This document discusses serverless apps and computing. It begins by defining serverless computing as a cloud execution model where machine resources are allocated on demand by the cloud provider, removing the need for customers to manage servers themselves. It then outlines the benefits of the serverless model for student founders, including low costs since apps are only charged when in use (as opposed to monthly server fees) and the ability to easily try out projects without ongoing hosting fees. Various serverless technologies like AWS Lambda and Netlify Functions are also introduced.

1. Serverless Apps
The Startup Founder's Secret Weapon
Ardee Aram
KlaudSol Philippines, Inc.
λ

2. Who wants to start
their own IT-based
business?

3. Is it possible to start a business
while in college? YES!

4. Hypermedia Christmas Party 2004
Me at 20

5. What are Serverless Apps?

6. What is Serverless Computing?
“Serverless computing is a
cloud computing execution
model in which the cloud
provider allocates machine
resources on demand,
taking care of the servers
on behalf of their
customers.” - Wikipedia

7. What is Serverless Computing?
Instead, let’s do this:
● Serverless = developers need not worry about
servers!
● Let’s define Serverless Computing (or simply
Serverless) by the problems that it solves.
● Let’s define Serverless Computing against
alternatives.
Good?

8. Ji Pyeong the Student Founder
Strengths
● Time
● Energy
● Brains
● Desire to
win
Weaknesses
● Lack of
money
● Lack of
connections

9. Lean Product Development
Ideation (₱0.00)
1 Programming (₱0.00)
3
2
Validation (₱0.00) Presentation
& Feedback
(₱₱₱)
4

10. Lean Product Development
For people to use
your app, you
need to deploy it
on a server.
Problem: you
need ₱₱₱

11. Review: What is a Server?
Clients ask Servers reply

12. Chicken and Egg Problem
Need to upload
to server to earn
money
Need to earn
money to upload
to server
????

13. Success vs. Failure
Failure
● Nobody visits
● Nobody buys
● ₱0 Income
● Expense > Income
Success
● Money coming in
● ₱+ Income
● Income >> Expense
● Party!!!

14. Ideal Scenario
On Failure
● Nobody visits
● Nobody buys
● ₱0 Income
● ₱0 on server
● Try again!
● Addition to
Portfolio
On Success
● Became viral
● Money coming in
● ₱+ Income
● ₱+ on server
● Party!!!

15. Evolution of Servers
Physical
1 Hosting
2 Cloud
3 Serverless
4

16. Physical Servers

17. Physical Servers
Development Server:
2nd hand PC AMD ATHLON
(Shopee) - ₱8,500
Production Grade Server:
Dell PowerEdge T30 Entry Level
Mini Tower Server Intel Xeon
E3-1225 (Asianic) - ₱45,900
PLDT Asenso Fibr Plan - ₱2,099

18. Physical Servers
On Failure
● Nobody visits
● Nobody buys
● ₱0 Income
● ₱45,900 on server
● ₱- on electricity &
internet
● Reuse server for next
project
● Cannot turn off for
portfolio
On Success
● Became viral
● ₱+ Income
● ₱45,900 on server
● ₱- on electricity &
internet
● Hard, takes time to
upgrade
● Headaches (!!!)

19. Physical Server Headaches
● Overheating (needs aircon)
● Must ensure constant electricity
● Regular backups
● Software Updates
● Must ensure that volumes have
enough space
● Must ensure that internet is
available
● Must diagnose and replace
failing components
● Etc...

20. Physical Server Headaches
But I just want to code!!!!!!!
(And make money)

21. Evolution of Servers
Physical
1 Hosting
2 Cloud
3 Serverless
4

22. Hosting = Somebody Else’s
Problem
You keep the server, I’ll just
pay you “rent”.
K fine.

23. Hosting

24. Hosting
On Failure
● Nobody visits
● Nobody buys
● ₱0 Income
● ₱430/month on server
● Cannot turn off for
portfolio
On Success
● Became viral
● ₱+ Income
● ₱430/month on server
● Hard, takes time to
upgrade
● Will go down if
traffic > capacity (!!!)

25. Hosting - On Success
Small Machine
Big
Machine
Files

26. Evolution of Servers
Physical
1 Hosting
2 Cloud
3 Serverless
4

27. Cloud
Cloud computing allows you to increase or
decrease computing power and storage by a
click of a button. (vertical scaling)
dual-core quad-core 8-core 16-core

28. Cloud
Cloud computing allows also allows you to
create and destroy clones of the same server
indefinite number of times (horizontal scaling)

29. Cloud
On Failure
● Nobody visits
● Nobody buys
● ₱0 Income
● ₱923.52/month on
server (t3.small AP)
● You need at least 1
server to keep it running
● Cannot turn off for
portfolio
On Success
● Became viral
● ₱+ Income
● ₱(923.52 x N)/month on
server
● Very easy to upgrade!
● Very easy to
downgrade!

30. Evolution of Servers
Physical
1 Hosting
2 Cloud
3 Serverless
4

31. Serverless
● It is a cloud computing service.
● The difference lies in billing.
● Burst vs. Running Instance.

32. Runtime vs. Uptime
“1 + 1?”
“2”
Runtime: 100ms
“1 + 1?”
“2”
Uptime: 72h

33. Serverless
On Failure
● Nobody visits
● Nobody buys
● ₱0 Income
● ₱0 on server
● Try again!
● Addition to
Portfolio
On Success
● Became viral
● Money coming in
● ₱+ Income
● ₱+ on server
● Party!!!

34. Serverless Magic: Cheap Failures!
❌
Cost: ₱0
Portfolio: 1
❌
Cost: ₱0
Portfolio: 2
❌
Cost: ₱0
Portfolio: 3
❌
Cost: ₱0
Portfolio: 4
✅

35. Serverless Components
CDN / Edge
Static Files (HTML/CSS/JavaScript)
(JS: React/Vue/Angular)
Lambda / Function
Logic (NodeJS / Go)
Serverless Database
Database

36. Content Delivery Network (CDN)

37. Content Delivery Network (CDN)
● AWS CloudFront
● Netlify Edge
● Microsoft Azure CDN
● Google Cloud CDN
● Vercel Edge Network

38. Lambda / Function
● AWS Lambda
● Netlify Functions
● Microsoft Azure Functions
● Google Cloud Functions
● Vercel Serverless Functions

39. Serverless Database
● Upstash (Redis, Mongo)
● Amazon DynamoDB
● Amazon Aurora (MySQL)

40. Serverless App Demo!

41. https://www.facebook.com/groups
/serverless.ph
Let’s Connect!

42. Part-time dev job?
Project-based?
Full-time?
Let’s talk!
Flexible hours, Remote work.
ardee@klaudsol.com