The SaaS build vs buy worksheet is for moments when product choice and engineering choice collide. Many teams start a multi-tenant build, then discover tenant isolation, integrations, and exit/export exceed team capacity. Fill the worksheet before you ask for an estimate or sign a contract. There are no invented figures here — only questions that force an honest scope and a realistic timeline.
Buy a ready product vs build multi-tenant
In the buy column, list what a ready product covers today and what you will give up. In the build column, list what must be your IP versus what you can rent. The SaaS build vs buy worksheet fails if both columns stay vague. Dedicate a row to tenant isolation: shared database with logical separation, or stronger isolation — and who pays for that complexity.
Team capacity
How many full-time engineers are truly available for the next six months?
Timeline honesty
What is the soonest ship date for one sellable feature — not a wishlist?
Integrations and exit/export
List mandatory integrations: payments, e-invoicing, identity, notifications, and file storage. For each integration name an owner and an acceptance date. Then write the exit plan: how do you export tenants and data if the relationship ends? A SaaS build vs buy worksheet without an export row builds operational lock-in even when the price looks cheap.
Tenant isolation
Describe the isolation model and the tests that prove no cross-tenant data leaks.
Integration list
At least three integrations with an owner and acceptance date each.
Exit / export
Export format, backup cadence, and who holds encryption keys.
Next step with BarmajTek
If the worksheet favors buying a ready product, review the matching Tek products. If it favors building, explore SaaS development, then start a project with an honest scope. Download the printable copy and share it with leadership before any pricing meeting.
Run the SaaS build vs buy worksheet in one meeting under an hour if roles are set first: product fills the buy column, engineering fills the build column, and finance reviews time-cost — not sticker price alone. End with a provisional decision: buy now, build one limited feature, or delay with a discovery list. A provisional call beats an open debate that resets every week. If team capacity cannot cover tenant isolation within six months, favor buy or shrink the build to a single-tenant path first.
After the worksheet, do not jump straight into a long quote. If buy wins, pilot one ready product on a single operating scenario within a week. If build wins, turn red rows from the SaaS build vs buy worksheet into a custom software discovery brief before any estimate. That step keeps product choice separate from contract choice and protects leadership and engineering time.
Warning signs in a SaaS build vs buy decision
Stop if the timeline depends on “we will hire later” with no real candidates, if mandatory integrations have no owner, or if export is dismissed as a deferred legal detail. SaaS build vs buy is an operating decision before it is a brand decision. Document assumptions that would flip the call within a quarter, and revisit the worksheet at the first major hiring slip or e-invoicing requirement change.