Rebellion Defense Reviews

Pros

-The people are what make RD great -Culture -Everyone is bought in to the mission

Cons

-Like all software startups, there are growing pains around product direction.

Pros

Rebellion has competitive compensation and gold-plated benefits, as least until the money runs out. Unlimited PTO, at least in theory. They have one solid product, Nova, that can be actively marketed to customers.

Cons

I don't think there is anyone at Rebellion that knows how to run a business. Although Nova is a good product, the contracts for it are almost never cash-flow positive. Management spent most of 2022 killing existing product lines and severing relationships with existing customers in favor of preparing for a contract that has yet to come through (and may never come through). Leadership seems stubbornly dedicated to doing things their way, despite negative customer feedback. The result has been little progress in product development in the 3.5 years the company has been in business. The company currently has no COO, CFO, or CPO, which is problematic because Rebellion is going to need a cash injection later on this year to remain in business. The company has already been devalued once, and will almost certainly be revalued downwards if they can find any investors to lead a Series C round. It's looking increasingly like our options will have little, if any, value. Employee morale is exceptionally low, and most of my co-workers are actively interviewing with other companies to escape the toxic atmosphere. Turnover has been spectacularly high, with key employees leaving en masse for other defense tech firms.

Pros

Nova is doing well and will continue to be supported. If someone is looking to join the company, this could still be a good place to be. Restructuring has flattened the org and there’s a concerted push to mature engineering practices. These changes will serve the company well in the long term if it can jump a few hurdles first. Compensation is certainly better than what you’d receive from a typical defense contractor or conglomerate and in line with other defense-tech companies. The numbers on glassdoor are lower than reality. The benefits are good. Fully covered healthcare, effectively a 3.5% 401k match, liberal travel policies. The culture really depends on the team. Everyone I’ve worked with has been pleasant. Leadership makes some effort to be transparent through AMAs and sharing other materials.

Cons

There were a lot of very talented people here with whom I’d gladly work again. This isn’t intended to disparage them. Rebellion failed me and my teammates. Of the couple dozen people I’ve worked with closely in my time here, almost nobody is left. Quit, fired, laid off, pushed out, you name it. Several who joined from reputable companies quit and returned to that company after just months. I don’t think anything I’ve built here will ever impact national security. I also didn't learn much in my time here. The mood is oppressive. People from all parts of the company openly complain to me unprompted that they hate it here, that they’re trying to leave, that they have no faith in the direction of the company. I can’t escape it. The CPO is gone. The COO is gone. One of the cofounders is gone. Dozens were laid off and more are trying to leave. Some of these things are normal in a startup environment, but compounded with every other issue the magic 8 ball says: outlook not so good. When I interview at other companies, people look at me with pity when they hear I’m from Rebellion. Some give me a wry smile. Others ask what the heck is going on there. No joke, this has damaged my professional reputation. There have been problems for a long time, recently exacerbated by economic conditions. But make no mistake: these problems are overwhelmingly the fault of poor leadership. Other defense-tech companies aren’t all suffering the same fate. These problems have come to a head and are driving this company into the ground. I naively overlooked these issues for a long time because I enjoyed working with my team on interesting problems. The first set of endemic issues? Cliquey, mercurial leadership that constantly changes product directions. Much of this group joined Rebellion from the same org. Many of them are just the wrong mix of confident and inept, in adversarial relationships with our purported customers, unable and unwilling to heed advice or take criticism. I’ve heard stories from many people who tried to point out problems and are no longer with the company. The result is circumspect middle management afraid to interface honestly with leadership. The second issue? Empire building by managers who played politics in pursuit of positions, using their employees as pawns along the way. Some people would be kept outside their area of expertise for headcount, others would coast without consequence, but worst of all products and projects suffered. This isn’t a passing or cynical observation on my behalf. Everybody noticed this and complained about it openly. The new CTO took some necessary steps to fix this, although the execution was flubbed. The third issue? The product roadmap is a shambles. At first this was fine; the company was finding its footing and carving out a place in the market, or at least that’s what it should have been doing. Now, well, do the math. Runway is finite and it seems that good ideas are hard to come by. The lack of clarity, direction, and sophistication behind product plans is shocking. Product plans are perfunctory and change often without direction. Other efforts are overleveraged on high-stakes opportunities upon which I wouldn’t risk my livelihood. I hope for the sake of everyone at Rebellion that they come through. Generally, a lot of people at Rebellion seem to be under the delusion that they’re smarter than the thousands of other people who have worked on the same problems for decades at companies with many more resources, and this is reflected in the strategy. The product strategy seems less focused on identifying niches of expertise and more centered around naïve broadsides against established approaches and players. These were problems before layoffs and they’re still problems. The layoffs themselves? It was necessary to cut back. I know layoffs happen. I know people leave. That’s fine. But many of the people who were cut were integral to ongoing projects, and many who remained weren’t. The cuts were careless and were communicated so ineffectively that even directors were unaware of them months later. The CTO was on vacation on the day of layoffs, a microcosm of larger persistent issues with communication and signaling that plague Rebellion. You’d better believe people noticed. The message to remaining employees was loud and clear: the leaders determining your future at this company don’t care enough to know what you’ve contributed or what will break if you’re gone. This event was a switch that broke Rebellion for a lot of people. Intentional or not, the consequence is not only terrible morale (months later half of the meetings still feel like a funeral), but a growing retention problem. Poor retention is framed by leadership as a response to restructuring or closer scrutiny of performance. Let me be clear: most people are jumping because it looks like the company is failing. Most of the people leaving were among the best at the company, and bad-mouthing them is offensive and factually false. It's a good way to burn bridges (this should have been obvious, but I guess leadership didn't consider it). Poor retention is a feature, not a bug; the company would rather people leave after they overhired. If certain contracts come through, that’s great. If not, the second round of layoffs will be cheaper. This is OK – it’s a prudent business decision. Just don’t BS people or yourselves. They aren’t leaving because of their failures. They’re leaving because leadership hasn't made a convincing case for people to stay. If you don’t want people to leave, that’s the issue you need to address. Don't pretend those people were the issue. Are there scenarios in which this company will succeed? Maybe. I hope so. The talent is there, but a lot needs to change.

