Ted Schuman

Ted Schuman, chief experience officer at Avant, publicly commented on the agreement. While Avant’s peers stayed mum when asked to comment on the deal, Schuman didn’t hold back.

“It has been widely known Upstack was going to begin securing direct agreements since last October. No surprise to hear about this announcement. The word ‘diluted’ used in previous Upstack interviews is material on many levels. They’ve slightly increased their gross margin at the expense of diluting their net margin because building a professional back office can’t be done for the extra 10-15% of the gross. Learning to manage and operate a functional Lumen back office is a massive labor, huge financial undertaking and is an acquired skill that can take years to develop,” Schuman wrote on LinkedIn.

“In the interim, the Upstack partner and client experience will be diluted significantly. Lumen on the other hand gains absolutely nothing by signing Upstack. Their acquired partners have been actively selling Lumen thru [TSBs] for years. This is nothing more than share-shifting while taking revenue from top producing Lumen partners.”