Saleswhale Reviews

Pros

I’d like to preface that I’m writing this review in the lens of someone who was a fresh grad in the midst of a career change before I joined. Some aspects here would be more suited to people with a similar background but I’d hope to capture the overall experience regardless I’ve been here since early 2019 and it has been nothing short of amazing. The past 3 years have been the most transformative years of my life; not only from a technical career standpoint but on a personal level too The main reason Saleswhale is such a great place to work in is definitely its great people. Not only that it’s a small tight-knit group who are open-minded and care for one another, the people here are very smart, fun, driven and full of radical candour. I won’t pretend that I don’t get uncomfortable at times being surrounded by very passionated people but they inspire me to grow while having fun doing it. Operating on a culture of transparency, there is rarely a time where I feel unsure of the company’s situation or lack the information about day-to-day dealings of teams. Although admittedly sometimes it gets nerve-wracking knowing all the challenges and risks we will face laid out unfiltered for everyone to see, it is empowering to be given that amount of trust Pair that with a culture of writing and you get an excellent stream of communication through memos and proposals that enforces structure thinking and bolsters cross-functional collaboration When I first joined I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious and hesitant of how things will turn out especially considering my background. My worries were immediately squashed after I have come to realise just how much management deeply cares about my well-being and everyone else's. From our wildly eccentric CEO and contemplative CTO, all the way down to my (clowny c:) friend of a manager, I feel that I am always taken care off and they have my best interests at heart. And with a new product solving an interesting problem backed by an engineering culture that encourages individual accountability and ownership, Saleswhale truly primed my environment for success through continuous improvement. If you’re looking for the perfect balance of fun and individual growth, I’d highly consider joining :D Might be a great decision for you! Heck it’s definitely one of my best ones joining here

Cons

In my naive and optimistic view, I’m almost tempted to say there are negatives but in the spirit of transparency, I’ll admit it’s not always been smooth sailing The company took a massive hit in 2020. We had to go through layoffs and subsequently people leaving due to the unsettling circumstances that followed. Morale plummeted and the culture dented. The negative reviews left by prior colleagues during that time were warranted and it’s painful losing great people along this journey. Even though we’ve bounced back and learned meaningful lessons from it, it’s tough not to argue that we lost a big chunk of what made us Saleswhale. On a more lighter note, processes here are relatively new so it’s expected to be trailblazing into the unknown. It can get unnerving and sometimes experiments don’t work out which can be discouraging. There’s a lot happening and they happen fast and you’ll have to learn a lot of new stuff to keep up. With our culture of writing, there’ll be a lot memos going around. If you don’t like writing or reading, this might not be a right fit. Regardless of all these challenges, I love working here. There’s always something new to learn and everyday is a joy working alongside great people.

Pros

The main reason to work here is the best combination of trajectory + people. Most companies I worked at have been a tradeoff. Either fast growing and exciting at the expense of people. Or they have warm, nice and caring people, but lack the competency to take the business to the next level. Saleswhale is the best combo of both. The people (esp. engineers and product) are ambitious, sharp AND they care about their colleagues and the company. When people ask me why I'm still at Saleswhale - I tell them - I joined for the product and exciting vision (CEO is charismatic), but I stayed for the people. If you can pass the (pretty high) hiring bar to work here, you honestly should consider joining :) The biggest thing I really like at Saleswhale is the culture of transparency. Management shoots straight and doesn't sugarcoat challenges. While this can be scary at times, this level of trust is also very empowering.

Cons

In the spirit of transparency (which is one of our core values), I will put one thing here: It hasn't always been an easy ride. We went through a round of layoffs back in 2020. That was extremely painful, having to say goodbye to cherished team members. The CEO was relatively young, and he didn't exactly handle it perfectly. This resulted in threshing, damaged morale and erosion in trust for a few months. I have to say, we rallied really beautifully in 2021 though. And when we make an exciting announcement in a few weeks (can't reveal now)... this becomes one of the most beautiful comeback stories in Singapore startup history.

Pros

- Folks here are driven and passionate about the work they do. People are also highly collaborative and always ready to lend a helping hand when needed. - Truly a flat hierarchy. Huge focus on the wellbeing of makers and builders (designers and engineers) in the company. I'm given the autonomy to define the standards of my work and people on my team trust my capabilities. - Fair compensation and benefits. I feel valued. Not your typical startup with way too many smooth-talkers in C-suite and lowly-paid makers - Thoughtful managers who champion the best interests of their reportees - I think the executive team tries their best, under very difficult circumstances as a result of the pandemic. I appreciate the thoughtfulness and heart put into trying to be as transparent as possible with the rest of the company. - Driven founders. Scaling a startup is no easy feat and I respect the founders for their resilience and tenacity. - The company makes an effort to show care for our mental health. We now have a company-wide off-day every first Monday of the month, just for employees to rest and recharge.

