Don´t let the fancy credentials of the founders dazzle you - Sales and Operations Apli Employee Review

1.0
Oct 22, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- An interesting industry with great potential - The company is in an interesting early stage - Apli usually hires good talent

Cons

- Don´t let the fancy credentials of the founders dazzle you, Apli has the worst kind of culture and leadership that you can imagine. There are a lot of other options to get tech startup experience and learn from smarter people - Both CEOs (you should be suspicious from here) are quite rude, don´t listen to other people's ideas, don’t take responsibility for failures, and want to micromanage every little project. If at least the company was having great results I guess it could work but it´s not the case. - Really big employee rotation, including senior employees - Everyone is scared of upper management - Salary below average and sales commissions are never paid - I may be wrong but I don´t think the company will survive long - Just contact ANY former employee to double check all this😉

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Apli Response
5y
We are sorry about your experience. We had many failed experiments while trying to find a sustainable way to grow the sales team in 2019, which negatively impacted the work environment in the commercial team. We, the founders, take full responsibility for those mistakes. Since then, Apli’s team achieved oustanding accomplishments: we signed some of the world’s largest employers as new clients, retained 100% of existing clients and made the company profitable. The team compensation grew at 3x the pre-Covid rate of the US tech-sector and we introduced a great health insurance package for all team members. We also developed a stronger point of view that working at Apli and young technology companies in general is not for everyone. People who thrive here understand the pros and cons of working at early-stage startups. Those who are entrepreneurial and get involved in shaping the strategy and the processes, enjoy a much faster career progression than in larger companies and the satisfaction of achieving amazing results. Thank you for your insight and best of luck in your career!

Explore other reviews about Apli

1.0
Dec 31, 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pros are not worth mentioning because the cons are just that bad.

Cons

This is the worst place I ever worked. Employees are threatened and intimidated constantly at Apli. The leaders are cruel and heartless. Vera (co-CEO) yells at her team and humiliates publically and lies about sales commissions. Jose (co-CEO) finds ways to threaten and intimidate if you ask too many questions. They are both extremely cutthroat and sick people. Everyone is scared to speak up against them. People are constantly trying to get out and find new jobs. The positive reviews written here must be from the CEOs because I have never heard anyone at the company say anything good about this place. If I were you I would RUN in the opposite direction. Do NOT be fooled by the CEOs credentials from Harvard or the companies awards. Do NOT be fooled by "what a good learning opportunity you will have". If you choose to work here, it will be the worst professional decision you ever make. You will work constantly and be mocked, intimidated, and threatened. This company will fail because the culture is so bad.

10
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Apli Response
5y
Thank you for sharing this feedback with us. We are sorry about your experience. It does represent the feeling of many of the sales and ops hires that we made in 2018 and 2019. We made many mistakes and had many failed experiments while trying to find a sustainable way to grow, which negatively impacted the work environment in those teams. At the same time, many more team members were growing professionally and personally to achieve amazing accomplishments. In the last year, we launched class-leading software, signed some of the world’s largest employers as new clients, retained 100% of existing clients and made the company profitable. The team compensation grew at 3x the rate of the US tech-sector pre-Covid and we introduced a comprehensive health insurance package for all team members. Vera and I (Jose) hope the challenging and humbling experience of taking a company through 2020 made us better leaders. We have also developed a better understanding of how to better predict for success and satisfaction in the context of our company. The most important factor is a clear understanding of the pros and cons of working at early-stage startups. Entrepreneurial people who prioritize learning and growth overcome the adversities and growing pains to shape the strategy and the culture of the organization themselves. In return, they get the satisfaction of achieving outstanding results with much greater levels of responsibility and a much faster career progression than in larger companies. We apologize again for your experience and wish you the best of luck in your career!
5.0
Oct 21, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

As a relatively small company, you are likely to get involved with other team's projects and play an active role in how the product evolves. Their client portfolio is pretty much only AAA accounts of different kinds of industries, something that I found extremely rewarding, as it requires you to immerse yourself in your client's business, almost as if you were a consultant. As most of the projects had the potential for regional expansion, the operations of every one of them demanded an understanding of different markets at a macro and micro level. This often led to the constant discovery of industry insights and opportunities for optimization, so I never felt stuck in monotony. The management has plenty of experience in the Mexican market and has worked in some major tech companies. Expectations about your work are high and feedback comes with a lot of learning.

Cons

The company has gone through several changes while trying to achieve product/market fit until it finally became a SaaS solution. This journey kept us in a constant state of learning, which was definitely exhausting and frustrating since most regional HR teams aren't usually the most innovative area of the company. This was reflected in periods of constant change and I felt like they had difficulty finding people that were up to the challenge and with that level of resilience, which at the same time put more pressure on the team.

3
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