"We're Thinking of Bringing This In-House"
Marketing director just hired two senior ICs. The math is starting to look attractive to them.
Based on real client experiences, but anonymized and dramatized to protect identities and confidential relationships.
The VP Marketing on your largest account says: "We just hired a senior content lead and an SEO manager. Honestly, the team is asking why we're still paying for your platform when we have the talent internally now. Help me think through whether this still makes sense."
- 01Two internal hires cover ~60% of what your platform does — data infrastructure, methodology, and ongoing benchmarking gaps remain
- 02In-house team is 90 days in, hasn't shipped a flagship project yet
- 03Your platform drove 3 of their top 5 organic insights last year
3 minutes to honestly assess the in-house build vs. tool model. Don't fight the new hires — position your platform as what makes them effective faster.
The temptation is to defend your scope. The winning move is to redesign it. Position the platform as multiplier for the new hires, not as replacement.