How does an online car retailer survive a trade war?

According to CEO Dan Park, online car retailer Clutch has seen its share of “existential crises” over the last several years.

“I think for any entrepreneur that’s navigated the last five years, I don’t know if there was a worse time to be building a company.”

Dan Park
Clutch CEO

First, there was the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed how people try and buy cars. That actually worked out in Clutch’s favour and set up the company to secure a $100-million CAD Series B round in 2021, with ambitious plans to expand across Canada.

Right before low interest rates and cheap capital dried up, killing the ‘growth-at-all-costs’ mindset in tech, and forcing Clutch to lay off between 20-30 percent of the company in 2022, and then 65 percent of the company in 2023 after Clutch lost out on another $100-million Series C round.

Despite all that, Clutch had strong fundamentals and kept grinding, making some smart expansions to its marketplace. The company is buying just shy of $2 million cars a day, grew revenue by over 80 percent last year, and with a new funding round in February, raised its valuation above its post-pandemic peak.

Right before the trade war started.

This week on The BetaKit Podcast, Park and COO Stephen Seibel join to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated online car retail, how the end of cheap capital pumped their brakes, and how Clutch regained traction after a savvy market expansion. 

What has this journey taught them about how to prepare for whatever tariffs will do to the auto industry? 

Let’s dig in.

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The BetaKit Podcast is edited by Darian MacDonald. Feature image courtesy Clutch.