My $12,000 AI Vendor Lock-in Mistakes: A Fractional CTO's Audit

1Key Takeaways

• Originally published on AIdeazz — cross-posted here with canonical link.
• I spent $12,000 last year on three vendor lock-ins I could have avoided.
• As a solo founder building multi-agent AI systems on Oracle Cloud, with zero VC funding, every dollar is a decision.
• These weren't "bad" choices at the time, but they became expensive traps.