You don't need to re-write the whole CI/CD stack, you don't need to re-engineer the app as a 12 factor app if/when the thing takes off and you need a real solut

You don't need to re-write the whole CI/CD stack, you don't need to re-engineer the app as a 12 factor app if/when the thing takes off and you need a real solution. If your lead engineer gets hit by a bus tomorrow the whole deployment is in a helm chart somewhere and you can hire generic kubernetes tech #158326 to take over that job at any time. Being able to engineer the app correctly the first time around, plus guaranteed business continuity are pretty big selling points. I would not invest in any company that did not have kubernetes, or a similar orchestration platform underpinning their product. Eventually that engineer will leave and you do not want to be scrambling for their replacement in the middle of the big growth push.