Edmunds has the money, industry knowledge, and technical expertise to build whatever they want, but they lack focus and commitment. The leadership of the company has trouble committing to something when there's no immediate and clear revenue opportunity. They can commit to A when B brings in the money, but have trouble with A to B to C where the money comes in at C. They then look at other companies who have been able to commit to something and made it to C, and ask 'why can't we do that?' Any signs of improvement in this area are probably just a result of seeing competitors' success and using that as a clear way forward.
The founder has no patience, gets distracted by every fancy article that he reads, and disrupts the company's tactical choices in every area.
Product managers at Edmunds have to roll with the punches. One week you might think you're doing the most meaningful work of your life and the next you'll be forced in a completely different direction. Edmunds talks the talk when it comes to A/B tests, UX, usability, NPS, etc, but they haven't figured out a transparent strategy to efficiently deliver product improvements based on those measurements.
Those at the highest level – but still controlling what happens on the product level – are not product people, and seem incapable of assessing the company's products objectively. Unfortunately they need to be told by outsiders what's good or bad. They should get, or promote, a proper product leader and get out of the way (this will not happen).
