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// Comparison

MARAPONE
vs BUILDING IT IN-HOUSE.

If your team has senior engineers, you can absolutely build this yourself. The honest question is whether the calendar, the cost, and the maintenance burden land where you want them. Here's the comparison the way an engineering manager would frame it.

// TL;DR

THREE BULLETS

When in-house is best

You have ML and platform engineers with bandwidth, the workflows are deeply unique to your business, and you treat AI as core IP.

When Marapone is best

You want the same end result on a 14-day calendar, you don't want to staff up an AI team, but you still want to own the source code.

The honest middle

Marapone hands over the source. Many clients build with us, then take ownership of further iteration in-house. You get the head start without losing the IP.

// Side by side

FEATURE MATRIX

MaraponeIn-house build
Calendar to v1~14 days3-9 months realistically
Up-front cost$9,500 one-time$80-300k loaded engineering
Source code ownership✓ You get it✓ You wrote it
ML expertise required× We bring it✓ You hire it
Logistics-domain expertise✓ Built into the build° You translate it
Maintenance burdenSelf-serve runbooks; optional retainer100% on your team
Risk of stalled project✓ Fixed scope× Common
Open-source stack✓ Llama / ChromaDB / FastAPI✓ Your choice
Continued ownership of IP✓✓
Vendor lock-in✓ None✓ None

When in-house is the better fit

Build it yourself if…

  • • You already have a strong ML/platform team with bandwidth.
  • • The workflows are highly unique and you'd rebuild a vendor product anyway.
  • • You consider the AI itself part of your competitive moat (rare in mid-market logistics).
  • • The 6-month calendar is acceptable.

When Marapone is the better fit

Pick Marapone if…

  • • You want a working v1 in two weeks rather than two quarters.
  • • You don't want to staff up an internal AI team for one project.
  • • You still want the source code so your team can extend later.
  • • You'd rather your engineers focus on the proprietary parts of your platform.

// 1-year cost example

TCO COMPARISON

In-house numbers assume two senior engineers (1 ML, 1 platform) at fully-loaded $180k for 4 months — a conservative band for getting to a real v1.

MARAPONE

$9,500 one-time

Build fee for the three-module bundle.

+ $0/mo recurring.

Year 1: $9,500

IN-HOUSE BUILD

~$120k loaded

2 engineers × 4 months × $15k/month fully loaded.

+ ongoing maintenance overhead.

Year 1: ~$120,000 + opportunity cost

* Illustrative. Your engineers may be cheaper or more expensive; the structural gap stays.

// Want a head start your team can extend?

SHIP THE V1 IN 14 DAYS.
YOUR TEAM TAKES IT FROM THERE.

We hand over a clean, documented codebase. Your engineers extend it on your roadmap. No vendor relationship required.

Talk Through the Tradeoff → See the Architecture