employer cover photo
employer logo
employer logo

Creative Destruction Lab

Is this your company?

Once in a life-time (negative) experience. - Venture Manager Creative Destruction Lab Employee Review

1.0
Feb 12, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Working here will instill you with grit, passion and fervour to do better in life. The same reason why the 'fear of hell' or punishment/pain acts as deterrent to wrong choices. After the CDL experience, you'll have an endless motivation to work hard so you don't end up in the pit again. There are a few hard-working, nice low-level employees.

Cons

I have never worked for Ellen DeGeneres, but the allegations reminded me of how the senior managers and leadership personnel display extreme sycophancy to the top boss. Also, the boss is perhaps the most overrated person in the history of the business school. He's extremely good at managing up, have great political/industry connections that allows bringing in the money (i.e. taxpayer dollars). The work-place is unbelievably toxic, the employees are treated like servants by anyone one-level, rung above, who in turn gets treated the same way, all the way up to the top boss. The annual events are a joke. For example, internal memos are passed before the event to fill-up the seats with employees, so that the hall never looks empty. CDL is great at salad-dressing and appearance of course. Physical attractiveness is a big-factor when it comes to tie-breaking candidates - if you're good at posterior worshipping, consider a foot through the door. Big-names (sleeping w/ Elon Musk? Join us!) and brands (went to Ivy? Join us!) are everything. The leadership loves to see a top-school name (from Condordia? how dare you apply?) , which perhaps IMO emanates from deep-rooted inferiority complex (of not having say Ivy or Oxford stamps) of the top boss. This is the worst work place I've ever worked (and not a singular experience from what I've heard and read) by a fair margin that I doubt will ever be crossed or topped!

Explore other reviews about Creative Destruction Lab

5.0
Oct 2, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- You are surrounded by high-potential startups and wildly successful entrepreneurs on a regular basis. The network-building potential is massive. - The organization has a constant desire to innovate and autonomy is provided to staff to do so. - The impact of your work is felt regularly in how you help bring revolutionary technology to market. - Access to great technology to help you do your job. - Inspiration and community for becoming an entrepreneur or investor.

Cons

- Fast moving and fast growing means some operational and scaling pains. Not unlike other companies but it's even harder to do within a university. - You have to be quite proactive about changing your responsibilities if you want to. It's easy to get settled in the cyclical nature of the program and get bored if you aren't contributing to the organization's growth. - Incentives can be difficult since sites are employed by their universities but are expected to abide by CDL Global's processes/initiatives. Performance management is a bit difficult because of it.

1.0
Oct 30, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

They "help" startups for free, at least on the surface.

Cons

Creative Destruction lab is horrendously disorganized. The management are clowns, and are hostile to each other and to other companies. They enjoy wasting everybody's time with administrative bureaucracy. They have no respect for other people's time. Don't waste your time with Creative Destruction Lab. I especially feel terrible for all the startups's time they waste with highly antagonistic and hostile treatment.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All