Zillow Reviews

Pros

The sheer joy and exhileration of working with this truly stellar team of individuals. There are of course individual teams within Zillow, but it feels to me like we are all on the same team, engaged in the same big goal. A recent conversation had in the elevator says it all for me, in the context of what are you doing this weekend. The reply was, "I don't really have any plans," so I quipped, "Well I guess you could come in to work." He smiled and said, "And you know that would be okay." Our conversation wrapped up pretty quickly, as elevator conversations tend to do, with the agreement that it's a pretty rare and magical experience to truly enjoying being at work each day. It's really a romance - loving what you do and who you do it with.

Cons

Startup pay.

For those used to or who prefer a lot of infrastructure support (e.g. receptionist, facilities, admin, IT support) - you might not like it. Zillow is a lean machine. You do your own shipping, faxing, pickup your mail from the front, make your own coffee, do your own dishes). We might even be out of papertowels or batteries occasionally - but amazingly we cope. :) I personally like this and it feels more like a community to me because there really aren't any dedicated "housekeeper" functions so to speak.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing, which appears to be keeping your eyes wide open, continually challenging and addressing the strategy and direction of the company as the business and cultural environment changes.

Pros

Crazy smart, motivated people who enjoy their jobs and this industry. The category we're attempting to win is huge and developing, and we're up against worthy opponents, which makes the job and the enterprise exciting and relevant. And the senior management are solid - it's nice when the ship you are on is in the hands of capable commanders. I feel like they are handling the downturn as well as anyone and better than most, being the benificieries of long tenure in this industry and the ability to spot where things are going and make the right decisions early and proactively (specifically in terms of layoffs). They aren't afraid to make difficult decisions, and that makes us, the rank-and-file, trust their leadership.

Cons

Economic downturn means that ad-spend is down accross all categories, and since ours is a media business model, we pretty much live and die on ad budgets. In a sense this makes the whole thing more interesting, since it raisese the stakes considerably, but it's spooky. The other part is that we are being forced to do more with less - again, exciting and challenging, but also chaotic and harder to control. Also, raises are not forthcoming, and benefits have been stripped a little.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep making smart decisions. Keep communicating how we are doing financially, especially in the field of turning UUs into dollars, whether we're winning the battle to walk out of the other side of the recession/depression, treading water, or sinking. Keep the product team heads happy.

Pros

Smart people who aren't jerks. Red vines. Tackling growth-related challenges, which totally beats dealing with the opposite kind of challenges.

Cons

Inherent startup risk, a bit stingy w/ stock options. Org chart constantly in flux, blurred ownership lines in certain business areas.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep communicating, try more experiments to maximize revenue (bucket testing, etc.)

Pros

This is a great company that has grand vision to revolutionize the real estate industry --- an industry that is relatively later in embracing internet than others such as travel, brokerage and shopping. A great company lives for a vision, a good company lives for competition. By far Zillow is the best and most promising start-up in the great Seattle region.

Cons

There is always risk there for a start-up. There is a trade-off between the long term potential v.s. short-term reward. We are all learning how to run a successful start-up especially at the down time of the global market. The success of a start-up depends on each of its employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Our success is largely dependent on execution.

Pros

Fun. Beyond the team "morale" activities, sponsored ski days, ping pong, Guitar Hero, and other activities, the people at Zillow are friendly and warm. Laughter is a sound heard almost daily. People enjoy working at Zillow.

Honest, approahcable leadership. The executive team is absolutely forthright about their decisions (and mistakes), the status of the company, and the direction moving forward. Furthermore, these honchos are down to Earth and easy to talk with. For example, the CEO sits on the floor during all-hand meetings and has even been known to kowtow in thanks for hard work. The company feels like one big team.

Cons

Hard economic times have especially affected start-ups like Zillow. Layoffs, the struggles to make profit in a down market, and the relentless pace of under-staffed development slowly sap the energy of a small company.

Because the company is still young, there are limited resources for salary increases or other incentives. Stock options can only entice so much effort.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work, but try not to do too much with too few resources. If you're not willing to employ more people don't stretch the current employees too thin. That will exhaust creativity and ultimately suffocate the amazing culture at the company.

Pros

If your looking to work with the best this is the place. Initially Zillow hired too fast and the result was a lot of waste built on the 20/80 rule. However since the reorganization it's a company of superstars, all striving to create the premier Internet real estate site. Fair warning you don't walk in as a superstar because you made it through the interviews, your expected to prove yourself.

Cons

Salaries are based on equivalent positions at similar companies. The problem is this is in relation to avg salary of these positions. Most people at Zillow would fall on the far right hand side of the salary bell curve at any other company. From a financial perspective Zillow will need a high IPO or sale price for it's employees to be truly compensated for their work.

Advice to Senior Management

Great products, but it's too frustrating for the average user. Allow the user access to the data.

Pros

Startups can be notoriously brutal in terms of hours and changes in direction. Zillow is no exception, except the people are respectful of each other (no barking) and there is compassion around family issues and personal pursuits. Everyone is left to do their job to the best of their abilities. No one micro-manages you (unless you're underperforming) and you are allowed to be as creative and innovative as you'd like -- as long as it makes sense with the "play" that is called each year.

Cons

The unknown. With the economy we're in right now (2008 - 2009), we are in the eye of the storm -- real estate -- so no one knows how we will fare once the dust settles. Also, if you like to be a prima donna, you have no reason to be at Zillow. Everyone does the dishes, everyone refills the copier with paper... in other words, we do it all -- our jobs and beyond. Also, the salaries and benefits are OK -- not great, not bad, but just OK. Hey, it's a startup!

Advice to Senior Management

Stay focused on what will bring us to the Promised Land (i.e., profitability). Also, don't lay off any more people. Layoffs hurt the economy and people.

Pros

Best reasons to work for Zillow include working with very bright and talent people, under exceptional great leaders such as the founders and managers. Zillow potential long-term upside is very clear to me. It has a very strong solid foundation allowing it to grows much bigger than it is today. This foundation includes successful experienced top rate management team, amazingly smart and hard working employees. Together, the people at Zillow has a working process to build, upgrade and improve products that can attract customers without spending advertising money. The products such as Zestimate and Mortgage Market place are fundamental bases for many product expansions to attract many visitors to the Zillow website.

Cons

Small start up company with high risk of not turning profitability within expected time line.

Advice to Senior Management

Nothing! Just continue creating plans and execution toward optimal long term growth.

Pros

The environment is fantastic and everyone has the same goals in common in making zillow the best online real estate website. It is a very fun and energetic environment to be around which makes it easier to come to work each day. This is also the first place that I worked where there was free coffee, soda, juices and snacks! We also have an amazing view of the Pugent Sound and the mountains from the 46th floor of the Wells Fargo building. The laid back dress code is also a plus, since we don't have to spend a lot of time getting too dressed up in the morning.

Cons

I don't see any downsides to working at zillow.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing what you are doing.

Pros

Get to work on some of the best pragmatic Web architecture around oriented around a solid business plan.

Cons

At times the pace is too fast leading to a constantly fixing of live-site issues.

Advice to Senior Management

Tone down social networking & just work on real money making features (such as mortgage marketplace). Social networking may be a necessity, but Real Estate itself will never have MySpace enthusiasm and it won't be our money maker. People who own homes are generally older and don't have time to bother (or care) with chit-chat.
All social networking features should be driven by a solid feature (such as Mortgage or Professional Directory) - because people will engage in features where they want feedback/answers.