tech
Khosla Ventures is betting $10M on Ian Crosby, whose first startup, Bench, imploded
Crosby is building Synthetic, a fully autonomous AI bookkeeping service for other startups.
TL;DR
- Ian Crosby, founder of the failed Bench Accounting, is launching a new startup called Synthetic.
- Synthetic aims to build a fully autonomous AI bookkeeper for startups.
- The company has raised $10 million in seed funding led by Khosla Ventures.
- Crosby's previous startup, Bench Accounting, shut down in 2024.
- Khosla Ventures partner Jon Chu sees potential in Crosby despite past challenges, drawing parallels to other founders who faced controversy.
- Crosby states he was fired from Bench in 2021 and disagreed with the board's strategic direction.
- Synthetic plans to serve only AI and other software startups.
- Crosby admits the technology is not yet fully proven for broader scalability, comparing it to a self-driving car's limitations.