[portent]

A good option can be to use your own data center for base load, and on top of that use AWS for traffic spikes. That way you still have the flexibility to adapt quickly but at a lower cost, once you reach a certain scale.

[gaius]

use your own data center for base load, and on top of that use AWS for traffic spike

Much easier to go hybrid on Azure, at least until AWS and vSphere integration is ready for prime time