Pedro Franceschi’s Post

Brex's strategic move with Brex 3.0 deserves recognition for its clever approach. The company has taken an innovative process to its GTM strategy, highlighting story-first launches, a unified roadmap, and a cohesive narrative. "We changed this model with Brex 3.0. We killed our planning process, and now have One Roadmap for the entire company. I am the ultimate editor of everything that ships. We release 4 times a year, and each release has no more than 3 big themes. This forces me to choose what truly matters, allowing us to make a large, company-affecting investment in the few things that are step-function changes to the customer experience, and drop everything else." https://lnkd.in/d-fuNDAS

Our Summer Release wasn’t the only thing Brex shipped last week... 👀 I'm excited to share our latest brand campaign! 🔥 We built it using the same principle as the release: helping customers make every dollar count. No great company was ever built on savings alone. Our goal at Brex is to help customers extend the power of every dollar to actually move the needle in their business, in 3 ways: ⚙️ Control: We help customers control spend before it happens, and 99% of their spend on Brex ($50b!) is on budget, in policy automatically. 🤖 Automate: Customers automated 11 million hours (!) of busy work with Brex, which now go towards driving growth and building amazing things. 💰 Earn: Customers have earned $680M+ in rewards and $300M+ in yield, and counting. (This is not an estimate, but actual income created by the product.)

When building Brex 3.0, we set a clear bar for what we ship: to build things we’re insanely proud of. Here’s what I learned about how great work actually happens. I started coding when I was 9. I don’t know why I started, but I continued doing it because of a very specific feeling – one so profound I ended up building a lot of my life around chasing: the feeling of building something you’re proud of. Then I started my first payments company in Brazil inspired by what great APIs could do to how businesses moved money. And I started Brex because I wanted to build a new kind of company, at the intersection of financial service and software, that no one thought was possible. Over the past 6 months we changed a lot of how we run Brex. And what I realized is that “building something you’re proud of” isn’t so much about hitting a goal, a particular metric, or a financial outcome. It’s about the inherent feeling of doing great work, and navigating the inherent messiness that comes with it. I noticed a few patterns: 1. There is no recipe for great work, and yet, great people tend to love processes (including me). Don’t let the process get in the way of the messiness involved in building something great. The only “process” you can follow is to love the struggle. When you’re banging heads against the wall late at night, with no obvious path forward, keep in mind that persevering in those moments is the hallmark of great work. This is how it’s done, and this is how all the great people do it. Keep going and learn to love it. 2. Nascent ideas are fragile. The easiest thing is to shut down a new idea because it doesn’t clear the bar yet – losing it before it morphed into something better. What’s the fastest way to kill a nascent idea? To treat it like a final product before it gets there. 3. Simplify. Great ideas fit into a napkin. Eliminate the non-essential, but keep the right balance between logic and emotion. Figure out how to tell a story that’s rational, and yet evokes a feeling. People make emotional decisions for logical reasons. Great work has both. 4. Focus. You can’t apply this level of care and rigor on everything. The only way to do great work is to do fewer things really well. It takes time and many mental cycles to achieve greatness. You need to be thinking about it in the shower. If you don’t have the mental bandwidth required to achieve something you’re proud of, it’s not worth starting. These learnings have resulted in releases we’re more proud of than ever, and have received tons of positive customer feedback – which we’re so grateful for. Thank you to our customers and our team for building something we’re insanely proud of!

Wow, thanks for sharing this Pedro! There’s so much wisdom packed in here that I resonate with, but the one I’ll highlight is this: “Nascent ideas are fragile. The easiest thing is to shut down a new idea because it doesn't clear the bar yet - losing it before it morphed into something better. What's the fastest way to kill a nascent idea? To treat it like a final product before it gets there.” — It’s so easy to feel impatient with something you’re working on, whether it’s a new feature or project at work, or a new startup. We want that thing to be “awesome” - but “final products” take time (and let’s be honest, is anything really final?). — What’s something you’re working on that deserves more time to clear that bar? For me, I often feel like what we’re building at Roster is taking “too long” - but with the mission & vision we’re aiming for - it 💯% deserves the time to clear that bar and get it into the hands of folks in the Film, TV, and Commercial production industry.

Make Every Dollar Count Every product and business decision at Brex starts with one question - what value does it create for our customers? Excited to roll out our brand campaign today that highlights the hard measurable value we create for finance teams and founders who have bet their business on Brex. ⚙️ Control: We help customers control spend before it happens, and 99% of their spend on Brex ($50b!) is on budget, in policy automatically. 🤖 Automate: Customers automated 11 million hours (!) of busy work with Brex, which now go towards driving growth and building amazing things. 💰 Earn: Customers have earned $680M+ in rewards and $300M+ in yield, and counting. (This is not an estimate, but actual income created by the product.) See how Brex's latest release helps you make every dollar count in your company: http://brex.com/release

Week 2 of onboarding complete ✅ My main focus these 14 days has been the folloing: 1. Understand Brex Value Props 2. Finding the right workflow I'm excited for Week 3 and to start hitting those ☎ ☎☎☎ LinkedIn Fam - If you're interested in learning how Brex can consolidate your Expense Management and Corporate Credit Card into one platform, shoot me a DM 📲 👀

