Goals and metrics for an AWS build-or-buy decision on third-party traffic load balancing

You are a platform product manager at AWS. A new third-party platform is becoming very popular: it integrates with existing cloud platforms and improves how application traffic is load balanced. AWS is deciding whether to build this capability itself or buy it. What goals and metrics would you use to make the build-or-buy decision? ```hint Goals before gauges Before listing load-balancer metrics, state what AWS is trying to achieve by responding at all. Then keep only the measures that would come out differently for the build path and the buy path. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "buy" mean acquiring the company, licensing its technology, or a lighter arrangement such as a deep partnership? - Is the platform's growth coming from AWS customers, or mostly from customers who spread workloads across several clouds? - What does it do better than AWS's own load balancers: lower latency, smarter routing, lower cost, or simpler setup? - Is there time pressure, for example a rival cloud provider showing interest in the company? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - The goals AWS would pursue by acting, ranked, and how each one tilts the decision - An explanation of why customers adopt the platform, and the evidence that would confirm it - Decision metrics concrete enough to compare the options side by side, beyond load-balancer health metrics - The options considered, including any middle ground between a pure build and a pure buy, and the rule used to choose among them - Risks on each path and what to monitor after the decision ### Follow-up Questions - If AWS decided to build, how would you keep customers from standardizing on the third party while the AWS version catches up? - How would your answer change if most of the platform's users ran only on AWS? - After an acquisition, what would you do about customers who run the product on other clouds?