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8 Comments

Productized AWS Cloud Engineering services anyone?!

👋 Hi Indie Hackers, I'm Lorcan,

A company I worked alongside to build and scale was just recently acquired and I’ve founded a new services company (first-time founder long-standing ambition!)

https://www.firstblox.com
https://twitter.com/firstblox

I provide AWS Cloud Engineering expertise to our customers and although the business is making some money, the long term goal has always been to productize our services.

I'd love to hear from the community on whether cloud engineering services on a subscription basis are something people would pay for/need some help with? e.g. DevOps, Architecture, On-hand expertise 1-2-1, Cloud provisioning, On-call support, Release support, Scaling engineering provided on a tiered subscription or one-time basis.

If this is not something you feel would be useful, where do people need help or struggle most with when building products on the AWS Cloud?

Also, if anyone needs some quick help or advice which I can respond on here just shout, I’d be happy to help.

Cheers!

  1. 2

    It's a great idea but I think you need to hone your message more.

    Your site says "Productized SaaS Services" but overall you just look like a consultancy. I think you need to have a clearer value proposition. Something like "you build, we run" and maybe even show some examples of the types of architectures you've built or currently support. There's undoubtably a clear value proposition you can present to potential customers in terms of how much developer time they can save by using your service.

    If you're planning on doing content marketing then I would suggest articles on common mistakes that developers make when they try doing AWS on their own. As a solo founder that's currently in the process of building on AWS I can attest to the lingering fear that something, somewhere is misconfigured. Not to mention the weeks it's taken to work get up to speed on AWS in general.

    Good luck.

    1. 1

      Thanks for feedback @Rememberit, I could not agree with your more. Looking forward to moving away from the consultancy look and feel and clearing up the messaging overall. I'll post a landing page review update once the changes are in place.

      Great suggestion on the articles too.

      If you do have any lingering fears feel free to reach out! Hopefully, I can be of assistance :)

  2. 1

    I found the message confusing, are you a developer creating and deploying apps on AWS, or are you a DevOps consultant providing on demand AWS consultancy to existing apps/new apps?

    For example, I have a developer but he's not too AWS savvy, could you jump in and make sure our AWS is set up as well as it could be, or is that not your product?

    1. 1

      Hi @Chronic404, thanks for getting in touch.

      I agree, right now the message is confusing.

      To clarify, we are working with startups and scaleups to ensure the best chance of delivery success with productized DevOps, Cloud Engineering, Architecture, CloudOps services.

      To answer your last question, the answer is yes :)

      Is this something you would be interested in paying for?

      If so, can you describe your company/products, what level of service you would expect in terms of outcomes, time-spent, benefits, a ballpark service fee/budget, and or what problems you may be trying to solve?

      If not, can you describe why not and what alternative model you may be seeking? I'm always keen to speak with founders, techies and product managers to discover any pain points they may be experiencing.

      Hopefully, we can be of assistance in some way, shape or form.

      You can reach me on [email protected].

      Much appreciated, Lorcan.

  3. 1

    There's definitely a market for these services. Great idea.

    It would be useful to have an "anchor price" for one of the more simple services. That would help me understand budgetary fit for my own projects regardless of whether the service is directly related.

    Perhaps something like an "AWS review"? Example; "For $xxxx we will analyse your existing architecture and make recommendations for improvement"

    That type of "sanity check" would be very helpful for non-technical founders who need an independent review who have concerns about taking the right path.

    1. 2

      Thanks for the feedback @goingLive I love this idea of an "anchor price" :) and an associated service offering.

      Also, let me know if I can be of assistance at any stage!

  4. 1

    First off, great site! It looks fantastic.

    I personally think it's a great idea and is something I'm actively exploring as well.

    Coming from the security space, Managed Service Providers are huge and well established. I suspect the same construct could fit well in the cloud engineering world.

    1. 1

      Thanks for the feedback @briangreunke.

      The real trick I feel is validating and then offering the best fit reciprocal value service offering without straying completely into a time for money model. I've started to talk directly to as many founders as possible to find "product-market fit". Keep me posted on your progress and let me know if you would like feedback at any stage.

      Cheers, Lorcan.

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