Wasted period of time in my life - so sorry I worked here - Anonymous employee SumZero Employee Review

1.0
Sep 4, 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Unclear at this time and in hindsight

Cons

- Below market pay - Inexperienced management team that does not care/no incentives - Treat employees as replaceable- no upward potential - CEO is so cheap - refuses to use company funds to pay for basic needed services; advising workers to keep trying to get free trials for services that run the business - No growth. The CEO is independently wealthy as a party to a very successful lawsuit - not out of his own investing or business practices. Was not open to taking outside capital that likely would have forced growth and brought in their own experienced managers and targets. So you are working for someone inexperienced who does not care, and you have to be wary of legal repercussions over issues - like leaving. - CEO is so condescending. You'd better know powerful people or come from a powerful family - he uses you for your contacts and then pretends like they are his own.

Explore other reviews about SumZero

5.0
Feb 18, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Fully Remote - High Employee Autonomy - Unlimited Vacation Days - Work-Life Balance - Job Security - Personal Growth Opportunity - No Bureaucracy SumZero is ideal for mature, organized and versatile Software Engineers who thrive in a minimal supervision remote environment and value their personal autonomy and impact on the product. Employees essentially have full control of their work-life balance.

Cons

- No 401k contribution match - No new-employee training - Minimal Company-Funded Events for its Employees - Small Firm Organizational Structure Subjectively, the pros can outweigh the cons depending on your individual and professional goals. SumZero will not be a great fit if you are expecting formal training upon hire, micro-management or frequent employer-sponsored social events.

1.0
Sep 26, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Few if any come to mind

Cons

Management is extremely dishonest, and has consistently screwed former employees on everything from compensation (bonus payments & lies of bonuses around the corner), to equity, to benefits. CEO is independently wealthy and status obsessed, and sneers at people from less 'prestigious' backgrounds. Some of management's wildly unprofessional behavior has included firing well liked employees who turned in their two weeks notice, fundamentally misrepresenting arrangements w/ regard to equity, and vulgarly disparaging former employees to current employees. For anyone considering joining the company - please be wary. Management's reputation is so poor in the industry that the co-founder doesn't list his involvement on his Linkedin or the biography on his firm's website. The same can be found with numerous former VPs and sales folks. When SZ spun out of Winklevoss Capital, early employees included graduates of Stanford, Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, Westpoint and other similar caliber institutions. While I don't think educational pedigree isn't enormously important on an individual basis, in aggregate it's clear that the company is finding it more and more difficult to hire talent, so standards have and continue to drop. The ranks of top tier talent has been replaced by graduates of schools including Monash, Wofford, Kansas, and Bentley Universities. I find that the other reviews here are broadly accurate of my experience and would sincerely suggest staying away.

4
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