Company
AWS
AWS is a lot of services. We use a short list: compute, storage, email, and the bits the brief actually named. The rest stays closed.
What it is
Amazon Web Services is the largest public cloud. EC2 machines, S3 files, Lambda functions, RDS databases, CloudFront at the edge, IAM for who can touch what. Amazon built it for its own retail operation, then rented the same shape to everyone else.
For a product team AWS is an account, a region, a bill that can surprise you, and a catalogue so large the skill is saying no. Most serious internet products have at least one foot here, even if the marketing site sits on Vercel or Netlify in front.
What it does
Companies use AWS to host applications, store media, run queues and jobs, keep a relational database, and put a CDN in front of downloads. Startups often start on a few services and grow into a VPC. Enterprises often already have an organisation, SCPs, and a landing zone.
We use the smallest set that matches the brief: compute, storage, the database, the one extra the job named. The account stays yours. We do not treat AWS as a personality.
Why we use it
The default cloud when the product has to scale on its own terms.
S3 and CloudFront for the fast public surface. A container or a function for the server. SES when mail has to leave your domain. Infrastructure as files in the same repo as the app. We cut unused services before launch so the invoice matches the product you approved.
If a service cannot be explained in a sentence, it is probably not in the build.
Built on it
Netflix
The canonical AWS customer, streaming at global scale on Amazon's cloud.
Airbnb
Grew its marketplace on AWS rather than owning data centres.
NASA
Has used AWS for public datasets, imagery, and mission support.
Twitch
Amazon's own live video product, running on AWS.
Amazon.com
The retail site and fulfilment network that AWS was built to serve.
Tell us what needs to ship.
You use a working prototype before the production build goes ahead.