Cloud solutions for startups

A startup is a concept that has recently entered our lives but is increasingly gaining popularity. Most likely, you have dealt with a startup more than once (even if you did not know about it), or maybe you are planning to create your innovative project. Anyway, any startup faces a question: how to reduce financial investments and increase its chances to create a successful project? We have studied this question and offer our answer — cloud technologies.

What a startup is and why it is so popular

A startup is a business project that has just started, its goal is to develop and make a profit. Often such a project refers to the IT sphere, but today this concept is used in almost any field. 

As a rule, a whole team is involved in creating a new project, even if it consists of a wife, a childhood friend, and a cat. This is related to the fact that working on a new idea and its implementation requires time and a lot of effort.

So, can anyone start a startup? Yes, everyone can start their own project, but not every young company is a startup. Only a small part of all business projects are startups. The main feature and difference between a startup and any other new project is the presence of an original, not a copied idea.

Examples of Ukrainian and foreign startups

Many sites, applications, and projects that we actively use today are startups. Among them, for example, the online services Wikipedia and Wikia (founder Jimmy Wales), Intel (founders Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore), the social network LinkedIn (founder Reid Hoffman).

There are also many successful and recognized projects among Ukrainian startups:

• Petcube is one of the most well-known Ukrainian startups in the world, recognized as the best startup in Europe in 2014. The project is a robot that plays, talks, and monitors pets while owners are not at home. The device is controlled remotely via a mobile app.  
• Prometheus is a project that has made a breakthrough in education. This is a platform of courses for distance learning in different areas. The project has gained recognition in Ukraine and abroad: online courses are used by universities for organizing distance learning. The platform is also used in preparation for ZNO (external independent assessment test).
• QROK is a startup of Ukrainian developers that uses specially installed sensors inside premises to help users navigate. QROK has gained wide recognition and even became a partner of Google in developing navigation.

Well-known startups that use the cloud

Many of the successful startups use cloud technologies to host their developments. Among them, for example, a mobile app for instant photo and video sharing Snapchat, an American video streaming service Netflix, a service for short-term rentals Airbnb, streaming services Spotify, and Hulu. Hosting projects in the cloud provides fast processing and analysis of large amounts of information.

Ukrainian startups also can not do without cloud solutions. For example, one of the world's most famous sites for checking English literacy Grammarly is hosted in the cloud. The service corrects spelling and grammar errors, corrects vocabulary, and offers users well-known quotes and expressions. 

According to American business media Inc, Grammarly's product reaches an audience of more than 2 billion people, and it is among the top 500 fastest-growing companies.

Difficulties in creating startups

Any beginner project, especially if it is a pioneer, faces several difficulties on the way of its development. Most often, of course, with limited finances.

Where to get money for a startup? A beginner project requires large investments, including high-quality server equipment, which is not always affordable at the initial stage. Since it is unknown how actively the business will develop, so it is difficult to calculate the exact number of resources. 

Excessive investment in expensive equipment may simply not pay off. On the one hand, investing a large sum in IT resources and not justifying this investment — is not the most successful start of the business. On the other hand, lack of capacity will slow down the workflow.

Also, the inability to predict how many resources will be needed in the future adds some difficulties. Yes, physical resources can be increased and decreased, but, again, this is about additional money and time.

Also, to maintain a stable and reliable server operation, a startup needs a person who will maintain their equipment in working order. And for a beginner project, such a specialist is also a source of expenses.

Another possible challenge for those who start their business project is remoteness from each other. Often, startups are organized by creators not only from different cities and countries but also from different continents. Without mobility and the possibility of remote access to your data, you will not be able to work smoothly. 

Before launching and developing your own project, you should thoroughly prepare. If you are thinking about where to place the startup, how to minimize investment in your own business, and at the same time organize the stable operation, entrust your business to the cloud.

The benefits of cloud solutions for startups

With the help of cloud technologies, you can kill not only two birds with one stone, but even more. What are the benefits of the cloud for a startup business? By hosting your project in the cloud infrastructure, you save money:

• financial investments in server equipment;
• money for resources that are not actually used;
• cost and time to scale or replace resources;
• the cost of maintaining specialists who will maintain "hardware" in working order.

