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Brex laid off a significant portion of their staff earlier this year. It sounds like they are trying to save more money by getting rid of their expensive office

Brex laid off a significant portion of their staff earlier this year. It sounds like they are trying to save more money by getting rid of their expensive office space in Manhattan and SF https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/29/brex-the-credit-card-for-startups-cuts-staff-amid-restructuring/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/29/brex-the-credit-card-for-s...

Aperocky 6y ago
Make sense.. offices are not being used while staff is as productive (probably not as happy though? but that's case by case) at home. A lot of offices may go bankrupt in the coming years, even when this whole thing is over.
- mStreamTeam 6y ago
  Its just interesting to see all these layoffs and cost cutting measures right after they raised a ton of money. In case you are unaware, Brex's business model is to lend money to startups. The kicker is they lend money to startups that banks and investors won't touch. They advertise themselves as a tech company but in reality they are closer to a high risk VC firm.
  - Aperocky 6y ago
    At this current time that doesn't feel like a sound business model.. but I could be wrong. It also seems that they won't need so many people? The VC firms I know are all capital heavy and very light on staff.
    - mStreamTeam 6y ago
      They were able to raise money from investors selling themselves as a tech company. Now that they have the money, they dont need the engineers anymore which explains the layoffs and downsizing. Brex feels like an attempt to gamble with someone else's money. They raised a ton of capital and now they are going to use it to invest in high risk startups.
      - devmunchies 6y ago
        > selling themselves as a tech company They built a lot of the underlining infra for their Brex Cash product. > use it to invest in high risk startups Don't they require you to pay back the balance at the end of every month? And you're not aloud to go over a percentage of whats in your bank account. These restrictions limit the risk.
        mStreamTeam 6y ago
        Every bank builds their own infrastructure, yet I've never heard a bank advertise themselves as a tech company...
        cercatrova 6y ago
        Capital One does, to my knowledge.
  - CPLX 6y ago
    Is that actually true? I thought it was the other way around, and they only "lend" money to companies that have millions od dollars in VC investment already in the bank.
  - ponker 6y ago
    Not at all surprising, raising a ton of money usually gets that investor onto your board who probably now wants you to cut unnecessary spending.
carriganisms 6y ago
I'm not sure remote first is actually cheaper when you factor in off-sites and WFH stipends. From the article: With that in mind, we decided to have office hubs in the major cities (starting with SF, NY, SLC, and Vancouver), where employees can work whenever they want. Our office hubs will also be important for those who miss the daily physical interactions and in-person collaboration of an office.

Aperocky 6y ago

Make sense.. offices are not being used while staff is as productive (probably not as happy though? but that's case by case) at home. A lot of offices may go bankrupt in the coming years, even when this whole thing is over.

mStreamTeam 6y ago
Its just interesting to see all these layoffs and cost cutting measures right after they raised a ton of money. In case you are unaware, Brex's business model is to lend money to startups. The kicker is they lend money to startups that banks and investors won't touch. They advertise themselves as a tech company but in reality they are closer to a high risk VC firm.
- Aperocky 6y ago
  At this current time that doesn't feel like a sound business model.. but I could be wrong. It also seems that they won't need so many people? The VC firms I know are all capital heavy and very light on staff.
  - mStreamTeam 6y ago
    They were able to raise money from investors selling themselves as a tech company. Now that they have the money, they dont need the engineers anymore which explains the layoffs and downsizing. Brex feels like an attempt to gamble with someone else's money. They raised a ton of capital and now they are going to use it to invest in high risk startups.
    - devmunchies 6y ago
      > selling themselves as a tech company They built a lot of the underlining infra for their Brex Cash product. > use it to invest in high risk startups Don't they require you to pay back the balance at the end of every month? And you're not aloud to go over a percentage of whats in your bank account. These restrictions limit the risk.
      - mStreamTeam 6y ago
        Every bank builds their own infrastructure, yet I've never heard a bank advertise themselves as a tech company...
        cercatrova 6y ago
        Capital One does, to my knowledge.
- CPLX 6y ago
  Is that actually true? I thought it was the other way around, and they only "lend" money to companies that have millions od dollars in VC investment already in the bank.
- ponker 6y ago
  Not at all surprising, raising a ton of money usually gets that investor onto your board who probably now wants you to cut unnecessary spending.

carriganisms 6y ago

I'm not sure remote first is actually cheaper when you factor in off-sites and WFH stipends. From the article: With that in mind, we decided to have office hubs in the major cities (starting with SF, NY, SLC, and Vancouver), where employees can work whenever they want. Our office hubs will also be important for those who miss the daily physical interactions and in-person collaboration of an office.