Build, Buy, or Ignore

The most expensive decision a growing company makes is not "which tool" — it's "should we touch this at all."

The three columns

For every recurring problem, we put it in one of three columns:

• Build: it is core to your moat, no off-the-shelf option fits, and you have the team to maintain it.
• Buy: it is solved well elsewhere and your time is better spent on customer-facing work.
• Ignore: the problem is real but the fix costs more than the pain. Revisit in six months.

The trap

Most teams default to Build because it feels like progress, then end up maintaining three half-finished internal tools. The compounding cost shows up 18 months later when nobody remembers how the cron job works.

How we decide

We ask three questions:

1. Will this still matter in 12 months?
2. Is there a vendor whose entire company exists to solve this?
3. What breaks if we do nothing for 90 days?

If the answers are no, yes, nothing — ignore it.

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