The c++ example is indeed a bit too much. But setting up a Debian instance with nginx, python, nodejs and a bit of security would probably take max one evening

The c++ example is indeed a bit too much. But setting up a Debian instance with nginx, python, nodejs and a bit of security would probably take max one evening. For startups I personally believe in the more hybrid solution. I would use a cloud provider and manage the vms myself. For 100 dollars a month you can run 4 vms and a load balancer. Perfectly fine for even most scaleups. Aws, gcs and also azure are money pits. These companies to me resemble the oracle kind of company. The same btw goes for all these tooling companies like hubspot, Salesforce etc. Attractive in the beginning, but bloodsuckers after you become bigger.