Choose the Route
Build, buy or partner?
Question 05 of 08. Choose: where does the next growth come from? 3 to 5 years.
Given the capability gap, the speed required, the capital available, the control you need and the integration risk you can absorb: which way in?
The comparison rarely made properly: building costs three years of investment and management attention; buying costs a multiple today. Compared honestly on capital deployed, time to return and risk-adjusted return, the intuitive answer is often wrong in both directions.
Same question, two businesses
Funded scale-up
Series A or B, equity, a clock
Speed usually wins
Speed usually wins, and should. But acquisitions made to accelerate a metric before a raise have a poor record, and boards spot it faster than founders expect.
Promoter-led business
Debt, retained earnings and cash flow
Control usually wins
Control usually wins, and sometimes should not. A partnership reaching a market in eighteen months can beat a wholly-owned build taking four years, even at lower margin.
Facing this question now?
Most companies need two or three of the eight, in the right order. Tell us where you are and we will tell you which ones bind.