardware, its maintenance and updating. All prices are available on a calculator on the provider's website, which is also convenient.

Pros:

• No server purchase and maintenance costs.

• You can choose between hourly, monthly or fixed payment plans.

• Reduced costs for electricity, space rental and payroll.

Cons:

• Unpredictable costs if resources are not properly planned.

• Possible additional costs for traffic and storage.

Scalability

Cloud servers enable a startup to easily change the amount of resources it uses based on its requirements. If performance needs to be reduced for any reason, excess resources are shut down and the business pays less. Adding GPUs or S3 storage is also quick and easy.

Pros:

• Quickly add compute capacity as workloads grow.

• Scalability without long outages or complex configuration.

• High speed and fault tolerance with multiple data centers and points of presence around the world.

Cons:

• Need to monitor and manage resources to avoid cost overruns.

• There may be delays in scaling due to the provider's slowness and the current load on their infrastructure.

Flexibility and speed of deployment

Deploying new applications or services in the cloud takes minutes. This allows startups to respond quickly to market changes and introduce new features. The same is true for testing. A company can seamlessly test new services or features without the risk of overpaying or under-resourcing in the future.

Pros:

• Rapid deployment and testing of applications.

• Access to a wide range of services (databases, machine learning, IoT, etc.) without having to build infrastructure from scratch.

• Easy to integrate with DevOps processes.

Cons:

• Requires a certain level of technical expertise to effectively leverage the full potential of the cloud.

• Dependence on third-party providers for updates and security.

Security, Reliability, Availability

Cloud providers guarantee a high level of fault tolerance and availability of their services through distributed architecture and data redundancy. As a result, startups are protected from potential incidents related to data loss or system failure.

Pros:

• Reduced risk of downtime by distributing data and resources across multiple data centers.

• Automatic backup and recovery.

• SLA (service level agreement) with guaranteed availability metrics.

Cons:

• Potential risks related to data availability and security when using third-party cloud providers.

• Internet dependency, as access to internal services may be limited in the event of an Internet connection failure.

Does it make sense to choose cloud servers for startups? 

In short, yes. It is a justified and logical decision. Businesses that have migrated to a cloud platform have more opportunities compared to competitors running on local hardware.

Cloud technology allows for optimal use of computing resources, which helps startups adapt to changing business conditions. Moving infrastructure to the cloud frees up time and resources for product development and marketing, leaving the technical aspects to the cloud provider.

In addition, leading cloud providers offer a wide range of tools and services that can accelerate innovation and development. And with rapid setup and deployment, startups can get new products to market faster, which is especially important in a highly competitive environment.

Tips for migrating your startup to the cloud

1. Evaluate the offerings of leading cloud providers and choose the one that best meets your needs in terms of price, functionality and support.

2. Before migrating, assess what services and capacity you really need. This will help you avoid overpaying.

3. Create a migration plan internally or with the cloud provider, including testing all critical services in the cloud. This will help avoid unexpected problems and downtime.

4. Use advanced technologies. Integrate technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes to make it easier to manage and scale applications in the cloud.

5. Use monitoring systems and control cloud resource costs. This will help optimize resource usage.

6. Ensure regular data backups and security systems are in place to protect against potential threats.

To save money on cloud infrastructure, follow these recommendations

1. Start with the minimum performance required and gradually increase as you grow to avoid overpaying for unnecessary resources.

2. When possible, try to use automatic scaling of resources so that performance increases or decreases based on load.

3. Regularly audit the servers in use to identify equipment and capacity that is not being utilized.

4. Some providers offer discounts for long-term contracts. Reserve capacity for a year or more to save money.

5. Store frequently used data on fast, expensive drives and archive data on slow, inexpensive drives to  effectively manage storage costs.

Bottom line