The Hidden Cost of Building: Lessons from Aquant

What this post added

This post discusses the trade-offs of building vs. buying a vector database, using Aquant's experience as a case study. It highlights the hidden costs of self-building, including infrastructure management, search optimization, reliability engineering, and talent acquisition. The post argues that for foundational AI infrastructure, purchasing a managed solution like Pinecone can be more cost-effective and allow engineering teams to focus on core product innovation rather than reinventing infrastructure. It frames the decision as a strategic one about where engineering effort creates the most business value.