Potential Employees, Customers, and Investors: RUN!
Pros
Not much to say here. The product is interesting, and many of the employees (non-executive “leaders”) are good people.
Cons
This is by far the most hostile place I have ever worked at. There is no true leadership in this company. The “leaders” of this company are egotistical, power hungry, inexperienced, abusive bullies who will beat you down daily with zero recognition for your work. The company drives employees with fear and intimidation. The company culture is built on a foundation of pointing fingers and blame, and verbal abuse a daily occurrence. There is no accountability within the company and the executives hold employees to standards that they do not hold themselves to. Company decisions are made on a whim without thinking anything through and without any strategy. Every day the company is constantly putting out fires that could have easily been avoided by properly thinking through decisions and better planning. It appears that the founders and executives are looking for a quick payout at the expense of the underpaid, overworked, poorly treated employees. There is little potential for employees to grow in the company. The lack of experience of the executive team provides zero career development, growth, and learning opportunities. The company is driven on not just unreasonable timelines, but impossible timelines. The employees all work under extreme stress, anxiety, and pressure to meet these unachievable deadlines and are publicly berated in front of the rest of the team when they come up short of these impossible goals. The company preys on foreign employees working on visas to trap them in the company so they can work them to the bone without a fear they will leave. As for budgets, there are none. The company frequently talks about efforts to save money, yet there are zero budgets for anything. There is no CFO and no one monitoring spending. Money is frequently burned on expediting shipments in an effort to meet the unachievable timelines set by non-engineers. Projects are very poorly managed and deadlines are almost never met. The company seems to be okay with over-promising and under delivering. Although the product is a highly power-dense unit, safety seems to take a back seat to meeting deadlines and testing on the units is minimal. The product has been rushed and therefore the quality is low and potentially unsafe. I believe investors are unlikely to see any return and are likely to lose everything they have invested. The company is clearly a sinking ship, which is evident by the numerous employees who have been fired or have quit because of unachievable expectations. The sales team is comprised of typical salesmen, who will lie through their teeth and are oblivious to the actual development timelines and capabilities of the product and will say anything to make the sale. The “leaders” of the company are not open to new ideas, feedback, or recommendations. Communication within the company is extremely poor considering the small number of employees that define the team. Both your physical and mental health are not valued in this company. Although the electric vehicle market is growing, the need for this product will be greatly reduced as the stationary charging network grows. Do yourself a favor and stay far away from this company in all regards!
