The risk isn't small compared to the value add, especially if all they are doing is providing an abstraction layer that isn't "too hard." The value seems to be

The risk isn't small compared to the value add, especially if all they are doing is providing an abstraction layer that isn't "too hard." The value seems to be free hosting for the polling and scheduling. This isn't too different than IFTTT abstraction-wise, and is easily reproducible in AWS using data pipelines and lambdas. Why take an external dependency if what they are doing is rather simple? I'd argue you are right about the complexity. The hook of the service seems to be easy integration and lack of infrastructure requirements. At scale, a freemium model won't work. But it would provide initial traction for small use cases. This can be funded for a while without major rounds. The advice to monetize now versus building community and getting users / crowd sourcing plugins is solid if the aim isn't to open source it.