Margins matter. Hardware uptime matters. But if you’re a Charge Point Operator with growth on your mind, your tech stack might be the biggest swing factor in long-term profitability, and not always how you think.
Here’s the reality: platform choices made early on will either unlock scalability and increase enterprise value, or quietly sow complexity that drags down operations, flexibility, and margins over time.
This isn’t just a build vs. buy debate. It’s a deeper question: how do you scale without becoming a software company?
This article breaks down what growing CPOs need to get right about software, from the financial implications of CAPEX vs. OPEX, to how tech architecture affects valuation, to what real platform “ownership” should look like. And yes, we’ll talk hybrid strategies too, because most CPOs don’t have the luxury of greenfield decisions.
If you’re building for multi-market expansion, strategic partnerships, or a future acquisition, read on. The technology choices you make today aren’t just about function, they’re shaping the entire trajectory of your business.
The financial architecture of growth
For a growing CPO, the move beyond MVP isn’t just about scaling chargers, it’s about scaling smartly. And this is where many operators hit a financial fork in the road.
Once the first stations are live and basic operations are stable, many CPOs start feeling the weight of their early technology decisions. What seemed like a quick workaround or clever in-house build suddenly becomes a bottleneck when it’s time to expand.
That’s where the capital model behind your software matters more than most realize.
Fully custom builds and hidden costs
Building a custom EMSP platform can feel like the path to full control. But they typically come with:
- High upfront cost (capital-intensive)
- Long and unpredictable delivery timelines
- Ongoing reliance on internal tech teams or external contractors that face a steep learning curve in mastering eMobility communication standards.
Even when built externally, these systems become expensive to maintain. Updates are slow, scaling introduces risk, and each modification becomes a negotiation.
The complexity multiplies if built by teams outside the eMobility domain. The result? More patchwork, more rework, and less focus on what truly drives business growth.
You’re a CPO, not a software house. Time spent managing bugs, re-specifying flows, or planning version migrations is time not spent scaling infrastructure, improving availability, or reducing cost-per-kWh.
This isn’t just a budgeting issue, it’s an agility issue.
Strategic investment over tactical spend
Instead of viewing technology purely as a build-or-buy equation, many CPOs are reframing it as a question of where to invest for scale:
- One-off builds might be capitalizable, but often introduce long-term debt
- Licensing a production-grade, extensible platform can still qualify as CAPEX, yet it brings a ready foundation with faster go-to-market and significantly lower maintenance friction
The capital structure doesn’t necessarily change, but the value per euro invested does.
SLAs then support the licensed product through guaranteed uptime, proactive support, and shared technical ownership, letting internal teams stay lean and focused.
Organizations with ambitious goals for the growth of the charging network shouldn't be afraid of higher capital expenditure. It will create a more sustainable model down the line with a solid return on such investment.
Software ownership isn’t dead, it’s just evolved
“Should we own our platform or license it?” It’s a question CPOs ask often, and it’s the wrong framing. The smarter question: What kind of ownership creates the most value at this stage?
Ownership still matters. It’s how you carve out competitive advantage, stay flexible in a shifting market, and build long-term enterprise value. But full control doesn’t always mean full build.
Different models, different trade-offs
Let’s break it down:
Fully custom builds
Maximum control, yes, but with long-term technical baggage. You’re committing to hiring, maintaining, and constantly evolving a platform that, over time, can eat your roadmap.
White-label solutions
Fast to market, but strategically shallow. Customization is usually skin-deep, and any roadmap changes happen on someone else’s timeline.
Pure SaaS platforms
Low cost, low overhead - initially. But growth-stage CPOs often find themselves boxed in by:
- Rigid vendor roadmaps
- Limited ability to localize or differentiate
- Lock-in risk if APIs are proprietary or poorly documented
These trade-offs matter more as your operations mature. What works for five charging sites won’t cut it when you’re onboarding partners across multiple cities.
The middle ground: Licensed & extensible platforms
Here’s where smart operators are landing: license the core, shape the edges.
An extensible, licensed EMSP platform lets you:
- Influence the roadmap without owning the plumbing
- Plug in strategic IP where it matters most
- Stay light on maintenance but strong on adaptability
It’s about focusing internal energy on things that drive differentiation, not on rebuilding the backend for session tracking or billing.
The goal? Maintain strategic flexibility without becoming a software house. That’s the kind of ownership investors respect, and internal teams can actually manage.
How the right tech stack boosts valuation
When it comes to raising capital, forging partnerships, or prepping for acquisition, it’s not just your revenue figures under the microscope. Investors and strategic partners want to know: Is this business built to scale or built to break?
Tech is part of due diligence now
Gone are the days when a decent-looking dashboard and some usage graphs were enough to impress. Today’s evaluators look deeper:
- Is the tech stack sustainable without an army of engineers?
- Is there a real IP or just a patchwork of vendors?
- Are operations built for resilience or duct-taped together?
The answers to these questions directly impact perceived value.
What grows confidence (and valuation)
Across the board, we see premium valuations go to CPOs who can demonstrate:
Asset-light scalabilitySystems that grow without needing headcount to match.
