Toxic, Unprofessional, Stay Away!! - Business Development Associate ExecOnline Employee Review

1.0
18 Jun 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The base salary is okay. CEO is a cool guy. NYC office is conveniently located by Penn Station.... that's about all I got.

Cons

There are a lot more cons than pros. First off, there is no clear bonus structure for BDX's. This is UNHEARD OF for a sales job. Additionally, there are people in management roles who clearly lack experience. The culture is toxic for most people, unless you happen to be one of the favorites. If not, good luck. There is no clear structure for promotion at all. Expectations are ridiculous. Nobody meets them and if you're not one of the favorites you're out. There is a reason there is so much turnover - nobody truly enjoys working on the team. Ridiculous, outdated policies. A TON of unnecessary meetings. And many other things that make sense - no PTO in Q4? They really make you feel guilty for using a PTO day that you're entitled to. I could go on and on but in short.. I would be very careful before starting here as a BDX. You can get the same job just about anywhere else and make more money and be treated with much more respect.

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ExecOnline Response
5y
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. It is very important for us as an organization to continue to improve and adjust when needed. We revisit the BDX bonus structure regularly and are committed to making improvements that reflect the hard work of the team. While we encourage all of our employees to discuss promotions and bonus payouts with their managers, we always want to be sure there’s transparency and clarity about these processes at a large scale. We also review the goals set for the team, and benchmark against other high-performing organizations. Our aim is to evaluate performance based on accomplishment and data - not by playing favorites. You’re right - this job is *not* easy, and many in the organization started their EXO journey as a BDX. Empathy is a huge piece of our organization, and if you found that lacking, then there are definitely things we can do better. We want to thank you once again for allowing us the opportunity to continuously improve our organization by sharing your thoughts.

Explore other reviews about ExecOnline

5.0
17 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great leadership from the top, everybody there is bought in, co-workers and leaders are all veterans of their industries & class of their fields. No big egos I could find anywhere throughout, with the CSO getting in the weeds with reps on deals regularly and it didn't feel out of place. My direct manager was sensational in knowing what I needed and helping me get it, fellow sellers were all vets and unlike at a lot of places incredibly helpful for when I first got started. Everyone moved fast but with intention, felt good to be on a truly veteran squad.

Cons

No real complaints. Best I can come up with is this: Even this many years in with a ton of success, the whole operation still felt very startup-y, with everyone moving fast and stuff changing regularly. if you're someone who thrives on aggressive structure & "straight line" work, this is not the place for you. Also, in any division but especially Sales, everyone was always super responsive & helpful when I raised my hand--but don't expect much if you DON'T raise your hand. If you need aggressive hand-holding after like month 2, might not be the place for you--everybody's moving like executives here because most of them are or have been recently, so anyone new to L&D/startups might struggle. Also, the lift across basically every department is big--you don't have to work 60 and 70 hr. weeks (and they don't encourage it), but be ready to work past 5 a few nights a week if you want to keep up. Comp for sellers is excellent but slightly convoluted--no worse than most places right now. I always felt there was a fair shot at hitting OTE, and the SPIFs are legit great.

1.0
18 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The people I worked with on a daily basis were smart, hardworking, and willing to step up to the plate

Cons

Lots of RIFs like a lot of places; however, the limited change management initiatives on top of the RIFs felt like they were throwing uncooked spaghetti at the wall and hoping it would stick. No real organizational design considerations for who picks up the crucial work of colleagues laid off (there were ~200 employees when I started 4 years ago and down to less than 50 when I left). Misaligned product strategy leading to wasting $$$ on a self-service product clients didn’t even ask for while not investing any energy into integrations that would actually create efficiencies. The company moved to a license model that was so convoluted that clients and internal teams don’t understand it and couldn’t trust the data. Just a whole mess that people tried to clean up but leadership didn’t take accountability to try to right the sinking ship. From a baseline employee perspective, the lack of 401(k) match and bonuses in recent years due to poor company performance is just a non-starter.

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