Rent, Buy or Build? A Housing Lesson in Corporate Strategy
- Sahil Harwani
- October 2, 2026
- Blog
- 0 Comments
Rent, Buy or Build? A Housing Lesson in Corporate Strategy
When I moved back to India after 18 years in the US, I made three very different housing decisions over time.
(2 are done and one is a dream)
First, we rented. I needed speed and flexibility, and I didn’t want to lock up heavy capital before knowing where I wanted to settle.
Later, we bought a house. By then, I had clarity. The heavy lifting was done, and we could design, decorate and make it our own.
Eventually, I want to build a beach house from scratch.
It will take longer and bring more headaches, but I’ll get it done the way I like it, rather than adapting to what already exists.
Corporate capabilities often work in the same way:
- Partner (Rent): When speed-to-market is everything and you can’t afford an 18-month build cycle.
- Acquire (Buy): When a mature solution already exists and buying scale saves years of execution risk.
- Build: When the capability is your core IP, something so strategically vital and unique that you must own it outright.
Problems surface when one of these options is treated as an unshakeable philosophy.
“We build everything in-house.”
“We outsource everything.”
“We buy our way into growth.”
None of those is a forever strategy.
The real question is: What does this specific moment actually call for?
After a decade of advising companies on growth and strategy, I’ve found that asking that single question matters far more than having a favorite strategy.
When was the last time your team defaulted to “building” when you really should have rented or bought?
Where do you see this mistake most often?
