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At first glance, building your own governance platform feels like the ultimate win. You get full control. You can tailor it exactly to your family’s needs. And who knows your family business better than you?
It almost sounds too good to pass up.
And that’s exactly the problem!
The Allure of “Doing It Yourself“
Let’s be honest. We’ve all had the thought: “Why pay for something we could just create ourselves?” and with the latest AI tools, anything seems doable!
For families looking to save money and stay independent, the idea is attractive. You sketch out a plan, hire a developer (or vibecode with AI), maybe pull in your IT team, and within months you’ll have your own private hub. Right?
Except this is where reality takes over...
The Reality Check
We’ve seen this story play out many times. Families decide to go all-in on their own platform. They leave us with the best of intentions.
Fast forward a year or two, and here’s what they tell us when they come back:
1. Maintenance never stops
Platforms are like gardens. If you don’t constantly prune and water, things become unmanageable. And guess who ends up tidying up? YOU!
Or when something goes wrong on the technical side, there's no one else to help. Maybe it was just a small update or setting change and suddenly an integration is broken or a bug in the platform pops up and it's just not working right! There's no one to call. No expert to dig into the issue. Just you, troubleshooting while everyone waits.
2. Security isn't optional
Protecting highly sensitive family data is not something you can worry about later. It requires forethought, planning, preparation, and most importantly, expertise. And even if you figure out your security system, it requires constant monitoring. Those hackers are always coming up with something new. Are you ready to leave your platform security up to someone figuring it out as they go?
3. Permissions are a nightmare
Governance is about who sees what. Getting access rules right for different family members, advisors, and boards is one of the hardest parts of software development.
Too open? You might be breaching confidentiality.
Too closed? You could be creating mistrust or bottlenecks of information.
4. The costs are endless
Building it is just the beginning.
What often looks like a one-time investment quickly turns into a steady stream of hidden expenses, from upgrades to ongoing support, security audits, and user training. These costs creep in quietly but add up fast
And too often, families find themselves with a tool that’s clunky, incomplete, and gathering digital dust instead of driving real engagement.
5. There's no support
You enter into this thinking, "once I build it, they will come." But it doesn't turn out that way. It takes constant effort to plan content, engage members, onboard users. And with your own platform, that all falls on your shoulders.
Without a resource that offers guidance on engaging content, helps with training new members, or shares best practices other families are having success with, your platform could die out before its really began.
Why Families Come Back
When families return to us, it’s not because their ideas were wrong. It’s because they realize they don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
With Trusted Family, they get:
- A proven platform already trusted by over 200 families worldwide.
- A Customer Success team to guide them not only through onboarding, training, and adoption, but also through best practice sharing, bug reporting, and so much more!
- A global community of peers to learn from and connect with.
- Expert-led security and compliance, built into the platform from day one.
- Continuous innovation, without the hidden costs.
It’s everything they hoped to build, without the stress and surprise expenses.
The Takeaway
Yes, you could build your own governance platform. And on paper, it might look like a brilliant idea. But once the hidden costs, security risks, and maintenance struggles kick in...the story changes.
That’s why so many families who try it come back to Trusted Family. Which started out as a platform being built for two legacy families, but has benefited from nearly two decades of diligent development with input and perspective from hundreds of families worldwide. So if you're ready to make that kind of commitment, then it might be the right move to build your own platform.
You could build your own. But the smarter move? Partner with those who’ve already done it (brilliantly, if I might add). 😉
Take the smarter path and see Trusted Family in action ↗.
