Smoke and mirrors! - Software Engineer BetterUp Employee Review

1.0
Apr 1, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The best branding team in the business, probably! See more below!

Cons

The best branding team in the world would make you believe BetterUp is the best place in the world to work. A great culture, a rocket ship growth company, an amazing product… here is the catch: most if not all of it is smoke and mirrors. I joined BetterUp 2-3 years ago and have put my sweat and tears into this company. Nights, weekends and everything in between. Believe me when I said I was underpaid and overworked but I didn’t always mind it because the CEO Alexi Robichaux and CFO Vinh Le will make it known time and time over again that you’re working at a rocket ship! “You know what that means right? Equity!” That’s right! It means that all that equity that gave you will be worth a ton of money one day right? I mean they keep showing graphs about how much the company has grown and how much we’ll be worth when we IPO one day right? Here’s the thing….. Every person joining BetterUp or currently employed at BetterUp needs to know this. Your equity is worth nearly nothing. Have you ever wondered why the company provides little to no information about what your equity is worth? There was one meeting with our CFO and a lawyer last year that confused anyone in the audience but other than that nothing! I hired a CPA to figure it out for me and I felt like I was dealing with the IRS asking BetterUp’s finance team basic numbers my CPA needed to determine my equity valuation. I mean, these are basic details any company should share with employees but I felt like I was asking going to get fired for just asking them. Low and behold… my equity as a software engineer would amount to about 20k per year. Hired another independent CPA who confirmed the same figure. Alexi and Vinh, where is all that rocket ship fuel actually going if not employees? Folks don’t waste your time here.

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BetterUp Response
4y
Thanks for your feedback. Based on the information and timeline you shared, it seems like you may be miscalculating the value of your options. If you're interested in talking further, please reach out to our HR team so we can help clarify the misunderstanding. We continue to align our equity grant decisions with market benchmarks. We offer training every 6 months to ensure our employees understand our equity plan and how to value their equity. Based on your feedback, we can certainly revisit whether we are providing enough education for our employees to understand the value of their equity. Once again, we appreciate your feedback, and please reach out if you're interested in talking through how to value your equity grants further.

Explore other reviews about BetterUp

5.0
Apr 10, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

High achieving (but friendly, collaborative) environment, great for driven professionals looking to uplevel their skills and career, flexible work schedule allows me to prioritize school pick ups and personal life, company wide summer and winter breaks every year plus "inner work" days off and volunteer days, career opportunities for advancement (at least in my dept.), You'll work with some of the most capable, driven, kind individuals. I've been here for 3+ years and have no intention to leave, I like the work I do and the team I work with.

Cons

High achieving, high performance culture isn't for everyone (clearly). If you're looking to coast, this is not the place for you. There are pockets in the org with bad managers or poor leaders, and I agree they should be weeded out ASAP because they're clearly bringing down the majority of the org which is filled with decent people who want to do the right thing and do good work. I wish they had a 401k match.

1
5.0
Jun 10, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Nearly 8 years in, and the work still pulls me forward. What keeps me at BetterUp is that the problems are genuinely hard and genuinely worth solving. I came from engineering, so I'm wired to care about infrastructure, not just features, and this is one of the rare places where you can build something foundational and actually see it move metrics, clear escalations, and unblock a whole go-to-market motion. The mission isn't decorative here. I can feel the thread between the work and the outcome. BetterUp also trusts you to figure things out across lanes. I've written SQL, prototyped with AI tools, facilitated workshops, and co-designed vendor strategy, all as a PM, because the culture doesn't penalize curiosity or reaching into adjacent territory. And honestly, some of my closest friendships came out of this place. The people I work with, on engineering, on cross-functional teams, and in peer mentorship, are people I genuinely learn from and, in some cases, people I can't imagine not having in my life. That combination of meaningful infrastructure work, real trust, and people who challenge you and become your people is not easy to find. The benefits span beyond general work-life-balance, if you're curious about something, there's always an open door to learn and contribute. As a woman in tech, I cherish the fact that our colleagues listen to women, and our insight is taken into account instead of just ignored. It's nice to feel safe at work, able to speak your mind freely.

Cons

If you want a boring job, this is not the place for you.

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