Comment by grog454 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by grog454 | Hacker News Reader

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> Generally speaking (I'm not a fly.io customer) at this point that phrase WORRIES me as a customer of any service.

Any time I read an announcement like this I refresh my knowledge of competitors and make a mental note that it might be time to switch soon.

> It makes me think that the company exists just on a constant flow of VC or similar money and what I'm using or paying for isn't a realistic or future cost and I'm involved with a system or platform that is getting stretched larger and larger regardless of income and the more money they raise the harder the fall will be.

If you're an investor that's a valid concern. But as a user? I've been happy to have VC funding subsidize my food via Hello Fresh etc. whenever I'm inclined.

> If you're an investor that's a valid concern. But as a user? I've been happy to have VC finding subsidize my food via Hello Fresh etc. whenever I'm inclined.

It's not the same though because you're the end consumer in that scenario and there's no downside to the business disappearing tomorrow.

Instead, imagine if you built a restaurant serving food you get from Hello Fresh. How do you price your meals to ensure you're covering the true cost of you inputs? Can you compete with the guy down the street that isn't smart enough to realize part of their supply chain is being subsidized in an unsustainable way? Probably not.

The whole setup simply makes for bad economics IMO. I'm glad people in tech are finally catching on that VC money is the equivalent of an unsustainable, hidden subsidy that's difficult (or impossible) to calculate.

> imagine if you built a restaurant serving food you get from Hello Fresh

Seems like a flawed business strategy. Ex: I currently use AWS, Linode, and Vultr for different regions and services for a single app. Avoiding vendor lock-in isn't trivial but is definitely something you can design for.

For one off transactions I am happy to ride the VC train.

For anything I want to trust or rely on, or it is a nice n trivial task to switch I start to worry.

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