How to Choose a Tech Stack You Won't Regret
Build vs buy, SaaS tools, and the hidden cost of switching later.
“The tech stack you pick in month 3 will be the one you're still cursing in year 3. Choose boringly, choose defensibly, and choose reversibly.”
The Insight
Founders obsess over the wrong half of the build-vs-buy decision. The right question is not 'is this cheaper to build?' — it's 'is this a source of competitive advantage, or a cost of doing business?' Build the first; buy the second; and if you're not sure, buy it.
01
Build Only What Defines You
Build your core product — the thing customers pay for. Build the one or two integrations that make your product 10x better. Build your proprietary data pipelines if data is your moat. That's it. Everything else — auth, billing, email, analytics, CRM, support — was solved by someone else, for less than one engineering hour a month. Using a great SaaS is not a lack of ambition. It's a statement of focus.
02
The Boring Stack Wins
Pick technologies your next five hires will already know: Next.js or vanilla React, PostgreSQL, a major cloud, a mainstream language. Shiny new stacks feel clever until the lead engineer leaves and no one else on the planet understands the codebase. Boring compounds. Boring is hireable. Boring ships. If you must be exotic, be exotic in your domain — not in your database.
03
Switching Cost Is the Hidden Killer
Every tool you adopt becomes harder to leave with every month that passes. Before you sign, answer three questions: can I export my data, in standard formats, without a lawyer? Can I replace this tool in 30 days if it triples its price? Is my team learning this tool's specific paradigm, or general principles? If the answer to any of these is 'no', you aren't buying a tool — you're inheriting a future migration project.
The Takeaway
Pick the stack that a sensible senior engineer in five years will look at and nod. That's the stack that lets you ship fast now and sleep at night later.
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