Guest Post: Thursday’s AWS Lean Startup live stream is worth a watch

I’ve often said that getting a technology startup launched has never been easier. So many services, software and …

This is a guest post by Christian Gurney, the president and CEO of Des Moines-based startup Torsion Mobile and a 23-year veteran of the technology industry. Torsion Mobile is nearing the launch of Mojaba, a software-as-a-service for creative professionals to design, build and publish mobile websites that work across a wide range of mobile phones. Mojaba heavily utilizes the Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its infrastructure.

In the post that follows, Gurney shares his thoughts on why other tech startups should tune in to an AWS web conference being held Thursday afternoon.


Image from aws.amazon.com

I’ve often said that getting a technology startup launched has never been easier. So many services, software and other components are available so that young companies can focus on building their specific product and not spend a lot of time and money on infrastructure. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of those services some startups choose to get moving faster.

Just about anyone you speak with will have heard about AWS. Fewer have done anything more than have “played around” with it. There is a lot more to AWS than the ability to stand up a cheap Linux/Apache/MySQL/Apache server. At Torsion Mobile, we heavily leverage AWS for our development, testing and production infrastructure. For us, it’s been a good way to focus on bringing our product Mojaba to the market, build a scalable and redundant server system and also save precious startup capital by not entering into hosting contracts or other capital intensive arrangements.

On Thursday, Amazon will be presenting a web conference entitled, “Fast & Frugal: Running a Lean Startup with AWS,” with a keynote from Eric Ries (left, photo from facebook.com), author of the book “The Lean Startup.” The conference starts at noon Central time and ends at 4 p.m. Other presenters include Damon Danieli, CTO at Z2Live; Erica Brescia, CEO at Bitrock/Bitnam; Matt Wood, technology evangelist, Amazon Web Services and Matt McIlwain, Madrona Venture Group.

What intrigues me about this conference is that the perspectives of real companies using AWS will be shared. Discussions around AWS in the startup community often focus on cost with a lot of anecdotal stories passing as evidence that AWS is too expensive. This conference is an opportunity to hear directly from those whose business depends on AWS. I think it’s important for any startup founder or technical leader to listen in on the parts of most relevance to them. At the very least, you’ll learn what others are doing and what AWS may have to offer your company.

More information and registration for this free web conference can be found on the AWS events page. Another good AWS resource is their blog.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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