Cogo Labs Reviews

Pros

Opportunity and ownership. In true entrepreneurial spirit, Cogo Labs is a place that provides and expects its people to be owners of their domain, pushes them to propose and then take big swings to hit exponential growth outcomes, and plays as a team, promoting transparency, alignment, and collaboration in everything they do. Cogo is also a company that is on the move and is open about where it stands and where it's going. We've seen that with the new leadership direction in the last couple years and ambitious goals that need smart and ambitious people, from management down. Cogo really cares about its people, constantly looking to improve everything from comp to perks to office culture. No company can be perfect, but what I care about is that it doesn't settle and is open to feedback to stay on a path of continuous imporvement. You get that at Cogo Labs.

Cons

If you're looking for handouts, this isn't the place for you. An ambitious and entrepreneurial company means expectations are high and you get out what you put in. Big upside requires big swings.

Pros

For awhile, they had an interesting approach to creating cash flow and developing startups which enabled a good amount of creativity. folks early in their career could get a lot of opportunity to learn about data and see how business concepts could be quickly tested.

Cons

- Cogo has really been more of an email marketing company than a startup incubator/studio. If you look at the leadership team, it's usually been a group of people who know a lot about sending spam email but almost nothing about starting / running a successful company. Somehow, that lack of experience never stopped them from wanting to weigh in on every startup decision - a direct result of the above: They seemed to believe that plans & processes could solve every problem, and that they could systematize starting companies. So they'd constantly spend weeks writing new plans, implementing new processes, and then would celebrate that as a success. But none of those led to actually launching new companies. Not a lot to show for in the last few years - black box funding / incentive structure. They always talked about grand plans of "30 concurrent companies" but were opaque about funding and equity distribution. No one ever really knew how their startups would be funded, how much they'd be funded, or how much (if any) of those companies they might own. After years and years of epic financial mismanagement, Cogo had produced A LOT of documents but no liquidity events. Not surprisingly, they had to lay off...just about everyone. Especially rough because they had just brought in a lot of talented and enthusiastic people who were under the impression they were entering a much more stable environment

Pros

Lot of flexibility, not ran as a company. Despite the company been more than 10 years also, it's still figuring out what to do.

Cons

They have recently hired many people to build a venture studio and then layoff everyone after just few months for mysterious reasons. This is not a very serious company. Every year they promote the fact that Cogo has been nominated top employer in the Boston area. They clearly pay money to gain that recognition.

Pros

A flexible work policy allows for hybrid work

Cons

- Low pay for comparable positions - No coaching or career development - Misleading interview process, Cogo makes its revenue through spamming emails to email lists it buys. It has a very low "hit" rate on these emails but is limited by how many sham companies Cogo can set up to pretend that the fake corporate entity is sending emails. When one of the sham company's reputation goes it it is put out of service and a new entity is formed to replace the email volume lost

Pros

Quick initial development, and opportunity for ownership early on in your career.

Cons

Languishing compensation, lack of linear company growth (over-emphasis on taking fast action means hitting tons of easily avoidable dead ends, lots of pivoting and unnecessary or wasted work), limited opportunity for continued development once up to speed on Cogo's systems, as well as a sluggish internal promotion, compensation, and role/title transfer model.

Pros

Amazing people and a caring, growth-oriented culture that will gift you massive responsibility at a young age.

Cons

Fast moving means quick pivots and targets can change quickly sometimes.

Pros

Smart kind and hardworking peers

Cons

I won't get into the business model but between that and bad judgment at the top it is not a good place to work. Let's unpack CEO Rob Fisher’s response to the Oct 2020 Glassdoor review. This review called out the exec team lack of diversity and foundation in cronyism. Rob’s response, in part: "As for the management team, I can only say that it’s a group of highly skilled and experienced people aligned to a common mission. That quality comes from painstaking, diligent, and frank disagreements with a massive helping of mutual respect and psychological safety. I’m glad to hear that the product of all that is viewed from outside the group as a team united, because we’ve worked hard to forge it" This passive aggression is characteristic of how Rob and execs deflect constructive feedback (it's all “misalignment”). He would rather twist the commenter's words than consider his own flaws. Interactions with exces will more often than not get an infuriating response like this one that willfully misses your point and ignores anything constructive. Execs will pay lip service to diversity and openness but their actions and responses make it clear that they prefer to exist in an echo chamber. If you don't fit their profile good luck getting respect.

Pros

A true start up environment that values impact and innovation above all else. I've had a great experience bringing new ideas to my manager and working on implementing them quickly. Company also has a solid work-life balance. Employees control their own schedules and making an impact at work determines where / when you need to be "on". People are relaxed and fun. Company invests in frequent events to enjoy the culture and celebrate wins.

Cons

The company is still young and has to get better at things like career growth and clearer expectations. High impact employees have huge upside but getting their can be clearer.

Pros

Flexible work environment Brilliant colleagues Great benefits Exciting, innovative work Incredible experience builder at nearly every level

Cons

Cogo’s planning processes can take some getting used to, but the structure allows for a very scalable and repeatable growth plan. Not a con, but a heads up that this piece may be a little different than some are used to.

Pros

Cogo is currently in a rebuilding phase in many ways, which has brought some frustration along with opportunity. The CEO has continued to keep transparency his focus, even during remote work, with clear updates in company meetings and emails. Remote work has been tough (at least in my personal experience) - but Cogo has provided tons of flexibility to deal with personal things (unlimited sick time for all employees and unlimited personal time for parents to address childcare needs during the pandemic). My manager consistently gives me timely feedback - both positive and constructive. From what I see and hear, many of the managers at Cogo are equally amazing. If you see a gap that you want to correct or a project that you want to work on, Cogo gives you the opportunity to do so. They stay focused on working on what's impactful, so that means making your case in a constructive and data-driven way. I appreciate this because it means we're always focusing on what's most important and driving us towards our goals. As a woman at Cogo, I haven't faced the issues noted in other reviews here. Cogo is continuing to make strides in diversity (there's work to do here), but I've always felt respected and that my voice is heard.

Cons

These aren't exactly cons, but certainly areas for opportunity (which I've seen Cogo working on actively) Some employees feel a lack of ownership regarding culture. There's work to be done refreshing the culture and giving folks what they need to feel ownership. Some of this is likely from remote work/pandemic stress. There is work to do on diversity and it should continue to be a focus.