Articles by deBanked Staff

Clearco Announces Major Layoffs, Paints Gloomy Picture

Clearco, the international small business funding company led by celebrity CEO Michele Romanow, announced it was laying off 125 employees on Friday. Romanow shared the news on social media in an overall gloomy message about the business’ state of affairs. For one, the company says that Clearco is currently “considering strategic options” for its international operations.

In a letter from Romanow and Executive Chairman Andrew D’Souza, they state:

The short answer is the current macroeconomic environment looks very different today than in 2021. We have rising interest rates not seen since the mid-90s, the highest inflation in four decades, one of the biggest swings in European currency since the founding of the Euro, all compounded with a slowdown in e-commerce growth that’s been well documented and continued supply chain issues for companies of all sizes.

We were building to match the growth of the economy and now face significant headwinds that simply didn’t exist six months ago. We grew our headcount too quickly in anticipation of continued economic growth and that decision rests on us alone.

After assessing the current market conditions and uncertainty we’re seeing across the e-commerce sector, this was the most prudent action to take and was necessary to:

1. Ensure we’re able to support as many founders as possible, today and in the future, in their growth journey and;

2. To come out of this economic downturn a sustainable and profitable company.

DailyFunder Marks 10 Year Anniversary

The DailyFunder.com domain was registered ten years and 1 month ago. Formed two years after the debut of deBanked, DailyFunder went on to become the most active small business finance community in North America. The forum has generated more than 160,000 posts and has more than 12,000 members. It has regularly surpassed two million page views per year.

“There is no doubt that the DF has impacted the trajectory of the industry over the last decade,” said Sean Murray, who founded it. “The site receives thousands of visitors per day. In the early years it ushered in an era of broker commission transparency.”

Murray recalled a time when sales agents were not always aware that there were even commissions being paid at all.

“There were reps who thought that they had to charge merchants a separate fee in order to earn anything at all,” Murray said. “And their bosses were taking 50% of that. When I would bring up commissions, they’d be like ‘wait, the funders are paying my boss for these deals too?’ and I’d be like ‘how do you not know this?’ Widespread communication via the forum eliminated a lot of the secrets.”

One of the most popular categories on the forum in more recent times has been the Deal Bin, where brokers try to find placement for deals. It’s recorded more than 41,000 posts.

“Ten years is a lifetime as far as I’m concerned,” Murray said. “Love it or hate it, everybody knows the DF. If you’re a lender or funder, your brokers are lurking on there whether they admit it or not.”