Reuse vs Rebuild: The Custody Rule for Solo Builders
The build-vs-buy debate is the oldest argument in software, and for years it was boring math: build if the license would cost more than the engineering. AI broke that math. When a solo builder can scaffold in a weekend what used to take a quarter, the cost case for reusing something — a library, a SaaS tool, an open-source project — quietly stopped being the deciding factor. What replaced it is a quieter question: who owns this thing when it matters? That’s not a cost question. It’s a custody question — and it’s the one that actually decides, in practice, whether your one-person company survives its third year. ...