Adbrite Reviews

Pros

Very little is sacred--as an engineer you'll be trusted to design and build whatever you need to solve some tough scaling problems. Management more willing than most to invest in robust replacements for legacy systems. Good opportunities to pick up newer technologies and move away from bad ones, and mobility even between departments. Enjoyable culture of going out for drinks with a big alumni network. Good pay and perks--central downtown office, insurance options, commuting, lunch, gym.

Cons

Ongoing unrealistic expectations being set about how much impact each project will have. Too much unwritten tribal knowledge lost with turnover, and not enough communication between departments about problems and opportunities. Code doesn't often get the refactoring it needs.

Advice to Senior Management

Do we have the right people now to predict where the market is going to be, and draw up an economic moat around it?

Pros

The people are smart and funny and the company has a great size, not "four people in a basement" startup, but not too big either. But my favorite part of adBrite is the support and encouragement you get in solving hard problems. They ask a lot of you, but they give you a lot of room and support to succeed. Great management.

Cons

I'd love it if I made more money. I have friends at little startups that make ridiculous amounts of money. However, I think adBrite compensation is competitive, and the quality of the work environment outweigh any salary envy I might have.

Pros

Very Casual Work Environment
Huge Kitchen, Catered Lunches
Gym Membership
Somewhat cutting edge industry
Cool people

Cons

Management in disarray, slightly aloof
Lack of communication between departments
Poor employee retention, limited HR functionality

Advice to Senior Management

Do a better job at identifying your top performers and instilling a culture of pride

Pros

Great location - right on Market St.

Cons

Very high turn over (> 20% a year).

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more experienced professional leaders for management.

Pros

An excellent business model. Good compensation with great benefits. Nice location. Convenient to commute via Bart. Engineering team worked hard and stuck together.

Cons

The management was incompetent. Put high expectation to engineering team, but provided few clear guidance and showed no respects. Talents have been leaving.

Advice to Senior Management

The management team should have a clear and definite product road map. Provide more opportunities to young talents and help them develop their career in Adbrite.

Pros

Downtown SF, (at the time) a possibility for a buyout, (at the time) free catered lunches, engineering team stuck together.

AdBrite was a rising star - founded by a web celebrity in downtown SF with decent benefits, not the least of which was the free lunches they used to provide. AdBrite eventually moved locations to Market Street next to The Sports Club LA for which they provided a slightly discounted membership. And there was talent - so much talent. The talent that passed through the doors at AdBrite was unmatched. If only they could have retained that talent, they might have had a shot. But ...

Cons

Horrible management, disrespect from upper management towards employees, incompetent CEO, high turnover, technical leaders do not understand technology. The technology stack is a joke. Basically, instead of using proven open source solutions, AdBrite uses custom-rolled solutions for many of the layers in their stack which are far inferior to their open source equivalents. For the longest time, their search engine was running on something the CTO wrote.

Iggy Fanlo (CEO) once sent out an email telling employees they needed to work 60 hour weeks. The problem is that there just wasn't enough work to do, nor was there motivation or any kind of guidance. The founders of the company frequently sent out disparaging emails telling employees that there were too many bugs in the site without setting clear goals as to how to solve the problem.

Advice to Senior Management

None - AdBrite is a sinking ship. Anybody with any talent has long since bailed. And now with the layoffs? Forget it. No one wants to work there.

Pros

The company is doing some really cool technology, and able to deal this with a large set of users.

Cons

The tight & cramped physical work space make it hard to work, which in turns makes it feel like chaotic around the office.

Advice to Senior Management

Something needs to be done about the direction of the company for it to make it.