- Delusional about trajectory. From number of evals to projected contract and signing dates these people are only fooling themselves. They miss it constantly.
- Fear driven. Afraid of failing so they justify all their poor decisions because they are trying to survive. It’s like swimming with someone who acts like they are drowning and don’t know how to swim even though they aren’t and they do. They just choose foolishness because it’s easier to ignore what they should be doing, swimming methodically to shore at a realistic pace.
- Time off is a hoax. Different messages from different “leaders”. It’s more work to try and take time off than it is to just skip the PTO and keep working. Shouldn’t have to choose between making memories and job security/success/satisfaction.
- Old school. Higher ups really believe that cracking down is the best way to get results. High pressure, no reward. Normally I think old school gives you a bonus or stock as a reward but leave it to dwindling runway and a recession to squash any of those ideas. Of course they’ll gas light you with the buyout scenario and stock options.
- Need to raise capital. As a company, they are running on fumes. Totally missed their targets for revenue and now they are at risk of going under. If they don’t get capital soon, they’ll be in a tough spot come November. That stress is evident, it weighs on the business. They never should have let it get to this point.
- Operates more like an insurance solution company with an IT dept than a software company with an insurance solution.
- Lots of dog and pony show. Much more political than should be necessary for an org this size.
- Very few real targets for success. These people seem like they are making it up as they go. No game plan. Just winging it.
- Stifled growth. They bet it all on a single customer solution and lost. They still have chips but not enough to win. They are buying time until either they run out or someone buys them back in. There are no funds to expand anywhere. Everyone in engineering is running on fumes. They have to build an enterprise ready SaaS that is Hippa/hitrust/soc2 compliant with a mixed bag of talent and skills and leadership who either has no experience in this space or is non technical. It’s scrappy at best. They have to do all this on no money and with old school mentality and leadership. It’s a grind at best.
- Verbally and audibly categorizes former employees as either a regrettable loss or not. I am all for transparency but they should chalk this up to regrettable hires, not losses. Do a better job stating expectations and helping people meet them, rather than dodging blame when they leave.
In summary, this thing should be in an incubator, not a stand alone company. It’s being run with so much unnecessary bloat… like an insurance product company and not a lean tech company with a real vision. Feels like a get rich quick scheme instead of a business. Making so many mistakes around engineering culture and personnel, with a plethora of technical wasteland in their rearview. Can’t even imagine what is driving these decisions other than panic, fear, and greed.
