In developing a go-to-market strategy, startups often face the decision of whether to build productivity features like email, calendar, and contact integrations in-house or to opt for pre-built solutions. While building these features internally might seem appealing, it can lead to drained resources, overburdened engineers, and delayed market entry due to unforeseen complexities and ongoing maintenance demands. The unpredictability of integration projects and the risk of losing critical knowledge when team members leave further complicate in-house development. Pre-built solutions, such as those offered by Nylas, provide a faster path to market with reduced complexity and a focus on security compliance, offering a robust alternative to in-house efforts. A case study of a Fortune 500 e-commerce company illustrates the pitfalls of building their own inbox parsers, which resulted in significant delays and costs, whereas Nylas provided a scalable solution that dramatically improved performance and conversion rates.