I lean conservative in my tech choices but I just don't see the big issue with Kubernetes. If you use a managed service like GKE it is really a breeze. I have seen teams with no prior experience set up simple deployments in a day or two and operate them without issues. Sure, it is often better to avoid the "inner platform" of K8s and run your application using a container service + managed SQL offering. But the difference isn't huge and the IaC ends up being about as complex as the K8s YAML. For setting up things like background jobs, cron jobs, managed certificates and so on I haven't found K8s less convenient than using whatever infrastructure alternatives are provided by cloud vendors.

The main issue I have seen in startups is premature architecture complexity. Lambda soup, multiple databases, self-managed message brokers, unnecessary caching, microservices etc. Whether you use K8s or not, architectural complexity will bite your head off at small scales. K8s is an enabler for overly complicated architectures but it is not problematic with simple ones.

>Did users ask for this?

Not an argument. Users don't ask for implementation details. They don't ask us to use Git or build automation or React. But if you always opt for less sophisticated workflows and technologies in the name of "just getting stuff done right now" you will end up bogged down really quickly. As in, weeks or months. I've worked with teams who wanted to email source archives around because Git was "too complicated." At some point you have to make the call of what is and isn't worth it. And that depends on the product, the team, projected future decisions and so on.