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It is an issue to mistake scalability with resiliency

Yes, we can run twitter on a single server (https://thume.ca/2023/01/02/one-machine-twitter/) No, we do not want to run twitter on a single server

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I would argue that even resiliency is a metric that should not be overemphasized in early stages of development. I would rather have a system that suffers occasional outages than one that has perfect resiliency but has added complexity with tradeoffs in costs, complexity and thus development velocity. I think the risks of not being quick enough to product market fit in early stages is bigger than losing customers over short duration outages - except of course if the selling point is resiliency.

Of course this should not be overdone, but there is something to be said for single server + backup setups, and reweriting to scale + resiliency once traction has been established.

It's much easier to build a resilient system with a simple architecture. E.g. run the application on a decent VM or even bare metal server and mirror the whole system between a few different data centers.

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