Cheap AI makes "build" tempting. Ask who patches it in year three.
Cheap AI tooling flips the build-vs-buy math, but Goldsmith warns the real cost was never the build. His startup's hand-rolled auth worked until the maintenance hit: constant security patches, enterprise features the vendor would ship free, and hours in customer security reviews. Cheap to build, expensive to own forever. The question isn't what it costs to make, but who patches it in year three.