Key Takeaways from AWS Technical Founders Sprint
- Robert Drysdale, Director of Engineering at BoatyardX
Building a cloud-based product can be daunting for startups, especially when faced with a plethora of choices, trade-offs, and challenges. How do you balance simplicity with scalability? How do you choose the right technologies and frameworks? How do you design, build, and deliver your product in an agile and iterative way?
These are some of the questions that were addressed in the Technical Founder Sprint, an event hosted by AWS and BoatyardX. The event aimed to provide MVP-stage technical founders, CTOs, and aspiring CTOs with practical insights and guidance on how to build exceptional cloud products on AWS.
One of the sessions was delivered by Robert Drysdale, Director of Engineering at BoatyardX, who shared his expertise on Simplifying Cloud-First Product Builds. In this article, we will summarise the key points and takeaways from his presentation, as well as some of the customer success stories that BoatyardX has delivered using AWS technologies.
BoatyardX Approach
BoatyardX is a cloud product development company that helps startups and enterprises design, build, and support exceptional cloud products. We have a proven track record of delivering successful projects across various domains, such as Insurtech, fintech, digital rights management, and infrastructure.
BoatyardX follows a discovery-first approach to product development, which enables us to rapidly validate product and technology assumptions and provide accurate estimates and plans for the MVP build. We use a range of tools and methods, such as Miro, Figma, and Jira, to facilitate collaboration, design, and roadmap creation.
BoatyardX also advocates for keeping things simple and avoiding premature optimizations or unnecessary complexity. We recommend using open-source technologies that can run as a managed service, choosing languages and frameworks that are modern and popular, and using cloud technologies that help with runops and scalability.
Simplify Technology Decisions
One of the challenges that startups face when building a cloud-based product is the overwhelming amount of choices and trade-offs that they have to make regarding the technology and deployment stacks. BoatyardX suggests using a framework to simplify these decisions and evaluate the options based on four criteria: build cost, runtime cost, flexibility, and performance.
Based on this framework, BoatyardX identifies four categories of technologies that they have had most success with on client projects: low-code/no-code/CMS, serverless, simple containerized, and containerized. Each category has its own pros and cons, depending on the complexity and requirements of the product.
BoatyardX also provides a list of the most used and recommended languages, frameworks, and cloud services for each category, with a focus on AWS technologies. For example, for serverless, they suggest using AWS Lambda, AWS API Gateway, and AWS Amplify. For containerized, they recommend using AWS EKS or AWS ECS Fargate, with Terraform as Infrastructure as Code.
In the world of SaaS solutions a solid understanding of human needs, the problem we’re trying to solve and sustained focus on the big picture is fundamental to navigating configuration vs customisation dilemmas, successful rollouts and continuous improvement of customer experience. An excellent example of how this premise can work in practice is the new breed of insuretech companies, including parametric insurance.
Customer Success Stories
BoatyardX has delivered several cloud products for startups and enterprises using AWS technologies. Here are some of the examples that Robert Drysdale showcased in his presentation:
- An insurance platform that integrates directly into a gadget ecommerce site through a set of APIs and provides an administration portal for policy management and recurring payments. The platform was built using Java Spring Boot, NextJS, React Native, and AWS ECS Fargate.
- A global rail asset management platform that handles high volumes of IoT sensor data and provides a modern user experience for monitoring and optimizing rail infrastructure. The platform was built using VueJS, Java Spring Boot, Kafka, Flink, KSQL, AWS S3, AWS Glue, and AWS Athena.
- A digital rights management platform that automates and simplifies the processes of licensing artwork for online and offline use. The platform was built using VueJS, Java Spring Boot, PostgreSQL, and AWS EKS.
Summary
The Technical Founder Sprint was a valuable opportunity for MVP-stage startups to learn from the experts at AWS and BoatyardX on how to build exceptional cloud products. Robert Drysdale shared his insights on how to simplify cloud-first product builds, using a discovery-first approach, a framework for technology decisions, and AWS technologies.
If you missed the event or want to learn more you can book a 1:1 session with BoatyardX to discuss your product challenges and get personalized advice and solutions.
Read more tech topics
Building a cloud-based product can be daunting for startups, especially when faced with a plethora of choices, trade-offs, and challenges.
