We Asked 6 Entrepreneurs: 'What Expenses Have You Realized Your Company Is Better Off Without?' Do you really need that upgraded Zoom subscription?

1. Build business before buzz.

"It's enticing to spend on sexy things like PR and events. But while awareness is great — and needed — you want to make sure you have the distribution set up to fully take advantage of the awareness. Early on, we spent on those things to build buzz, but we didn't have enough retail distribution to support it. We jumped the gun a bit when we should have waited to make sure our full ecosystem was in place." — Jennifer Ross, cofounder, Swoon

2. Say bye to the office.

"We anonymously polled our employees about the return to office post-COVID, and every single person was either neutral or against going back full-time. The pandemic has proven that productivity doesn't suffer when you're working from home. Also, as a company based in L.A., where traffic is horrendous, employees get back the time they would spend commuting." — Grace Lee, cofounder and CEO, Birdy Grey

Related: Every Business Needs a Budget, No Matter How Much Money You (Think) You Have

3. Know your size.

"As a DTC startup, we have tried some social listening software and tools that I thought would give us a good measure on sentiment and brand equity. But they haven't been as useful as I anticipated for a business our size. We're always open to trying different platforms, but I have realized tools that are insightful for larger businesses may not be necessary for our nimble team." — ABBY MORGAN, cofounder and CMO, Cuup

4. Ditch the merch.

"In the beginning, I got so excited about putting our logo on T-shirts and anything else I could find. But who really likes wearing a corporate brand? Once I discovered Giftology, by John Ruhlin, it opened my eyes on how to think about gifts and do it right." — Marc Bacher, founder and CEO, Stuga

Related: 5 Low-Budget Marketing Ideas for Bootstrapped Startups

5. Downgrade Zoom.

"This might be controversial, but we got rid of our Zoom subscription. The free version works fine — and in fact, it actually forces us to keep all meetings under 40 minutes. You will be amazed how much more efficient you can be in a meeting when there is a time limit. Everyone's time is extremely valuable, so forced shorter meetings have created a habit of getting right to the points that matter." — Arie Hefter, cofounder and CMO, Noshinku

6. Expand your digital horizons.

"Before March 2020, we budgeted more than $1 million to bring 20 trainers and 1,500 instructors together in multiday intensive training sessions across the globe. The pandemic forced us to move the sessions online, and it wasn't easy. But it worked! And because our trainers didn't have to travel all over, they weren't burned out by the end of summer. Plus, we saved a lot on travel-related costs and were able to deliver high-quality training with nearly the same results as our in-person sessions. We will likely keep training our staff online in the future, and we'll get better and better at it." — Pete Ingram-Cauchi, CEO, iD Tech