12y
As a founder of Scribd, I would like to sincerely apologize for what was obviously a very bad experience you had at the company. As a founder, it's deeply troubling for me that anyone at Scribd would have had such a bad experience. This review is very much at odds with the positive feedback we hear every day both directly and through anonymous employee surveys, but nonetheless for there to be even one person that had such a bad experience is one too many.
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To the author: I wish you had presented this feedback to us before you left either directly or via one of our many anonymous feedback systems, while there was still a chance for us to act on it. Unfortunately you've give us limited information to go on in this review, so it's difficult for us to know how to address the issues you saw. But if you would be willing to share more details, we would love to engage in a dialogue - anonymously if you prefer - for you to give us more insight into the problems you saw when you worked here.
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To anyone else reading this review: There is limited detail for us to be able to identify what made this person's experience at Scribd so negative, but we will do our best to reply to the issues raised specifically.
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▶ Decisions often at odds with employees' interests ◀
I would love to know what decisions we've made that are perceived as at odds with employee interests. I can say that as a management team, we see our PRIMARY loyalty as to Scribd's incredibly talented employees. As a technology company, we are well aware that our team is everything and we are nothing without them.
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As one of the founders, it is my greatest privilege to get to work with the Scribd team; the most talented group of people I've ever been a part of. And I consider the most important part of my job to be hiring and retaining this incredible group of people. As someone who spends his nights and weekends thinking about how I can make life better for the Scribd team, it's a bit painful to hear that someone could such a different impression. Clearly we failed this person in some major way. But I can assure anyone thinking of working at Scribd that our team is our #1 priority and always will be.
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▶ Startup in zombie stage, trying to copy competitors' innovations. ◀
It's true that Scribd went through a quiet period while we were working on our book subscription service. Maybe this is what the review is referring to. But I'm pleased to report that Scribd's latest strategy has taken off and become world-renowned as the most disruptive innovation in the publishing industry in a decade. If I can brag a little here, I'm rather proud of the response our book subscription service has gotten, in just six months making headline stories in every major newspaper. I'm optimistic that in this case, the feedback is simply out of date.
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▶ Get professional management that knows what they are doing ◀
Yes, we went too light on management structure previously. Fortunately, we've been able to bring in an all-star team of executives - five new people since this review was written - who have made incredibly positive changes to how the company is run.
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▶ Conclusion ◀
I would be grateful if you would be willing to engage in a dialog with us about your experiences at Scribd and how we can improve the organization. We are extremely receptive to constructive criticism and constantly looking to make our company better. As a former employee, please feel free to reach out to me directly, either with your real name or anonymously so we can learn from your feedback.
