Accumulated experience or lessons from mistakes: Buy or build social features for your platform?

Many companies face a critical dilemma when implementing new functionalities, such as chats, copy-betting, and in-app live streaming, alongside their core product. Should they build the solution in-house with their own team or leverage a specialized B2B SaaS platform?

There can be many potential advantages and disadvantages for both answers, and we discuss these two variants with many potential clients, so we decided to talk about this in more detail and offer guidance on making the right choice.

Building a feature in-house

Companies that lean towards building in-house see the following reasons.

• Resource optimisation

Companies may believe they can distribute costs across existing team members without significantly increasing overhead.

• Strategic alignment

Building in-house ensures the solution aligns closely with the company’s vision and strategy, avoiding “not quite right” products from the market. People who build in-house perfectly know and understand the needs and peculiarities of the company and can build something unique and fit for their specific product.

• Developing internal expertise

Creating the product internally can gradually build valuable expertise within the team, so its members can support and maintain this service, not only building it but keeping it in its initial state.

• Control

Relying on in-house resources eliminates external risks like vendor market exit, ownership changes, or pricing shifts. Also, they know everything happening with the feature perfectly: all crushes and all good feedback. Complete control is usually the main reason (perhaps after finances) for building the solution in-house.

Reality check✅

While the idea of the building seems appealing for control and alignment, the reality often unveils hidden challenges.

Despite these arguments, building in-house comes with significant challenges.

Specific expertise cannot be replaced

Without a dedicated team, the product often remains at the MVP stage and fails to deliver meaningful results.

Risk of dilution

Focusing on secondary products can detract from the core offering, stretching resources thin or the opposite—your team always have more prior tasks, and the feature will be underdeveloped.

Unpredictable outcomes

Experimenting with new features involves a lengthy trial-and-error process, which consumes time and budget without guaranteeing success. Because this feature is new to you, you will face many unexpected problems.

Escalating costs

Initial development costs can balloon as the product requires continuous improvements to stay relevant.

Delayed ROI

Even in an optimistic scenario, a functional MVP takes more than half a year to complete, and tangible results may only appear after extensive testing and iteration, which often lasts well over a year.

Buying SaaS

Using a specialized B2B SaaS platform offers a range of benefits.

Access to the most relevant team

SaaS solutions are built and maintained by dedicated teams with deep expertise, often at a cost lower than assembling an in-house team.

Leveraging сollective wisdom

SaaS platforms incorporate feedback and best practices from numerous clients, ensuring a more refined and effective product from the start. So, you don’t need to learn from your mistakes: use accumulated experience.

Cost Predictability

SaaS comes with clear, manageable pricing structures, reducing financial uncertainty.

Faster Results

With no lengthy development phase, SaaS users can implement a new feature in days and see measurable outcomes within weeks, not months or years.

Flexibility to transition

It’s possible to start with SaaS to test the waters and later switch to building in-house if the solution makes sense for your business.

Reality check✅

Different SaaS companies offer various business models and communication schemes. Thus, disadvantages can vary, from implementation difficulties to a lack of flexibility: not all details and wishes can be released, and not all improvements appear as soon as desired.

As a result

The choice between building in-house or buying a SaaS solution depends on your company’s priorities, resources, and timeline. Building offers control and alignment but often at the cost of time, focus, and escalating expenses. SaaS, on the other hand, provides a faster, more efficient path to results with access to expert insights and proven solutions.

For most companies, starting with SaaS is a pragmatic approach, enabling rapid implementation and cost-effective scaling while leaving the door open for future in-house development if needed. However, you need to have a checklist with questions and choose a SaaS company that perfectly meets your needs and offers you the solution and features you and your end-users will be happy to try.