Skimp-Wrecked: How Cutting the Wrong Corners Could Sink Your Company in 2026
I die a little every time a company skimpwrecks itself on the rocks of Parsimony. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but vital: Being broke does not make you a capital efficient company.
With January being a time for prophecies and predictions, consider this: Fate will doom those who cut the wrong corners in 2026.
While there are many ways misplaced miserliness can crush your company, here are five areas where a lack of investment is a bright red flag, and in 2026 more than ever.
#1: Conveying Authenticity isn’t Cheap
While AI tools have made producing content a commodity, the work to finesse those outputs into something authentic got harder. The dollars saved using AI-tools can quickly be consumed by the cost of using them well.
In 2025, shouldering this burden of authenticity increased in challenging and expensive ways. No reason to think 2026 will be any different. There isn’t a fix as much as there is urgency to allocate the resources needed to construct and deliver authentic messaging, especially when using AI tools as part of your production process.
The thirst for authenticity means no more hiding behind “company” messages or brand identity. No one wants to hear from a logo. We want our messages straight from the horse’s mouth, which means from an actual person.
Many company leaders–now thrust into the role of camera-ready spokesperson– need training and support to nail this role. They may also experience the discomfort that comes with expressing an authentic point of view, which, when done right, may spark disagreement from some corner of the market.
This type of training and support isn’t free. But avoiding inauthenticity ‘red flags’ is well worth the investment. Once raised these flags are hard to lower.
#2 Staying Close to Your Customer is Non-Negotiable
Staying close to your customer is one of the highest-ROI things an early-stage company can do. Doing it well has real costs.
Your customers are evolving. Like the rest of us, many are evolving faster than ever. Staying connected isn’t just about surveys, check-ins, or account health monitoring. The best companies I work with stay close to customers in ways that require a shocking degree of proximity and engagement. Being in the same rooms, participating in the same conversations, and doing the environmental monitoring that keeps you at the center of what your customer hears, sees, and thinks is not free.
This is all before you even get to flights, hotels, meals, event tickets, etc. Never leaving your offices may save a few bucks, but being out of sight might mean being out of mind, which is rarely a good thing.
# 3 Building an AI-Innovation Engine Can’t be an After Thought
If you invested significant time, energy or resources creating an internal AI capacity in 2025, don't expect to pull back in 2026. Now is definitely not the time to rest on your laurels.
For most of us, building an internal AI capacity isn’t a one-time or sporadic task. It’s building an engine that creates long term competitive advantage. This work is less about hiring a big team and more about progressively owning the AI that matters to your company. Remember, unless you are an AI-category disrupter, the goal is leverage, not mastery of the technology.
The benefits you reaped from current efforts can degrade quickly. That's just the reality of our time–trends, values and behaviors change VERY fast. Sure, we don’t want to burn money on AI interventions that fail to produce business value. But fall asleep at the AI innovation wheel and you may wake up in a ditch.
#4 Market-Facing Experimentation isn’t a Treat for Special Occassions
The half life of market facing models is shrinking fast. If you wait until signs of decay become obvious, you’ve waited too long. Good experimentation doesn’t start when something else fails. It’s a discipline. A recurring part of your business strategy that deserves to be resourced on its own merit.
Our best companies continuously refine their approach through experimentation. When these builders think more like scientists, they unlock smarter ways to evolve as market dynamics shift. (See Micaela’s post on this phenomena).
For starters, experiments produce data different from what you learn executing on the status quo. Even when things don’t work out, failure becomes data, not defeat. This data may reveal potential flaws, help you build on successful tactics, and open new opportunities before you’re desperate for it. Adjacent data can also be a strong antidote for falling “too in love” with current approaches, keeping us all mindful to dedicate mindspace to what comes next.
The ability to test and retest makes a business more adaptable. When organizations become too focused on day-to-day execution, the experimental muscle can atrophy. Some part of an organization needs to stay focused on experimentation to prevent this.
Scientists are driven by curiosity, always asking “What happens if I try this?” When leaders adopt this mindset, we create a culture that encourages learning. Teams are more likely to brainstorm new solutions when the focus shifts from being “right” to being curious. When things do take a turn for the worst, this is the best starting mindset a team can hope to have.
# 5 Team Health Needs a Budget
Investing in team health isn’t just a “people issue” — it’s a direct survival issue. The downsides of poor team health compound fast, especially in small teams where every person carries outsized leverage.
Burnout destroys the one advantage smaller companies have: speed. I don't just mean moving faster or learning faster. When small teams are healthy they recover faster from mistakes and setbacks. This agility can be the difference between life and death for an early stage company.
Burnt out teams will take longer to make decisions, accept lower quality deliverables, and maybe quietly avoid solving hard problems. Within small organizations, these unhealthy dynamics replicate faster and with less resistance. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch…especially when the bad apple is a well-meaning founder who simply isn't aware how their own unhealthy behaviors are ensconcing the whole team.
Investing into team health isn't about providing perks or resources, though all may have a proper place in a company. Investing into team health means having resources in place to work at a sustainable pace and with fair workload distribution. It means honest communication that gives everyone on the team some access to predictable recovery time. It means thinking carefully and frequently about the consequences of being in “hustle mode” all day every day.
Practically, this can have real costs. You may need to spend more to offer yourself, and your team, a healthy foundation for growth.
The Bottom Line for 2026
Cash constraints are not always within our control. But a bank balance can’t be the arbiter of all action inside a company. Need to be thrifty? Expand your advisory board, join a peer group, lean on a fractional resource, or bring in outside capital to get you over the hump.
More than anything, don't live in denial. Even if you really can’t invest into something important, don't sweep a harsh truth under the rug. Keep unmet needs top of mind. Allow yourself, and your team, to be transparent about the capacity gaps that are forming within your company…you'll never find what you're not looking for.
Flip the motto. The guiding principle for properly resourcing a business isn’t less is more. It’s best is more.
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More About RevUp Capital
RevUp Capital invests in B2B and B2C companies that are revenue-driven and ready to double down on growth. We deploy cash and capacity to help companies grow from $1-3M to $10-30M, quickly and efficiently, using a revenue-based model. Companies enter our portfolio with $500K-$3M in revenue, a strong growth rate, and a team that’s ready to scale. Our typical investment range is $300K-$500K.
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We built RevUp to invest into B2B and B2C companies ascending the $1M-$10M growth curve. We know from experience—and from the stellar performance of our portfolio—that this curve can be conquered. But, having the right resources and support along the way is critical to success.
RevUp combines non-dilutive investment with hands-on support to help companies build stronger, more scalable infrastructure for growth. And, we do it using a non-dilutive model. Our goal? Give companies the best shot at success while preserving founder equity, optionality, and autonomy.
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More About the Author
RevUp Capital Managing Partner Melissa Withers is a bullish advocate for innovating the ways in which new companies are funded and supported. Beyond building new economic models for early stage investing, Melissa is also committed to directing more entrepreneurial funding to those underserved and overlooked by traditional VC.