Free Lesson

How to Make the Build-Buy-Partner Call on AI Capabilities

Part of The AI Bet: Adding AI to Products That Already Work

Hosted by Elena Leonova

Fri, Jul 17, 2026

5:00 PM UTC (30 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

Free to join

Invite your network

Go deeper with a course

From PM to Product Executive: Master Strategy, Finance & Executive Influence
Elena Leonova
View syllabus

What you'll learn

Evaluate AI Sourcing as a Capital Decision

Assess whether to build, buy, or partner for AI based on cost, control, and strategic trade-offs.

Avoid the Two Most Expensive AI Sourcing Mistakes

Recognize when over-building burns capital and when vendor dependency creates lock-in you can't escape.

Defend the Sourcing Call to Executive Leadership

Frame your AI sourcing recommendation in the language of capital allocation, not engineering preference.

Why this topic matters

Your engineers want to build it. Your leadership wants to buy it. Both can be wrong — and the tell is a number most leaders can't quote. Learn to place any AI capability on the build-buy-partner spectrum using a break-even line and the "own your orchestration" rule, treating it as capital allocation, not an engineering preference. Bring the debate you're having now; leave with a defensible call.

You'll learn from

Elena Leonova

Founder & CPO, OneRank.io, ex-CPO @ Spryker, VP of Product @ BigCommerce

Elena Leonova is a product executive with 15+ years of experience leading global SaaS and digital commerce platforms, including Magento (Adobe), BigCommerce, and Spryker. She has built and scaled multi-product portfolios, led platform transformations, and managed international product organizations across high-growth B2B and enterprise markets.

Elena is a co-founder of OneRank.io, an AI-powered product strategy platform helping PMs and executives make financially grounded, strategic decisions. She has coached hundreds of product leaders to operate with the clarity, confidence, and executive presence required at the VP/CPO level.

Previously at

eBay
PayPal
BigCommerce
Spryker Systems
See all products from Elena

Sign up to join this lesson

By continuing, you agree to Maven's Terms and Privacy Policy.