IP-backed differentiationCustom components or strategic integrations that show a competitive edge, not just off-the-shelf everything.
Architecture maturityA clean, well-governed platform signals reliability, foresight, and operational discipline.
Why a modular, license-based EMSP wins
Platforms that are modular, auditable, and extensible tend to shine under scrutiny. They bring:
- Auditability: Transparent, understandable infrastructure, no vendor spaghetti
- Predictability: Clear roadmaps and costs that align with business forecasts
- Professionalism: Documentation, governance, and standards that prove you’re ready to scale, not just ship
And here’s where Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) become a secret weapon.
SLAs: Small acronym, big impact
They might seem like technical paperwork, but SLAs speak volumes in investor language:
- Operational transparency: Defined support, roles, and escalation paths
- Continuity assurance: No risk of key systems being tied to a freelancer’s schedule
Confidence in uptime: A sign your ops are built for scale, not firefighting.
In short, your technology setup is part of your valuation story. The right architecture doesn’t just make things run, it makes them investable.
Ready for growth? Your tech stack has to be
As CPOs grow up, their ambitions stretch beyond one geography or business model. Maybe it’s acquiring a regional player. Maybe it’s expanding across borders. Either way, what worked for one fleet won’t cut it when you're running multiple.
And here’s where many operators stumble: the tech wasn’t built for this.
Consolidation changes the game
Let’s say you’re acquiring another CPO or onboarding a new partner. Suddenly, you’re not just managing chargers, you’re managing:
- Multiple brands and customer groups
- Different pricing models and local regulations
- Varying operational flows, CRMs, and billing systems
If your backend isn’t flexible and modular, integration becomes a manual nightmare. Worse, every update risks breaking logic that wasn’t designed for this level of complexity.
Extensibility over customization
Here’s the distinction: it’s not about building a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s about extensibility, designing a platform that:
- Supports multiple entities, markets, or business models from a single core
- Integrates with new systems without rewriting old ones
- Evolves cleanly without regressions or rework
That’s what a scalable EMSP platform should offer - a shared foundation, not a tangled web of custom code for every edge case.
The payoff: Faster expansion, less overhead
When done right, the benefits are huge:
- Faster M&A integration: No 6-month IT projects just to unify billing
- Consistent customer experience: Across brands, countries, or fleets
Lower duplication: One platform, many extensions - not one per market.
Bottom line? If multi-entity growth is on your radar, your platform needs to be more than functional. It needs to be future-ready.
Hybrid strategies done right
Here’s the truth most CPOs live with: it’s rarely a clean “build vs. buy” decision. You’re not starting from scratch, and you’re not outsourcing the soul of your business. You’re somewhere in between, and that’s not a weakness. It’s an opportunity.
The hybrid reality
For most operators, the stack already includes:
- Custom components built in the early days
- External solutions that got you to market
- New needs that weren’t on the roadmap six months ago
The goal now isn’t to pick sides. It’s to make the mix work without letting it spiral into chaos.
Where hybrid strategies go wrong
Without a clear plan, hybrid setups often suffer from:
- Integration drift: Systems evolve in silos, and suddenly no one knows how they talk to each other
- Versioning issues: One vendor update breaks three internal tools
- Role confusion: Internal teams end up owning the hardest parts of someone else’s platform
In short, you get the worst of both worlds.
The fix: Core stability, strategic flexibility
Hybrid architectures can thrive if they’re built intentionally. That means:
- License the core: Use a stable, extensible EMSP platform as your backbone
- Customize with purpose: Build in-house only where it adds real differentiation
- Govern with clarity: Define ownership, version control, and integration standards up front
Done right, this approach lets you move fast without sacrificing control or burning out your team with tech debt.
Hybrid isn’t a compromise. It’s a strategy. But like any good strategy, it needs rules, structure, and leadership behind it.
Building for growth without losing your edge
So what have we really been talking about?
Not just technology. Not just profitability. But strategic clarity - knowing where your CPO business needs control, where it needs flexibility, and where it absolutely cannot afford to waste time or capital.
If you’re serious about scaling, the goal isn’t to own every line of code. It’s to own the outcomes:
- A tech stack that grows with you, not against you
- An architecture that attracts partners and investors
- An operation that stays agile even as complexity increases
The most successful CPOs aren’t acting like software vendors. They’re building on solid foundations of licensed, modular platforms that deliver stability, while reserving their energy (and capital) for what really moves the needle.
Whether you’re gearing up for consolidation, expanding across borders, or laying the groundwork for a funding round, the smartest technology decisions are the ones that:
- Scale without bloat
- Differentiate without fragility
- Support growth without handcuffing it
You don’t have to build the whole thing. You just have to build the parts that matter most and make sure the rest is ready to move with you.
Ready to rethink your platform strategy?
Whether you're scaling across markets or prepping for investor due diligence, your tech choices are strategic, not just operational.
At Solidstudio, we help CPOs strike the right balance between ownership and agility. Our EMSP platform is built to grow with you, not hold you back.
Let’s talk about how your architecture can unlock scale, valuation, and focus without turning you into a software company.