> when there's a bottom line to answer to

Having VC money doesn't mean that you can ignore finances. We are in a relatively capital-intensive business compared to a lot of the startups on HN.

> Support is typically low paid because it's a lot of effort for little reward,

Respectfully, I think this attitude is flat-out wrong. Because of this:

> there's only so much impact they can have on the bottom line.

Directly, sure. But that's the fundamental error. Good support is absolutely worth it, and do bring in value, only indirectly. That customer you kept because when they had an issue, it was resolved quickly and professionally? That's money, even if it's more difficult to quantify than sales. And it's not like support engineers aren't doing engineering as well.