TechCrunch: Fair Lays Off 40% of Payroll, Fires CFO
TechCrunch reports Fair CFO Tyler Painter, brother of CEO Scott Painter, and 40% of the vehicle subscription service’s staff have been let go. The moves cast doubt on the disruptor’s viability in an increasingly inhospitable startup market.
Scott Painter, founder and CEO of Fair, spoke at Collision Conference in Toronto in May. TechCrunch reports Fair’s CFO and Painter’s brother, Tyler Painter, has been let go, along with 40% of the company’s staff.
Photo by Collision Conference via Flickr
(Bobit) — Vehicle subscription service provider Fair has laid off 40% of its workforce and fired its CFO, Tyler Painter, TechCrunch reports.
Painter is the brother of CEO and co-founder Scott Painter, also known as the founder and former chief executive of TrueCar. He is to be replaced by Kirk Shryoc, described in a Fair release as having experience in both fleet and capital markets.
“It’s hard building a sustainable company and these are the choices you have to make.”
Fair’s mobile app debuted in 2017. It allows users to find, select, and purchase pre-owned units from auto dealers, drive them for as long as they wish, then return them; the selling dealer is given the opportunity to repurchase the vehicle before it goes to wholesale. Users who drive for ride-hailing services are offered access to leasing services.
Writer Ingrid Lunden noted the company is valued at $1.2 billion and is backed by $500 million in equity investments and billions more in debt funding, grouping it with other “highly valued venture-backed startup with little end in sight to their huge losses,” listing Uber and WeWork as examples.
Reached for comment, Scott Painter told Lunden the company has grown quickly and now must focus on profitability.
“It’s hard building a sustainable company and these are the choices you have to make,” Painter said.
To read the TechCrunch article, click here.
More Dealer Ops
Dealer Debrief: Defection Data & EV Updates
In this week's debrief, host Lauren Lawrence discusses how to use defection data to your advantage and the latest on EV sales and charging infrastructure.
Read More →
How Defection Data is Bridging the Dealership Conversion Gap
Lead volume is flat, cross-shopping is up and brand loyalty is in retreat. As confident sales teams keep losing buyers they thought they had, daily industry sales data is showing dealers exactly where their funnel is breaking and how to fix it without buying a single new lead.
Read More →
Dealer Debrief: Where are you losing customers?
In this week's debrief, host Lauren Lawrence discusses the hidden leaks in dealerships where you might be losing customers without even realizing it.
Read More →
Dealer Debrief: Improving Your Inventory Management
In this week's debrief, host Lauren Lawrence covers a new survey that shows what service technicians really want and two launches that could help improve your inventory and vehicle life cycle management.
Read More →
Ladies and Gentlemen, This Is a Dealership: Why the Fundamentals Still Decide Who Wins
A teaching moment by a legendary football coach happens to apply perfectly in the auto retail space. Learn what it is and how to use it to your store’s advantage.
Read More →
What Market Timing Mistakes Mean for Your Reinsurance Program
When volatility hits, dealer-owned reinsurance programs face a familiar temptation: pull back and wait for calmer waters. New data from BOK Financial shows why that instinct can quietly cost you years of surplus growth.
Read More →
Dealer Ads and the FTC
The agency has made it clear in recent enforcement actions and warnings, in auto retail and other industries, that advertised prices must include all nonoptional costs to the consumer.
Read More →
Used Autos Supply Dwindles
The March shopping surge, despite high prices, cut into inventory by the most since the thick of the pandemic, Cox Automotive analysts calculated.
Read More →
Managing Risk Effectively Through Changing Times
The variables influencing risk pricing have changed significantly over the past five years. Being proactive and responsive to emerging trends is not optional but essential.
Read More →
Survey Reveals What Won't Fix What's Breaking Car Sales
AutoPayPlus says extra-long auto loans are trapping consumers and threatening the dealer trade-in cycle, and that the industry is leveraging the wrong tools to combat high MSRPs.
Read More →