Build or Buy

Decisions for an Accelerating AI Landscape

The five reasons organizations have always bought software — skill, cost, speed, maintenance, expertise — are dissolving. AI didn't just add a new option. It rewrote the math.

This book gives you a decision framework. Not "build vs. buy" as a coin flip. Four clear quadrants — Build, Buy, Bridge, or Beware — with a scoring methodology you can apply to any tool in your stack, this quarter and next.

If you're a mid-market leader managing a bloated software stack and wondering what AI actually changes for your business... this is the book.

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What's Inside

Part I: The Software Trap

How we ended up with 305 apps, why SaaS won, and the five reasons we've always bought software.

Part II: The Shift

What changed: the capability curve, the era of personal software, and the democratization of building.

Part III: Building in the Real World

Infrastructure decisions, agentic engineering, and the builder's playbook for operators.

Part IV: The Framework

The B4 Decision Matrix, the Beware quadrant, and how to run a quarterly stack audit.

The B4 Framework™

The decision engine at the heart of the book.

⚠

Beware

Stop Overpaying

You're paying premium prices for capabilities AI already commoditized.

⚙

Build

Own It, Iterate Fast

Your competitive advantage lives here. AI can build it. Your processes become your software.

☑

Buy

Commodity, Buy Cheapest

Vendor scale is justified. Infrastructure and network effects make building impractical.

◷

Bridge

Buy Now, Build Plan

Strategic value is high but AI can't build it yet. Buy the platform today, build over time.

Y-axis: AI Feasibility (Low → High) · X-axis: Strategic Differentiation (Low → High)

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