High availability ensures that the application can handle increased loads and maintain operational performance without service interruptions, regardless of traffic spikes. Elasticity allows the system to automatically scale resources up or down based on demand, ensuring that the startup pays only for the resources they use. Agility in the cloud lets the team quickly adapt to changing requirements or user demands without being constrained by physical hardware limits. While durability is a cloud characteristic related to data protection and storage, it does not specifically address the variable traffic concerns. Global reach is about serving content closer to the end-users but does not inherently solve for scaling challenges.