Great people on the ground - incompetent exec leadership
Pros
The people you get to work with are in general very friendly, welcoming and generous of their time. There is a base of very talented people. Excellent relationships with clients and some agencies. Nicely located offices around the world. Never in the dodgy outskirts, always in the centre near the media agencies and other tech companies. A good technology base to build from.
Cons
1/ Terrible exec leadership. CEO is struggling with the job, focusing on details and flying relentlessly for quick local fixes instead of looking at the big picture. The CEO hasn't built a vision of the company and has failed to define what Quantcast should stand for, leaving space for infighting within his team and flavor-of-the-moment company statements. Impossible to rally behind. Every major decision (hires, restructures, investments) has been bad. SVP of engineering: promotes a very negative culture and no partnership with the Product team. A massive issue for a tech company. Suffocates innovation from junior team members and more senior alike if it doesn't go with what he is thinking. SVP of Product: very bright but not a product org leader. The quality of the product team and the lack of products (not features) is a testament of that. Needs to build products for the market and abandon the things that none wants. CMO: chief of buzzwords and no action. A lot of talk, a lot of selfies, a change of colours and logos, shooting ambulances to build his brand, but what is the effect for Quantcast? Where are the positive business outcomes? 90% of his team has churned in less than 6 months. Staff giggles when he is talking at the all hands. 2/ Product not up to scratch Advertising: Falling behind the competition in terms of results for clients, budget share, consideration and features. Failed to take the mobile turn. Measurement: will struggle as Google Analytics ups its game and the DMPs become simpler. Will end up being a quick fix solution for small, spammy websites. Data: the cornerstone of Quantcast's position is that it sees users hundred's of times of month. But according to the internal analysts, this is a lie. And more stringent privacy laws around the world + tracking blocks will put an end to this. 3/ Vision Where is it? 4/ Spirit Most employees are looking around. None challenges the leadership or senior management. Employees internally are making fun of the leadership and the company positioning (the recent shift to AI was perceived as a farce and is the subject of endless memes)
