Why Most Startups Should Avoid Complex Infrastructure and Right-Size Their APIs

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A software engineer argues that startups routinely over-engineer their infrastructure by adopting Kubernetes and complex setups long before user scale demands it. In one real-world case, migrating a project from a costly Kubernetes cluster to AWS Lambda, SQS, and App Runner cut monthly infrastructure costs from thousands of dollars to roughly $50. The post breaks down serverless platform limits, showing that AWS Lambda can theoretically handle up to 8.6 billion requests per month, well beyond what most early-stage startups require. The author recommends using managed containers for user-facing APIs and reserving serverless functions for event-driven or bursty workloads like webhooks and scheduled jobs. The central advice is to treat scaling as an 'earned problem' — only invest in complex infrastructure once actual traffic demands it, not in anticipation of hypothetical growth.

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