Friday, December 27, was purported to be the beginning of a soothing vacation weekend.
However it was chaos for hundreds of small enterprise homeowners who use Bench, an accounting and tax startup based mostly in Canada that raised $113 million from buyers like Bain Capital Ventures and Shopify.
That morning, they discovered themselves unable to log into their accounts proper as tax season was beginning. Bench’s whole web site was offline apart from a discover that Bench had shut down after 13 years of operation.
Bench’s lots of of workers discovered themselves laid off efficient instantly with none severance or discover, a number of ex-employees informed TechCrunch. Emails TechCrunch despatched to workers that day bounced again.
The transfer was so sudden that one buyer who saved years of knowledge on Bench’s web site, and was even featured on its entrance web page earlier than it went offline, discovered of the shutdown solely when TechCrunch known as him for a response.
“I used to be not conscious of that,” Justin Metros, co-founder of Radiator, mentioned. “I’ve by no means seen anybody simply shut down like that. That’s loopy.”
Bench’s automation struggles
Bench portrayed itself as a tech-forward bookkeeping and tax startup with an intuitive platform that any small or mid-size enterprise may use. It claimed greater than 12,000 clients by the point it shut down.
One purpose for the corporate’s struggles was a push to embrace AI and different automation instruments in recent times, in response to some staffers.
It seems that it’s less complicated to automate accounting duties, like categorizing bills, in idea than in follow, former workers informed TechCrunch. One former worker claimed the one approach Bench may scale was AI, however its execution was flawed and the instruments it constructed didn’t work correctly. Overreliance on these instruments, typically on the expense of human bookkeepers, triggered delays, with books handed round completely different groups as a substitute of staying with one staffer.
These delays triggered some clients to give up. One former worker informed TechCrunch some clients had been nonetheless ready for his or her 2023 books in September 2024, properly previous key tax deadlines.
In line with the previous staffers, Bench went by way of a number of rounds of layoffs beginning in late 2022. By the tip of 2024, lower than 400 individuals mentioned they labored at Bench on LinkedIn, in comparison with nearly 700 in January 2023.
Tumult on the prime
Execution points had been compounded by tumult in Bench’s government suite. Bench’s first CEO, co-founder Ian Crosby, left in 2021 just a few months after Bench raised a $60 million Sequence C spherical. Crosby accused unnamed board members of forcing him out to get replaced by a “skilled CEO” after he disagreed with strategic selections.
“I hope the story of Bench goes on to turn out to be a warning for VCs that suppose they’ll ‘improve’ an organization by changing the founder. It by no means works,” Crosby wrote in a LinkedIn put up after the sudden shutdown.
Bench’s second CEO was Jean-Philippe Durrios, who had beforehand served as CFO. He targeted on making the corporate worthwhile, in response to former workers. Automation may, in idea, make Bench rely much less on expensive human labor to service its many shoppers. However the gambit didn’t work amid execution points, buyer churn, and waning investor curiosity in non-AI-related corporations.
Bench switched CEOs but once more in November 2024, bringing in Adam Schlesinger, an executive-in-residence at VC agency Inovia Capital, certainly one of Bench’s buyers.
By that time, a call was made to promote the corporate, in response to Schlesinger, a former Microsoft government who additionally just lately served because the president of a tequila firm, Siempre Tequila.
“I used to be put in place by Inovia Capital after which took the corporate by way of a course of to go get acquired,” Schlesinger informed TechCrunch. “They wanted anyone to steer the ship by way of what’s a tough course of.”
An unlikely revival
That course of didn’t pan out. On December 27, Bench abruptly shut down with out giving its workers any discover or severance, a number of former workers informed TechCrunch. The transfer was compelled by a financial institution calling in Bench’s enterprise debt, The Info reported. Bench had continued making gross sales proper as much as the day of the shutdown, in response to a former worker.
The shutdown sparked a rash of media consideration within the U.S. and Canada. Mockingly, it’s that spotlight which saved Bench, Schlesinger informed TechCrunch.
“It was solely after we shut down that each one the PR, together with from you guys, principally made the world conscious that we had been on the market, and we had some nice curiosity after that,” Schlesinger mentioned.
“I haven’t slept in 72 hours,” Schlesinger admitted.
The acquirers had been unconventional. Jesse Tinsley, the CEO of Employer.com, an HR tech agency based mostly in San Francisco, was on trip in Florida when he noticed the information about Bench a day after the general public shutdown. Tinsley, who runs a bunch of HR and recruiting-related companies, had solely purchased the Employer.com area title for about $450,000 a month earlier than, he posted on LinkedIn.
Tinsley and his group spent the following 36 hours hammering out a deal. By Monday morning, Employer.com had formally introduced its deliberate acquisition of Bench for an undisclosed worth.
“I had by no means formally met anybody on the Bench group till Saturday afternoon,” Tinsley later tweeted, sharing the notorious photograph of Elon Musk carrying a sink into Twitter, solely together with his face and a bench Photoshopped into the picture. “Nonetheless we saved lots of of jobs and hundreds of shoppers being left in an enormous lurch.”
Uncertainty stays
Employer.com is making huge guarantees about reviving Bench. To start out, it’s re-extending job affords to a “massive quantity” of former Bench workers, Bench Chief Folks Officer Jennifer Bouyoukos informed TechCrunch.
It additionally says it would honor buyer contracts and totally service their accounts, Tinsley tweeted. Bench’s preliminary shutdown discover really helpful its shoppers file for a six-month extension with the IRS to discover a new bookkeeper. Now, Bench isn’t recommending extensions so long as clients resolve to remain on.
However there are uncertainties remaining round Bench’s sustainability, given its last-minute fireplace sale.
Acquisitions sometimes take months and require in depth due diligence, which might be unattainable to conduct over a vacation weekend. Employer.com additionally had no direct expertise in accounting till the Bench acquisition — as a substitute, it focuses on payroll, recruiting, and different HR-related fields. If Bench’s downfall exhibits something, it’s that accounting is its personal beast.
There are additionally issues about whether or not clients may have entry to the identical high quality of service, given the sudden firing of all of Bench’s workers on December 27. Though many workers are being employed again, no less than some are being provided solely 30-day contracts, three former workers informed TechCrunch.
In response, Employer.com’s chief advertising and marketing officer, Matt Charney, informed TechCrunch that “whereas the deal occurred shortly,” it concerned “a number of authorized corporations” and Employer.com feels “very very snug” with Bench’s status and observe file.
On Employer.com’s lack of prior accounting expertise, Charney says that Bench was acquired for its individuals, expertise, and clients, who can “assist us purchase that experience very, in a short time.” Employer.com declined to remark particularly on the 30-day contracts as of press time.
