The Indie Infrastructure Mindset

Most companies do not need complex enterprise scale systems. They need clear ownership, predictable costs, and tools their team can understand. The Indie Infrastructure Mindset is a simple way to make technology decisions that support the business.

What this mindset is

• Own the parts that matter: Keep control of your data, your core application, and the path your users take to reach it.
• Choose simple first: Use common tools that are proven and easy to hire for. Favor clarity over new features.
• Design for recovery: Backups you can restore, failover you have tested, and a runbook in plain English.
• Measure before you spend: Benchmark performance and cost before adding services or capacity.
• Keep options open: Prefer portable databases, standard storage, and open protocols so you can move providers when needed.

A reference setup that works

• A solid database such as Postgres or MySQL with one replica and verified backups.
• A lightweight web server such as NGINX or HAProxy in front of your app.
• Simple background jobs and a small queue for scheduled work.
• Object storage that is S3 compatible and easy to export.
• Basic monitoring with a few alerts your team understands.

What you get with this approach

• Predictable spending: Fewer surprises and an easy link between cost and value.
• Faster fixes: Fewer moving parts and clearer failure points.
• Freedom to choose: The ability to change providers without rewriting the app.

If you want tactics, read Building Smaller, Faster, Stronger. If you want a diagnosis of the current cloud reality, start with Why the Cloud Is Failing Us.