Build shared infrastructure when you see many companies solving identical problems independently
When you observe hundreds of companies building the same features independently (payments, invoicing, compliance), there is an opportunity to provide those capabilities as shared API infrastructure. This transforms potential competitors into customers and creates a larger addressable market than any single end-user application.
When to use
When you notice duplicated effort across an industry where many companies need the same technical building blocks
Don't do this
Competing head-on with well-funded players building end-user applications instead of becoming the infrastructure they all need
5 Founders Who Did This
Observed hundreds of fintech companies building identical features (invoicing, payments, accounting). Pivoted from B2C SME tool to B2B API platform providing these shared building blocks.
Observed that hundreds of AV companies were redundantly building identical simulation and validation infrastructure, and built shared tooling for all of them
Identified that every internet company was independently solving the same painful payment integration problem, and built shared infrastructure to serve them all
Both founders spent years building identity infrastructure at Square and Dropbox, seeing how every company was building the same tools internally. They recognized this universal pain point from deep insider experience.
Recognized hundreds of companies developing identical financial features and pivoted to become infrastructure serving all of them via API rather than competing as another fintech product