Pros
Working in the research department has been the most fun job I've ever had. I absolutely love it and hope I can stay here until I retire. Colleagues are interesting, smart, and I learn a lot from them. I get to explore interesting topics. Clients are fun to engage with. I get to do some business travel to see the world, but not too much travel. My boss has my back, and management in general cares that we don't experience burnout. I would normally highly recommend Forrester if not for what I write below in the cons.
Cons
Years back the CEO pivoted the product to one he thought would earn more ARR (AKA "contract value") and rely less on one-time revenue. It was not grounded in anything customers were actually asking for. The unsurprising result: Revenue dropped like a rock and stock price crashed to a lifetime low in real dollars. Yet the CEO continues to double-down on the obviously failed strategy while holding no one in the exec team accountable. The core of the product is selling the expertise of analysts, but 100% of analysts I've talked to - without exception - and some of their managers have no confidence in the direction, either because they think the product itself is misguided or they think we have the wrong exec team to make it work. I see no way this can succeed when the people most instrumental in making it work - the analysts - have a universal vote of no confidence. I do not recommend working here for the simple fact that the CEO is flushing the company down the toilet and seems unwilling to face reality. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for years. Now I am sceptical that Forrester has a future, because I'm sceptical that the CEO will do anything to fix the problems he created. I'll wait it out hoping I'm wrong until I lose my job in a layoff or a restructuring after a PE firm acquires it for pennies on the dollar. But I can't recommend someone come here unless you just want Forrester's brand on your CV or are OK with gambling on losing your job in a few years.
