While preventing a single multi-million dollar mistake is a product's biggest value, it's easier to sell based on quantifiable time savings. The justification "this costs one-fourth of a new hire" is a straightforward business case for a budget holder, making the sale simpler.

When deciding to build or buy, the key factor is strategic importance. Never cede control of technology that is core to your unique value proposition to a vendor. Reserve outsourcing for necessary but commoditized functions that don't differentiate you in the market.

In a corporate setting, a PM might build a feature because an executive wants it. As a solopreneur, you personally absorb all financial and time costs. This forces a raw, unfiltered evaluation of business viability and opportunity cost for every decision, a muscle often atrophied in large organizations.

To properly evaluate the cost of advanced AI tools, shift your mental framework. Don't compare a $200/month plan to a $20/month entertainment subscription. Compare it to the cost of a human employee, which could be thousands per month. The AI is a productive asset, making its price a high-leverage investment.

The opportunity cost of building custom internal AI can be massive. By the time a multi-million dollar project is complete, off-the-shelf tools like ChatGPT are often far more capable, dynamic, and cost-effective, rendering the custom solution outdated on arrival.

The high price point for professional AI tools is justified by their ability to tackle complex, high-value business tasks, not just minor productivity gains. The return on investment comes from replacing expensive and time-consuming work, like developing a data-driven growth strategy, in minutes.

Not all business problems are created equal. Time savings often translate to five-figure cost savings, which may not be compelling. The most powerful executive problems are "six-figure problems"—major risk mitigation (avoiding lawsuits), significant revenue generation, or replacing other large costs.

When you sell a solution based on replacing human hours, your price becomes capped by the cost of that human. If a person costs $100k, you can't realistically charge more than a fraction of that for the software, creating a natural ceiling on your average sales price.

Building proprietary internal tools is a 'dumb thing to do when you're small, but it's the smartest thing to do as you scale.' Deel's CEO advises waiting until the company is on a clear path with strong, profitable growth. At that point, investing in custom infrastructure like a proprietary ticketing system becomes a strategic advantage that unlocks significant long-term efficiency.