A webapp isn't a company. If you have a company, you should have at least half a rack of hardware in a colo. Being 100% on the cloud is a grave mistake.
is the quote I was replying to. The parent doesn't mention startups, they say the word company so of course I'd have taken it as all companies as a whole. There is no hard and fast rule that every company must have "half a rack of hardware in a colo" or otherwise they're not a "real company." This is basically the No True Scotsman fallacy in action.
If you're trying to scale, fast, into the global stage "half a rack of colo" isn't going to cut it. You're going to need presence everywhere and that can be impossible to deploy fast.
If you're targeting say a single market, say North America, with fewer larger clients you're likely to be able to manage it from two DCs and can realistically manage it yourself.
It's just "right solution for the right situation". Cloud is absolutely not always the right solution.
I didn't say only, and I did say you should have footprint in every cloud for when you need to scale or deploy in a region.
If there was an "App Template" for a company, I think have your own hardware in a place you control is super important. Cloud providers literally don't give a shit about you. It is about agency.
But more broadly, the value is IP, essentially know-how and lock-in with customers, relationships etc..