I think there is an exception to this idea for startups that require data-centric scaling. If you are planning to grab as much data as you can and as quickly a

I think there is an exception to this idea for startups that require data-centric scaling. If you are planning to grab as much data as you can and as quickly as possible, this could require scaling even when the user count itself is small. I had a startup that ground to a halt because I hadn't anticipated the sheer amount of data that the app would collect even before I had more than a handful of users. Of course, that isn't the traditional kind of scaling that people talk about.