CEED Mock Test Platform - Situation Report
Date: January 12, 2026
Status: Pre-Exam Infrastructure Crisis
Next Review: Post January 18, 2026
The Situation
The app hit product-market fit unexpectedly. What started as a side project now has 200 daily active users consistently. The problem: I never charged for it.
Current Infrastructure State
| Metric | Free Tier Limit | Current Usage | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egress | 5 GB | 5.10 GB | 0.10 GB |
| Cached Egress | 5 GB | 8.79 GB | 3.79 GB |
| Total Overage | - | - | ~4 GB |
Usage Pattern
- 200 DAU (Daily Active Users)
- ~25 MB egress per user per day
- Traffic peaked around Jan 4-6 (exam prep intensity)
- Grace period deadline: January 14, 2026
- CEED Exam: January 18, 2026
Why This Happened
- No monetization - I wanted to help students, didn't charge
- Organic growth - Word of mouth brought 200 consistent users
- High egress per user - Questions, images, analytics, drill submissions
- Timing - Peak usage right before the exam
Immediate Actions Taken
- ✅ Decided to upgrade to Supabase Pro ($25/mo)
- ✅ Emailed Supabase support requesting grace period extension
- ✅ Documented situation for post-exam planning
Post-Exam Plan (After January 18)
Week 1: Monetization
- [ ] Add simple payment tier ($5/mo or ₹299/mo)
- [ ] Target 5% conversion = 10 paying users = $50/mo
- [ ] That covers Pro tier with buffer
Week 2: Egress Optimization
- [ ] Migrate images to Cloudflare R2 (zero egress fees)
- [ ] Add client-side caching for analytics data
- [ ] Implement CDN caching for static content
Week 3: Scaling Prep
- [ ] Expecting 500-1000 DAU next session
- [ ] At 25MB/user/day, 1000 DAU = 25GB/month
- [ ] Pro tier includes 250GB - we're safe until 10K DAU
Key Learnings
"Any system that consumes money must generate money or be rate-limited by design."
- Charge from day one - even a small amount validates demand
- Monitor infrastructure costs weekly - not monthly
- Build egress awareness into architecture - cache aggressively
- Grace periods are finite - don't assume they'll extend
Written: January 12, 2026, 1:05 PM IST
Exam in: 6 days
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