India, Sept. 29 -- An entrepreneur who hired a Varanasi-based accounting firm to save money over expensive Bengaluru rates revealed why cheap services can backfire. While trying to cut costs while bootstrapping a business, the IIM-educated founder discovered that the distant firm lacked e-commerce tax expertise. She ended up personally teaching the accountants how to handle marketplace filings.

"I hired a CA company based out of Varanasi to file taxes because every CA firm in Bangalore was quoting at least 4 Lakhs annually for the same. Even if the sales were next to zero," IIM alum Dania Faruqui wrote on LinkedIn.

She continued that Rs.4 LPA matters a lot when a founder is bootstrapping. Hence, she decided to go with the Varanasi compa...