[chmod775]

There are literally millions of small 1-2 people business that make less than 10k in profits.

I mean sure, they could go and probably afford to waste $200 extra on something random that will be useless to them most of the time, but that money is going straight out of their paycheck.

You don't remain profitable though by repeatedly making bad decisions like that. Which was my point.

Running a (small) profitable business is about making the right decisions consistently, and if you're likely to waste money on one thing, you're also likely to waste it on the 19 other similar things.

Maybe speak to literally anyone you know who is running a small businesses if you want to know more. Yes that includes your local small stores on your street.

At the end of the day you probably pissed off quite a few people on here when you called their livelihood a hobby project.

[dpark]

The scenario being discussed was building a company on top of GCP and being unable to afford $200/month for support costs. Tell me what “mom and pop” shops are pulling in $10k/month from GCP-based software but are unwilling/unable to pay $200/month for the very thing that underpins their livelihoods?

This is akin to saying that a mom and pop laundromat can’t afford insurance, or shouldn’t because they won’t frequently need it.

You’re trying to equate small businesses with hobbies. You’ve now resorted to straw men, slippery slopes, and false equivalency. Maybe consider that if you have to distort the situation this much to make your point, you might just be wrong.

> At the end of the day you probably pissed off quite a few people on here when you called their livelihood a hobby project.

I didn’t say anything about anyone’s livelihood. You’re the one pretending that small businesses bringing home $120k/year can’t afford a $200 monthly support bill.

I bet the guy who started this thread about GCP’s support cost has made a sum total of <$1000 from his “startup”. Likely <$10. Hobby.

I don’t care if “quite a few people” got pissed about my comment. People with egos that delicate shouldn’t use social media.

[chmod775]

> The scenario being discussed was building a company on top of GCP and being unable to afford $200/month for support costs. Tell me what “mom and pop” shops are pulling in $10k/month from GCP-based software but are unwilling/unable to pay $200/month for the very thing that underpins their livelihoods?

I was trying to tell you that most small businesses can't go around spending hundreds of bucks of things that provide little value, whether that's a business support plans on services they use or something else. It's true regardless of whether you're a brick and mortar store or some online service.

> This is akin to saying that a mom and pop laundromat can’t afford insurance, or shouldn’t because they won’t frequently need it.

Speaking about about false equivalencies...

> You’re the one pretending that small businesses bringing home $120k/year can’t afford a $200 monthly support bill.

First off, I spoke of businesses making generally less than that.

Also (I already said this, good job ignoring that!) paying $200 bucks on a single useless thing is survivable for even a small business - but you know what's better than only making one bad business decision? Making no bad ones at all. Making too many will quickly break the camel's back.

Which was my whole argument and it's also what people generally refer to when they say they can't afford something.

For instance you may say "I can't afford to go to this restaurant", even though you'd have enough money to do it without going immediately bankrupt. But it'd be a bad decision, too many of which quickly add up.

[dpark]

> I was trying to tell you that most small businesses can't go around spending hundreds of bucks of things that provide little value

And I'm telling you that if you built your business on top of GCP, a support contract is probably not "low value". You'd happily pay $200 for support on your critical infrastructure, just as you'd happily pay $200 for a repairman to fix your washing machine if you owned a laundromat.

If you don't need support, then sure, don't pay for the plan. If you do need support, $200 seems pretty reasonable.

> Speaking about about false equivalencies...

Signing up for a monthly recurring support plan in case you need it is literally insuring your business.

> For instance you may say "I can't afford to go to this restaurant", even though you'd have enough money to do it without going immediately bankrupt. But it'd be a bad decision, too many of which quickly add up.

A support plan for your critical infrastructure probably isn't "useless". Which is the point. If your need for support is that low, then either you've built your own redundant systems to protect you or more likely you aren't running a real business.