Pros

Worked with some fantastic people (but they all got laid off).

Cons

Incompetent CEO. A toxic work environment with questionable practices. Summary Koinly is owned and funded 100% by the CEO; no board, investors, or external accountability. After a good tax season in 2021, the CEO decided to expand the org in 2022 from contractors to full-time employees (all very talented) - most were let go in November/December 2022. The CEO is arrogant, uncompromising, and uninspiring. The CEO has no prior experience scaling a company/start-up and is unwilling to devolve power to any of the VPs he hired (who have this experience). The only silver lining from my time at Koinly is an invaluable lesson on what not to do, or how to treat people. My prediction is that a competitor will acquire it, or the CEO will run it into the ground. Please do not waste your time working at Koinly. CEO/Owner/Founder I've added a section on the CEO because this is the main problem area. The CEO - Robin Singh - communicates primarily via Slack chat. No VP has met him in person, and he only sometimes video calls. To most, he comes across as cold and lacks basic EQ. According to him, he is based in Delhi, but this is unconfirmed. There is virtually no information about him online. You can find a few references on 'companies house' and an inactive LinkedIn, but that's about it. From a company pov, Koinly has no strategy, and Robin is incapable of communicating a clear vision (and would reject or contest any presented to him); this left people frustrated and in the dark. In the past 12 months, only 1 company all-hands ever took place. The only thing Robin is good at is writing code - he built an MVP with product market fit but has little to no idea about what to do next, and is unwilling to let anyone help him. Culture Seasoned VPs could not push back, present their ideas or effectively use their experience to build the company. Every single decision went through the CEO: hiring, finance, code changes, marketing, product, sales strategy etc. There was no strategy document or access to even the most basic data: revenue, active users, and new sign-ups were all hidden from view. Upon joining the company, the CEO misled employees by telling them that equity and bonus schemes would be set up - this never happened. The CEO now plans to close the London and Sydney offices and take the company fully remote in 2023 - this was decided without consulting any senior management. Lay-offs Start-ups are by nature incredibly volatile. If layoffs need to happen there is a common playbook that everyone follows to avoid any unnecessary pain. At Koinly lay-offs were handled terribly. On Monday, 28th November, the company received a slack post about 'flattening the org in 2023'. What followed was daily firings over several days. People who survived the first day would have to come in over the following days feeling anxious and stressed, not knowing if that day would be their last. Personally, I was told that my role was safe, only to be cut the next day with no reason presented. The CEO did not provide redundancy packages, an apology, or any formal explanation for this decision to scale back the company. Several people who had passed their probation period never received official notice (despite requesting it from HR and CEO) and now have severance payments being withheld.