N: Needs Improvement - Anonymous employee Ogury Employee Review

1.0
Aug 16, 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Ogury has (had?) a strong sales team (especially in the states, but in other regions too). US salespeople are compensated above market, which was / is the leading contributor to attracting top talent. - There are some really great people at Ogury. Leadership should do everything they can to retain their talent. And I'm not talking about the managers only -- there are tons of great individual contributors in the support teams who deserve better treatment than they've received. - New head of sales is a great leader. - Lots of improvement in the area of diversity and inclusion. Kudos for that.

Cons

The culture sucked at Ogury. Maybe it's better now, but I wouldn't know. I'm going to explain why the culture fell apart so that people can think for themselves about whether the conditions that made the culture suck still exist. If they do, maybe steer clear ... or change it. It starts because Ogury took on a lot of money -- close to $100MM (see crunchbase). Because of this, Ogury owes a lot of money. Amidst all of the fundraising, Ogury got comfortable with spending a lot on parties, people, and acquisitions (which didn't go so great, see Adincube). All of this put more pressure on the company to perform well. So the company chooses to staff up more heavily in sales, because "salespeople = revenue". Which is true, until your product is no longer relevant in the market. But, updating the product (quickly) to meet the needs of the market is super expensive and difficult (and they owe $$). So the company goes for a good ol' rebrand. Yep, that's where Ogury takes the same product, adds/kills a few inconsequential features, comes up with a new buzz-wordy name, stamps it on every piece of content that goes out the door, and calls it innovation. The growth expectations don't change though. Because money is owed, growth is the only way to keep moving forward. So what's left is basically this: Sellers are in a bad spot because they need to sell through a product that doesn't fit. The goals are absurd and they have the golden handcuffs, so they are incentivized to sell whatever they need to to get a deal done. Even if it's made up. Alternative is to get fired from the highest paying sales job they'll find. So, it's hard to blame them for selling through bad deals. Regardless, the other teams get screwed by this, because they need to pull the levers to make the campaign work. They have tons of pressure to get the revenue, because if the deal is sold and CS/BI can't make it work, you know management AND the seller will be pointing fingers at them. Same thing happens for supply: their offering sucks, so they can't get the inventory they need to meet the unrealistic expectations of the sales team. People end up feeling overworked, unrecognized, "between a rock and a hard place" and ultimately miserable. They quit, Ogury claims it was a "people problem" all along (cites the deserters as proof), and the merry-go-round continues.

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Ogury Response
4y
Thanks for sharing your feedback and taking the time to leave a review. We take all your concerns and call-outs very seriously and I want to ensure I address them accordingly. Ogury has and continues to be going through a transformation, not only with our product offerings but with team efficiencies, culture and leadership. We are continuously looking at how we can evolve, keeping the betterment of our workforce and our clients/customers top of mind. But with growth and evolution comes growing pains and challenges. And reviews like this are helpful to show us where we need to continue to focus our efforts. We very much agree with your assessment of having very strong people in all functions/ disciplines of the business, the need to recognize them and the overall value they contribute. We are proud of this entire team and have made strong investments in the headcount growth of our Customer Success and Ad Operations functions in the back half of 2021 to keep pace with our growing sales team. We have also worked hard to improve the creative ways we recognize these individuals across all functions. We have come a tremendously long way in building strong partnerships, alignment on department efficiencies and creating a highly collaborative environment, which have all been key reasons we have seen the success we have. These achievements coupled with the positive shift we have made in other important cultural aspects will continue to be top priorities for us as we move forward with our transformation. We also look at our positive recent employee engagement survey results as an indication that we are moving in the right direction. On the product front, we are proud of having led the industry in regards to consumer choice long before legislation made it a requirement and are once again excited to be taking a leadership role with our focus on highly visible ad formats and personified targeting. We disagree with your description of what innovation means for Ogury and while there are always areas of improvements, we are constantly challenging ourselves and the teams to develop and execute relevant product roadmaps that will best serve our customers interests. Since the inception of the company, we have also remained focused on financial health which has allowed us the flexibility to invest in the areas that will enable us to build a truly successful and long-term sustainable business. We acknowledge we are not perfect and have opportunities to do better. And while we have always aimed for excellence, we also need to be open to learning and the reality that we might not have gotten right the first time around. This will allow us to remain agile and nimble and keep pace with the needs of our clients but also build a culture that is inclusive and one we are proud of. We are saddened by your experience but appreciate the time you put into providing us feedback. It is feedback like this that will help us learn and become better. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for your future career.

Explore other reviews about Ogury

5.0
May 18, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

interesting product, opportunities to earn solid money

Cons

can be hard to advance in company on certain teams

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Ogury Response
3y
Dear Ogurian, it is great to see that you are enjoying here at Ogury! Thank you for your contribution and for taking the time to write this review. Looking forward to you continuing your journey with us!
1.0
Mar 5, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I worked with some great people in the US, by and large, who were all eager to assist and help one another whenever possible.

Cons

Where do I even start? Let's discuss their constant wave of layoffs (not massive ones) but bit by bit which causes a constant state of fear for folks who only want to do their job to the best of their ability. The Executive Team in France really only care about their own and view US talent as easily expendable (their words said at industry event to non-competitors) due to our not so strict labor laws. To boot, any attempt at morale boosters is thwarted by those in charge of Office Happiness in the NYC office who can barely function. Last year was the first year we didn't have a Movember cause in the NYC office and our holiday party was void of festive music which made for a sad time.

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