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“Before Gatekeeper, our contracts were everywhere and nowhere.”

Anastasiia Sergeeva, Legal Operations Manager, BlaBlaCar

“Gatekeeper is that friendly tap on the shoulder, to remind me what needs our attention.”

Donna Roccoforte, Paralegal, Hakkasan Group

“Great System. Vetted over 25 other systems and Gatekeeper rose to the top.”

Randall S. Wood, Associate Corporate Counsel, Cricut

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October 13, 2026

Build Versus Buy Guide: Why Don't We Just Build It Ourselves?

This guide explores the debate over whether companies should build or buy vendor and contract lifecycle management software from a CEO and Founder's perspective.
Lauren Irwin
Lauren Irwin
<span id="hs_cos_wrapper_name" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_text" style="" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="text" >Build Versus Buy Guide: Why Don't We Just Build It Ourselves?</span>

For the first time in enterprise software history, a normal company can genuinely build its own systems, but the question is, should you?

Our guide covers:

  •  The reality of building and the costs you can't see

  • Using your AI model and an MCP connector instead

  • 14 important questions to answer before you build


Read the guide in full →

 

Every CFO is under the same pressure from someone asking where the AI savings are.

That pressure has to go somewhere, and it's flowing into one idea:  stop buying software and start building it. 

  • Boardroom pressure: An enterprise AI licence is being paid for, and nobody can point to a return.

  • Vendor-scale hype:  To justify the valuations, the addressable market has to be all software, all work, everything.

  • SaaS fatigue: A decade of software that disappointed, on contracts you can’t cancel that afternoon.

The build versus buy argument is here, and the logic is irresistible. 

Your organisation has bought an enterprise licence for a frontier AI model. The spend is significant, the token bills keep arriving, and nobody can point to a return. So the people managing the purse strings do what they have always done.

They look for costs to cut and value to claim. SaaS subscriptions are the obvious target, and building AI replacements is the obvious justification, but is it the reality of building your own software as simple and straightforward as the theory?

Should you still buy enterprise software when you can build it yourself?

Inside the guide, you'll find a founder's perspective and an honest answer from Gatekeeper's CEO, Patrick O'Connor, on whether building or buying your vendor and contract lifecycle management software is going to save you time, money, and value in the long run. 

  • Foreword: Why this question deserves a straight answer.

  • The pressure to build: Boardroom pressure, vendor-scale hype and SaaS fatigue.

  • The reality of building: The code, the lifecycle, and the five per cent you cannot see.

  • The middle ground: Build what makes you different, buy what makes you run. 

  • 14 questions before you build: Score each honestly before committing engineering effort.

  • One unified solution: Vendor onboarding and contracting in one workflow, on one unified record. 

Explore the build versus buy guide

Every software CEO is starting to get asked a question they’d rather avoid during the sign-off process: why don’t we just build it ourselves?

Read the guide in full →

 

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