Build, Buy, or Partner Decision Matrix
Decide how to deliver a capability: build it, buy it or partner for it. Score the three options against ten criteria, compare the real three-year cost, and record a decision your team can stand behind. About 30 minutes, no sign-up, and nothing leaves your browser.
Frame it
Be specific about the capability and your must-haves. A starting hypothesis, not an answer: the scoring tests it.
Your team designs, develops and owns it.
Leans Build: capabilities that set you apart.License or subscribe to a finished product, then configure it.
Leans Buy: commodity capabilities.Deliver it with an outside party: co-development, white label, resale, an alliance or a managed service.
Leans Partner: specialized or time-critical, with a strong outside expert.Score the options
Score each option from 1 to 5, where 5 is best for your business. For cost, risk and effort, 5 means the lowest. Weights must total 100: change them to match your priorities.
Compare the three-year cost
Your best estimate in dollars. Years two and three often decide the outcome.
The result
Weighted score out of 5.00. Scores within 0.25 points are a tie.
Check these before you commit
Worked out from your scores and weights.
Decide and record it
Write down what you chose and why, and what would make you reopen it. It's saved with the matrix, in the CSV and the share link.
Prefer a file?
The same matrix as a fillable PDF or a spreadsheet, with the same math.
Four mistakes to avoid
- Scoring toward the answer you already want. Have two people score on their own, then compare. The gaps show where the real debate is.
- Ignoring run costs. Upfront price gets the attention, but years two and three usually decide it. Include staffing, price increases and usage growth.
- Treating Partner as Buy with a different name. A real partnership needs shared goals, clear ownership of customers and data, and an agreed way out.
- Skipping the tripwires. Decisions age. Write down what would make you reopen it, and put a review date on the calendar.
We help product teams make build, buy and partner decisions as part of Fractional CPO+ and Product Strategy engagements, from framing the question to negotiating the outcome.