Build vs Buy Is the Wrong Question

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 08:00:00 +0000

TL;DR - “Should we build our own platform or buy one?” is the wrong question, and the spreadsheet that answers it is lying to you. It lies by comparing the annual license of the thing you’d buy against a one-time construction estimate for the thing you’d build - as if software you build is a purchase rather than a perpetual staffing commitment. Every platform is already part-built and part-bought; the only decision that matters is where you draw the line. Draw it in one place: buy the undifferentiated substrate, because it is a commodity someone else operates better than you, and build only the thin layer of opinion that is actually yours - the paved roads, the defaults, the glue that encodes how your teams ship. Then fund the built part like a product, forever, not like a project you finish. The teams that get this wrong build the commodity and buy the differentiation, which is exactly backwards.

Engineering-Leadership on F. Latini - IT Engineer

Build vs Buy Is the Wrong Question