Avoid at All Costs. A Mess from Top to Bottom - Past Employee Pentatonic Employee Review

1.0
Mar 22, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A handful of decent people - most of whom have already left or are on their way out. Make of that what you will

Cons

Before you do anything else, go and look at the website. Really look at it. Slick design, bold claims, language that makes it sound like they’re changing an entire industry. It’s impressive - and it’s almost entirely fiction. So much time, money and energy has gone into the branding and the website that you’d be forgiven for thinking there’s something serious underneath it. There isn’t. The product is barely a prototype. No real use case, barely any customers, and no honest answer to what problem this thing actually solves. What the website sells as a revolutionary platform would not survive five minutes of real scrutiny. They’ve also invented their own internal language for everything - terminology that would get you blank stares from anyone in the actual industry. The branding is the business. And that tells you everything. The people at the top are living in their own world - genuinely disconnected from what customers actually want, what they’ll pay for, and what product market fit even looks like. The CPO cannot code. To be precise - he can vibe code. He prompts something together, waves it around as a concept, and suddenly it becomes the next big idea that leadership rallies behind. What no one stops to ask is whether you can vibe code your way into an enterprise-ready solution. You can’t. You need a real platform, a real backend, and a real understanding of what you’re building and for whom. None of that exists here. Strategy is a ritual where leadership disappear, reappear with a new idea, and act like this is the one that changes everything. It never does. The same problems sit there untouched because no one at the top has the clarity or the willingness to deal with them. It’s a boys club at the leadership level and it shows. The CEO is barely present - and not in a ‘trust the team’ way, more in a ‘doesn’t really run the business’ way. He’s not in the country. His time goes on travel, events, and getting himself in photos. He loves the sound of his own voice but has no real idea how to run a company - and it shows in every part of the business. The whole thing is widely believed to be funded by family money rather than anything it has actually earned, which explains why the business is still operational. HR is not there to help you. It sits too close to leadership to be anything close to independent. No proper policies, no real structures, and nepotism runs through the place. And day to day? It’s fairly miserable. You walk in not knowing what you’re supposed to be doing because no one can tell you clearly. There’s no structure, no direction, and the frustration between colleagues builds because nothing ever gets resolved. People are at each other because the business is at each other. Tense, uncomfortable, and deeply dysfunctional People figure all of this out fast. The churn is relentless - staff arrive, quickly clock what’s really going on, and get out within months. The revolving door never stops, and for very good reason. If you see a glowing 5-star review on here, ask yourself who would possibly post about having that experience. Draw your own conclusions.

Explore other reviews about Pentatonic

1.0
Mar 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There is some good people who are stuck working here unfortunately

Cons

This was by far the most difficult and mentally deteriorating workplace I have ever been part of. The culture was extremely negative and, at times, deeply uncomfortable. Behaviour from management frequently crossed the line into what many would consider inappropriate and bullying was the norm. It created an environment where people felt constantly on edge. I personally, and other colleagues often dreaded the work day because you never knew what kind of treatment or confrontation you might face. There was virtually no psychological safety, and instead of offer feedback you would be berated. This behaviour often came from those managers who showed a clear lack of competence in their own role so often put the blame on others. This combination of poor leadership and lack of accountability was incredibly demoralising for the team. Strategically, the company also lacked direction. Product positioning, ICP, and target markets seemed to shift constantly. New “big ideas” would appear almost weekly, often centred around “vibe-coded” concepts that were presented as enterprise-ready products. This showed a significant disconnect from the real complexity involved in building software that large organisations can actually implement and deploy. Another concerning issue was the lack of independence in people and culture functions. The entire HR team is directly related to the founders, which raises obvious concerns around impartiality and employees’ ability to raise concerns safely or expect fair resolution. Overall, my experience and many of my colleagues who have departed or are still there have been extremely negative.

7
4.0
Mar 18, 2026
Anonymous contractor
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The leadership and technical management team share a really big passion for tech, They are well versed in what they are talking about and I enjoyed my talks with the management at the company. They seem ambitious and they synergize with people that are also ambitious people. If you are an adaptable person you will do well in this industry and at this company.

Cons

I come from a long line of start-ups so my vision might be skewed a bit on what's right in a workplace setting. The occasional hard deadlines and long hours is kind of what I expect. This is far from the worst start up I've worked for, When in this type of industry expect that the focus may shift unexpectedly and most of your hard work will go down the drain for a new project in a new direction. I don't think this company is for people that want their job laid out step by step , but then again; no start-up is...

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