Speed at MVP, then scale — a practical roadmap.
At MVP the goal is learning speed, not perfect architecture. Next.js + managed DB + simple auth is enough for many teams.
At scale, measure bottlenecks: database, media, background jobs. Early microservices often waste time.
Rule: measure first, split later. Your stack should serve product hypotheses.
For regional startups we recommend one monorepo, clear CI and a staging environment. Avoid early “enterprise” complexity.