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It’s been an extraordinarily busy month. Obviously the biggest headline was around Silicon Valley Bank; it was stressful, but ultimately the Braintrust Network experienced zero impact to marketplace operations. This was the result of the network already being decentralized with multiple commercial entities able to process client and talent payments and a diversification of banking partners from day one. Even without the Fed backstop, marketplace operations would’ve barely been interrupted. You can read my statement on the situation here.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the economic turmoil around us, the Braintrust Network continues to outperform our targets month over month. In February, the Network had a record-breaking month for new GCV bookings of $7.6M (178% vs. previous 3 month average) and the 2nd highest GSV month to date ($7.1M, 99% to target). We continue to land and expand Fortune 1000 clients like Bank of America, Google, and Meta due to our low cost fee structure and availability of contract talent at a time when getting approval for full time hires is difficult. We also experienced a record breaking month in terms of talent sign ups in February, with over 35,500 new active users (vs. 18,000 previous 3 months.)
This month I also launched a short-form weekly podcast sharing my lessons learned as an operator and investor, and providing perspective on the news of the week. It's meant to be helpful to other founders, people who work at startups, investors, etc. You can find the first episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple. The point of the show is to help others in the space, help make our community feel more connected, and continue to raise Braintrust’s profile. Some of you have great social followings and have already provided helpful feedback - please keep it coming. Feel free to share with your networks if you find it valuable.
A few additional updates and requests:
Press: We’ve re-ignited our press engine and it’s paying off. In the past month we’ve been featured in The New York Times, on Nasdaq Trade Talks, The Block podcast, and were named on Forbes’ list of Best Startups to work for (#34!) Expect much more of this in the weeks and months to come.
How can you help? If you haven’t already, please make sure you join our connector program and refer clients, earn BTRST! ICYMI, here is a story of one of our connectors, Kurt Daradics, who has referred 15+ talent to the network, helping drive $3.7M in GSV, and earning himself $75,000 in BTRST.
All the best,
Adam