Sinking Ship - Anonymous employee Talegent Employee Review

1.0
20 Jun 2022
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Had a lot of opportunities to learn on the job and develop my skills. The product team and the existing IP are very good, positioned well within the industry. Wider team are very helpful and easy to work with.

Cons

The CEO is stubborn and not fit to lead. He consistently lies and works against the team, derailing every project he touches. Company has halved in size within 1-2 years due to the CEO being insufferable to work with. He refuses to believe people are leaving because of his behaviour and instead blames it on Covid19. This ignorance will lead to the downfall of the company. Losing the HR team also makes it much more difficult to work there and rules are not abided by.

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Talegent Response
3y
Thanks for your feedback. Responding with a few facts, regrets and feelings. Facts: During the initial onset of Covid, we retained every ANZ team member. Product usage dropped 70%+ during that period. Headcount stayed at 100%. As of the 11th of Sept 2022, we have recovered to over 1,590 active users (Pendo data : 11 Sept 2022) versus 1,377 on 11th Sept 2021. A 15% increase like for like. The CEO is the 100% shareholder & sole capital investor. In the last year (2022), fulltime headcount has dropped with a deliberate move to profitability rather than 'living on the float' (Phil Knight). Central to this strategy is increasing the number of higher gross margin partner sales channels (10+ countries). Regrets: As founder, one only experiences two emotions: "Euphoria & Terror" (Marc Andreessen). Sleep deprivation, with 15hr days thru Covid didn't help with consistency. This was a mistake. Post Covid Churn – should have immediately replaced COO for continuity as vision without execution is delusion. The biggest mistake was not raising additional capital before Covid. Just operating on the float put too much pressure on us all. And this did not help with perceptions of consistency. However, as 100% shareholder, I was not about to dilute with Covid valuations dropping through the floor. Apologies for this misjudgment. I should have diluted and raised additional capital. Feelings: "The finger of blame has turned upon itself, And I'm more than willing to offer myself, Do you want my presence or need my help? Who knows where that might lead, I fall" Fall at your Feet -> Crowded

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Pros

Significant learning opportunities from consulting to product development. Opportunity to work with Product, Engineers, Psychs and Designers in delivering value to clients.

Cons

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5.0
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Pros

Talegent was a great place to work at while I interned here. I was able to learn new and explore lots of business aspects from the CEO and I felt that he had good trust in me. I had great exposure to senior management and many learning opportunities, while having close-support, which is great when working in a SaaS start-up firm. The company was also very accommodating to my busy schedule which was great.

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At times, I felt thrown into the deep end without as much guidance as I would have liked, though this did push me to learn quickly and adapt.

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