ActiveState

2.0

Nov 6, 2025

Recommend

CEO approval

Business outlook

Pros

ActiveState used to be an amazing place to work — truly people-oriented, caring, and built around the idea that employees mattered. Under previous leadership, the company fostered a supportive environment where collaboration, trust, and goodwill weren’t just slogans. It genuinely felt like a community. The new CEO is not necessarily the problem. He is very strategy-oriented and decisive, which can be positive in certain contexts. But the challenges ActiveState faces are deeper and more systemic than any one leader. The company has shifted from a culture of empowerment to one defined by urgency, fear, and constant churn.

Cons

It’s heartbreaking because there are still good people inside the organization fighting to preserve the traits that once made ActiveState special — empathy, teamwork, and a sense of shared purpose. Unfortunately, their voices aren’t being heard, or they get fired. Decision-making has become increasingly top-down, and the environment has grown tense and unpredictable. A common misconception internally is that the company “just needs more process.” But when you function as a startup, you can’t manufacture process overnight. What’s happening now is a kind of organizational self-delusion: everyone is scrambling to create procedures, frameworks, and reports to give the illusion of control, instead of addressing the real root causes. The result is a company with great potential, and great people, but with a culture that has drifted far from what once made it a genuinely wonderful place to work.

ActiveState Response

6mo

Thank you for taking the time to share your perspective on your time at ActiveState, particularly during this period of change. We appreciate your candor and are genuinely sorry that your recent experience led you to leave the company feeling this way. We want to sincerely acknowledge the positive culture you described under previous leadership (kudos to the former CEO who is still an active Board Member). That legacy of collaboration, trust, and valuing our people is foundational, and we absolutely recognize the importance of maintaining that spirit. We acknowledge your observations regarding the current environment. We recognize that any significant shift in strategy and structure can be challenging, and we accept responsibility for ensuring that our focus on strategy and decisive action is balanced with clear communication, empathy, and support for every team member. We agree with your assessment: ActiveState has incredible potential because of the great people still within the organization. Hearing that some feel their voices are not being heard or that decisions feel increasingly top-down is feedback we take extremely seriously as one of our company values is “Speak Up”. Our leadership team is actively working to address this, including how we structure processes. We are committed to building a transparent, supportive, and successful future for ActiveState, and we wish you the best in your career moving forward.

Crash of a once great company - Software Engineer ActiveState Employee Review

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