The cloud will eat you!
Never pay what you haven't earned
Disclaimer: I am using AWS as an example just because I had to pick one. I believe that all of them do same kind of things.
How it starts
So you have this great idea that can turn into something big. You write the first draft of your application over a weekend and head over to deploy it…to AWS. Why? The free tier.
The free tier trap
It is a marketing genius pulled by AWS that allows them to save millions of dollars otherwise spent into luring new customers. It was a novel idea to introduce the skeptics to cloud in pre-2010 era. Today it is just a bait to catch small fish and keep them under water until some of them starts to grow.
The free credits trap
Now that you have some actual customers, there are two other instruments to trap you permanently. A $100,000 if you apply with a VC or a $1000 to anyone out there who loves some free cash. Refusing free money sounds(and is) stupid. This is the real deal, a lot of money for cash strapped startups. You now have a pile of cash to burn on AWS, you don’t obviously have to worry about your AWS bills. The bills are getting paid magically. Remember, this is the point of no return.
Avoiding the bait
Take the cash. Please.
Optimise, optimise and optimise your cloud bills.