It seems like many business never actually decide which business they’re in. They drift into one.

You start selling IT products or services, you pick up some customers, and one day you look up and realize your pricing, your team, and your cost structure have quietly committed you to a model you never consciously chose. So let’s choose on purpose.

Every IT offering sits somewhere on two axes. The first is who operates it: you, or the customer? The second is how custom is it: a fixed product, or built from scratch? Put those together and you get four quadrants. I think of this in terms of houses.

SaaS. This is “The Condominium”. Standardized, and you run it. Everyone lives in the same building, and the association handles the roof, the plumbing, the grounds. Residents control very little, and they pay every month for the privilege. This is managed software that looks the same to everyone.

Self-Hosted COTS Product. This is “The Mobile Home on Your Lot”. Standardized, but the customer runs it. A known, finished, certified unit dropped onto your land. You can inspect it and control it, but now you own the plot it sits on. You’re not just buying the structure. You’re also buying the assurance that the wiring is already up to code.

Consultingware. This is the “Custom Home Builder”. Custom, and the customer runs it. They build it to your needs, and you live in it and maintain it afterward. This one has a range. The production builder hands you a floor plan and a menu of tile and countertops, while the architect starts from a blank sheet of paper. Same quadrant, but wildly different effort (and pricing and revenue).

The Systems Integrator and Maintainer, aka the Badged Contractor. This is “The Build-to-Suit Lease”. Custom, and you run it. A developer puts up a one-of-a-kind building to your spec, then owns and maintains it for you. In IT, that’s a bespoke solution you also host and operate. This is the most tailored and the most hands-off for the buyer. The premium corner.

Here’s why this matters for you as the seller, not the buyer.

The standardized column scales. Since you can deliver the same thing, your marginal costs are low and your cost-of-delivery plummets. But, it can be expensive to build, brutally competitive in a crowded space where more and more products appear every day, and you own uptime forever. The custom column makes your customer sticky. Every deal is bigger, switching costs are higher, differentiation is easier. But you’re labor-bound, revenue is bumpy, and you can grow only by hiring more people.

So which do you want to sell? There’s no universal right answer, only the one that fits your appetite for scale versus margin, and for carrying operations versus walking away clean.

But there is a universal wrong answer, and that is operating in one quadrant while pricing like another. Charging SaaS prices for what is really bespoke consulting. Trying to scale a blank-paper architect shop by hiring forever. Selling condos but staffed like a custom homebuilder.

So figure out which quadrant you’re standing in. Then make sure your pricing, your team, and your costs are built for that one.

Then decide if it’s where you actually want to live.