Hello,

the question that I have been asking myself is: how should I go about managing data in my Start-Up? Especially, when you are not part of a super prestigious incubator/accelerator program where the established enterprise takes care of that matter for you.

Therefore, I was wondering:

How do you guys who currently run, have run in the past or maybe even plan on starting a startup in the future, manage your data?

Are you using cloud solutions such as Amazon Web Services etc. ? As far as I know, many startups will use third party cloud solutions.

However, I have done some research on NAS (Network Attached Storage) Servers:

• You can share your data, access it from wherever you want, (just like a cloud but your data lays with you, not with a third party) and work on it together with your colleagues.
• You can save your data redundantly. You could even run an Active Directory on it, a VPN, Mail-Server and so much more
• With 4 TB storage (should be enough for at least a couple of years depending on the business model of course) it would cost around 460$. This is a One Time Payment as opposed to monthly payments with cloud solutions. 4TB open cloud gets very expensive.
• It is also scalable as you can just get a new Hard Drive when the time comes.
• The set up looks pretty straight forward when you look it up. There are companies like Qnap, WD, Synology. Synology to me looks the easiest to set up but maybe you have some suggestions.

So before I decide I would love to know what you guys think. What are you using? What are you paying atm maybe for cloud solutions etc.? What would you recommend to me?

Maybe I am wrong and AWS or other cloud solutions are the better options and a NAS Server would be good as Backup for the cloud?

Thank you so much in advance,

Simon

Topic

[Matthew KingKeymaster Total Post: 101Points: 1,531]

This can be a hard question for anyone in a startup. Just keep in mind that whatever you may choose, it’s not final. You can always take the time to upgrade to new systems. At the beginning of my own business, I had started with a NAS and set aside a specific time to make sure it was backing up.

We eventually moved to the cloud, but that’s because the NAS began to fail and we  had a different need. We needed employees to be able to work anywhere, on the go, using laptops, desktops, mobile phones.

A cloud-based business allows us to do just that. We use google specifically at the moment, along with a cloud-base phone system.

So think about what your business will be in 5 or 10 years. Will you need that capability? How fast might you need to scale? Will you need to work with remote individuals?

[Future_SParticipant Total Post: 3Points: 45]

Hello Matthew,

thank you so much for your quick answer.

You are absolutely right: for employees to be able to work anywhere, on the go, using laptops, desktops, mobile phones is very important. However, that can be realized with a NAS just fine now. Maybe back then when you started your business NAS was not as developed as it is now (software-wise).

But it is great getting to know how you ended up with Google cloud. Are you satisfied? Or do you feel like you pay too much? Google cloud has so many awesome features, but it seems expensive. 4TB storage is like 650 USD a year. Also, I was wondering do you use a NAS for a Backup of the cloud, or do you trust Google enough to avoid that?

Anyway, it would be generally cool to hear how other start-ups on this platform are doing it.

 

 

[Matthew KingKeymaster Total Post: 101Points: 1,531]

I am satisfied with their service. You are looking at the personal google side. You need to look at the business side. Here is a link to G-Suite , which is google for businesses. It comes with unlimited storage, and has a low-monthly price per user, with UNLIMITED storage.

The price is only as high as $300/year for unlimited and data loss prevention, etc. 

Or you can start as low as $72/year to get started. 

So I believe, you are looking at the personal side where you pay for the amount of space. I use the enterprise version that has data retention in the plan (so for the most part, I trust google to keep it backed up.

However, if you wanted to back it up. I would look at automated options to back up your business drive.

 

[Future_SParticipant Total Post: 3Points: 45]

Thank you, I have checked out G-Suite.

The price of $300/year for G-Suite Enterprise is per user. G-Suite Business is $120/year/user. Therefore, it can get very expensive IMO.

Thank you for your advice and for taking the time to answer.

I will make a cost comparison based on my needs and then decide.

Anyone else reading this, who runs/ works at a startup: it would still be interesting to know how you set up/ are setting up your infrastructure and why.

Peace:)

 

[Author]

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