Proud of your product but sense it hasn’t quite hit its stride? UX audits are an essential tool to ensure it hits its full potential.
At Adminovate 2024, Karolina Coates, Head of Design at BoatyardX, joined industry leaders to discuss the evolving landscape of user experience (UX) and fintech innovation.
The BoatyardX DiscoverX workshop is a collaborative, interactive experience where clients have the opportunity to explore product and technology concepts.
In today's fast-paced digital landscape, businesses are continually seeking innovative solutions to manage their infrastructure efficiently – and for good reason.
Within the sphere of modern applications, prioritising user experience has become paramount.
Whether you are a startup or a large corporation, it's likely you will face many of the same challenges in building the first version of a new product or application. We explore some of the critical success factors and lessons learned from supporting a broad range of clients in bringing new products to life.
We live in the times when seamless user experiences (UI/UX) are the cornerstone of digital success, businesses are strategically leveraging the nearshore advantage to bolster their design teams.
Before solution and implementation are merged into the upstream branch, a code review is a crucial stage in the software development cycle to obtain a second viewpoint.
Computer vision has become a significant influence in the remaking of numerous sectors in a time when technological innovation is the driving force.
In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, the success of a product or service hinges on the user experience (UX) it delivers.
With over four years of experience as a .NET developer under his belt, Petru felt it was time to explore the growing demand for DevOps expertise, specifically in technologies.
WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is an open-source transformative technology that revolutionizes real-time audio, video, and data sharing within web browsers.
What do startup founders and enterprise technology leaders have in common? Nightmare stories about unintended consequences of technology decisions.
Cognitive biases can have a significant impact on the quality and effectiveness of software being developed. How can software developers mitigate this impact?
At a recent Microsoft event speakers and attendees struggled to best describe the significance of AI and its potential impact on enterprise.
More organisations are starting to realise that the cloud is a great enabler for innovation, not just a more efficient way of running IT applications and services.
Skill gaps, high employee turnover and fierce competition for limited talent have only added to the pressure that businesses are facing from inflation. Though it may seem counter intuitive, it’s actually a good time to modernise or even replace applications, because they could be compounding your skills challenges.
Meta has called 2023 ‘a year of efficiency’ and they are far from alone in the corporate world. Many businesses are knuckling down, shedding staff and focussing on the old adage of ‘doing more with less’. Belt tightening is a business initiative again, like the bad old days of 2008.
Factors to consider when deciding whether or not to automate your QA.
At close to 4 years old BoatyardX has, for most of its short life, been a remote-first organisation.
How design helps you validate your product ideas within our Discovery Framework.
Have you ever wondered what it takes to have that genius spark that leads to groundbreaking, brilliant ideas?
This article briefly highlights the challenges faced by many software companies, and elements of the solutions we’ve helped map out with them.
This article briefly highlights the challenges faced by many software companies, and elements of the solutions we’ve helped map out with them.
De-risk your product build by answering fundamental product and technology questions up front
Often entrepreneurs skip brand development because of budget limitations or lack of available skillset. A solid brand strategy is, however, the foundation of a successful venture which stands out from the crowd.
An active player on the IT scene, BoatyardX was featured by Today Software Magazine (RO) in tech related topics as a subject matter expert.
When technology isn’t your core business it makes sense to go to an external partner such as BoatyardX. Discover how this approach works for Toronto-based Global Solutions Team.
We were recently interviewed by a new Software Insider website using a Reporter BOT, and it didn't go great! Sometimes #articialintelligence isn't as smart as we'd expect! See what you think.
Irish technology company BoatyardX delivers a compelling case for moving to the cloud to ensure the viability of your operations for the future.
As a growing start up, it’s important not to lose sight of the security and controls required on the IT systems that underpin the business. See how a recent Pen Test has resulted in significant cost savings at BoatyardX.
Pushing a new product live and then helping to demonstrate to early beta customers is a fantastic experience for a software development team.
BoatyardX’s approach to the cloud uses scalable, flexible Kubernetes technology. For businesses undergoing digital transforming, it is the wisest strategy.
Covid-19 represents both a driver and an opportunity for businesses to use digital innovation and build new products and applications more rapidly.