Pros
People: Genuinely compassionate and driven people work here. They push themselves daily in order to help the company achieve its aims and are readily available to support you in your work if required. There is definitely an "all hands on deck" mentality at Kitt where people are not afraid to roll up their sleeves. You will also be rubbing shoulders with people who have genuine experience in the property industry, and are willing to share their skills and knowledge in order to help their colleagues upskill.
Cons
Company structure: The people, are unfortunately, where the positive points end. As you begin to deconstruct the hierarchy of the company an obvious issue rears its ugly head, there's no middle management. Kitt is ran by founders who retain almost total control of business decisions, with other managers in no position to affect change or suggest improvements. Now, founders retaining control is not a glaring issue for those that are competent in the art of leading, however this is not one of those scenarios. Decisions are made in secret by a very select few and often on a whim. The direction of the business changes more often than the direction of the wind, after only a matter of weeks of attempting to try something new or innovative. Leadership isn't interested in seeing anything through to full fruition, rather it expects immediate results in the form of revenue. This is almost impossible in an industry beset by the financial constraints of Covid, which has led to many people working remote and commercial real estate needs changing rapidly. Staff turnover: The issues above flow nicely into this section. As a result of a business landscape that changes more than your underwear, there is a huge amount of staff turnover. In June 2023, around 30% of the company were made redundant due to the macroeconomic conditions at the time. Understandable given the climate, however, hirings were still being made 4 weeks prior to this decision which begs the question as to why hiring had not been frozen earlier in the year when this problem was already apparent. In an unfortunate turn of events, a young gentlemen was hired and fired within the same week. It's simply not good enough to put somebody through this and only highlights their ability to 180 on decisions at the drop of a hat. After redundancies in June, staff were informed that the hard part was over and the company was secure for 24 months, with no possibilities of further redundancies in the near future. This turned out to be completely false as within 6 weeks more staff members were released from the company, specifically members in influential positions. This fostered a sense of a lack of job security and severely dented belief in the founders to not only carry out their duties but to also be honest about the road ahead. Q3 & Q4 brought about a plethora of resignations as staff sought pastures new, specifically more secure pastures. Company culture: We seem to operate in a world now where companies genuinely believe that by offering free beer and pizza on a Thursday their contribution to company culture is complete. Kitt is no different. Company events and socials have been drastically cut in order to save money and make the company appear more profitable. Even everyday tools that different teams use are under a constant microscope in order to squeeze out every last penny of potential profit for that IPO/ Buyout (more on that shortly). The days of Kitt being a great place to work are sadly a thing of the distant past. Employees now work in fear of being the next head on the proverbial block in order to maximise profit which employees will gladly tell you if you take just a handful out for a quick coffee and a catchup. Leadership: Kitt was once seen as the disruptor in the commercial real estate space, a true outlier in an industry that for so long has operated under rigid practices from yesteryear. However, as the rest of the market has caught on to the potential of Kitt's offering, you now find more than half a dozen companies offering the same services, often at a much cheaper rate. Instead of scaling what they already had, Kitt attempted to pivot and classed itself as a property tech company. 6 months passed with little results, so the company moved away from this approach. We've seen these pivots with multiple different products, customer services and our overall ICP. Rather than a laser focus on what has worked, the company consistently is attempting to reinvent itself when it is not at all required. The constant chopping and changing is led by people at the very top, who monthly will make sweeping changes that seem to lack serious research and thought. Overnight these changes will be implemented and will be removed just as quickly if immediate results are not observed. Some will call this agile thinking, for me this is simply a hit and hope strategy implemented by those in senior positions who panic at the slightest hint of the upwards linear line changing direction ever so slightly. The reversal of decisions, adding and removal of products and lack of general direction lay solely at the feet of two people and has resulted in the departures of key individuals from the business over the past 7/8 months either through their own volition or through redundancy. The pursuit of 'profitability' is at all costs for Kitt. Employees are and have been disposable as the founders looks to make this turkey look as plump as possible for the big shots at JLL, Knight Frank, et al. That is their ultimate aim, a buyout from one of the main London property players as they sail off into the sunset. The paradox that they have created though is that without employee buy-in and hardwork they cannot achieve this aim, without middle management and alternative senior leadership voices they cannot achieve this aim. As more people begin to remove their rose tinted Kitt glasses, this glaring issue is becoming more apparent. The office: The office was downsized from two floors to one in June 2023 alongside the redundancies. What now remains is a worn out office, lacking in space and used partly as a part-time storage facility for our clients. Kitt's company mission is, in its own words, "give your brand a home" whereby they focus on a bespoke design around your companies values and needs. The irony is that their own office severely lacks any homely vibes, is terribly designed and is not a conducive for a positive working atmosphere. There are chunks missing from the floor, dozens of items stacked randomly around the office due to lack of storage space and things such as monitors which simply do not work. If you were a prospective client of Kitt's, a simple tour of their office would turn you off working with them immediately. Ultimately, they do not practice what they preach. Whilst they claim to offer brands their own home, they cannot offer the same for their own employees.
