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      Cotopaxi

      Engaged Employer

      Cotopaxi reviews

      Disappointing - Anonymous employee Cotopaxi Employee Review

      2.0
      Dec 13, 2018
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      small company, ability to make an impact as long as you can navigate the politics

      Cons

      below average compensation, no 401k. in terms of environmental and social impact, the company is genuinely focused on "doing good". But within the company and its professional contacts, people are routinely mistreated and taken advantage of. The culture is friendly, but superficial and closed minded, with a large dose of hubris mixed in. If you're a good "cultural fit" (read: white conservative), you may like it. If not, you're going to have a bad time.

      avatar
      Cotopaxi Response
      7y
      I genuinely appreciate the feedback. When an employee leaves a company or is let go, you often get some of the most authentic feedback, so thank you for taking the time to let us know about your experience. There are a few things I'd like to address: 1. Compensation: Our compensation is technically a little above average when measuring for salaries for similar jobs in Salt Lake City. That said, we are a startup. If you're looking to get the highest possible job, this probably isn't going to be the place to work. We're a team of people passionate about our social impact mission, about the outdoors, and about building something together. People work here because they love being a part of the Cotopaxi family. Compensation is probably a secondary priority. 2. 401k: We are a startup, and like most startups, we indeed did not have a 401k from 2014 - 2018, but nearly every employee gets equity in the business so that they own a piece of the business - with an upside as it grows. However, we are launching a 401k in Q1 of 2019, so we'll officially have a 401k in place in 2019, which I'm especially excited about. 3. I'm not exactly sure how to address the culture feedback. All I can say is that my experience and the experience of many others has been different from what you've experienced. I'm sorry that it felt superficial and that it fell short of your expectations. It's something I'm going to take back to my team and see how we can improve. One thing I would like to point out ... hearing Cotopaxi described as a "conservative" culture is a little confusing and surprising to me. We actively support causes with refugees. We have very liberal policies around paternity leave. It's hard to address politics, but the majority of our senior leadership are implants from California or the East Coast, which aren't traditionally conservative. That said, many of our younger employees are from Utah, which is certainly more conservative. I suppose your experience in this area is largely impacted by the people you interact with most within the company. Super interesting feedback. Definitely something for me to think about. Thanks again for taking the time to let us know about your experience, and I'm sorry it was a disappointing experience for you. Davis Smith, Founder & CEO

      Explore other reviews about Cotopaxi

      5.0
      Apr 14, 2026
      Manager
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Cotopaxi provides a strong sense of purpose that genuinely connects to day-to-day operations. The company empowers teams to build structure, improve performance, and drive meaningful change. ring my time here, Changes that have been made: strengthen team stability, elevate accountability, and implement processes that improved SLA performance, and enhanced safety. Leadership supports growth, and there is a real emphasis on building people and promoting from within.

      Cons

      The company is in the midst of a meaningful culture evolution toward stronger accountability and performance. As with any change, not everyone adapts at the same pace, which can create short-term challenges in team alignment.

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      Cotopaxi Response
      2mo
      Thank you for sharing this, and for the specific callouts around accountability, team stability, and promoting from within. Those aren't small things, and it's meaningful to hear they're showing up in your experience. Change is rarely seamless, and we appreciate the honest framing of that. Building a culture of strong performance and accountability while bringing people along at the same time is real work and feedback like this helps us stay focused on doing it well. Thanks for being part of driving that forward!
      5.0
      Mar 22, 2026
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      I've worked at a number of companies throughout my career and having seen a number of different cultures and working styles, feel very fortunate to have landed at Cotopaxi. I felt like I should make a post here after a friend of mine pointed out our Glassdoor rating when I said I was having a great time so far. The people and team I work with are excellent. It's a healthy positive culture, there's no politics, information hoarding, or some of the other baggage that you can find. It's genuinely a great group of people trying to do great things for the customer and the company. The management team is accessible and generally very nice. I've worked with mercurial CEOs and crony executive teams who kept everyone on eggshells and would jump on people any chance they had. Cotopaxi is very, very definitely not that place. They seem thoughtful and try to do the right things but I also know that there have been some hard decisions made in the past year, and not everyone has been happy about them. My exec team member has been very open to hearing feedback and it seems like they're listening. So overall a great experience thus far and look forward to being here for much, much longer.

      Cons

      Honestly, the management team could be a bit more organized in planning more than a few weeks ahead to help everyone have time to do their best work, but this is one of the things that they're listening to and I feel like it's getting better.

      avatar
      Cotopaxi Response
      2mo
      This just made our day! Thank you for sharing it. We know the Glassdoor rating doesn't always capture what it actually feels like to work here day-to-day, so we're really glad you took the time to write it out. The culture you're describing - people who genuinely care, leadership that listens - is something we work hard to maintain as we grow. It's not always easy, but it matters to us deeply. We're lucky to have you on the team. Here's to many more months ahead!
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