Black Box App Development – Should You Do It?

Controversial opinion: there’s a time and a place for using black box app development, but building a “serious” product isn’t it ◼️ For any non-technical founders considering building your tech product with a black box, read the below first!

What is a black box?

What’s a black box? In the context of software development, it’s a tech system that you can’t see the internal code structure for.

When is a black box suitable?

Every business (including mine) uses black boxes for certain parts of their operations. For example your accounting system or project management tool – you add your data to this and use it, but you can’t re-code a feature to suit your requirements. You may find that some elements of your tech stack ARE black boxes (which is fine, and normal).

Should I use a black box to build my prototype/MVP?

You can, but be aware you will likely have to rebuild it when you’re getting ready to scale. If you really quickly want to tick a box to showcase your product, a black box can help you do this at low cost. However if you plan to rapidly iterate and scale your product, it might not be the right idea.

Why should I pick a custom built product vs. Black Box app development?

A few reasons to consider:

1. Intellectual Property (IP): when you’re building a product, this is the core IP of your business. If you use a black box, you effectively own the data on top of a product owned by someone else (you might not even own the data). When custom building (you can use a tech framework like Baseline to get you started), you own all your code.
2. Valuation: if you own 100% of your own code, then you own your product, which can be used for valuation purposes when seeking investment.
3. Control: when using a black box, you are limited by what features you can add or what you can modify. When custom building, you can do anything you want.

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