Pros

Coworkers are great, when we are allowed to do our jobs without management interference we kill it.

Cons

Of all the places I have worked I have never worked under such clueless design leadership. Too many amazing people have left since I started, I think we are on 4 or 5 thus far? There is only one common factor, the management — no one in the company seems to think this is an issue, so its time for me to leave as well.

Pros

you get to work on very interesting projects that potentially have a real impact on the world

Cons

like any startup, there is more to do than there are hours in the week

Pros

Health, retirement, and PTO benefits Silicon Valley like perks and office environment (lots of gifts, nice offices, relaxed dress code, parties, etc.)

Cons

Decisions are taken so quickly. Unexperienced personnel, not only managers but important decision-takers as well. Overstaffed. Nepotism. Managers worried more about job security than product quality/product acceptance. Unexperienced engineers, hired from other industries. Seniors engineers (the ones with 1.5 to 3 years old in the company) are not willing to train/onboard you since they are more focused on keeping their jobs safe.

Pros

Have attracted and still maintain some very smart mission focused people.

Cons

The goal was to take the best of government and the valley to create a software company focused on mission. The reality is they have combined the worst of the two. Rebellion has embraced the cold bureaucracy of government and the snowflake mentality of the valley. It's a failed model that has proven to be incapable of delivering meaningful value to the community.

Pros

- Interesting customers with unique problems and an industry that needs to be disrupted - 100% employer paid healthcare -Very smart colleagues, RD has done a good job bringing in talent - Well funded so nice swag and pretty liberal policies around $$

Cons

- No solid product even though the company is over 2 years old and has over 200 employees - Lack of revenue due to not having any sellable products - Unable to pivot when given market feedback, even worse there is no ownership or even desire to change - Toxic culture. If you are a part of the club then you can do or say whatever you want and will be rewarded with success. Many of these people would not pass the interview today and have caused many good individuals to leave the company, but leadership is unwilling to confront them since many are friends - Lack of diversity in leadership roles, most leadership positions are held by those in the circle of trust. One person holds 3 leadership roles on 3 different teams - You have to repeat the same thing as those in charge in meetings, if you do not then you will be excluded from key future meetings - Unwillingness to do honest retro's and figure out what things to improve - it is never Product or engineering leaderships fault

Pros

Are paying top dollar for talent.

Cons

The talent they are paying for don't last long. Allot of dishonesty, tons of people not being honest and playing games. Leadership complains about things, yet does nothing to fix them. Too much drama at this place, and the culture is non-existent and hostile. Leadership doesn't have the appropriate experience in some cases. Some people were promoted just because they were friends with the founders. Allot of people in leadership positions are not good leaders, and need to stop trying to do something they have no interest in or ability in.

Pros

For context, I come from big tech and landed offers at other defense tech unicorns and big tech companies. I chose Rebellion for its culture and the way it's connected with the DoD. Now, for the pros: - Recruiting process was amazing and fast. Really appreciate Ashley, my recruiter throughout this entire process. - Colleagues are leagues ahead of the company I came from. Most big-tech companies are extremely diluted (especially in periods of growth). I'm always surprised as the caliber of people that I'm surrounded by now and it makes me want to become better. - The work is challenging in a fun way, Rebellion is the only unicorn in the space trying to provide software and not some embedded systems/hardware play. We really differentiate ourselves and the customers we work with are here to be serious with us too. - Culture is phenomenal. Love the people here. Seriously going to be better than the other defense tech unicorns by miles. More "tech" vibes and not defense contractor vibes unlike other companies in the space. - In my time here, things have taken extremely focused re-direction and it's great to see people focusing on what needs to be done.

Cons

- Double edged sword - the company has a lot of very opinionated people. I have no doubt that this lead to direction/coordination issues across different business units across the company. There have been a lot of changes (emphasis on a lot) to address this problem in the past couple of months, and I have faith that things will change. - I feel as if company wide messaging is watered down, I wish things were more straightforward. - If you're from commercial, the defense space is a headache. Besides the job and challenge itself, you'll need a passion for the customer in helping them move towards the future.