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First Resonance

Is this your company?

Great mission statement, with no execution - Software Engineer First Resonance Employee Review

1.0
30 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Tons of work and ability to take on as many projects as you'd like, coworkers are all in it together and good people

Cons

Honestly, this company is not getting its Series B. Leadership is just throwing spaghetti at the wall right now to see what sticks. Sales are dead, and a few big clients are the only reason the lights are still on. Turnover is insane, if you last a year here, you're practically a veteran; but that’s not even the biggest issue. The CEO is completely in over his head when it comes to business strategy and the product roadmap. He used to work at SpaceX, so he's trying to play the Elon Musk card by talking up the product in this massive, grandiose way, but it's all vaporware. For example, they "officially launched" ION Intelligence back in June 2025, and it still doesn't actually exist. To make matters worse, we are actively losing to our competitor, Manufacturo. You can hear it directly in our client call recordings and feedback sessions—there is a massive product gap. But instead of fixing it, the CEO wants to build a mobile app and the COO is busy complaining that the competition is getting EU funding. It's a real shame because the clients using the product are building some of the coolest scientific tech out there. If leadership would just stop looking for "silver bullets" and actually listen to the customers telling us exactly what's broken, it could be great. Oh, and as a cherry on top: the Customer Success team was actually awesome, but they just laid the whole team off today so Engineering and AI can handle support. Lastly, beware of the reviews from around November. Leadership heavily incentivized us to leave 5-star reviews around then because the ones prior were absolutely abysmal and they were desperate to pull the average up. They aren't real.

Explore other reviews about First Resonance

5.0
30 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

* The mission was incredibly motivating, and the company stayed true to it. It is extremely rewarding to work on challenging problems like is the case in manufacturing. Of course, it is tough and at times it will feel extremely difficult, but those who worked hard learned an incredible amount in a short period of time here. * The CEO rewarded those who extended beyond their comfort zone to take on new responsibilities. Many people who worked at First Resonance came from other roles, and the company effectively molded them into leaders. Many people went from Customer Success to Product as an example or Product to Engineering. * Extremely talented people here.

Cons

* Hiring individuals at the cross-section of manufacturing and software is challenging. However, I did expect the company to hire more effectively. * This can be a con depending on who you are, working with a first time CEO is extremely tough. They are learning many things on the job as well that may at times feel like they go back and forth on topics. But at the same time, I have never had anyone push me to be better at my job and give very concrete examples, books, blogs, etc. to read to help reinforce the ideas that they taught. * Manufacturing is very tough and there is not a lot of room for error for mission critical software. I think the company over extended themselves early on, which made managing customers a challenge. I hope that over time, they remain focused on providing depth to the product they created to become the industry leader in factory software.

1.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are some really good people trying hard here

Cons

Leadership is a disaster. There are unrealistic asks of the team and then when it can't be done the front line team is criticized meanwhile no one is worried about failure to meet contractual customer commitments. I wasn't going to say anything about this company until I noticed all the 5 star reviews. They are bogus, at least most of them. I was personally asked to submit a 5 star review by leadership to help with "image" and be a "team player", just before my entire group was let go. start ups are fast-paced and can change on a dime, but beyond that, there is an integrity and honesty issue in the C suite. I wouldn't want someone to start working here and not know the truth, it is a dead end road and it will be unpleasant along the ride.

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