Startups typically prioritize product development and customer acquisition over cloud infrastructure management due to the fast-paced nature of their environment. Technical founders or small development teams generally establish their cloud environments with noble intentions based on their belief that they can manage everything. The expansion and scaling of a company turns cloud infrastructure management into a significant challenge faced by startups due to its growing complexity exposing the company to risks of cloud computing.
Concentrating on product development and customer growth must be balanced with the creation of a robust cloud infrastructure to prevent potential operational setbacks. Your startup’s changing needs result in hidden costs and security risks which create inefficiencies that slow down growth and bring about unnecessary challenges. What happens when your temporary infrastructure setup transforms into an obstacle for your progress? Explore the concealed risks tied to building your own cloud infrastructure.
The Hidden Dangers of DIY Cloud Infrastructure: A Risk You Can't Afford to Ignore
Co-Founders Wearing Too Many Hats
At the beginning stages of startups, technical co-founders usually handle product development and infrastructure setup responsibilities. At first glance this task appears to be within reach. The scaling of a business transforms cloud infrastructure management into an ever-growing challenge.
The real issue?
As the business expands, co-founders who originally focused on product vision now handle cloud scaling complexity alongside cost optimization and cloud risk management. Founders also need to dedicate their time and energy to team leadership and customer acquisition along with feature development as these responsibilities have a direct influence on the organization’s profits. The result? The expertise required for critical infrastructure tasks gets neglected, which leads to heightened risk exposure for the business.
The In-House DevOps Dilemma: Cost, Talent, and Attrition
When your startup expands, you may consider hiring a DevOps engineer to oversee your infrastructure. However, this comes with its own set of pitfalls.
- High Costs and the Battle for Talent: The high demand for DevOps engineers creates a significant cost barrier for businesses. The market demand for DevOps professionals continues to surge as startups battle with big tech firms which offer significantly larger Devops salaries. The recruitment and retention of world class DevOps specialists turns into a challenging endeavor. According to Indeed, in 2025, DevOps engineers are paid average base salary of $119,350 per year. A skilled Devops engineer salary is expensive as workforce maintenance costs can rapidly deplete your budget.
- The Risk of Attrition: At most startups, DevOps functions rely on one or two engineers who play vital roles. This staffing strategy creates a critical vulnerability for the company in terms of employee turnover. DevOps engineers who work in small teams learn important devops skills through their experience in dynamic and creative development settings. Engineers often use their work experience to find better-paid positions at bigger corporations. Startups face a high attrition risk since 60% of DevOps engineers don’t stay at their job for more than two years. while 19% leave before completing a year and 40% leave during the 1-2 year period. The startup experiences a major staffing gap when one of their DevOps engineers leaves. The replacement process for a senior engineer or any key team member requires substantial time and financial resources. Either the existing team members must take on additional responsibilities or the organization will endure the expensive and lengthy recruitment process to hire devops engineers who will likely depart within two years for better pay.
- Knowledge Loss and Lack of Documentation: Departing engineers take their essential knowledge with them when they leave the organization. Technical teams in small startups often experience inadequate documentation. Large companies with rigorous oversight still produce documentation that falls short of allowing new employees to take over an existing engineer’s work without interruption. When knowledge gets lost during team changes it leads to devastating consequences. When there is no adequate documentation, new team members face difficulties in becoming productive quickly, which leads to errors and reduced progress. When team members leave, they leave behind gaps which compel you to reinvent the wheel causing time loss and financial burdens while missing potential growth opportunities. The resulting discontinuity poses significant risks that could undermine both your cloud infrastructure stability and the growth potential of your startup.
Introducing the Solution: "DevOps as a Service" Powered by Cokpit
Cloud infrastructure management presents both technical challenges and significant operational expenses. As your business expands, the difficulties faced by small teams or experienced engineers can become more challenging. “DevOps as a Service” becomes crucial for making a substantial impact. DevOps as a Service gives you access to expert infrastructure management capabilities while removing both the financial costs and risks that come with managing these functions internally. Our cloud expert team handles all critical tasks from cloud security risks and compliance to scaling and optimization to enable you to dedicate your time to what matters the most: growing your business.
What about your current team?
Many founders express concern about the future responsibilities of their DevOps and infrastructure engineers when transitioning to DevOps as a Service model. The good news is that our model is built to complement your existing team, not replace them. We’ll take care of all cloud infrastructure management tasks so your team can maintain their focus on achieving the core business objectives. We function as an extended arm of your team by offering expert knowledge and guidance to help them develop their skills and concentrate on essential high-value tasks.
By adopting DevOps as a Service, your in-house team can:
- Focus on innovating and building new features.
- Work on strategic projects which include developing new products and expanding the customer base.
- Enhance their skills by collaborating with our expert engineers to absorb industry best practices.
- Maintain operational flow by preventing interruptions from resource gaps or unexpected employee departures.
Let us manage the day-to-day responsibilities of cloud infrastructure, while you empower your team to add more value to the company in areas that directly impact growth and revenue.
Why DevOps as a Service is the Smart Choice for Scaling Startups
Startups can use “DevOps as a Service” powered by Cokpit instead of depending on one or two DevOps engineers or delegating cloud management tasks to co-founders to tackle these operational challenges directly.
Access to World-Class Knowledge
“DevOps as a Service” provides world-class DevOps expertise without requiring you to hire full-time staff. Our solution stands on a foundation combining best practices with advanced cloud infrastructure expertise and cutting-edge automation technology. What does this mean for your startup? Our team of experts will work with you while they continuously monitor and integrate the newest trends and advancements in cloud infrastructure management. Our team maintains your infrastructure by regularly implementing the latest tools and protocols in addition to industry-leading optimizations. The continuous improvement mindset ensures your infrastructure evolves without interruption and expands as your business grows with advances in technology.
- Stay Ahead of the Curve: The dynamic nature of cloud technologies in 2025 makes today’s solutions potentially obsolete tomorrow. AI-driven cloud optimization together with Generative AI in cloud development and supercloud architectures for data management now set new standards for the speed of technological change. Cokpit ensures that your infrastructure benefits from the most current design and maintenance practices to prevent falling behind on innovation.
- Proactive Adaptation: Our team conducts ongoing monitoring while implementing enhancements that maintain your cloud environment’s resilience and security while optimizing costs. As best practices and industry standards change in accordance with trends such as hybrid and multi cloud, and sustainable operations – your infrastructure adapts automatically without any manual effort required from you.
Partnering with us gives you access to our expert team’s knowledge which optimizes your current cloud setup and prepares for future developments.
Don't Let Infrastructure Hold You Back
Businesses intended in-house cloud infrastructure management to reduce costs but faced unexpected challenges such as increasing salaries for skilled workers and inefficient systems which slowed their development. DevOps as a Service enabled by Cokpit, delivers an advanced solution which ensures long-term sustainability. Our team of experts will manage all cloud management challenges with sound DevOps practices, so you can concentrate on product development and business growth. We enable your infrastructure to grow both securely and economically without disruptions through ongoing expert support alongside continuous improvement and automated optimization processes.
Ready to scale smarter? Reach out today to find out how we can elevate your cloud infrastructure performance.
References
- Bernard Marr, The 7 Revolutionary Cloud Computing Trends That Will Define Business Success in 2025, Forbes.Link
- Indeed Editorial Team, How Much Does a DevOps Engineer Make?, Indeed Career Guide.Link
- Samantha Spiro, Top DevOps Statistics: Trends and Key Insights, Hutte.io. Link
- Georgi Todorov, 40+ Essential DevOps Statistics for 2024, StrongDM Blog.Link
