Whisper reviews

CONS:  The few who do not fall into the above category (being a true pleasure to work with) are all in management roles but given their sheer ineptitude I'm dumbfounded as to how they landed where they are - wait, actually I’m not, as I’ll explain later. Management is a huge con in my experience working at Whisper but since there are other cons and to make this long review easier to read, I’ll break down the cons one by one:  
 1. EXECUTIVE TEAM: With regard to the CEO it's quite obvious how he got his role (his first and only job) - simple and awkward as he may be, he actually has the potential be an inspiring leader since his enthusiasm is infectious - much like a child's. With a little more backbone, self-awareness and recalibration of his moral compass he could be great. The COO is horrendously unethical and ego-driven - he looks good on paper so its less unreasonable for him to be in this role, however his blatant dishonesty and manipulation of those around him stand in the way of him actually being respected and effective as a people manager. The CTO is very intelligent but has limited ability to affect any real change, unfortunately - his refusal to participate in shady maneuvers behind the scenes or manipulate those around him makes him ineffective in Whisper's environment, even so he is probably the only competent CxO in this organization. The CMO is unethical and horribly uninspiring as a people manager but seems to possess above average intelligence - the only reasonable explanation for him being in this role is his closeness with the CEO who prefers to promote those he is fond of regardless of their ability to perform in the role to which they are promoted. The CFO…is there one? There’s no telling because I’m uncertain of this person’s title but the company has had some trouble keeping Finance leadership positions filled (no secret as a basic search on LinkedIn would lead anyone to this same conclusion). The last person to come into a leadership role on the finance/accounting side brought with them a few changes to the “perks” touted to lure employees - namely the way that reimbursements work - with no warning. I’m uncertain if this was the result of this person trying to cut back on expenses little by little or if the organization was simply so disorganized that they forgot to mention these changes to employees. Either way it left a sour taste in many of our mouths. None of these individuals are true leaders in the sense that they do not care about empowering their workforce in a way that would lead to lasting results (CTO and CFO/whomever is in that role excluded - they may want to empower their employees but lack the finesse or ability to do so). This is quite evident in the issues the company currently faces: money problems, unethical/potentially illegal behavior, lack of growth opportunities, employees leaving left and right (some voluntarily and others not so much). Anything negative that you read about Whisper is likely very true as I saw first hand. Anything positive that you read about the company is likely the result of extensive leg work and "spin" on behalf of the Communications team - frankly I'm impressed by their ability to spin this much dysfunction into mildly interesting headlines. Now that I think about it, I’m also impressed by the Executive team’s ability to almost convincingly lie to the entire company every week at company meetings. These guys give an Oscar worthy performance, too bad that’s not what they were hired for.  
 2. LACK OF DIVERSITY IN LEADERSHIP: The reviews on Glassdoor about female leaders and female employees in general not being empowered in this organization are painfully true. This was acknowledged and lamented amongst both male and female employees in my time at Whisper. While there are very hard working female managers employed here, they are managers in title only. Their perspectives often fall on deaf ears and their work is often attributed to male employees. Whisper is most certainly an environment of “bros” and Executives’ concern in changing this climate is superficial at best. If the powers that be (Exec team) wanted to exact any real change they would be more mindful of the way they interact with female employees - and yes there is a marked difference in the way they interact with male employees. It is widely discussed in the organization that women do not feel empowered working here. I sincerely hope this changes for the better.  
 3. NO DUE PROCESS: As with many startups there is no formal way to file a complaint or surface important issues aside from speaking directly with your supervisor. The CxOs all claim to have an open door policy but know that whatever expressed may be used against you later. There is no due process here because there is no noteworthy HR. Even if there was, HR's objective is to protect the business entity, not the individual employee. It’s on the CxOs to exact any change in the current culture. On this same topic, there’s no effective way to track performance which unfortunately leads to limited opportunities for growth. Simply put if you have good rapport with your manager but are woefully under-qualified for the position you’re in, have no fear you’ll be fine. If you fall into the opposite category - qualified but on normal terms or on not so great terms with your supervisor despite seeking out quality feedback for improvement - expect your time here to be short-lived (voluntarily or in-voluntarily).   
 4. THE APP: Chock full of ads. I get it…revenue is vital at this stage but really? This many ads?! Jeez. From a product perspective the app went from kind of cool to having this cheapie cheap quality. Raising concerns about this is often met with some hoopla about how the company is pivoting from an app to a media company and yada yada. That’s fine, but shouldn’t the app still be an enjoyable experience for the end users? Don’t you still want to take care of your audience? You’d think the product guys would be able to throw in something to keep the users engaged. Meh. Guess not. Just same old stuff and ads on ads.  
 **If you have read this far into the review know that your experience here may vary heavily based on whom you report directly to. This is not a place that values equality or fairness and attempts to address this are met with nonsense about employees needing to be able to "self-manage" or "self-motivate" to succeed here. Even you are a diligent self-starter you may still notice the blatant disparity in how different people are treated, not to mention the dishonesty here. Take an objective look at the manager you'll be working with as best you can and ask yourself 2 things: 1. “If this person asks me to do something I suspect to be illegal or simply unethical, am I willing to do it?” Your answer will give you a pretty decent understanding of how you’ll fit in here. And 2. "Do I really want to work for a company that has raised over $60 million in funding and has almost nothing to show for it in 5 years?" (A quick google search will paint this picture for you.) Traits that are generally celebrated in our society and in most workplaces, startups and large organizations alike, may be a detriment to your success at Whisper. Determination, honesty, diligence, competence...if you possess any of those traits you'll be uncomfortable working here and may very well be thrown under the bus or used as a scapegoat.   
 ***To Glassdoor: This review is accurately based on my individual experience and abides by your community guidelines in that it doesn't contain trade secrets/confidential information or aggressive discriminatory language. It does not mention anyone other than CxOs by title since these individuals "have broad influence over the work environment" as noted in the guidelines. Should this organization make an attempt to have this review removed (as they sometimes do and have already done once with this specific review) know that where there's smoke there's fire. There has even been an attempt to discredit former employees by attributing negative Glassdoor reviews to specific individuals no longer with the company. This is incredibly immature and ill-suited behavior for a company seeking to be the “media company of the future.”