Also, it is safe to store data in the cloud, and here is why:

• data is hosted on remote servers in data centers outside the office (TuchaBit service) and Ukraine (TuchaFlex+, TuchaBackup, TuchaHosting, TuchaSync services);
• data security is provided by security features: regular snapshots and the ability to make backups (data backups). 

Snapshots are images of your virtual machine disk. The price of the TuchaFlex+ and TuchaBit services includes two snapshots. In case of critical changes, snapshots will help you return the system to the state it was in at the time of taking the snapshot. 

The service for creating and storing backups TuchaBackup is another reliable secure data storage assistant. The service places copies of all important data in data centers outside of Ukraine (mainly in Germany).

Clouds are convenient:

• resources are easily scaled, depending on your needs;
• it is possible to test the Tucha.ua services for free within 7 days and evaluate all the benefits of working in the cloud and the quality of our technical support.

Since startup teams do not always have the opportunity (both physically and financially) to equip an office and work directly in it, mobility is an indispensable advantage of the cloud:

• ability to connect to a remote desktop 24×7;
• data can be accessed from any device and from anywhere in the world. All you need to connect is Internet access;
• the ability for an entire team to work in a single space in real-time.

Ivan Kroshko, ALTstudy Project Manager, has made sure of the benefits of clouds for young innovative projects from his own experience. The project, which Ivan leads, is a virtual laboratory — a solution in the field of online education for educational institutions and a corporate sector. Ivan says, "For startups that are just launching their products, the cloud is the foundation. It allows you not to spend money on server hardware. Also, there are few guarantees for project development at the initial stage, but it is still necessary to release the product. And the cloud is irreplaceable in this case." 

According to our partner, the launch of a project should be approached thoughtfully: think ahead and calculate what costs could go on IT infrastructure, and which solution will be the most profitable. "For startups, clouds are firstly about savings. And a particularly good decision," Ivan Kroshko is convinced from his own experience.

Which of the Tucha.ua services are best suited for startup development

To host startup developments, we offer:

• reliable virtual servers of different configurations (TuchaFlex+ and TuchaBit services). The difference between the services is in the territorial location of the data centers (outside of Ukraine and in Ukraine), guaranteed availability (99.9% and 99.0%), and the cost of the services;
• profitable website and mail hosting — the service TuchaHosting with the data centers outside of Ukraine (mainly in Germany). The level of guaranteed availability of TuchaHosting is 99.9%, while traffic, databases, mailboxes, and FTP accounts are not charged and are provided without restrictions.

For hosting high-load projects, will fit the services TuchaFlex+ and TuchaBit. You personally (or with our help) choose the configuration you need. Also, if necessary, the resources can be scaled.

TuchaHosting is a suitable solution for not too loaded projects, sites with a small number of visitors, etc. You can easily switch from package to package within the available configurations of 2, 10, 25, 50 GB, and higher.

The services such as TuchaBackup and TuchaSync will also come in handy.

TuchaBackup — cloud backup storage. This is the service that solves the problems of security and availability of critical data.

TuchaSync is the service for storing, syncing, and fast file-sharing. All data is stored in reliable data centers outside of Ukraine.

If you want to learn more about our services, choose the right one, or you do not have time to delve into this question, call or write to us. We are available 24×7 and will recommend you the best solution.

Tucha.ua service calculators

In order calculate the cost of the suitable service or necessary configuration, we have created special calculators for each of the services: TuchaFlex+, TuchaBit, TuchaBackup, TuchaHosting, TuchaSync.

Summary

For business projects that are just beginning their journey, as well as for ready-made startup developments, cloud technologies are an excellent solution. They reduce IT equipment costs, make project creation more accessible for their creators. And what is more important for startups that cloud services can be scaled according to your needs. Since at the initial stage, the number of resources required is often known very approximately, with the cloud services, you can increase or decrease them at any time. This is exactly what you need to launch a business project! 

Also, the cloud allows you to securely host startup projects and access them at any time and on any device. Save your finances and time for more important tasks, and we will help you find the most profitable solution. Contact us 24×7!