A tactical framework for both B2B founders and software buyers on when to build vs. buy in the age of AI-powered development
Vibe coding promises you can ‘roll your own’ Salesforce, HubSpot, whatever. Forget about if you really can. If you can — should you?
Now that we’ve pushed 6+ vide coded apps to production, including the new SaaStr.ai site, let me simplify all the learnings. Because a lot of folks are selling snake oil here.
Rule #1: If You Can Buy It, Buy It (Period)
This isn’t just advice—it’s a fundamental law of B2B software economics.
The brutal truth: You cannot, and will not, build something better than what 10,000+ customers are already paying for. Even if it seems like “just a trivial sum.”
Think about it. Notion has hundreds of engineers, millions in R&D, and user feedback from millions of customers. HubSpot has entire teams dedicated to edge cases you haven’t even considered. Stripe has spent billions on payment infrastructure that “just works.”
Your vibe-coded alternative? It’ll work for the happy path. Maybe. But what happens when you need:
- Enterprise security compliance
- Advanced integrations
- 24/7 uptime guarantees
- Complex workflow automations
- Multi-tenant architecture
- Proper data backup and recovery
The maintenance trap is real. That “quick weekend build” becomes a part-time job. Then a full-time distraction. Then a technical debt nightmare that prevents you from focusing on your core product.
I’ve seen too many promising SaaS companies die because the founder spent 40% of their time maintaining internal tools instead of talking to customers.
Rule #2: If You Don’t Really Need It, Don’t Build It
This one hits different because it challenges our builder ego.
That cool dashboard idea? That innovative workflow tool? That “quick automation”? If it’s not directly solving a hair-on-fire problem for you or your customers, resist the urge.
The “cool factor” is a trap. You’ll build it in a burst of excitement, use it for two weeks, then let it rot in your GitHub while you move on to actually important work.
Here’s my test: If you wouldn’t pay $50-100/month for this solution, don’t spend 20+ hours building it. Your time has an opportunity cost, and it’s probably higher than you think.
Rule #3: If It Doesn’t Exist and You Need It, Go Vibe It
Now we’re talking. This is where the magic happens.
The sweet spot for vibe coding: Apps no one has built. Solutions for niches so specific that even a market of n=1 (you) makes it worthwhile.
These are the builds that make sense:
- Industry-specific workflows that don’t exist anywhere
- Highly customized internal tools for your unique process
- Proof-of-concept apps to validate new product ideas
- Integrations between tools that don’t talk to each other
- Niche automations for your specific customer base
Real Examples from the Trenches
What we’ve done and seen:
- At SaaStr, we built our own VC pitch deck analyzer because no existing tool understood the specific nuances of SaaS pitch decks the way we needed. Over 700 founders have used it in less than 2 weeks.
- We also created our startup valuation tool (now used 275,000+ times) because existing valuation calculators were either too generic or enterprise-focused, missing the sweet spot for B2B+AI
- A vertical SaaS founder built a custom compliance tracking tool for their specific industry niche (couldn’t buy it anywhere)
- A founder created a unique customer onboarding automation that integrated 5 different tools in their specific workflow
Expensive vibe coding mistakes:
- Our first vibe coding project to match SaaStr founders and execs was way, way too complicated and I lost a month
- Founder spent 3 months building a “better Slack” for their team of 8
- CEO created a custom CRM instead of just configuring HubSpot properly
- Multiple founders building their own analytics dashboards instead of using Mixpanel or similar + custom views
The New Economics of AI-Powered Development
Here’s what’s changed: The cost of building has dropped dramatically, especially prototypes, but the cost of maintaining hasn’t.
AI tools like Claude and Cursor make the initial build faster and cheaper. But they don’t solve ongoing maintenance, scaling, security updates, or feature requests from your team.
The hidden costs remain:
- Debugging production issues at 2 AM
- Adding “just one more feature” every month
- Keeping up with API changes from integrated services
- Scaling infrastructure as usage grows
- Security patches and compliance updates
The Bottom Line
Before you fire up Replit, Lovable, Cursor et al and start vibe coding your next internal tool, ask yourself:
- Can I buy this for <$200/month? → Buy it
- Do I actually need this or just think it’s cool? → If just cool, skip it
- Does this solve a unique problem no one else has solved? → Build it
The goal isn’t to never build. It’s to build only what matters. Focus your limited founder energy on the builds that move the needle: your core product, unique customer solutions, and genuine white space opportunities.
Everything else? There’s probably an app for that. And it’s probably better than what you’d build in your spare time.
