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CFO & Strategy

Buy vs. Build: Your Billing Infrastructure Decision

Written by Harry Prabandham

Curated by Rubric Financial

Last updated

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Why This Is a Capital Decision

  • Billing sits on the revenue path, so the choice affects cash collection, revenue recognition, and the reliability of every board metric you report.
  • Building in-house consumes engineering capacity that could otherwise ship product, making this a question of where scarce developer time earns the highest return.
  • The true cost of building is not the first version but the years of maintenance as pricing, tax rules, and payment methods keep changing.
  • Frame it as the CFO and CTO would frame any allocation: expected total cost, opportunity cost, and risk over a three to five year horizon.

About the author

Harry Prabandham

Founder & CEO

Founder and CEO of StartupCFO. MBA from Wharton, MS in Computer Science, and decades of experience building and advising venture-backed startups.

More articles by Harry

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