
Case study / Tech startup
Saving 8-10 hours per month with one account to manage cash and credit.
The Brex Difference
10 minutes
Implementation Time
Long wait times, paperwork
Pain Points
Company Info
2018
Founded
San Francisco, CA
Headquarters
10
Employee Count
10
Funding
Bounce is a website—and now an app—that allows you to travel lighter by leaving your things in secure storage areas in businesses around the city you’re in. Beloved by travelers, it fills a major gap, especially in North America where publicly accessible storage is much less common than in Europe or Asia.
Bounce co-founder Cody Candee wanted to get a business credit card for the company. He’d even found one he liked from a big bank, with plenty of rewards. The only problem? “The sign-up process was absolutely horrendous,” he recalls, grimacing.
After he’d submitted the application, the bank sent a request for extra documents—which they needed within fourteen days or they would dismiss the application. They sent the request via snail mail. They wanted him to fax (yes, fax) reams of paperwork he’d never heard of from obscure government agencies.
Shortly afterward, his business checking account got flagged out of the blue. The bank requested some additional paperwork—which Cody and his co-founder submitted early. But the bank suspended their account anyway, freezing transactions and stopping important payments from going through. “It made us look really bad as a business,” Cody said. He and the team had to scramble to make up for the error, ensuring their partners got paid on time. “The bank had zero empathy of what it means to freeze an account,” he said. “It cost us erosion of relationships and extra headaches.” These headaches, among others, convinced Cody it was time for a change.
Cody had heard of Brex, but it wasn’t until after his bad experiences that he decided to give it a try, applying for a credit card and Brex Cash. The experiences were night and day.
Getting started with Brex was “absolutely magical,” says Cody. “I signed up and they instantly gave me a virtual card.” A text message let him know his physical card was going to be on its way shortly, and he’d have it within two business days. “It won me over, as someone who certainly appreciates good product experiences,” he says.
Brex has made it easy for Cody to empower his team with the resources they need. He can instantly give anyone on his team a credit card with a set limit, allowing them to make any necessary purchases without having to submit an expense report. For instance, it came in handy when their remote designer needed some new tools. “Rather than the back and forth of, ‘Hey, can I sign up for this?’ or ‘I'll PayPal you and pay you back,’ it’s just like, boom, I made you an account,” says Cody. Brex Cash has also simplified Bounce’s bill payment process, making it easy to send checks, a form of payment that many retail partners prefer.
Brex’s ease and simplicity have saved Bounce a lot of valuable time and effort. “In an early- stage startup when you're a small team and wearing a lot of hats, you don't want to add another project to your plate,” says Cody. “Brex thinks customer-first, they think product-first, and create a much better experience.”