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Brex Layoffs

brex.com

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Re: Brex Layoffs

#81

Post by AmericanChopper »

elvis10ten wrote: post #69
Gabrys1 wrote: post #8

I like that they shared publicly the severance package (I missed that in a company before, the severance package was only available to the ones laid off, and you wouldn't even know if you got the same as your colleagues). And the package itself seems alright too (and sensible, for example: the laid off can keep their laptops. What would company do with almost 300 extra laptops?). Time of the lay off also not too bad…

> Time of the lay off also not too bad (firing people in November/December is really uncool). I don’t understand this. Why is it uncool? And why is January better? I guess it doesn’t let people enjoy their vacations. But on the flip side, isn’t that a good thing? You can curb expenses on the vacation/holidays.

Nobody’s hiring during that time of year.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#82

Post by elvis10ten »

what_ever wrote: post #73
elvis10ten wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Time of the lay off also not too bad (firing people in November/December is really uncool). I don’t understand this. Why is it uncool? And why is January better? I guess it doesn’t let people enjoy their vacations. But on the flip side, isn’t that a good thing? You can curb expenses on the vacation/holidays.

You can enjoy those holidays with the family instead of being stressed and sad about losing the job. The holidays being Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I see. I guess different strokes for different folks.

For me, if my job or project is doomed, and my employer knows, I will rather they tell me immediately so I can start figuring out solutions ASAP.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the holidays. The last thing I will want is to come back from a holiday in Portugal, spirits high, year plans made, but only to be told I am fired.

But I can understand the other perspective.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#83

Post by geodel »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #37

"Today we’re restructuring Brex to become a high-velocity company" Lol. Wtf were you doing so long as a CEO? I never understood these dumb messages.

Leveraging synergies to provide accelerated experience in rapidly changing customer marketplace to become thoughtiest of all thought leaders...blah..blah..

Re: Brex Layoffs

#84

Post by ensignavenger »

yesimahuman wrote: post #18
mise_en_place wrote: post #12

It's really disappointing to see the trajectory that Brex is on. I was extremely enthusiastic about their product, they had the best business banking/credit/expense tracking in the industry. I was a very happy customer, until they decided they would only chase SV startup unicorns as their customers, and terminated my account. Brex is very much a cautionary tale for other startups.

They lied (or did not clearly inform their sales people) about their AWS credit promotion a few years ago which really annoyed me when they were trying to sell us. Went back to the safe embrace of SVB but I guess that didn't really play out well. As a startup I desperately want to see more credit card companies willing to offer cards to founders without ridiculous personal guarantees, so I hope they figure it out.

As an SVB customer, how bad was it? Did you have any delays or other issues accessing your money? Did service or perks change a lot after the takeover?

Re: Brex Layoffs

#85

Post by [deleted] »

dpflan wrote: post #80
toomuchtodo wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Focus on a niche, create a funnel, be very good at that niche, scale horizontally. EDIT: Picked attorney because you have to be licensed to practice law, creating a barrier to the equivalent of code bootcamps. My apologies if the model around the idea wasn't clear, I will do better!

Why is this seemingly general rule so specific to law (being an attorney)?

[deleted]

Re: Brex Layoffs

#86

Post by toomuchtodo »

esafak wrote: post #74
abc03 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people without the resources, yes. For people that have a problem and resources, no. They pay for the best and want to be sure it‘s watertight.

Just get into and through Harvard Law, easy peasy... The best programmers make good money too.

Quality is determined by a combination of network, reputation, and results, not your Alma mater. Search for a securities or criminal defense attorney, ask around, see if where they got their diploma plays into the referrals you get.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#87

Post by nkohari »

jupp0r wrote: post #44
mrsilencedogood wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The laptop thing is usually less about clawing back property and more about preventing the laptop, potentially with customer PII and source code and other stuff on it, ending up sold on ebay or left laying around as a personal device to be eventually lost at an airport 3 years later, and so on. They take them back, wipe them, then either resell them to a reseller or reissue them to other employees etc.

If they are managed devices (which I hope they are at a fintech company), it should be trivial to remote wipe them before removing MDM from them to enable personal use/resale etc.

As I understand it, it's a question of insurance. Either way, it's very common in larger companies to either reissue or physically destroy machines after an employee leaves.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#88

Post by gamblor956 »

frfl wrote: post #20

> increasing in-person collaboration in our hubs, and concentrating the time zones in which we operate. > With our focus on financial software and high-quality growth, we grew gross profit by 75%+ last year. While we're proud of those accomplishments, we still have a way to go to ensure high-velocity growth and profitability for years to come

If true, this is a good sign for the future of the company, as it means that their revenue metrics are fine.

The problem is that they are simply spending too much on activities not related to the business. For tech companies, that usually means spending too much money on "tech" that isn't actually relevant to the revenue-generating business, especially now that the section 174 changes have eliminated the preferential treatment of software R&D.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#89

Post by yesimahuman »

ensignavenger wrote: post #84
yesimahuman wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They lied (or did not clearly inform their sales people) about their AWS credit promotion a few years ago which really annoyed me when they were trying to sell us. Went back to the safe embrace of SVB but I guess that didn't really play out well. As a startup I desperately want to see more credit card companies willing to offer cards to founders without ridiculous personal guarantees, so I hope they figure it out.

As an SVB customer, how bad was it? Did you have any delays or other issues accessing your money? Did service or perks change a lot after the takeover?

They let us get our cash out within a few days IIRC, and we switched to a different bank (was right after we were acquired so kind of a different situation). I would say there's still a large gap in the market SVB filled but I am not using them for my new company yet so can't compare before/after.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#90

Post by umeshunni »

eterm wrote: post #19
mrnobody_67 wrote: post #11

Company was burning $17m per month with less than $300m in revenue... while growing at a slower rate than ramp.com . simply unsustainable.

What am I not understanding about your comment, 300m is 25m per month, so that sounds very profitable?

Their spend is $42m per month
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