Pros
This is a tough one to write because there are a lot of good things about working at Podium, but it gets sour the longer you're there. If you only read one thing in this review and you're thinking about working at Podium, my one piece of advice would be to NEGOTIATE YOUR TOTAL COMP PACKAGE (Base, Bonus, Stock). Don't let Podium tell you their first offer is their final offer, IT IS NOT. There is money there to pay you and they can give you the salary and comp package you want. That being said, let's get to the pros of working at Podium: - Young, fun, smart people to work with: Podium hires cool people which make a generally mediocre place to work much more fun - Benefits are fine and on par with every other tech company. Nothing super special or mind-blowing - High deductible health plan has a fairly low premium and HSA match up to a certain dollar value - 401k with basic match - Some child related benefits including on site childcare, though it still costs about a thousand a month - A minimal amount of stock options, one year cliff, four year vest - Unlimited PTO (This is both a pro and a major con) - Wednesday lunch for the company, stocked "Costco" type snack cupboards, and soda and coffee galore - Premium coffee shop if you like paying a couple bucks for a latte vs. making it in one of the free machines - A few scattered arcade machines and an Xbox, just don't get caught actually playing it during work hours
Cons
When I got hired, things were so good for the first few months I couldn't help but wonder when the other shoe would drop, and it did indeed drop and the amount of drop you may experience could vary, but I'm writing about my specific experience. Cons of Podium: - A young hire base means young and inexperienced leadership at EVERY level of the company, it's hard to trust leaders when execution across the org is so poor - Along with poor leadership, there is a massive lack of accountability at manager level and higher. They're quick to dump "underperforming" individual contributors but generally management is insulated from criticism (unless from other managers, which is rare considering there's a massive bro/buddy culture that permeates hiring and firing) - Incredibly poor hiring decisions at senior leadership levels: the Podium founders/execs tend to look heavily at other companies to emulate, which means bringing in execs from those companies who may or may not add any value - An example of this was the hiring and firing of both a CRO and VP of Strategic Sales within an eight month span of time when they horribly underperformed - Mentioned "bro culture" above, it's widespread and pervasive, guys hire their buddies from former lives, pay them more than tenured employees, then give them passes when they suck at selling (or anything else) - Still very little diversity in leadership, Podium gives lip service to equality but that's all it is - Unlimited PTO is impossible when you're expected to be online all the time, good luck taking time off as a seller and hitting your MONTHLY quota - Salaries are incredibly low for a 3bn valued company - New products roll out seemingly on a whim or a dream from one of the founders leaving reps scrambling to sell and no clue on how to position products or how they'll be comped - If you're working at a company where every swinging D thinks they're the smartest guy in the room, run far far away - Unequitable territories and overestimated TAM: not every small business needs or wants Podium, and the product isn't unique or special, plenty of lower cost competitors with the same functionality - Previously mentioned CRO implemented a 360 feedback performance management system that ranks employees on a 1-5 scale. You could be given a 5 by your direct manager, your peers, then you could get completely screwed by conversations with senior leaders that you aren't involved in and be "adjusted down" to a 3 (so they can avoid actually giving you a decent raise) - Slack is invasive and work life balance doesn't exist
