Better.com is trying to change its reputation.
A new head of sales and a new chief growth officer have been hired by the startup.
In the last few months, Better.com has let go thousands of workers across multiple rounds of layoffs as a result of a flurry of executives leaving the company.
The New York-based startup named Sushil as its first Chief Growth Officer. At LendingTree and Match, he was the chief product officer and helped the company go public.
The company has a new head of sales. He has 30 years of executive sales experience at companies that have been acquired.
In six years, Better has originated more than $100 billion of mortgages. Our next phase of growth will be achieved if we expand our team with seasoned pros who are still hungry and eager.
Ryan Jewison has been named head of Better cover, the company's digital insurance arm. He worked at a number of banks. Prior to Better Real Estate, Nick Taylor worked at Modus and at Zillow. Josh had been the director of strategy and operations at Better Services. Prior to his appointment as VP of people, Brian Ro was the leader of total rewards and compensation at several companies.
Prior to becoming head of enterprise risk, she was a partner with the global law firm. Prior to his appointment as head of marketing, Nitin Bhutani was head of marketing at HSBC.
Ro told me in an interview that he joined the company in May and is encouraged by the company having talented people who want to be here.
He said that he joined the company because of that. I believe that the home buying process should be simpler and cheaper. Better is the number one online mortgage provider. They are leaders in what they do.
Better would have been valued at more than $7 billion if it had gone public last year. Over the past several months, the company's reputation and business has suffered from a lot of bad publicity and a slower housing market. A host of issues for the company have arisen from Better's handling of its first round of layoffs.
We reported in June that the company had lost three executives. Diane Yu moved from her leadership role to an advisory position.
Sarah Pierce, who was executive vice president of customer experience, sales and operations, and Emanuel Santa-Donato, who was senior vice president of capital markets and growth, were no longer with the company. The departures followed those of three other executives who left the company in the wake of the layoffs.
Better.com and CEO Garg were accused of misleading investors when they tried to go public.
It wasn't clear if she left voluntarily or was asked to resign, but she indicated in her suit that she was pushed out.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Better.com was accused of misrepresenting its business and prospects in order to move forward with its SPAC. Many employees have been left out in the cold since the lawsuit was filed, and they have expressed resentment at Pierce for getting a big paycheck.
Better.com's move to lay off about 900 employees via a video call went viral. It wasn't the first company to lay people off during a global epidemic, but the way in which it was done was offensive to many. Garg was criticized for being cold and impersonal. He accused the affected workers of stealing from their colleagues and customers by being productive.
The company accidentally rolled out the severance pay slips too early after laying off an estimated 3,000 employees.
Better.com swung to a loss of more than $300 million last year, a sharp reversal from its profit in 2020. Garg is the target of a number of lawsuits by investors.
In April, a video of Garg and CFO Kevin Ryan addressing the remaining employees was released, which confirmed reports of his harsh words about those who were laid off.
Garg admitted in the video that he made a number of mistakes, including not being disciplined in managing the company's cash and in its hiring strategy.
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Better.com loses three more senior executives, including SVP and VP of sales
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