[davidjgraph]

Or, the startup could save that insurance fee up each month, when the standard funds are gone, they declare EOL and burn through the savings doing maintenance while users migrate (of course, they'd burn through the extra, so the third-party does work better there).

The problem with a third-party is the complexity of handing over a full system and the fact the majority of startups fail early, i.e. the insurance fee would be much higher earlier in the life of the startup.