“Not Invented Here” (NIH) syndrome is that voice in your head that says, “we can build that ourselves,” every time someone suggests using an external solution. It's the organizational equivalent of refusing to ask for directions because you're pretty sure you can figure out the route—even though your phone has GPS and traffic data that would get you there faster.
AI coding assistants have fundamentally changed the build-vs-buy conversation. The barrier to entry for custom development has seemingly vanished. What once required deep domain knowledge now just needs a well-phrased prompt.
But here’s the reality check: AI only solves the easy part. Building a basic version is like assembling IKEA furniture—it looks good when you first put it together, but it starts wobbling after a couple of moves and doesn’t age well and hidden costs will get you every time:
Save custom dev work for your special sauce, not the table stakes.
Feature flagging is one of those tools that can be tempting to build in-house. It’s not that hard to make a simple system for remotely turning features on & off in your live product without releasing a new build. But that’s only the start of the requirements list. Soon you’ll realize that you want a simple interface so your Product Managers can make those decisions without bothering engineering, that it would be great if you could manage partial rollouts, run A/B experiments based on feature flags, and see various reports.
Enter GrowthBook. It rolls these features together into a cost-effective, cloud-based solution. While it’s easy to implement and use, it’s built on open source rails, which is nice for those who do want to look under the hood. One size doesn’t fit all, and for mature or enterprise grade companies that have proven their product, LaunchDarkly is a solid alternative.
Considering how you want to handle user authentication (third-party vs. rolling your own)? Auth0 should be in the mix for consideration – check out this brown bag with some basic background and pros and cons of Auth0 versus other options.
Are you considering implementing HubSpot and need implementation, optimization, and operational support? Orange Marketing specializes in helping SMB, SaaS and technology companies including VARs across all Hubs: Sales, Marketing, Service (Help Desk), and CMS (Website). In addition to being great people, they are a HubSpot Diamond Certified Partner Agency with a 5-star average rating. When you want HubSpot experts, they are the agency to call.
If you're grappling with what to build vs. buy and need help evaluating your options, let’s talk.
Thanks,
Claude Ciocan
Partner, Uptech Studio
www.uptechstudio.com
