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 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

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.