Don’t buy into the happy facade - Anonymous employee Dave Employee Review

2.0
Jan 27, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- The kitchen is generally stocked with snacks and la croix - Lunch was provided twice a week - Office equipment provided if needed

Cons

- Extremely cramped, shared work space with no quiet place to focus - Bro culture isn’t in your face, but definitely present: the executives and management (90% men) stroking each other’s egos and discussing their dating app shenanigans left and right - Executives have the inability to determine which employees bring value and culture to the company ultimately enabling difficult coworkers and pushing away solid talent - Extreme lack of interdepartmental communication especially when product updates are launched leading to messy roll outs - No job descriptions or expectations set causing burn out, inadequacies, inequality, and disfunction

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Dave Response
8y
Thank you for this comment. The company has grown leaps and bounds in the past year. You are correct that we failed to have company values set in place and a system setup for rewarding top achievers. Everyone at Dave loves our new values driven approach to the workplace, hiring and culture at the company since we introduced it in December 2017. Several people have been promoted to senior positions, some of which started out in entry level spots. We also did not have enough women on our management team, now of which we have several. I do wish we could have had a discussion about this prior to your departure. The early stages of a startup can be challenging and you were there when we just launched, an especially stressful time to have all of these checks in place. If only you could have stuck around to see how we are thriving now.

Explore other reviews about Dave

5.0
Mar 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Good stock/compensation -Leadership making smart decisions -I feel confident in the company's success -Fun company party one a year (is optional to attend)

Cons

-Your experience here will be wildly dependent on your manager. Culture / work load vary dramatically between teams -Expectations change frequently and are not always clear. You've got to be able to go with the flow. -Not a lot of upward growth. -If you cannot clearly measure your impact you likely won't last long. I personally think this is a good thing for the longevity of the company, but it can be emotionally draining.

2.0
May 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Stock performance, good compensation, strong IC

Cons

I witness several manager behaviors: Openly describe a former team member using phrases such as “I have to scold/discipline XXX a lot” openly discuss previous employees “bad performance” to gaslighting the team, openly praise the team member “work till midnight”. I raise all these concerns to skip manager but get no feedback. Idk about other orgs, at least this team doesn’t care much about your experience, upper managers creating an environment where favoritism within the team became highly visible. I hear senior level leadership comments on people’s work “I don’t like it” Not the place for IC wants to grow, managers who care about your team member, you’ll end up at your therapist office. But if you are lucky to be favorite by leadership, or you are very good at manage up doesn’t care about others, this is a very good company, you will get a lot, like a core cult-like member experience.

3
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