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“I’ve never managed more than 10 people in my life:” Better’s CEO fesses up

Vishal Garg still believes in his leadership

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg (Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal with Getty Images and YouTube/vishalgarg)
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg (Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal with Getty Images and YouTube/vishalgarg)

After a series of public blunders and thousands of cut jobs, Better.com CEO Vishal Garg has a message for his doubters: stick with him.

Garg argues he’s the right person to lead the mortgage startup, despite a tumultuous year at the company. The embattled chief executive tried explaining some of his mistakes in an interview with Insider, but appeared to make several more unforced errors in the process.

“To be absolutely blunt, I’ve never managed more than 10 people in my life,” Garg admitted, telling the publication he felt out of his depth after the startup grew exponentially during the pandemic, quadrupling to nearly 10,000 staff members between the onset of the pandemic and late last year.

Garg’s managerial inexperience was evident in December when Garg laid off 900 workers via Zoom. In a blog post, the CEO went on to accuse employees of being unproductive and stealing company time. He took a leave of absence after the incident and has maintained a lower profile since.

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Garg said he’s been working more closely with an executive coach, but is still prone to put his foot in his mouth. He arguably demonstrated that when speaking to Insider, likening his company’s growth to going from “West Virginia to 90210.”

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Since Garg’s retreat from public view, things haven’t gone much better for his company, which is grappling with a declining mortgage market as rates surge and home sales steadily drop.

In March, the company laid off 3,000 workers in the United States and India, a move that was exposed when severance payments were rolled out prematurely. A month later, Garg made another substantial cut to headcount.

Former executive Sarah Pierce is suing the company, accusing it of misleading investors and wrongfully terminating her as head of sales and operations after she raised concerns. Better.com has said Pierce’s claims are without merit.

The company’s future as a private company is also in question. The digital mortgage lender started discussions with Aurora Acquisition in May 2021, agreeing to go public via the SPAC route before multiple delays. Better.com is weighing the possibility of staying private instead.

While the company grapples with a slumping mortgage market and thousands of layoffs, Garg is still intent on massive growth. He said the company is building a home-auction site that would allow pre-approved mortgage holders to bid on and buy homes while skipping broker fees.

He thinks it could become a $100 billion segment for Better.com.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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MortgagesProptechStartupsTechnology