Cons

- Like any other startup, job scope can sometimes evolve over a short period of time. Wearing multiple hats can be a pro or con depending on the person. Definitely an opportunity for exponential growth. - The company took quite a hit during the pandemic in 2020 and went through some restructuring, which affected the morale of various teams. Some rebuilding is required for core function members who have since left, leaving huge gaps to fill.

Pros

The team and culture is the best thing at Saleswhale. You'd work with lot of great people who care about each other and engage to make an impact to the culture. The founders are open for feedback and suggestion to grow the teams to the next level. A culture of continuous learning is encouraged across all teams. As the company is building a new product for B2B marketing space, you are given the freedom to experiment, fail and get feedback to grow. Design and engineering team is one of the best in APAC with latest agile practice, design system and tooling.

Cons

The company is switching to remote culture and will need to build new process and system to help everyone adapt to the new way of working. The team is small and need more resources to experiment g and build a working AI in the marketing space.

Pros

Been here since 2019, and it's been an amazing journey thus far. In summary: - People here are great - it's a small tight-knit group where everyone cares about one another. Working remotely hasn't changed that dynamic, and we still do social outings quite regularly. - The company takes care of its employees, and I have no doubt that they have our best interests at heart. - Management is super transparent, so everyone is in the know about everything that's happening in the company - good or bad. - Work-life balance is as good as you'll get in any startup, and career progression is also decent. - The future of the company looks promising.

Cons

There have been a couple of bumps along the way, but happy that we made it through.

Pros

- Great engineering culture, with a balance between individual accountability and ownership for features and building a fault-tolerant environment for engineers to work in. - Wonderful people to work with: everyone is helpful to a fault, and rigorous in execution. No red tape issues. - Freedom to explore/start initiatives, as long as you can balance your workload. - Fast paced, with plenty of exposure to learning opportunities. - User focused product building, with input from the user being a major factor when deciding on feature direction as opposed to just running on presumptions. - Transparent and sympathetic upper management: candid and not afraid to share information when things are not going well, and generally they try their best to emphasize employee wellbeing.

Cons

- Can get very busy depending on the roadmap. - Quite a roller-coaster at times, ranging from terrifying (we lost a lot of people when the pandemic hit) to amazing (the recovery since).

Pros

- Excellent product team culture – encourages critical thought and questioning - Lots of autonomy, not much is micromanaged on the product team; there is freedom to fail and iterate - Generally flat hierarchy – you're able to talk to anyone in the company at any time. - You get to solve interesting problems here. The product sits in a good space that's just complex enough for interesting exploration and solution generation. - Honestly, the people here care about both the product and their colleagues.

Cons

- Work can get hectic – multiple feature development/releases can overlap at times. - You might be required to take on multiple projects at a time and context-switch between different scopes. - The design team is extremely lean, with fewer opportunities for learning and development

Pros

Kind-hearted and open-minded people who know how to strike a good balance between hitting the pedal to the metal, and kicking back and having a good time. Generally, most are not afraid of initiating and implementing new projects to advance the company - something that I have not encountered in most of the companies I have worked at (startups included). Passionate, charismatic and visionary CEO, infectious levels of energy, not afraid to get into the weeds if necessary, leads by example - not afraid to try new things/ admit if he is wrong about something. A very lean and scrappy team; a lot of emphasis on resourcefulness, self-motivated growth, seeking your own feedback, independent problem-solving and prioritising what to focus on. This also makes this a company that is not for everyone. It can be demanding as it requires a certain level of emotional maturity and intellectual rigour, resilience to thrive in a VUCA environment. On the flip side, you can expect lots of informal opportunities for growth and learning (especially with trying your hand at different functional areas) - something most companies are not able to offer. Candour and transparency on both successes and failures across the company (through memos, short sharing sessions, town halls) encourages knowledge sharing. A nascent memo-writing culture to better communicate ideas, thoughts, gather feedback forces introspection, improvement and iteration in a remote working environment.

Cons

Heavily dependent on the CEO for setting direction. Not atypical of a young startup, but could pose as an important obstacle/ challenge to overcome as the company scales.

Pros

* Friendly, helpful and motivated people from many countries with diverse background. * Management does care a lot about the team and its people. Flat hierarchy. Very open and transparent culture. Questions and feedbacks are always welcome. * Very good and efficient onboarding process. Expect to start contributing to the main code base within a few weeks. * Startup culture, fast pace. A lot of learning and growing opportunities. You will be given a lot of responsibilities but also have a lot of freedom and autonomous to get things done.

Cons

A bit dated technology stacks - Rails and Ember.js. But the team is migrating to React and Elixir

Pros

- Great colleagues & supportive manager - Plenty of learning opportunities for career and personal growth - Great work-life balance - Working from home - Transparent management - Trust in the company

Cons

No cons as of now