Recommend to a friend
Top Hat Reviews
132 reviews
Filter
Filter
Full-timePart-timeApprove of CEO
Mike Silagadze
78 Ratings
Pros
free lunch and trips to Toronto (in 18 reviews)
Fast growing company with exciting prospects for the future (in 13 reviews)
Cons
At times it feels like the company is growing faster than it can cope with and reacts to a lot of situations rather than pre-planning for them (in 8 reviews)
Definitely not a 9-5 job, can be disorganized at times (in 6 reviews)
![Top Hat Logo]()
"Review"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOPros
Top Hat is a fun company
Cons
Top Hat is an unorganized company
Top Hat 2017-08-18 05:54 PDT![Top Hat Logo]()
"Great company culture, perks, and work-life balance"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOPros
- Catered lunch every day
- Great company culture
- Good engineering practices
- Board games at lunch every day
- Good snacks and breakfast available
- Great work-life balance
- Responsive and accessible management
- Great company growthCons
No major cons so far
Top Hat 2017-08-15 20:40 PDTHelpful (5)
![Top Hat Logo]()
"This is a super high growth environment loaded with smart people."
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Top Hat full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
Personally, I wanted to work for a high growth company where I get to have a big impact and Top Hat has not disappointed. I'm excited by our future growth and the opportunities that exist to continue my development. The people and perks are great and I'm excited to move into our new Toronto office (Aug/2017). The biggest draw for me is the impact that Top Hat will have on the higher education market with the launch of Top Hat Marketplace - this will be a game changer for the industry.
Cons
I guess the cons at Top Hat would depend on what you are looking for. If you want a predictable/stable environment, Top Hat probably isn't for you. This place is growing at a rate of 50-70% annually which means that people are working hard to keep up with the growth (but accelerating career growth).
Advice to Management
Continue to grow the skills of the management team and improve communication through the organization.
Top Hat 2017-07-06 06:51 PDTHelpful (4)
![Top Hat Logo]()
"Worth the wait, but there might be a wait"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEOI have been working at Top Hat full-time (Less than a year)
Pros
- departmental administration has worked hard to become more transparent about business decisions
- lots of growth opportunities
- daily lunch and dry breakfast & coffee
- REALLY friendly teams
- very positive atmosphere (daily shoutout, fun slack channels)
- thorough training/onboarding programCons
- nothing aside from the usual start-up growing pains
- if you're contract, your options for contract renewal might be limited
- hiring process was VERY long and convoluted when I was hired, but newer hires report that this process has been streamlined and is MUCH simplerAdvice to Management
- keep being transparent
- bonuses and incentives work for all departments (keep it up)Top Hat 2017-07-06 07:45 PDTHelpful (3)
![Top Hat Logo]()
"Great company with awesome people!"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookI have been working at Top Hat full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Let me start off by stating that I have worked at other tech companies and am pretty familiar with how things work in the start-up world.
I joined Top Hat in March after doing some contract work with them. I'm glad I did. I have been very happy here since joining. Some of the highlights:
- My co-workers are without a doubt some of the smartest and friendliest people I've ever worked with.
- The culture is pretty awesome. It can be hard to create and keep a good culture as companies scale, but I think the people at Top Hat are getting it right. They regularly ask for feedback as a way to improve, too.
- The opportunities for growth are there for the taking. Make no mistake, you will work hard, but you're also encouraged to share ideas, no matter what level you're at.
- I can't speak for every department but the managers in mine have been excellent at regularly meeting with each of us. They ask for feedback on how things are going each week and go over projects we've been assigned. It never feels like micromanagement, though. I have a lot of autonomy here.
- The benefits are pretty great. Health, medical, dental, a lifestyle account you can use for TTC or fitness classes (or more health-related expenses). Plus you get catered lunches everyday (and they cater to specific diets). Plus snacks and coffee and tea. All of these things add up to a couple grand a year.Cons
- Sometimes the work does pile up but it's no worse than any other job in the tech world I've been at (although I am not a senior level manager so I am not sure if it is tougher for them.) And if you're clear about setting your boundaries, I think you can still achieve a good work-life balance.
Advice to Management
Keep doing what you're doing.
Top Hat 2017-07-06 20:05 PDT![Top Hat Logo]()
"Good place to start your career"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendPositive OutlookDisapproves of CEOPros
Fantastic group of people. You will make great friends here.
Good perks.
Lots of work to be done in an interesting space (ed-tech).Cons
The company is very reactive, and it doesn't seem like anyone is "on top of things," so to speak. For example, it looks like they've waited too late to get a new office space. So now the current office space is extremely cramped and uncomfortable.
Poorly managed from top to bottom. The CEO micromanages and managers who don't have the motivation to manage.
The CEO (who I believe is a genuinely nice guy) can be very intense. I think he does a good job of steering the business, but seriously lacks in people-managing skills. Many people are afraid or intimidated by him and try to avoid him. There is a critically unhealthy relationship between employees and the CEO.
Abnormally high turnover.Top Hat 2017-06-27 20:42 PDT![Top Hat Logo]()
"Burnout factory"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDisapproves of CEOPros
The team is what kept me with the company so long - I'm still in contact with a lot of people I met there.
Cons
The life-work balance was horrible, three times a year we'd enter crunch mode sometimes lasting as long as 6 weeks, during which we'd work some serious overtime. Most of the time that wasn't rewarded, but when it finally happened the "reward" was like a slap.
Advice to Management
Put people who can push back between CEO and employees, like you did with engineering.
Top Hat 2017-06-21 11:37 PDT![Top Hat Logo]()
"If you want to be a robot"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Neutral OutlookDisapproves of CEOI worked at Top Hat full-time (More than a year)
Pros
Literally the only good thing about the place is free lunches and snacks available whenever you want them otherwise you turn and run away !!!!!
Cons
MICRO MANAGEMENT!!!!!!!!
No skill development they just have you read from a script and call it sales. It's not making sales people it's just making robots, so if you're fine with being a robot this is a good place to workAdvice to Management
Trust your employees to do their jobs and don't hover over them for 8 hours a day
Top Hat 2017-07-11 04:40 PDTHelpful (4)
![Top Hat Logo]()
"Sales"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
RecommendsPositive OutlookPros
People are fun, outgoing, driven.
Growth and lots of promotion opportunities.
6-week sales onboarding program sets people up for success.
Free lunches and snacks!
Selling something that's legitimately cool.Cons
Things are changing pretty quickly. Opportunity to keep improving communication between teams and even within the team.
Advice to Management
Keep listing to employee feedback and making the company even better.
Top Hat 2017-05-21 13:38 PDT![Top Hat Logo]()
"Specific Type of Company"
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
- Senior Management
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo opinion of CEOI worked at Top Hat full-time
Pros
For the type who like to work very hard
Cons
Bad work life balance and poor compensation
Top Hat 2017-06-09 15:35 PDT
Is this helpful? The community relies on everyone sharing – Add Anonymous Review
Showing 132 of 144 reviews
Reset FiltersThis will replace the current featured review for targeted profile. Are you sure you want to replace it?
Are you sure you want to remove this review from being featured for targeted profile?
Top Hat Response
seconds ago
Edit • Delete