I’m thrilled to share I have joined Brex as CMO! I’ve had a curiosity about the fintech world for years now, but the right opportunity to explore it more deeply never arose - until now. Brex completely disrupted the corporate card market a few years ago and rapidly became the category leader.  I’m thrilled to be joining now to amplify that same disruptive force on the broader spend management category - including travel, expenses, bill pay, procurement, and more.  I’m looking forward to using my enterprise SaaS experience and passion for storytelling to help build a truly iconic company. I first met Pedro Franceschi and Henrique Dubugras a few months ago and was immediately blown away by 4 things about Brex: 1. The Company Mission.... to empower employees anywhere to make better financial decisions. As a CMO, one of my biggest peeves is underspending. Brex provides the real-time visibility to help teams budget and spend with confidence. 2. The Product Vision.... for Brex Empower is incredibly powerful for CFOs and finance teams. It encompassing expenses, travel, corporate cards, payables, procurement, and more. 3. The Pace... at which Brex is shipping high-quality product all connected on the same platform. Did you know we just launched a beautifully simple travel service a few months ago?  Check it out! 4. The Caliber of the people.... who are obviously smart and driven, but also emotionally mature, self-aware, intellectually honest, and fun-loving! It’s been an absolute thrill to start my first week at our leadership offsite in New York and get to spend some quality face-to-face time with the executive team (pictured). Lastly, to all my finance friends, if you haven’t taken a look at Brex yet - I’ll be reaching out soon.  Watch this feed!

Brex lays off 20% of staff Brex laid off 282 people or 20% of staff, "concentrating timezones" and changing its comp structure to reward long-term thinking. This follows a layoff of 136 people (or 11% of staff) in October 2022. This follows reporting by the information that it is burning $17m per month and has cash runway to March 2026. For its part, Brex says it grew revenue by 35% last year and gross profit by 75% with annualized net revenue of $279m. 🧠 What would Brex's year look like if SVB didn't fail? The deposit flight from SVB benefitted Brex, Mercury, its competitors, and the top 5 banks. If this didn't happen, how much would revenue be up? 🧠 This is a crowded space and competitive. Spend management and AP automation might be the most crowded segment of Fintech. Does that create pricing compression? It feels like the battleground now is feature velocity and growth. 🧠 What is Brex great at? Brex has leaned into cash management and travel. That's hard, but they maintain the most mature GTM and ground game. Their events, marketing, and partnerships are best in class. If they can focus on and deliver feature velocity, B2B is a huge market. 🧠 A lot of talent is entering the market. It's been tough to hire, but so many experienced Fintech operators. I hope everyone lands well, and would love to help people find new homes. #fintech #fintechnews

Today marks a bittersweet moment as I wrap up my 3.5-year journey at Brex, alongside some amazing colleagues! It's been a period of learning, challenges, and countless invaluable experiences that have helped me grow into the leader I am today. A huge part of this journey was my team and the partnerships I've had across various organizations and departments – these groups of talented individuals consistently made me look good in front of the leadership team. 😊 Their hard work and creativity were my daily motivation and inspiration, and I'm immensely proud of what we achieved together! You guys are the real MVPs! Special shoutouts to Katie Leonard, Lindsey Gaon, Aerial C., Kyle Seever, Jasmine Stoy, Raj Das, Yuan Lu, Najwa Azer, Sam Faulkner, Leo X., Minjoo Cha, Brian Liu, Michael Chen, Julia Brown, Alessio S., Daniel Schwarz, Trang Doan, Nadine Namoff, Sophie Sledge, Steven Do, Leiguang Ren, Alex Pareto, and so many others! And, of course, a special mention to Sylvia Lin and Lucia Melgarejo – our partnership made me feel as though together, we could conquer any challenge and come out on top! Plus Cosmin Nicolaescu for hiring me. 😄 Reflecting on my time here, juggling a demanding role and being a mom to two young kids hasn’t been easy, and I often got asked how I managed it all. The truth is, there is no magic trick. Like everyone, I had my struggles (lots of them!), but the growth, the people, and the business impact made every bit of it worthwhile. And as I say goodbye to Brex, I leave with memories and friendships that I'll cherish forever! Now, on to new adventures! I'm eager to take this opportunity to learn new things and refine my skills before landing my next opportunity! 🌈 If you’ve got any must-read books, courses, or podcasts for an engineering leader, I’d love to hear your recommendations! And to all the hiring managers, there's some fantastic talent from today's announcement waiting for their next opportunity, and I'd be more than happy to help make those connections! Please reach out.

***PLEASE READ*** In the wake of Brex’s recent restructuring, which led to the layoff of numerous talented sales professionals, I am reminded of my own past experiences. Once in their shoes, I too felt lost and full of questions during such a transitional phase. This personal connection deepens my commitment to helping SDRs who were impacted on my team. I want to introduce you to these remarkable individuals, each with unique strengths: Macy Morgan A fearless, coachable, and driven performer. Starting her career on a high note, she hit quota for 5 consecutive months, demonstrating exceptional talent. John Santos: Brings a blend of skill, maturity, and experience as a Sales Development Representative. His insights significantly enhance team performance. Michelle Buzbee : Our ‘culture queen,’ Michelle led our morale programs, infusing positivity and cohesion into our workplace. Hassan Moiz: Known for his humanity and coachability, Hassan has been a source of inspiration and growth for our team. Felix Yagudaev: Showcasing remarkable growth and hard work, Felix’s dedication to continuous improvement has been truly inspirational. These professionals are not only skilled and adaptable but have also been key contributors to my success at Brex. I am dedicated to supporting them in finding new roles where they can continue to thrive. If your company is hiring or if you are aware of opportunities that could benefit from top-tier sales talent, I would be honored to facilitate an introduction. Your support in helping these talented individuals during a pivotal moment in their careers would mean a great deal.