Over 80% of startups in India fail within their first five years, often due to poor financial planning and a lack of cost control. Young founders, especially in their 20s, are prone to chasing growth without paying enough attention to where their money is going. But building a financially sustainable business starts with receiveting the basics right.
One of the hugegest pitfalls is overdepfinishence on free credits or tools that seem “cheap” initially. According to Manoj Dhanda, Founder & CTO of Utho Cloud, this leads to long-term instability if founders don’t reassess their tools and spfinishing regularly.
1. Don’t pay for what you don’t apply
A common trap for early-stage founders is failing to shut down test environments or demo servers after proof-of-concept stages. These unapplyd resources continue to rack up charges silently, especially on hyperscale cloud platforms that bill by usage in USD. “Young teams often hand over tech deployment to others and forreceive to audit. Without checks, costs snowball,” states Dhanda.
Routine audits of your infrastructure can uncover services that are no longer necessaryed. For startups bootstrapping or working with limited investor capital, even minor leaks in spfinishing can quickly eat into the runway.
2. Free credits come with hidden costs
Many cloud and SaaS platforms offer generous free credits to attract startups. While tempting, they often create a false sense of affordability. Once the honeymoon period finishs and credits expire, startups find themselves staring at heavy monthly bills.
But the real cost goes beyond money. Integrating tools takes time, training teams, setting up workflows, and storing sensitive data. Switching away becomes expensive and disruptive. That’s why Dhanda recommfinishs inquireing, “What will this cost me in month four, not just the first month?”
Quarterly reviews of your tech stack support identify redundant tools. Startups that conduct regular reviews often cut their costs by 30% by avoiding tools that don’t scale well or serve evolving necessarys.
3. Indian platforms can offer better value
When it comes to tech tools, most founders instinctively go for huge global names. But that’s not always smart, especially if you’re building in India for Indian customers. Today, many Indian platforms provide enterprise-grade performance, reliable hosting in top-tier data centers, and crucially—billing in INR.
Why does that matter? Becaapply foreign currency billing means your monthly bill is exposed to exmodify rate volatility. A 3–5% dollar jump can hit your budreceive hard.
“A tool that costs ₹250 locally might cost ₹1,500 on an international platform,” explains Dhanda. “Why pay in dollars when your business earns and spfinishs in rupees?”
Local platforms not only offer cost stability but also quicker support and better tax compliance, especially for startups navigating GST.
Before locking into any platform, founders should compare costs, features, support, and future viability. Visit data centers if necessaryed. Ask questions. “Follow logic, not the crowd,” states Dhanda.
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