I’ve been quietly watching the Basecamp team as they’ve peeled themselves off the public cloud over the past couple of years. No drama. No rants. Just quietly migrating to their own datacentre—saving millions in the process. They are successfully proving the cloud exit movement has legs.
It’s become one of the clearest case studies in smart infrastructure strategy. (If you haven’t read their breakdown, it’s here: basecamp.com/cloud-exit.)
You can learn more from the team here:
Their journey isn’t a one-off. We’re seeing similar moves in the firms we assess during technical due diligence—and in many cases, the benefits are undeniable. Other firms are using a multi-cloud approach.
1. Cloud Spend Is Becoming the Ad Spend of Infra
Just like performance marketing became a default expense for startups, public cloud has become a “just pay it” cost line. It’s assumed. It’s unchallenged. It’s lining the pockets of Big Tech.
But smart founders are starting to ask: what if we built our infra the way we now build our growth engine—deliberately and creatively?
2. Cloud Is Brilliant Pre-PMF (And Often Overkill After)
During the early days—before product-market fit—cloud makes sense. You need to move fast, try things, spin up services, and test ideas without the drag of infrastructure overhead. All the bells and whistles are a gift.
But once your product is functional, your patterns are known, and your stack is stable… it flips. Flexibility becomes expense. What you needed to get off the ground starts to quietly erode your margins.
3. Project Fear Is Alive and Well
The second you suggest self-hosting or migrating off the cloud, you’ll hit resistance:
- “Who’s going to manage it?”
- “Can we even trust our own infra?”
This isn’t logic. It’s culture. We used to run our own servers—and now, with better tools, containers, and even AI-assisted sysadmin, it’s easier than ever. The blockers are no longer technical.
What We’re Seeing in DD
We assess a lot of firms, and the patterns are clear.
- ✅ Firms who run lean infra have lower computing costs.
That’s true even after factoring in skilled resources or devops overhead. - ✅ There’s often less to assess.
Cloud-native systems can sprawl. Self-managed environments often signal tighter control, better documentation, and more deliberate design. - ✅ Cyber defences can actually be stronger.
Ironically, we’ve seen several firms with custom or hybrid setups outperform their cloud-only peers in terms of segmentation, monitoring, and recovery planning.
But It’s Not All Gains
We also see the risks. Some firms:
- ⚠️ Get stuck. Their private solutions can’t match the AI tooling or PaaS features available in the public cloud. They want the shiny toys, but they’re boxed out.
- ⚠️ Get trapped in a halfway house. Midway through cloud exits, some firms run hybrid models that are the worst of both worlds: high cost, complex ops, split teams.
- ⚠️ Rely too heavily on smaller providers. One firm we assessed had their data centre compromised during a ransomware incident. Their data was infected because their provider didn’t contain the breach effectively. That kind of risk doesn’t show up on the pricing sheet.
Exit The Public Cloud When It Serves You
Private datacentres aren’t for everyone. But if your product is stable, your architecture is mature, and you’re ready to scale without burning cash—this is a real lever.
Firms like Basecamp are proving that cloud exit isn’t just possible—it can be a source of competitive advantage.
Use the cloud when it helps. Exit when it doesn’t.
