For small startups is better just to utilize a managed solution like Pinecone or Qdrant and do not take about infra at all.
That said, it's up to the individual company to decide if the added cost is worth it. Just because the cost exists doesn't mean it isn't worth it.
If your guy couldn't get a single open source software straight, you had the wrong guy :(
I can only see managed service useful when I had 100X traffic and when strong SLA is required.