Smartly.io Reviews

Pros

The culture at Smartly.io is unmatched in terms of transparency, continuous feedback, and personal growth. If you are a go-getter and want to see your contributions make an impact while at the same time not be pushed until you burn out at work, Smartly.io is really worth considering working at.

When I joined half a year ago, the company was experiencing a growth spurt in terms of head-count, but the very humane (humanist?) culture continues to be intact and spreading to new hires. This is not by chance but by design.

I remember very clearly once when someone made an anonymous comment at a global kick-off meeting that was quite offensive towards an individual. It is against our company values to hide behind anonymity and not give feedback directly when it is due. So when it happened, someone from the leadership team immediately spoke out about it, firmly suggesting that if "you cannot give such feedback to the person directly, maybe you should work somewhere else". That was the moment I realised that this company is different. Good workplace culture is truly a priority here.

Apart from culture, work is varied and there is quite a lot of autonomy when it comes to selecting (and suggesting and leading) projects, especially for a role like Service Operations. We hold one another accountable in a supportive way and own up to mistakes openly, and we all share learnings (via "#knowledgeshare" in our internal communications software) so that we as a team/company don't repeat them again.

The twice-a-year company-wide offsite is a thing I look forward to because I'd be able to meet new Smartlies, catch up with existing colleagues, and most importantly, be able to have a say in what the company's focus should be in the next half of the year. This gives me the feeling like I'm able to contribute in a meaningful way to the company's growth.

Advice to Management

- Keep ensuring that employees can tell that you put company culture and values as a top priority as we scale. You're already doing an incredible job and I hope that it continues this way.
- Continue to keep the hiring standard high so that we can continue to work with smart, hardworking, and kind people.

Pros

This is an overview of the Smartly Recruitment process, I have not been here long enough to judge how it feels like working here.

- Great communication, full transparency;
- Amazing best-in-class product;
- International team of A-players;

Why I chose to join, other than the reasons mentioned above:
- The company is in a really good place, it's growing rapidly and results are great;
- It's a flat organization with tremendous opportunities for growth;
- The vibe is quite amazing, you can feel the team spirit; it's result-oriented, yet very humble, everyone is extremely helpful;
- You can quickly make an impact on the organization with the right attitude.

Pros

Smartly has a very rigorous hiring process. It is designed to bring people into the organization who can be just as committed as the leadership team. As a creative it pushed me outside of my comfort zone and connected me to the business of smartly right away. That allowed me to be in client meetings on day one and deliver client creative by day 5. Trust by default is a very true value here. I'm looking forward building with this company.

Advice to Management

Continue to be vigilant about hiring quality people. Maintain conviction about what the company is building. Look for ways to hire even more diverse candidates. It will only make Smartly better.

Pros

- Lots of flexibility
- Great culture and colleagues
- Rotations are possible between different offices and roles
- Rather flat organization structure
- Opportunities to grow and enhance your career
- Great and interesting clients (most advanced and biggest in the industry)

Advice to Management

-

Pros

Being a young, fast growing company, there are a lot of possibilities for active people. I was taken in by the openness of the culture, the way potential candidates are welcome to the office every Friday morning (in NYC) and afternoon (NYC and rest of the world) to see how the day to day work is done and to meet the teams - even see the other offices via video. This really lets one get a feel of the company before and while applying.

I think of the self managed way of working with non-existent hierarchy as a pro, since it makes it possible to mold the tasks to one's will. Added with the possibility of doing internal rotations to even different countries, the opportunities are quite extensive.

The colleagues are some of the nicest and brightest out there and frequently hang out together. Despite growing fast, there's a strong start-up feeling to the company with people hanging out together even after office hours. The group of bright talent means there's a lot to learn - no matter who you are - and keeps (should keep) one humble.

The benefits are great and compensation is fair. The 5 weeks vacation is actually vacation you're encouraged to take, showing clearly the Finnish roots of the company - which by the way, is a country you get to frequent with Smartly.

It's very refreshing to see management evaluate their own actions in front of the company, building trust and respect. Everyone also contributes and has an impact on discussions on the company strategy - which are held regularly.

