When to Buy vs. When to Build

I’ve seen both sides go sideways:

• Teams sink 18 months into building “table stakes” tools

• SaaS solutions that looked fast… until customization costs spiraled

• Internal builds that became legacy before they even launched

Here’s the framework I share:

Buy when:

• The problem is well understood and commoditized

• Speed to market is the priority

• You lack internal expertise, or it’s not your core business

• The cost of wrong assumptions is low

• 
  

Buying gives you leverage.But if you over-customize, you’re not buying—you’re outsourcing risk.

Build when:

• The solution is central to your differentiation

• You need full control over UX, logic, or data flows

• Integration cost > build cost

• Vendor lock-in would limit future bets

Building gives you control.But if you're rebuilding what's already mature… you're burning cycles, not creating value.

The worst option?Buying it - and then rebuilding it in parallel.That’s how you get bloated ops, abandoned tools, and shadow systems that nobody trusts.

When companies ask for advice, I start with two questions:

1. Is this a strategic capability or just a need?

2. Will building it give you edge or just more tech debt?

   
   

You don’t build because it’s fun.

You build because it’s how you win.

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