AI-led growth · AI for business
AI for business: build, buy or wait
AI for business comes down to three choices. Buy a tool when the job is common. Build your own when the job is your edge, like a method your clients pay for. Wait when you can't name the job yet. This guide helps you pick, one job at a time.
Buy, build or wait: the short version
Buy
The job is the same in most businesses: notes, emails, bookkeeping, support replies. A tool already does it well. Use it.
Build
The job is how you win. Your method, your data, your way of doing it. No tool fits, and you don't want rivals to have the same one.
Wait
You can't say what job the AI would do or who would pay for it. Wait, and keep watching. Spending now would be a guess.
When to buy AI for your business
It's a common job
Thousands of businesses need the same thing, so someone has built it.
Good enough is fine
The result does not need to sound like you or follow your method.
You can leave
You can export your data and switch tools without a rebuild.
When to build your own
It's what you sell
The AI would do part of the work clients pay you for. That belongs in your own product.
Your method is the value
A general tool gives general answers. Yours should answer the way you would.
You want to own it
Your code, your data, your accounts. Nobody can raise the price on you or switch it off.
It can earn
You can charge for it. A tool you buy is a cost. A product you build can be income.
When to wait
No clear job
"We should do something with AI" is not a job. Wait until you can name one.
The method isn't proven
If it doesn't work by hand yet, software won't fix it. Prove it with real clients first.
Nobody has asked
If no client would pay for it or use it, hold off and keep listening.
AI for small business: where to start
Small teams should buy first. Use off-the-shelf tools for the common jobs and learn what AI is good at. Build only when you find a job that is truly yours. Our small-business post walks through the first steps.
Start with one job
Pick the task that eats the most hours each week. Try a tool on that one task.
Measure the hours
Track the time saved for a month. Keep what pays its way.
Spot your edge
Notice the job no tool gets right, because it needs your method. That's your build.
What Devwiz does, and what we don't
Devwiz builds software. If the answer for you is build, we plan it and build it. If you only want advice on where AI fits across your business, with no software build, a sister brand handles that. Ask us and we'll point you to them.
We plan the build
The Software Plan Workshop turns your idea or program into a written plan and a clickable prototype.
We build it
AI products, platforms and apps. 200+ apps shipped since 2015.
We tell you when not to
If buying a tool is the better call, we'll say so.
Your next step
The Software Plan Workshop
Leaning towards build? Find out what to build and what it will cost before you commit.
- A written software plan
- A clickable prototype you can show people
- The first-version scope, ready to quote
- The $5,000 comes off the price of a build
- Price
- $5,000
- If you build with us
- Credited to the build
Fixed price. If the plan says don't build, you've saved the cost of a wrong build.
★ Keep reading
More in the AI-led growth guides
AI-led growth
The main guide: growth that comes from AI built into your product.
Read more →AI-native companies
What AI native means and how to become one.
Read more →AI features that grow a product
The features that bring users in and keep them.
Read more →Build vs buy: AI features
A closer look at the build or buy call for one feature.
Read more →AI for small business: where to start
First steps for a small team.
Read more →AI software development
How we build AI products.
Read more →Questions, answered
How do I use AI for my business?
Start with one job, not a big plan. If it's a common job, buy a tool. If it's the work your clients pay you for, think about building your own. If you can't name the job, wait.
Should I build or buy AI for my business?
Buy when the job is the same everywhere and good enough is fine. Build when the job is your edge and you want to own it. Most businesses do both: they buy tools for admin and build the part that makes them different.
What is the best AI for a small business?
The best one is the tool that fixes your biggest time sink. Start with off-the-shelf tools for writing, notes and support. Don't build anything until you find a job that no tool gets right.
Is it too early to invest in AI?
It's too early if you can't name the job or the method isn't proven. It's not too early if clients already pay for a method that works and you are the limit on how many you can serve.
How much does it cost to build AI for a business?
It depends on the scope. The Software Plan Workshop is $5,000 and comes off the price of a build. It gives you a first-version scope that is ready to quote. A 30-Day Prototype Launch is $18,400. Bigger custom builds are quoted.
Does Devwiz do general AI consulting?
No. Devwiz builds software and plans software builds. Advice-only work, like where AI fits across your whole business, is handled by a sister brand. Ask us and we'll point you to the right people.