Bench, a Canada-based accounting startup that offered software-as-a-service for small and medium-sized businesses, has abruptly shut down, according to a
It was around for 12 years, had 600 employees, and was backed by Sage, which is one of the largest business accounting packages in existence. I don’t think it was fly by night.
The founder pretty much said FAFO regarding them ousting him. So it was doing fine until then.
Here’s a link for those who find the previous comment as intriguing as I did. If someone has the fortitude to go on Twitter and get the full text of that post, I’d be interested in seeing it.
1/8 I’m very sad today to see that @Bench has shut down.
I’ve avoided speaking publicly about Bench since just over 3 years ago when I was fired from the company I co-founded. I still don’t have a lot of appetite to talk about it tbh, but think at least a short statement is appropriate.
2/8 In November 2021 I went out for what I thought would be a regular lunch with one of my board members. We had just raised a Series C and turned down a highly lucrative acquisition offer. We had budding partnerships with companies like Shopify that were interested in the technology we were developing. We were winning.
@Bench 3/8 The board member thanked me for bringing the company to this point, but that they would be hiring a new professional CEO to “take the company to the next level.”
@Bench 4/8 I had been battling with some of the board members over strategy. They wanted me to take the company in a new direction that I thought was a very bad idea. I wanted to continue with what was working and with what our partners had signed on to distribute. I was intransigent.
5/8 Rather than continuing to fight with me, they opted just to just replace me, thinking that they could run the company better themselves. I was totally convinced that their approach would destroy the company. I opted to resign rather than fight. Because on the off-chance that I was wrong, I wanted to give them the best chances of succeeding.
6/8 I reasoned that if they were right and I’m just a wrong-headed founder who won’t listen, then I should just fully get out of the way so they can see their vision through. And on a personal level, I just didn’t think I could stand to watch them dismantle the company I had spent a decade building.
@Bench 7/8 So I moved on. I started off fresh and built a new company (Teal). Earlier this year we successfully exited to Mercury. Things are going well and I’m excited for what we’re up to.
@Bench 8/8 I hope the story of Bench goes on to become a warning for VCs that think they can “upgrade” a company by replacing the founder. It never works.
I’m sure there is more than one mom and pop outfit using them who thought they were just “new quick books”. I would certainly feel sorry for people who are swindled by con men, and this feels the same to me.
Drives me crazy that accounting software is SAAS. The last thing I want is my business accounting on someone else’s systems, regardless of how encrypted, backed up, etc.
Just look at the recent large company whose entire business data set was deleted by Google. If it were a small mom n pop, they’d be out of business before Google even responded.
I swear I see a business opportunity as an IT consulting service that implements nothing but local solutions.
How beyond ridiculous. Anyone who loses data to such a fly by night outfit deserves no better.
It was around for 12 years, had 600 employees, and was backed by Sage, which is one of the largest business accounting packages in existence. I don’t think it was fly by night.
The founder pretty much said FAFO regarding them ousting him. So it was doing fine until then.
Here’s a link for those who find the previous comment as intriguing as I did. If someone has the fortitude to go on Twitter and get the full text of that post, I’d be interested in seeing it.
From Twitter:
1/8 I’m very sad today to see that @Bench has shut down.
I’ve avoided speaking publicly about Bench since just over 3 years ago when I was fired from the company I co-founded. I still don’t have a lot of appetite to talk about it tbh, but think at least a short statement is appropriate. 2/8 In November 2021 I went out for what I thought would be a regular lunch with one of my board members. We had just raised a Series C and turned down a highly lucrative acquisition offer. We had budding partnerships with companies like Shopify that were interested in the technology we were developing. We were winning. @Bench 3/8 The board member thanked me for bringing the company to this point, but that they would be hiring a new professional CEO to “take the company to the next level.” @Bench 4/8 I had been battling with some of the board members over strategy. They wanted me to take the company in a new direction that I thought was a very bad idea. I wanted to continue with what was working and with what our partners had signed on to distribute. I was intransigent. 5/8 Rather than continuing to fight with me, they opted just to just replace me, thinking that they could run the company better themselves. I was totally convinced that their approach would destroy the company. I opted to resign rather than fight. Because on the off-chance that I was wrong, I wanted to give them the best chances of succeeding. 6/8 I reasoned that if they were right and I’m just a wrong-headed founder who won’t listen, then I should just fully get out of the way so they can see their vision through. And on a personal level, I just didn’t think I could stand to watch them dismantle the company I had spent a decade building. @Bench 7/8 So I moved on. I started off fresh and built a new company (Teal). Earlier this year we successfully exited to Mercury. Things are going well and I’m excited for what we’re up to. @Bench 8/8 I hope the story of Bench goes on to become a warning for VCs that think they can “upgrade” a company by replacing the founder. It never works.
I’m sure there is more than one mom and pop outfit using them who thought they were just “new quick books”. I would certainly feel sorry for people who are swindled by con men, and this feels the same to me.
Drives me crazy that accounting software is SAAS. The last thing I want is my business accounting on someone else’s systems, regardless of how encrypted, backed up, etc.
Just look at the recent large company whose entire business data set was deleted by Google. If it were a small mom n pop, they’d be out of business before Google even responded.
I swear I see a business opportunity as an IT consulting service that implements nothing but local solutions.
Local solutions are best but these shops or businesses probably want something as easy as possible, so Software as a service