I've seen startups with 5K users with multi region distributed setup with Kubernetes which can scale up to a million users and orgs paying 100K+ for cloud. I completely fail to understand whats going on.

While I don't want to spark up cloud vs self host debate, it's essential to understand the root causes behind such scenarios. Over engineering and premature optimization are common pitfalls that startups often fall into, leading to unnecessary complexity and exorbitant costs.

Reference:

https://www.inc.com/sean-kim/how-tech-startups-can-crack-code-of-cloud-infrastructure-costs.html#:~:text=According%20to%20a%202020%20study,to%20the%20other%20enormous%20costs