How UAE startups can build stronger businesses in uncertain times: What to cut, protect, and prioritise

Startups in the UAE facing tighter cash flows should prioritise what directly sustains revenue and delivery, and cut “non‑core burn” rather than the company’s operational muscle, say founders and operators on the ground. Speaking in Dubai, Faizan Mandavia, Founder and Group CEO of FAM Group, and Ayshwarya Chari, Co‑founder of 1115inc, set out a playbook for founder-led cost reviews that stresses early, targeted action and sequencing cuts before growth pushes. (Last updated: April 14, 2026)

“They cut too late or too emotionally,” Mandavia warns, summing up a common founder mistake that turns manageable adjustments into damaging, broad retrenchments.

Both Mandavia and Chari distinguish between costs that keep a business alive and those that merely maintain visibility or comfort. As Chari puts it, “Revenue does. So the real focus has to be on what the business can sell right now. That might mean refining your current offering, improving conversion, or even adjusting to what the market actually needs today.”

What to cut, protect and prioritise

Their advice can be grouped into practical, actionable steps that founders can implement quickly:

• Cut non‑core burn, not muscle: identify marketing spend, brand campaigns or experimental ads without traceable ROI and pause them until they can be tied to customer acquisition, conversions or retention.
• Consolidate tools and subscriptions: eliminate under‑utilised software and reduce recurring costs so teams work smarter, not heavier.
• Avoid premature scaling: defer hiring ahead of need, pause office upgrades or unnecessary infrastructure builds that create fixed costs before revenue supports them.
• Protect survival infrastructure: Mandavia cites three untouchables — the revenue engine (sales capability and client relationships), delivery quality, and financial visibility (reporting and controls). “Cutting these saves money short‑term but kills the business quietly,” he says.
• Manage payroll pressure with flexibility: shift compensation toward performance‑linked pay, create multi‑hat roles, pause hiring and redeploy internal capacity, or outsource and fractionalise non‑core roles instead of immediate layoffs.
• Remove invisible friction: Mandavia highlights the payoff from pruning “busy work disguised as operations,” such as duplicate reporting or redundant follow‑ups that consume headcount without improving outcomes.

Sequence, the founders argue, is critical. “Both, but sequence matters,” says Mandavia, summing up the balancing act between cost discipline and growth. His recommended order is clear: “First: stabilise cash flow, which means cut waste, extend runway. Then: push aggressively on revenue generation.”

Outlook: The central risk is delay. When founders wait for a rebound instead of making targeted adjustments, inefficiencies compound and options dwindle. By acting early to strip non‑compounding costs while safeguarding sales, delivery and financial controls, UAE startups can stabilise runway and retain the capacity to scale once market conditions improve — shifting from reactive survival to deliberate recovery.