Use a structured lens to weigh differentiation, time to value, and total cost of ownership when choosing build, buy, or partner. Make exit costs, compliance, and skills availability explicit before committing.
Which condition most strongly favors BUILD over BUY or PARTNER?
You must ship something within days regardless of long‑term fit
The capability is commoditized with little strategic value
Budget policy mandates opex only, no capex
The capability is a core differentiator and you have the skills to sustain it
Which metric best captures long‑run economics beyond license price?
Average Revenue per User (ARPU)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
A classic risk when you BUY SaaS and later want to switch is ______.
loss of copyright on your internal code
declining organic search traffic
higher on‑premises energy bills
vendor lock‑in due to data/contract switching costs
PARTNER is often strongest when you need ______.
absolute IP exclusivity on a core algorithm
a trivial feature with no market signal
ecosystem access and co‑selling speed without owning the full stack
to avoid any shared roadmap coordination
In 2025, AI coding tools changed the calculus by primarily ______.
banning third‑party software in regulated industries
making licenses free for all enterprise SaaS
eliminating security reviews for new apps
lowering build time and prototyping cost for internal tools
For regulated datasets, which concern often nudges teams toward BUILD or private deployment when deciding?
ad viewability thresholds
SEO snippet length limits
brand color compliance
data residency, privacy, and control requirements
When you BUY, which practice best reduces future switching costs?
Pick a niche proprietary format for performance
Prepay multi‑year to secure discounts only
Insist on open standards/APIs and negotiated data export rights
Disable SSO to simplify user management
A pragmatic BLENDED strategy does what regarding differentiation vs. commodity layers?
Buy the differentiator and build the commodity core
Buy everything to avoid engineering entirely
Build the differentiating layer and buy the commodity components
Build everything to avoid vendors entirely
A common go/no‑go test for BUILD is whether you can ______.
sustain maintenance and roadmap for a core capability
avoid writing any documentation
ship a one‑off prototype without owners
outsource all product decisions to vendors
Before BUY, which due‑diligence stream is essential to avoid hidden risk?
social media click‑through benchmarking
office seating layout planning
technical and cybersecurity due diligence
celebrity endorsements review
Starter
You’ve got the basics. Revisit TCO, exit costs, and capability fit before the next decision.
Solid
Good grasp. Refine your lens on vendor lock‑in, SLAs, and what to build as the differentiating layer.
Expert!
Excellent. You’re balancing time‑to‑value with strategic differentiation and risk like a pro.
