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> Spotify was a stand-out, almost no large tech company bought into cloud like they did Isn't this what made Spotify success? Yes, they could have build their

> Spotify was a stand-out, almost no large tech company bought into cloud like they did Isn't this what made Spotify success? Yes, they could have build their own datacenters, but someone else could outcompete them in the meantime. They have traded off something for another thing.

philistine 3y ago
I don't think one of you has to be wrong for another one to be right. Should Spotify have focused on its core competency early in its life? Sure. But at some point in the long years since, Spotify should have 100% looked at their cloud bills and built a way out of that lock-in.
- throwaw12 3y ago
  > Spotify should have 100% looked at their cloud bills and built a way out of that lock-in. Absolutely, but everything has ROI, ROI of fixing cloud bills were probably smaller than "possible growth" Now they know which features failed, they can start deprecating or stop growing them and refocus on cloud bills
dijit 3y ago
I think that's a good take, it's easy to look in hindsight and say that they made wrong choices but we wouldn't even be having the conversation had they not been at least somewhat successful. The question becomes then: 9,500 employee's and none among them know how (or wanted) to regain enough costs to save 17% of the company from losing their job just before Christmas? Certain features (spotify wrapped for example) would definitely be a lot harder with more traditional hosting. But the bulk of Spotify's workload are not significantly hampered by moving slower on infrastructure and recuperating significant costs. It's just very easy to keep piling infra costs on top of infra costs and not thinking about it, especially if it feels disconnected from company financials for most developers and they do not see a line between spending and jobs.
- marcinzm 3y ago
  Spotify was, in theory, a growing product oriented company which means everyone is focused on growing revenue. To focus on cost savings means enough to make up for the GCP bills means you focus less on revenue and that means less growth. Saving money and losing 20% of your stock valuation due to slower growth is not a good trade off for those running such companies. That's not to say you can't have slow long term cost oriented initiatives but drastic efforts at the last minute (what you'd need to save those 17% of jobs this year) aren't that.
jeltz 3y ago
No, Spotify's success happened back when they mostly ran on their own metal. Going for the cloud happened at the same time their innovation started to stall.

philistine 3y ago

I don't think one of you has to be wrong for another one to be right. Should Spotify have focused on its core competency early in its life? Sure. But at some point in the long years since, Spotify should have 100% looked at their cloud bills and built a way out of that lock-in.

throwaw12 3y ago
> Spotify should have 100% looked at their cloud bills and built a way out of that lock-in. Absolutely, but everything has ROI, ROI of fixing cloud bills were probably smaller than "possible growth" Now they know which features failed, they can start deprecating or stop growing them and refocus on cloud bills

dijit 3y ago

I think that's a good take, it's easy to look in hindsight and say that they made wrong choices but we wouldn't even be having the conversation had they not been at least somewhat successful. The question becomes then: 9,500 employee's and none among them know how (or wanted) to regain enough costs to save 17% of the company from losing their job just before Christmas? Certain features (spotify wrapped for example) would definitely be a lot harder with more traditional hosting. But the bulk of Spotify's workload are not significantly hampered by moving slower on infrastructure and recuperating significant costs. It's just very easy to keep piling infra costs on top of infra costs and not thinking about it, especially if it feels disconnected from company financials for most developers and they do not see a line between spending and jobs.

marcinzm 3y ago
Spotify was, in theory, a growing product oriented company which means everyone is focused on growing revenue. To focus on cost savings means enough to make up for the GCP bills means you focus less on revenue and that means less growth. Saving money and losing 20% of your stock valuation due to slower growth is not a good trade off for those running such companies. That's not to say you can't have slow long term cost oriented initiatives but drastic efforts at the last minute (what you'd need to save those 17% of jobs this year) aren't that.

jeltz 3y ago

No, Spotify's success happened back when they mostly ran on their own metal. Going for the cloud happened at the same time their innovation started to stall.