Red flag: founder/company culture - Anonymous employee Y42 Employee Review

3.0
6 Jan 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Fast development cycles through founder-led & dictated roadmap - great product, has high growth potential - competitive compensation

Cons

- Low standard of product processes/philosophy —> no real sprints, no real tickets, little structured product dev process - company values exist by now, but were not lived top-down = no modern workplace in terms of company culture. Oftentimes degarding statements of the founder with regards to woman. Also, patronizing behavior frequently observed implicitly and explicitly („you don‘t know that because you‘re not a techie“). Violent speech e.g. speaking of the product as a „virus that doesn’t go away once implemented at the customer“ - psychological safety inside the team willingly de-prioritized - bad feedback culture from the founder, doesn’t hesitate to fire employees via email - shark tank with high level of competitiveness and scrutiny —> happened at least 3 times while I was there that once a „better“ person joined, the current employee in that role (while in probation) got fired in a degrading way. All of those people concerned were treated very badly and not at all in a professional manner. Some of them were people he called „friends“ previously - founder would do anything for money and success, it’s a lot about himself (check media coverage). You could probably also classify it as narcissistic personal traits which are prevalent to an extent that harms the employees repeatedly

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Y42 Response
4y
Hey, It's Hung here. Certainly a harsh feedback to hear as the founder of the company and I would like to take some time and acknowledge your points. First of all, I would like to sincerely apologize for making you feel the way you did while working with us. It was never my intention and clearly not a reflection of what I as an individual and we as Y42 stand for. It is true that we are overly ambitious and this can be taken in the wrong way. As you certainly know, I grew up in Germany as an immigrant from an early age and have experienced enough situations in life where psychological safety was not there. This is definitely something I don't want people to go through, once I know how it feels. I might expect a lot from people, I recognize that, but I also believe that this can push some people harder and, consequently, grow faster - which I would want for myself as well. We at Y42 move fast, hold ourselves to an extremely high standard and break things to rebuild them in a more meaningful way With that being said, people at Y42 are the true reason why we succeed. Yes, I might be the only founder of the company but this allows me to make everybody participate in the success of the company and this is one of the reasons why we have fantastic people joining. We love what we do - we truly do. We want to create a future where we can enable everyone to work with their data effectively. We believe in that vision and work together to turn it into reality. If we become successful, money and success is certainly just a by-product of it. About our processes within Y42 - I understand your point. In our point of view It’s very hard to build a bundling product with the classic processes. However, as we grow and mature, a lot of things are going to change. Many of the classical processes that you would encounter in a single product company will establish themselves within Y42 but it will never be truly the same. If you ever feel comfortable talking more about this, I am open to hear from you!

Explore other reviews about Y42

5.0
3 May 2023
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

> Brilliant colleagues > Flat hierarchies, no ego > A lot of effort to make colleagues feel fulfilled > A lot of responsibility if that is desired

Cons

Early-stage startups come with the good and the bad - fast pace but incredible learning opportunities; sometimes chaotic but very agile, longer working hours but true ownership

5.0
5 Dec 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company has a competitive edge in both product and market vision. The people have a sense of curiosity and ownership that reflects an entrepreneurial culture. Overall, lots of energy which is also reflected in the leadership.

Cons

It's a start up so you will see a lot of changes. There's no micro management and sometimes guidance must be sought out, not given.

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Y42 Response
3y
Thank you very much for your feedback! We value every single effort and result you put in and we're grateful that you helped us to build our team! We'll keep working to improve our company! :)
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