The need for frugality depends on where the underlying leverage of the business comes from. If your leverage involves a large capital pool - maybe you need equi

The need for frugality depends on where the underlying leverage of the business comes from. If your leverage involves a large capital pool - maybe you need equipment or facilities - you're gonna have to spend. And if you intend to recruit and keep top talent in the field, your spending has to bias towards keeping them happy. In those senses, you can't afford to be frugal. But once you have the outline of the budget, you can look at it and say, "well, we aren't using that, actually". It's just really dangerous to go in doing that first thing, since it takes possibilities off the table and locks you and your staff into the logic of the balance sheet, and in businesses where growth can scale immensely, you have different ways to save at different scales.