A Startup’s Guide to AWS Services Series 3: Speeding Toward an MVP

As a founder building to MVP on AWS, knowing where to begin can feel overwhelming. What services do you need? How do you start building with best practices in mind? This series is your guide to getting started on AWS, from account setup and security best practices, to choosing an operational model and database selection. Come explore the AWS cloud environment with us.

Accelerating Your Development

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Running a business is hard work with a lot of moving parts. On top of that, in the traditional model, startup founders have had to build, deploy, secure, scale, manage, and monitor their software products all while controlling operational costs. Fortunately, times have changed. Today, you can leverage an array of technologies to develop and deploy an MVP fast, so your business can grow and scale. This installment of The Startup Guide to AWS Services free video series matches services to situations to streamline the development process.

In Accelerating Your Development Journey, AWS Startup Solutions Architect Zoish Pithawala shows you how to use specific AWS services to shape a startup’s digital architecture. “Wouldn’t it be great,” asks Pithawala, “if there was a way to just focus on the application code, while the undifferentiated plumbing was created and managed automatically?”

AWS Amplify is a service that helps developers build serverless mobile and web apps that scale. It’s flexible, with features such as hosting, authentication, API, and data stores that can be used individually or in combination, or added over time, as a startup grows. Amplify supports various web frameworks and mobile platforms.

If you’re planning to use containers, you can create the source code or a container image, and then use AWS App Runner to take it from there. The service automatically builds the app, scales the infrastructure needed, and load-balances traffic with end-to-end encryption, among other functions. Even without prior infrastructure experience, Pithawala explains, startups can “quickly deploy containerized web applications and APIs to scale.”

AWS Elastic Beanstalk helps startups build more traditional compute instance-based backend services. You can use Elastic Beanstalk with applications developed using various programming languages and platforms, such as Java, Python, and others. At some point, startups might find they need a virtual private server (VPS) to build an application or website. Amazon Lightsail provides a VPS that is easy to use for a simpler workload, paid for on a monthly plan.

Finally, if none of those options fits the bill, you can explore the AWS Marketplace, which contains software listings from independent software vendors. This way, you can add to your startup’s technical skill set by connecting with someone who can help you build a product using AWS services and best practices.

Development can be streamlined. By automating systems and taking advantage of a strong combination of services, you can focus on running the business and helping it grow.