Meetup Reviews

Pros

Meetup has an excellent culture; everyone on the team is extremely friendly, and dedicated to the product and the mission. Benefits are right on par for a company that targets staff in their 20s and 30s: free beer/soda/bottled tea, 401k matching, 3 month sabbatical program for long-term employees, 3 weeks vacation per year plus summer Fridays and personal holidays. Very much an organization full of people who enjoy each others' company, and working collaboratively. Atmosphere is fairly laid-back; nobody ever raises their voice.

Management is good at recognizing individuals' strengths and giving people opportunities to shine. Because of the leadership structure, there's little room for career advancement, but this is made up for by many opportunities for personal professional development.

Cons

Very little consideration is given to the preferences and opinions of teams other than development. Senior management walks an awkward line by presenting an outward "mentor not manager" attitude while making clumsy, invasive, heavy-handed decisions.

Advice to Senior Management

Upper management does not always seem to have a realistic take on the success of the product, or the problems experienced by the users.

Pros

The people - they were fun, smart, cooperative, and understanding.
The perks - lots of great activities/events, snacks, breakfasts, etc.
Security - you could stay working here forever because it's comfortable and easy.

Cons

The company has issues with management not recognizing the unhappiness of its employees. There seems to be favoritism amongst those in higher positions as well. Growth opportunities tend to be scarce and limited to those favored and/or certain teams. There is high turnover. Salaries and raises (which are very low) are not commiserate with experience.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to the feelings and opinions of the employees. Note the turnover and don't think it's insignificant in the long run.

Pros

At Meetup, you can really bring your whole self to work. There are opportunities to grow and learn if you work hard to obtain them. Meetup also provides some really wonderful benefits (not just great insurance, but also other perks like parties, drinks, phone reimbursement, etc) that show they really value their employees.

Cons

Sometimes it is tough to go with the flow when you're working on a project and the direction suddenly changes or what you were doing is no longer relevant or valued.

Advice to Senior Management

I'll tell you at the next survey!

Pros

Many employees are of esteemed education and background (Ivy league, senior experience.) There don't seem to be any employees in the company who will say "I can't do that."

Free fruit, soda, beer after hours. Easy to use your time off. Potential to occasionally work from home. Interesting visiting speakers. No dress code. Company has a "do good" attitude and a generally positive image in the tech world. Great resume filler.

Support/business development staff leadership is very positive, support pay is better than industry average.

Cons

Like any startup, there are barely any benefits beyond the necessities. No 401k matching, no apparent prospect for college credit reimbursement, no gym subsidies. Only 2 weeks vacation for non-management employees. Fewer holidays, no half-day before holidays.

Hard to work without getting interrupted by the slew of daily, weekly, and monthly meetings. Very long hours (except support staff, who are on specific schedules.) From a tech perspective, very little preparation for disaster (no formal project planning, code is checked in right until launch, staging is done last minute, few QA resources = plenty of bugs).

Politics prevent development staff from being truly agile. Do some Googling and you will see the supposedly decentralized tech management structure. Because of this lack of hierarchy, there is also little room for professional advancement within the company.

Very little personal praise, plenty of scorn, high turnover, low morale on tech team.

Advice to Senior Management

Just like communism seemed like a good idea until the few at the top had absolute power, the lack of team management at Meetup leads to political bottlenecking at an organization level. Company leadership has contradictory strategic views which plays out in staff instruction. Tech management is vocal about not really wanting to be "management", and it shows.