Why Startups Need DevOps Early
Most startups treat infrastructure as an afterthought—until it becomes a crisis. The MVP is deployed manually on a single server. Deployments happen via SSH. There's no staging environment. The "CI/CD pipeline" is running tests locally before pushing to main.
This works until it doesn't. Then you're dealing with 3 AM outages, lost customer data, deployments that take hours instead of minutes, and engineers spending half their time on ops instead of building features. The technical debt compounds, and suddenly you're facing a complete re-architecture right when you need to scale.
Smart startups invest in DevOps foundations early. Not enterprise-grade complexity—just the right amount of automation, reliability, and scalability for your current stage, designed to grow with you. We've helped 100+ startups build infrastructure that took them from seed to Series C without re-architecting.
The Startup Infrastructure Trap
Common patterns we see that slow startups down and cost them customers.
Manual Everything
Deployments via SSH, server configuration by hand, no Infrastructure as Code. Every deployment is risky, slow, and depends on tribal knowledge.
Single Point of Failure
One server, one database, no redundancy. When it goes down—and it will—your entire product is offline and customer trust evaporates.
No Real CI/CD
Tests run locally (maybe). Deployments are manual. No staging environment means bugs go straight to production. Proper CI/CD can change this.
Flying Blind
No monitoring or alerting. You find out about outages from angry customer emails, not proactive alerts.
Cloud Bill Surprises
No cost visibility or optimization. Resources run 24/7 whether needed or not. Bills grow faster than revenue.
Security Afterthought
Secrets in code, no encryption, wide-open security groups. One breach could end your startup before it starts.
DevOps for Every Stage
Right-sized infrastructure that grows with you—no over-engineering, no under-building.
Pre-Seed / MVP Stage
Goal: Ship fast, validate ideas, don't break the bank.
What you need: Basic AWS/cloud setup, simple CI/CD pipeline, staging environment, basic monitoring, automated deployments. Managed services over self-hosted to minimize ops burden.
Typical stack: ECS/App Runner, RDS, GitHub Actions, CloudWatch, S3/CloudFront.
Seed / Early Traction
Goal: Handle growing users, improve reliability, ship features faster.
What you need: Multi-AZ deployment, proper environments (dev/staging/prod), Infrastructure as Code, enhanced monitoring, auto-scaling, database backups and failover.
Typical stack: ECS/EKS, Aurora, Terraform, Datadog/New Relic, Redis, proper VPC design.
Series A / Growth
Goal: Scale reliably, support multiple teams, prepare for enterprise customers.
What you need: Kubernetes for microservices, GitOps deployment, security hardening, SOC 2 preparation, cost optimization, multi-region considerations.
Typical stack: EKS, ArgoCD, Istio, Vault, comprehensive observability, DR planning.
Series B+ / Scale
Goal: Enterprise-grade reliability, global scale, platform engineering.
What you need: Multi-region deployment, Internal Developer Platform, advanced security, compliance certifications, SRE practices, chaos engineering.
Typical stack: Multi-cluster Kubernetes, service mesh, Backstage/Atmosly, comprehensive SRE tooling.
What We Deliver
Production-ready infrastructure tailored to your stage and stack.
Cloud Architecture
Right-sized AWS/GCP/Azure architecture designed for your current needs with a clear path to scale. VPC design, compute, databases, caching, CDN—all properly configured.
CI/CD Pipelines
Automated build, test, and deployment pipelines. Push to main, see it in production in minutes—not hours. Rollback capability included.
Infrastructure as Code
Everything defined in Terraform—reproducible, version-controlled, auditable. Spin up new environments in minutes, not days.
Monitoring & Alerting
Know when something's wrong before your customers do. Metrics, logs, traces, and smart alerts that page you for real problems.
Security Foundations
Proper IAM, secrets management, encryption, network security. Security basics that won't slow you down but will protect your business.
Cost Optimization
Right-sized resources, auto-scaling, spot instances where appropriate, cost visibility. Maximize runway without sacrificing reliability.
How We Work With Startups
Fast, focused engagements that respect your runway and timeline.
Discovery Call
30-minute call to understand your product, tech stack, team, and growth plans. We assess your current state and identify quick wins vs. strategic investments.
Proposal & SOW
Clear proposal with scope, timeline, and fixed pricing. No hourly billing surprises. We tell you exactly what you'll get and what it costs before we start.
Sprint-Based Delivery
We work in focused 2-week sprints with clear deliverables. Regular demos and async updates in your Slack. You see progress, not just a final handoff.
Documentation & Handoff
Everything is documented—architecture decisions, runbooks, how-tos. Your team can operate and evolve the infrastructure independently.
Optional Ongoing Support
Need ongoing help? We offer flexible retainers for continued support, 24x7 coverage, or fractional DevOps engineering as you grow.
