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      Looking for Yes men - Anonymous employee Pi Employee Review

      2.0
      Apr 17, 2018
      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Very friendly team overall. Management is more than okay with spending a little extra money to get equipment, components, PCBs, and software licenses without a ton of debate (most of the time). Great coffee selection and snacks!

      Cons

      Management is extremely stubborn in thinking that their way is the only way to do things, ranging from engineering to marketing. Extremely slow recruiting process which takes up a ton of time for a small team. Multiple instances of engineers getting fired for not being "Yes men", no matter how valid or correct their input may have been. Management is looking for engineers who will simply do as they're told without question.

      avatar
      Pi Response
      7y
      Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review, and for providing both positive and constructive feedback. I’m glad to hear you felt we invested in the right equipment, software, and snacks to fuel our amazing team! As the CEO and co-founder, I’m disappointed that you felt management was not receptive to feedback and ideas during your time with us. My co-founder and I work very hard to solicit, understand, and act on new ideas and criticisms from our team, both technical and non-technical. There can never be enough focus here. We will use your comments to fuel a continued drive to gather and act on great ideas. I can say with full confidence that no one in the history of Pi has ever been fired for advocating for themselves, an idea, or a dissenting opinion. Disagreement fuels creativity. There is no place at Pi for Yes men or Yes women. We wish you the best of luck in your next adventure and appreciate all that you have contributed to Pi. Sincerely, John MacDonald (CEO & Co-founder)

      Explore other reviews about Pi

      5.0
      May 28, 2020
      Firmware engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      Extremely talented team that is hardworking and dedicated. This team is enabled by the management to get things done on a short timeframe not because they're forced to, but because they love doing it. All resources are ready to go, but not wasted.

      Cons

      The team is small, so sometimes it's difficult to throw enough manpower behind a project, and it also means that we don't have enough resources to do more than one thing at once.

      1.0
      Apr 18, 2018
      Engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business outlook

      Pros

      It's a startup. So you will be very heavily involved in all aspects of the product and company. If the company is ever successful, you could reap those rewards.

      Cons

      This is a product company run by 2 young co-founders fresh out of college with no knowledge or experience developing a product. The CTO has that position because at the inception of the company, his algorithm skills were the thing that was going to make Pi's product successful. The product they are now developing no longer utilizes his algorithm, therefore his one skill set that was valuable, is no longer. With lack of leadership skills, baseline knowledge of product development, or any real world work experience the development process is not going well. This of course could all be fixed by the CTO relying on the technical expertise of the people he hires. But so far, he has made it clear that if you offer opinions that differ from his, then you are considered "being negative" and no longer fit at the company. In under 1 year, 7 qualified engineers have either been fired or left because they saw what was coming.

      5
      avatar
      Pi Response
      7y
      Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. As the co-founder and CTO of Pi, I’m glad to hear you felt there were opportunities to have a broad impact across the company and product and that you felt success was shared throughout the company. I want to clarify a few things you mentioned and address some of your concerns. Our products still rely on an advanced algorithm, which our growing firmware team continues to improve. We have not fired anyone for disagreeing with me or my co-founder. Regarding turnover, every company evolves over time and the team evolves with it. At the end of 2017, after successfully achieving a seemingly impossible milestone, a couple of people moved on to new things (grad school, a family move east, and a senior management position at a larger company). Any departure, even for personal growth, is bittersweet. My co-founder and I always reflect on what could be improved. We appreciate our Pi alum deeply, and thankfully many come back to visit. Our team continues to grow with five new amazing engineers so far in 2018 and a couple engineers celebrating their second anniversary with us (We are in operation for two and half years). I am humbled to work with such outstanding people every day. I’m sad to read you left us so disappointed in my leadership of the engineering team. It’s something I take personally and am always working on. I have intentionally surrounded myself with people with more experience because I value their knowledge and ideas, and I act on their input every day. Thank you for your contributions to Pi. We wish you the best of luck with what’s next for you. Lixin Shi CTO & Co-founder
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