Build vs. Buy.
Software is dying. The institutions that build in-house will own their future.
Strategic advisory for medical schools, K-12 public school districts, and accredited educational organizations across the United States.
The problem
You keep paying. You never own it.
Educational organizations spend years qualifying vendors, only to end up locked into contracts that drain budgets and deliver solutions that don't fit. Meanwhile, your IT department, researchers, and policy makers have the domain expertise to build something better.
Vendor lock-in
Tens or hundreds of thousands per year for tools you never fully own.
Endless evaluations
Months lost comparing vendors while your team waits for a decision.
No institutional knowledge
When the vendor leaves, the expertise leaves with them.
Misaligned solutions
Off-the-shelf products that never quite fit your workflows.
The research agrees
"Maintaining custom software consumes 60-80% of IT budgets, with the remainder available for new initiatives."
Walnut, Build vs. Buy in the Age of AI
"Every build versus buy decision is a mirror of your product goals. Teams treat it like a cost question, not a strategy question."
Product School, Smarter Software Decisions in 2026
"The right buy decision can reduce time-to-market by 70% or more, but what you gain in speed, you might lose in alignment."
Appinventiv, Build vs Buy Software: Cost, ROI and Decision Guide
Who this is for
Built for educational leadership teams.
Medical Schools
MD & DO ProgramsAccredited medical education institutions in the United States looking to modernize curriculum delivery, assessment platforms, and student management systems.
K-12 Public School Districts
District-Wide SystemsPublic school districts seeking to consolidate vendor sprawl, build unified platforms for teachers and administrators, and own their data infrastructure.
Educational Organizations
Universities & InstitutionsAccredited educational institutions challenged by the build-vs-buy decision for student-facing tools, faculty workflows, and administrative operations.
The process
From vendor chaos to deployed solution in 90 days.
I embed with your team, review your vendor landscape, and help you build what you actually need, for a fraction of what you have been paying.
What you walk away with
You save money. You own the system. You are set up for success.
- A deployed solution your team built and fully owns
- Institutional knowledge that stays when I leave
- A fraction of the cost of annual vendor licensing
- Clear documentation and architecture for future growth
- A team equipped to maintain, iterate, and scale
- Freedom from vendor lock-in and contract cycles
Ready to stop renting and start building?
Schedule an advisory callLet's talk