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Doing Everything In-House
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Build what's core. Buy the rest. Owning everything isn't a virtue.
The Idea
There's a temptation to build your own auth, analytics, queue, editor, payment system. Each feels small. Together they consume your roadmap. Core means things customers pay you for — everything else is a distraction from that.
Why It Matters
- Engineering time is your scarcest resource. Spend it on the 10% that differentiates.
- Buying tooling is cheaper than the ongoing maintenance cost of building.
- Vendors specialise; you don't.
How to Apply
- Define "core" narrowly. If a feature could be someone else's product, buy it.
- Revisit build-vs-buy annually — the right answer drifts over time.
- When you buy, pick vendors you can replace. Avoid lock-in on non-core.
When to Build
- It's truly differentiating.
- No vendor exists or the market is immature.
- Your scale makes vendor pricing uneconomic.
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