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Bench accounting services shutting down

bench.co

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Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#271

Post by benatkin »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #269
benatkin wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This in the response made me cringe a little: > I wanted to continue with what was working and with what our partners had signed on to distribute. How does he know it was working? He says it so matter of factly. And that’s what this big-mad comes down to.

How does he know? He was the CEO. I'm guessing that he had access to the company's metrics.

Metrics alone don't tell you if a strategy is working in the long term. It was no doubt a highly informed opinion, but still an opinion.

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#272

Post by taxbirdie »

If you have been affected by this, don't go from one tech bro service to another. Find a company ran by a tax professional. There is no viable automated solution for bookkeeping and tax now. These are customer intensive fields that require inquiries and clarification, things that AI isn't adept at. This is my field and while I do use software to automate some work, it still hallucinates and can transpose items or be unable to read data. I do suggest doing a tax extension right away and letting your employees know. Depending on the state of your books, you may need to hire spmeoen to review them and process any 1099s and W2s you need to get out.

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#273

Post by patrickhogan1 »

benatkin wrote: post #266
patrickhogan1 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad investors and a dysfunctional board can destroy a company. When late-stage investors push to fire the CEO, they often do so to install a puppet CEO who will give them greater control over the board. This allows them to prioritize financial decisions that serve their own interests, often at the expense of other shareholders, such as early employees, whom they disregard.

This in the response made me cringe a little: > I wanted to continue with what was working and with what our partners had signed on to distribute. How does he know it was working? He says it so matter of factly. And that’s what this big-mad comes down to.

You make a fair point. I would have liked him to elaborate more on the potential acquisition that was declined.

However, he mentioned they just raised $60 million. If his approach wasn’t working, why would anyone invest that amount? And if the plan was to fire him, given that his vote was required, wouldn’t it have been more transparent to say upfront: “If you reject the acquisition and opt for this $60 million investment instead, we’re going to fire you”?

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#276

Post by johnkadams »

does any one know who is in charge at Bench accounting? Does anyone know where the scum bag is. I want to find this ass hole. I want to swear criminal warrants for them. Anyone who has info on this situation please contact John adams 678-508-1590 or email john@thebrasslantern.com

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#277

Post by ensignavenger »

lucatbench wrote: post #208
solidgiant wrote: post #149

I was just sold bench.co for my three businesses and the sales person Luc Lewarne made me sign a payment agreement with Capchase. The agreement states that I still owe Capchase the full amount for a year, even if Bench.co shuts down... Does anyone have any contacts or experience with Capchase? I never even started my service, which was supposed to begin January 1st, 2025 and now I will have to pay out 12 months to Ca…

Solidgiant, this is Luc Lewarne. I assure you that I am just as shocked as you are. I woke up today, along with my colleagues, to an email telling us that Bench was insolvent, and that all operations and employment would cease effective immediately. I know what it is like to be mislead in a buying process - it feels terrible. I want to let you know, person to person, that I had no bad intentions or knowledge of Bench…

I imagine it wasn't very fun to wake up to the news that you lost your job, and then to have your name personally called out :( I don't doubt you were just as mislead as your customers were. I hope you are able to take a few days to process the situation and decompress, and then you rebound quickly into your next position! I don't think anyone will hold it against you personally :)

Re: Bench accounting services shutting down

#279

Post by lotsofpulp »

ezekg wrote: post #10
aimazon wrote: post #9

The company is over a decade old and was not cheap to use, I don't think they could have suddenly run out of money as customers typically pay upfront and are in long term contracts. Could it be staffing issues? Corporate misbehavior? Data loss? Ransomware? Has a member of their team gone rogue? Misappropriation of funds? We were bench customers until a few months ago, paying thousands of dollars per year for what cou…

I'd guess staffing issues, since my bookkeeper would change every month. I'm still not sure how they couldn't afford to hire better staff, though. You're right that it could be something nefarious. Where did you move to?

> I'm still not sure how they couldn't afford to hire better staff,

Because they never figured out how to automate enough of the process to scale revenue up without scaling expenses.

All the investments in these VC funded companies is a bet that the companies will develop automation that will allow them to not hire staff, period (relative to the growth in customers).

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