system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: In TV-Show 'Silicon Valley' they talk about "Scaling" the software, to commercialise it. What do they mean by "Scaling" in this sense?
gpt
I haven't watched the show, but usually we software developers talk about scaling in the sense of moving from small amounts of usage to much larger amounts of usage.  For example, your app might start with 5 users/day and work great at that scale.  But once you start thinking about 5,000 users/day, you need to plan for a much larger database, more server bandwidth, higher uptime, more support requests, hackers who suddenly take an interest in your app, etc.  

This is all what is meant by "scaling", and it's not always about just adding more hardware - frequently the software has to be completely redesigned as well.  For example think about the process you use to cook dinner in your kitchen as the software.  It works for 5 "users" (your family).  Now imagine you have to feed 5000 people.  You can upgrade your kitchen to a huge galley, but your cooking process better change as well, or else it'll never work.