Working here is a big disappointment - Anonymous employee CoConstruct Employee Review

This is from Donny, Founder and CEO of CoConstruct. First of all, regardless of any differing perspectives I may have on the items you mentioned below, I'm sorry you feel that you're working at a different company than the one you were a year ago. I always want us to be transparent, and never want anyone to feel like there's been a bait-and-switch (be it for employees or customers). So, for that, I'm sorry. I'm also hopeful that there's room for us to prove your first impressions of CoConstruct to be correct so this is a place where you want to stay. No company (or person) is perfect, but as we grow quickly, it's important to me that our values and culture stay intact. It sounds like you believe that, too. I'd like to address some of your points below, but do it with caution, since, regardless of what I write here, your perspective is still yours, and it's not my place to tell you that your own opinion is wrong. But, I hope to provide some data points that would cause you to reconsider. “CEO founder recently sold majority interest in the company so future is more unpredictable:” As the sole founder and 100% owner for over 12 years, I took this step vary cautiously. I believe that the experience we gained through our private equity partnership helps us avoid pitfalls that companies with our size and growth often make. So, we have more stability and predictability than ever before. “Good people have been terminated suddenly…:” Your review comes a day after another Glassdoor review with the same concern, and there were no other negative reviews for six months. So, I'm assuming this stems from some recent terminations due to prolonged performance problems. This often seems "sudden" because we are very careful to keep this process confidential. It's the most respectful thing we can do for our people, but it can be a surprise to those who aren’t directly involved. At an upcoming all hands meeting, I’ll make sure everyone understands how our performance management process works, so while keeping individual details private, the approach and logic will be transparent to everyone. “…the company really doesn't promote from within”: In the past three months, literally over 15% of our team members have been promoted, most of them into management positions. So, I have hard time understanding your viewpoint on this. In a company that is growing its headcount by 50-100% a year, it's reasonable that we will need to recruit some leaders from the outside, in addition to promoting from within. Perhaps some of that external recruiting has affected your perspective. Given our track record, though, you could argue that there’s more upward mobility at CoConstruct than at other companies. “If you can't keep up with the constant demand to do more prepare to be shown the door”: We're a growing company, constantly looking for ways to question the status quo to better serve our customers. We are a team of people who enjoy that challenge. So, yes, I do expect for everyone, including myself, to be looking for new and better ways to do things. We don't arbitrarily raise targets without having a plan for what we are going to do differently so that we reach them, though. We're very data driven and believe in taking controlled risks in small experiments to constantly test new ideas in a way where we can safely fail if we guessed wrong and where we can double-down on winners. Our team likes to achieve more because we like to achieve -- not because I or someone else tells them to. We don't try to "squeeze every last ounce" out of our staff. We choose to push ourselves. It's the same reason why you may try to run a 5k a minute faster or play a song with one less misplaced chord. Some people may decide to never put on their running shoes or to pick up an instrument, but we attract and retain employees who do. And if you decide to play, you should always be seeking ways to play better. By lighting our own fires to do more, we benefit our customers. And when we hear their rave reviews, it gives us even more fuel to keep doing more. Most employees in the world don't think this way, which is why most people work for average companies. And if our mindset isn't a match for one of our employees, that doesn't mean that they aren't a good person. It just means that they may be happier moving at different pace. I think it's fine to be open and honest if another job would be a better fit, and then part on good terms. I hope that the solution to bridging your viewpoint and mine is to make sure that we’re communicating internally even more and that our feedback mechanisms are working like I think -- or else I really am on a pedestal and don’t know it, which isn’t what any of us want. I'll be speaking to some of these issues at our next all-hands meeting, and can hopefully prevent any others from having the same concerns. So, thanks for the feedback, and I hope you see the sincerity in acting on this feedback.