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Episode Outline: The Cloud Repatriation Debate - When AWS Costs 10-100x More Than It Should

Story Planning​

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: Economic Detective Story

CENTRAL TENSION: Platform teams discovering their AWS bills are 10-100x higher than alternatives, but leadership fears leaving the cloud. Who's right?

THROUGHLINE: From accepting cloud costs as "the price of doing business" to understanding the real economics and making informed infrastructure decisions.

EMOTIONAL ARC:

  • Recognition moment: "Our AWS bill is how much?! And we're still managing servers anyway..."
  • Surprise moment: "Wait, 37signals is saving $2 million per year? And Dropbox saved $75 million?"
  • Empowerment moment: "Now I have a framework to evaluate our actual needs vs. what we're paying for."

Act Structure​

ACT 1: SETUP (2-3 minutes)​

  • Hook: "An engineer sent me an article claiming AWS charges 10 to 100 times more than it should. My first reaction was 'that's ridiculous hyperbole.' Then I pulled up our actual AWS bills next to Hetzner's pricing page..."
  • Stakes: Platform teams are burning millions on cloud costs while companies are doing layoffs to "improve efficiency"
  • Promise: We'll uncover the real cost math and build a framework for when cloud makes sense vs. when it's highway robbery

Key Points:

  • AWS C5 instance with 80 vCPUs: $2,500-3,500/month
  • Hetzner bare metal 80 cores: $190/month (that's 18x difference!)
  • 86% of CIOs planning some form of cloud repatriation in 2025

ACT 2: EXPLORATION (5-7 minutes)​

  • Discovery 1: The 37signals exodus - saving $2M/year, still have 8 people on ops team
  • Discovery 2: The hidden cloud costs nobody talks about - egress fees ($0.09/GB), NAT gateways ($45/month), data transfer between AZs
  • Discovery 3: The "you're using cloud wrong" gaslighting - even optimized setups cost 5-10x more
  • Complication: But wait - what about elastic scaling? Global presence? Managed services?

Key Points:

  • Dropbox saved $74.6 million over 2 years by moving 90% off AWS
  • GEICO cut 70% of costs moving from cloud to on-premises
  • But Netflix still thrives on AWS - spending $1B+ annually
  • The real differentiator: predictable vs. burst workloads

ACT 3: RESOLUTION (3-4 minutes)​

  • Synthesis: It's not cloud vs. on-prem - it's about matching architecture to economics
  • Application: Decision framework based on workload predictability, team size, and growth stage
  • Empowerment: How to run the numbers for YOUR organization (TCO calculation template)

Key Points:

  • Startups: Stay on cloud until you hit $10K/month bills
  • Growth companies: Hybrid approach - predictable workloads on metal, burst on cloud
  • Enterprises: Consider repatriation if you have stable, predictable workloads

Story Elements​

KEY CALLBACKS:

  • Return to the "10-100x" claim from the opening - validate it with real examples
  • The AWS bill comparison from Act 1 becomes the framework template in Act 3
  • "The price of doing business" transforms into "the price of not doing math"

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES:

  • The Anchoring Statistic: "18x markup" becomes recurring reference point
  • Case Study Arc: Follow 37signals' journey from all-in on cloud to saving millions
  • Devil's Advocate Dance: Jordan defends cloud benefits while Alex exposes hidden costs

SUPPORTING DATA:

  • 37signals: $2M annual savings, $10M+ over 5 years
  • Dropbox: $74.6M saved over 2 years
  • GEICO: 70% cost reduction
  • AWS egress: $0.09/GB (that's $90 per TB!)
  • Hetzner pricing: 80-core server for $190/month
  • DigitalOcean: 8 vCPU droplet for $48/month

Quality Checklist​

Before approving this outline:

  • Throughline is clear (from accepting high costs to understanding real economics)
  • Hook is compelling (personal discovery of shocking price differences)
  • Each section builds (setup problem → explore evidence → provide framework)
  • Insights connect (each discovery adds to the cost picture)
  • Emotional beats land (recognition of problem, surprise at scale, empowerment with framework)
  • Callbacks create unity (10-100x claim validated, bill comparison becomes template)
  • Payoff satisfies (concrete decision framework delivered)
  • Narrative rhythm (detective story structure maintains momentum)
  • Technical depth maintained (real numbers, specific services, actual case studies)
  • Listener value clear (they can calculate their own TCO and make informed decisions)

Episode Details​

Episode Number: 00015 Duration Target: 12-15 minutes Tone: Investigative but balanced - not anti-cloud zealotry, but honest about economics Key Tension Between Speakers:

  • Jordan: Advocates for cloud benefits (innovation speed, managed services)
  • Alex: Exposes hidden costs and questions the value proposition