Great technology, awful sales org - Sales Docusign Employee Review

2.0
Sep 3, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The product is amazing and the people, sans management, are great.

Cons

I can only speak for the sales department but within that group, the company failed miserably. In less than a year on the job, I had 3 management changes, 2 changes in vertical and 4 changes to my geo. Top that off with an INCREASE in quota and you have an extremely disgruntled worker. While the rest of the company seems to coast by with a good product and competent management (albeit grossly underpaid), the sales department is as dysfunctional as they come. Don't take my word on it - do a bit of digging yourself and it's plain to see that there are the old guards (4+ years there) and then there's the new (>2 years). Reason? The "senior" sales guys have literally plucked all the business into their funnels and have sat themselves in verticals that pay extremely well. Health care, finance, insurance - all of those reps kill it. Leads pour in, marketing dollars get spent, the entire staff there is jubilant. The rest? Well, if you've started in the last 2 years, the likelihood is that you'll get shoved into a geo and fail miserably. But let's ignore the fact that you're set up to fail as a geo rep. Let's couple that with a micro management strategy to top all micro management strategies. It's seems as though every sales manager in the company has been trained to treat their team the same exact way: dissect and grill each and every deal you don't close. I had 2 managers there - one which was socially a terrible fit and the other who initially started off as a very nice guy. Even the nice guy manager was molded into the slacks-wearing, button down frat boy that is seen only on Wall St, minus the 6-figure salary. Had enough? Not so fast. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that regardless of moving to a hourly compensation model, you are still "required" to be in before 7 and out no earlier than 4. It's honestly extremely difficult to get beyond the first year at this place, at least in sales. You get paid a measly base salary, won't make any commissions worth noting until year 2 (at the earliest) and by that time, you're so burnt out at the lack of work/life balance that your personal life will suffer. While there are some great people that work there, the majority of people I know have either moved departments (if you can imagine taking a salary cut), or left before their year is done. Not that it means anything but they like to keep you there with the notion of this big payout WHEN the company goes public. We all know that this is no guarantee and in full disclosure, they've been "planning" this massive IPO for 2+ years now. The idea that people are agonizing at their job over the slim likelihood that their stock options will make them millionaires is sad and quite frankly false hope. Think very long and hard before taking a sales job here.

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Docusign Response
10y
Thank you for your thoughts. Two years ago, we began re-engineering our approach to our Enterprise Business (including the sales component of that). We listened to our large existing and new enterprise customers, and it became clear that they need us to provide global solutions. In the past year, we believe this new approach has been validated as we have added several key strategic accounts and continue to build significant additional business within current customers. While that does not mean every person in Enterprise Sales has seen that same individual success, as an organization, we believe, we are headed in the right direction. -- Chris McClain, SVP, Enterprise Sales

Explore other reviews about Docusign

5.0
May 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great work life balance, good people, supportive culture

Cons

Not too much innovation development, Not too interested in in house ML/Ai features

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Docusign Response
6d
Thank you for taking the time to share your positive experience with us. We are thankful for your insights and are happy to read your positive feedback.
2.0
Apr 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Mostly nice people, dedicated to their specific roles.

Cons

Lack of team cohesion among departments. Lots of communication and accountability breakdowns, siloed efforts. Immature processes and undeveloped operations. Unqualified and ineffective leadership: I was to be the Business Process Lead but mid-interview, the hiring manager told me they would instead place me in a very small sub-department reporting into Finance Business Transformation. It was never clear if this was meant to be temporary or permanent... I was successful in facilitating and contributing to a project that was 10+ years overdue at Docusign. The managing director I reported to was laid off so a more tenured employee took over as "manager" who had never been in charge of people and it showed. Despite my contributions, I was told how little they valued my work and efforts on a successful project. Definitely a level disparity as I have been Sr. Finance Manager twice and head of a global department reporting into VP level and up. It appeared that all this new "manager" wanted was a subservient cog to condescend, demotivate, and talk down to. Beyond ridiculous to squander my 15 years of corporate experience.

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