Build, Buy, or Automate?

1 Build The process this software would handle is our competitive advantage. Competitors who do it better win the deal. 2 Buy It is a support function. Accounting, HR, standard CRM. Every company in our space does this the same way. 3 Hybrid It is partly how we differentiate; there are unique elements, but the core workflow exists in the market.

1 Build We have evaluated three or more platforms. None covers more than 60% of what we need without significant customization. 2 Buy An existing solution covers 80% or more of our needs. We can adapt our process slightly to fit the tool. 3 Hybrid The core workflow fits a standard tool, but roughly 30 to 40% of our requirements would need custom work or workarounds.

1 Build It needs to integrate with five or more internal systems, including proprietary data pipelines, custom APIs, or legacy infrastructure that vendors do not support. 2 Buy Minimal integration needed. One or two standard connections, or the tool would largely stand alone. 3 Hybrid There are two to four integrations. Some are standard (Zapier or Make compatible), one or two are custom and would require development work regardless of which path we take.

1 Build Six months or beyond. This is a long-term infrastructure investment, and we have runway to do it properly. 2 Buy Within the next 30 to 90 days. A delayed launch has direct and measurable revenue or operational consequences. 3 Hybrid Three to six months. There is urgency, but we can run a phased build, starting with a core platform and expanding.

1 Build Sensitive data, financial records, PII, health information, proprietary customer data, or regulatory-controlled records. Data sovereignty is non-negotiable. 2 Buy Low sensitivity. Publicly available data or internal operational data with no regulatory implications. 3 Hybrid Moderately sensitive. Customer-facing data we would prefer to control, but a reputable SaaS vendor with a solid DPA is acceptable.

1 Build Strong engineering bench, or we are engaging an external engineering partner with full ownership handoff. 2 Buy No internal engineering team. Technology decisions are made by the business owner or a non-technical ops lead. 3 Hybrid Small technical team or a single developer. Enough to maintain and configure, not enough to build and own a production codebase from scratch.

1 Build Unacceptable. This system is too central to our operations to have its future determined by a vendor's pricing change, acquisition, or feature deprecation. 2 Buy Acceptable. Vendor maturity and ecosystem integrations outweigh the risk of dependency. 3 Hybrid Manageable if there are multiple vendor alternatives and our data is portable. Lock-in only becomes a problem if there is no exit path.

1 We have customized our current SaaS tool so heavily that we no longer receive vendor updates without breaking our configuration. 2 Our monthly spend across multiple SaaS subscriptions is approaching or exceeding what a custom platform would cost to maintain. 3 Our customer data lives inside a vendor's system and we have no way to export it in a usable format without losing key relationships. 4 A competitor launched a faster, cleaner, or more capable version of the same workflow using a purpose-built platform — and we noticed. 5 None of these apply

1 The workflow we need is genuinely standard — payroll, email, basic project management, or a CRM with no proprietary logic required. 2 We need to be operational within 60 to 90 days and the cost of delay is concrete and measurable. 3 The vendor we are evaluating has an active ecosystem with strong API access, data portability, and multiple competitors we could switch to if needed. 4 The compliance and security certifications required in our industry (SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, PCI-DSS) are already held by the vendor — and building would require us to obtain and maintain them ourselves. 5 None of these apply