Management clueless on how to run an enterprise SaaS company - Anonymous employee Hedgeable Employee Review

1.0
Sep 30, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You have a lot of responsibility and and have the opportunity to learn new things everyday.

Cons

Management has no idea how the development process works. Keeps forcing teams to meet sudden deadlines, resulting in redoing work later. Management has no idea how they want to sell their product. Resulting in an unclear product roadmap and switching of projects on a daily basis. Management misleads customers with claims a product exists. When clients then demand the product, engineers are pressured to build it on the fly. Management is severely culturally insensitive, constantly appropriating Japanese culture, makes "Americanized" nicknames instead of learning to pronounce names.

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Hedgeable Response
8y
Thank you for your review. I am going to answer this objectively, and not as if it were "fake news", or a disgruntled former employee or competitor trying to sabotage us, etc. We have a very simple company culture, there is a Hedgeable 10 Commandments posted on the wall when you walk in. 1 - No Closed Door Meetings 2 - Flat Company Structure 3 - No Suits Allowed 4 - Work Should Be Fun 5 - Challenge Everything 6 - Never Settle for Mediocrity 7 - No B.S. 8 - Integrity & Honesty are Paramount 9 - No Clock Watchers 10 - Build Products People Want We have regular HR reviews with every team member, including separate ones with management (which Mike did just a few weeks ago and many of these topics were covered). Every team member is asked for open and honest feedback in all of these sessions. I am looking through our notes and not one of the things in your response is in there. Therefore I must surmise that you are blatantly violating 4 of the 10 Company Commandments (#1, #5, #7, #8), and only privately under the guise of anonymity are posting these remarks. This is extremely disappointing and is the kind of behavior that we ran away from in corporate america. You will never be reprimanded for following the commandments, making suggestions, and raising concerns at Hedgeable, quite the opposite. Again, let's assume this isn't fake news - have you ever suggested ways to improve things you foresee as issues (suggesting better deadlines, recommending product roadmap software, recommending hiring an executive search firm)? The answer is no, because we have it nowhere in any of our meeting notes. This now violates a fifth company commandment (#5 Never Settle for Mediocrity). These Commandments are not meant for marketing; they are part of the company culture, and if you do not believe they should apply to you, we respectfully believe this isn't a long-term fit for your career.

Explore other reviews about Hedgeable

5.0
Aug 31, 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very very smart peeps I get to work with. We have a huge roadmap and lots of great partners, so I am never bored. Things are REALLY fast paced. We get to travel all over the world because our partners are global, which is really cool.

Cons

No unlimited vacation policy...at least yet!

1
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Hedgeable Response
8y
We are happy you are enjoying the culture, and the engineering work you are doing. Your suggestion on vacation has been noted with the HR manager!
1.0
Sep 26, 2016
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Casual dress, can wear flip flops (can only wear shorts if you're a female), occasional happy hours (that are poorly planned and decided on at the last minute), paid lunch during the week

Cons

No training or good communication between departments. Since the two co-founders are twin brothers, they constantly argue and pick fights with each other in front of the whole team which is incredibly uncomfortable and unprofessional. Emails and chats are monitored by the two co-founders as well. They won't tell you but will know everything that you are saying so nothing is private which shows that they don't trust anyone on the team causing a bad company culture. Not only are the co-founders passive aggressive, they have strange requirements when trying to sell that they are a "cool tech startup" in New York (i.e. being in at 9 AM on the dot, core hours being 9 AM - 7 PM). If I knew any of this would happen after joining the team, I would have never switched from my previous tech startup. I'm glad I got out when I did because I don't know how much longer they will be around for. Hedgeable seems like a slowly sinking ship.

4
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Hedgeable Response
9y
I am sorry for your negative experience. Working on a small team is difficult, especially with founders, and we appreciate your feedback. We have cross-training programs for the entire organization, have knowledge share sessions, and paid General Assembly Courses. It is common for employers to monitor employee communications for compliance and legal purposes. In fact, Hedgeable is required by law to monitor employee communication to prevent insider trading and other illegal activities. Unfortunately, employees can't have any expectation of privacy using company email accounts with messages sent representing the company, company computers, etc, in a regulated environment. Social media accounts must be monitored because Hedgeable is regulated by the SEC. These policies are clearly outlined in Hedgeable compliance manuals, which are available to every employee. Hedgeable does not monitor any personal cell phone or email accounts. Company business hours are tied to market hours, unfortunately the markets open at 9:30AM and we have customer support that is tied to these hours. We wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and hope that you find a better cultural fit at a future employer :)
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