Saleswhale Reviews
83% would recommend to a friend
(27 total reviews)
Gabriel Lim
84% approve of CEO
Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "CEO is passionate and inspiring, and is very transparent about what is happening in management" (in 5 reviews)
Found 27 of over 30 reviews
Updated 5 Jan 2023
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- 5.05 Jan 2023Senior Frontend EngineerFormer Employee, less than 1 year
Pros
- Transparency - Truth - Teamwork
Cons
- Covid tears down the company
- 5.030 Mar 2022Software EngineerCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsSingapore
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.
3 - 5.011 Mar 2022Software EngineerCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearSingapore
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
1 - 5.015 Feb 2022Anonymous EmployeeCurrent Employee
Pros
Strong and holistic culture right when I first joined the company. My colleagues in Saleswhale are smart and driven people. They are rational when comes to crucial decision making, but also know how to entertain ideas that seem crazy. Managers are great as well - they give focus to employees' growth and learning which I appreciate. ✓ PTO ✓ Work from home ✓ Work laptops ✓ One day off every month
Cons
Not a lot of benefits for remote contractors, though they do offer relocation assistance.
1 - 5.02 Feb 2022Software EngineerCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearSingapore
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.
1 - 5.014 Jan 2022Software EngineerCurrent Employee, more than 3 yearsSingapore
Pros
- The team is amazing - You'll (have to) learn a lot - Everyone is participating in the planning - People are not afraid to speak up and ask questions - The product is really good
Cons
- You'll have to learn a lot of new stuff - People won't tell you what to do step-by-step - Not every experiment works out
1 - 5.09 Dec 2021Customer SuccessCurrent Employee, more than 1 year
Pros
I have to say they are the most transparent and honest people you'll find. I had joined their team at the start of the pandemic and they were honest about the unknowns and their fears when they welcomed me onboard. The team at Saleswhale allows you to explore, try and run experiments independently to either get things right or to learn (we just never think something failed, there's always something to learn in there). Everyone would share their thoughts and experience so that you can choose what's best. The last 1.5 years with Saleswhale have been a rollercoaster ride and we all are proud of how we sailed through the pandemic. Everyone had their own highs and lows during this time but we all stuck together and made things work. Being at this fast-moving start-up, I have learned so much and even grown as an individual. I would say that joining Saleswhale and not leaving was one of the best decisions I made so far.
Cons
Honestly, just one - if you aren't ready to learn and try, Saleswhale isn't the place for you. You should be willing to learn and work independently on projects as there's so much happening here. And maybe you'll feel a bit lost or off sync at times but that's okay, it's just because there's so much happening all the time. Make sure you reach out to your team then. Also, we do write a lot of memos and we would love to show you how we do it :) so, if you aren't willing to get down to writing, we aren't the right fit.
2 - 5.09 Dec 2021Product DesignerCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearSingapore
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
2 - 5.015 Nov 2021Software EngineerCurrent EmployeeSingapore
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).
1 - 5.011 Nov 2021Engineering ManagementCurrent Employee, more than 5 yearsSingapore
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
1
Saleswhale Reviews FAQs
Saleswhale has an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5, based on over 30 reviews left anonymously by employees. 83% of employees would recommend working at Saleswhale to a friend and 71% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -4% over the last 12 months.
83% of Saleswhale employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Saleswhale 4.3 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.4 for culture and values and 4.3 for career opportunities.
