Bench Accounting, a Vancouver B.C.-based company that provides online bookkeeping services for thousands of small businesses, abruptly shut down on Friday.
The company’s homepage has a “Notice of Service Closure” message with a short FAQ.
“We regret to inform you that as of December 27, 2024, the Bench platform will no longer be accessible,” the message reads. “We know this news is abrupt and may cause disruption, so we’re committed to helping Bench customers navigate through the transition.”
Employees wrote on LinkedIn that they were laid off. The company has nearly 500 employees, according to LinkedIn.
Customers expressed shock at the shutdown, which comes just before the year wraps up.
“I’m very sorry to all the employees affected, especially two days after Christmas. This is brutal,” wrote Will Champagne, founder of SCGC Search, on LinkedIn. “I’m also very sorry (and obviously personally affected also) for all the 11,000 or so businesses who, like us, will need to find new bookkeeping services just four days before we close the books for the year.”
Founded in 2012, Bench raised more than $100 million from top venture firms, including a $60 million round in 2021. It employed more than 650 people at the time.
The company in September described itself as North America’s “largest bookkeeping service for small businesses.”
Bench collects bookkeeping-related data and uses a combination of technology and its own bookkeepers to do the manual work traditionally required of business owners and contractors.
Customers will be receive more info on how to access their data by Monday, according to the company’s homepage. Bench suggested customers move to Kick, another accounting software provider, which created an “exclusive offer to handle your ongoing needs.”
The company is led by Jean-Philippe Durrios, who was named CEO in 2022.
Ian Crosby, the company’s co-founder and former longtime CEO who left in December 2021, revealed details about his departure in a LinkedIn post on Friday, saying he disagreed with the board over strategy.
“Rather than continuing to fight with me, they opted just to just replace me, thinking that they could run the company better themselves,” Crosby wrote. “I was totally convinced that their approach would destroy the company. I opted to resign from the board rather than fight. Because on the off-chance that I was wrong, I wanted to give them the best chances of succeeding.”
He added: “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.”
https://ift.tt/61x3lBm December 27, 2024 at 09:14PM GeekWire
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