Technology
Build for Scale From Day One
One of the biggest mistakes startups make is building infrastructure that can't scale. The good news: modern cloud platforms make it possible to start small and grow without re-architecting everything.
Choose the Right Services
Don't over-engineer. For most startups, you need:
- Compute — Start with serverless (Lambda/Cloud Functions) or containers
- Database — Managed databases (RDS, Cloud SQL) over self-managed
- Storage — S3/Cloud Storage for assets, CDN for delivery
- Monitoring — CloudWatch or Datadog from day one
Cost Optimization
Cloud bills can spiral quickly. Implement these practices early:
- Use auto-scaling to match resources to demand
- Leverage spot/preemptible instances for non-critical workloads
- Set up billing alerts at multiple thresholds
- Review and right-size instances monthly
The average startup over-provisions cloud resources by 40%. Right-sizing alone can cut your bill by a third.
Security Essentials
Security shouldn't be an afterthought. Implement IAM with least-privilege access, encrypt data at rest and in transit, enable audit logging, and conduct regular security reviews. These basics prevent 90% of common attacks.