Pitching ideas, especially if you yourself take point on following up with them is easy and looked well upon. It doesn't need to directly relate to your tasks as long as the company's best interests are served.

Advice to Management

Strategically and operationally, management is doing exemplary work. Focusing on making sure the pressure to perform remains on the positive side is something to keep an eye on.

Pros

-You learn a lot and fast
-Colleagues are inspiring and eager to help
-Leadership has a clear vision for the company
-Collaborative culture
-Great work-life balance

Pros

I've been working at Smartly.io over two years now. I started in Helsinki and later I transferred to our NYC office. It's been great to follow closely how the company has grown massively during my time in here.

You're getting as much responsibility as you can take and that makes the work really motivating. It is actually expected if you see something which could be done better that you take the initiative to improve it. The tasks are very varying and you have great flexibility in choosing how you work. You can also steer your work towards your interest areas quite well. I've also liked a lot the possibility to work and travel very internationally. Perhaps one of the greatest things are the colleagues and the culture. All of us are like-minded but still different so that there is always something to learn from everyone. Simply put, working (and after-working) with all colleagues is super fun!

Many of the practices we're using on daily / weekly basis are almost straight from some best practice business books. It's been amazing to realize that we're using so many good practices already and the culture of continuous feedback and development is helping us to get even better all the time. I can imagine that all of the (sub-conscious) learnings will be very helpful in the future.

Pros

I started as an Account Manager in Helsinki, nowadays at the San Francisco office

+ An extremely value-driven company.
+ Some of the nicest and smartest colleagues that I've ever worked with.
+ You get to work in an industry where things are changing quickly and potential is huge.
+ Great perks (5 weeks of paid holiday, option plan, etc.), the company invests a lot in the employees.
+ The product is extremely good, which is quite motivating when working on the sales/customer side.
+ No unnecessary bureaucracy, practicality emphasised in ways of working.
+ Very good opportunities for rotating between offices for shorter or longer periods based on your interests (in addition to the Helsinki HQ, offices in San Francisco, New York, Berlin, and Singapore).
+ Non-hierarchical work environment, you are very close to management.
+ You are given a lot of trust from day one, and you have the chance to work with clients of all sizes, from smaller companies to some of the largest advertisers in the world.

Pros

+ open, warm, great working culture and great colleagues
+ I got huge responsibilities right away after starting - handling millions of dollars of customer money monthly after just a couple of weeks
+ flexible possibilities to travel all over the world / relocate to remote offices
+ "insane transparency": everyone has access to all knowledge, and all significant decisions will be made openly
+ the industry is super interesting, developing at a fast pace
+ great compensation and benefits, equity plan, perks such as sports, equipment and company christmas presents ;)
+ nice values: family first
+ it's always nice to work for a company that is doing extremely well, where customers are happy and where you get to enjoy the results through your equity options :)
+ the future looks even brighter

Advice to Management

Keep taking a good care of your employees, we really are under a lot of pressure here with so few resources and so many opportunities

Pros

As an expanding global organisation, Smartly succeeds in creating a very collaborative working environment. Weekly company wide calls hosted by different regions make you feel connecting to the many teams. Most importantly, no internal email makes you so much more productive and in tune with the wider business. From sharing learnings to celebrating wins, it doesn't matter whether you are in San Francisco or Sydney- it is quick to communicate within the company and get a response to any question you might have.

Our company updates create a very transparent and open forum, digging deep on Financials and the overall business health. It is nice to really understand how the business is doing from a Financial Perspective. This makes you feel part of the business and not just a 'worker'.

There is a strong culture of honest feedback which can be a bit of shock when first joining, however, this keeps everybody humble.

Product-wise, our solutions are excellent. In addition, the support/service at Smartly is the best I've ever come across. It is apparent, however, that Facebook is aggressively improving AdsManager with many excellent updates. This will just mean that Smartly needs to continue innovating to ensure we are keeping our clients happy. The fact that our clients operate on 'rolling' contracts is a testament to this I think.

I work in a great team where there is no clock-watching, just trust that each of us is putting in 100% to help the team and business. The bonus scheme is fair I think and ensures we are working to a common goal.