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Inside the wild fall and last-minute revival of Bench, the VC-backed accounting startup that imploded over the holidays
- On December 27, Bench, an accounting and tax startup, abruptly shut down its website leaving thousands of small business owners unable to log into their accounts right as tax season was starting.
- Bench’s entire website was offline except for a notice that Bench had shut down after 13 years of operation.
- Bench’s hundreds of staff found themselves laid off effective immediately without any severance or notice.
- One reason for the company’s struggles was a push to embrace AI and other automation tools in recent years, according to some staffers.
- Execution issues were compounded by tumult in Bench’s executive suite.
- Bench’s first CEO, co-founder Ian Crosby, left in 2021 a few months after Bench raised a $60 million Series C round.
- Bench’s second CEO was Jean-Philippe Durios, who had previously served as CFO.
- Bench switched CEOs yet again in November 2024, bringing in Adam Schlesinger, an executive-in-residence at VC firm Inovia Capital, one of Bench’s investors.
- By that point, a decision was made to sell the company, according to Schlesinger.
- Employer.com had announced its planned acquisition of Bench for an undisclosed price.
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