Dapper Labs reviews

2.7

34% would recommend to a friend

(166 total reviews)
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Roham Gharegozlou

30% approve of CEO

25% positive business outlook

Dapper Labs has an employee rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars, based on 166 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Dapper Labs employee rating is 30% below average for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

166 reviews
2.0
Dec 13, 2020

Be warned

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Some really talented, smart and fun people there. Diverse group from different backgrounds and countries. - Never boring, your role will evolve as the projects do, which can be a good opportunity to learn. - Nice office with classic start-up perks (lunch on Fridays, snacks, onsite gym), holiday and summer parties. - Partnerships with well-known brands (NBA, Dr. Seuss, UFC) make for cool projects.

Cons

- Low salaries. Raises and equity are not given in an equitable, transparent way. - It is expected to work long hours, on weekends, and over holidays without additional pay or benefits. Overworking is glamorised and recognised publicly. - Unlimited vacation is a trap - You can grow professionally if you really advocate for yourself, but it is not top-of-mind at Dapper. You just need to do what needs to get done, regardless of whether that is advancing your career or not. There are seldom conversations about what you’d like to be doing more or less of in your role. - There are some issues with inappropriate behaviour and sexism at Dapper. - Lots of turnover at all levels, a lot of the people who’ve been there a long time are choosing to leave. Leaders and managers especially do not last long.

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Dapper Labs Response
5y
Thanks for sharing your feedback, we believe in transparency so wanted to take the time to respond. It’s true that working hours are longer than a “normal job”, it’s also true that 2020 has been a crazy year. That said now that our products are live, we are already seeing things get more predictable. In terms of salaries, we comp to the U.S. market annually (for example, our band for senior engineers corresponds to 95th percentile for Canada and a bit under 70th percentile for the U.S.), and we also include very generous equity and token grants that together should mean generously above-market compensation. If anyone feels that’s not the case, they can escalate through any number of channels. Every single full time employee at Dapper Labs is an equity and token owner by their first year here. Of course there will be some exceptions around when our team members can take time off. As with any tech startup, certain deadlines and product launches will need to be factored in. That being said, our team members have flexible schedules and we encourage everyone to take at least 15 days off each year (the same group above, senior engineers, have taken an average of 18 days this year—nearly a full month) with no hard limit. In terms of growth and development, we believe this is a two-way street. We push for every team member at our company to have a documented growth plan, and we expect team members to work together with their leads on this. Our most successful team members have put in the time, and are proactive about creating additional impact vs. having this scoped out for them. Additionally, we provide each team member with the independence to take advantage of our professional development budget to gain new skills throughout the year. We recognize turnover is a natural part of a startup’s life and we take pride in the fact that our turnover rate is quite low comparatively. We have team members who have been with us for 6+ years, while also having welcomed back former team members with open arms. As our organization evolves and as we strive to nurture a high performance culture, we know that not everyone will be a fit at every stage, and that’s ok. We’re committed to creating an environment where our team feels valued and empowered, so while we’re disappointed to hear about your experience, we thank you for sharing your feedback with us as it helps us continue to grow.
2.0
Nov 13, 2020

The worst parts of a startup

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It's a startup like almost any other. - A lot of talented, hard-working people - Exploring some interesting applications of blockchain technology - The first few months can be invigorating

Cons

This is a company designed to realize its investment for its CEO and his friends. Whatever else they say, every action I saw spoke to this reality. They don't care about their product or their people. They only care about their team winning, and unless your in the executive inner circle, you're not on that team. - They say a "founder mentality" is one of their values, but only execs get equity in the company. Apparently, founding team members have been getting let go right before they could flex their options. - They claim their turnover rate is normal for a startup, but I had a lot of trouble finding a former employee who had something nice to say about the company and its current trajectory. (One started crying when I asked though.) - Values and culture are used to justify a terrible work-life balance for employees. Founder mentality means you have to do other people's job at any hour of the day. Trust is why you don't get an exit clause, but you can be let go without notice and are expected to sign an NDA on the way out. - Junior, younger, and non-exec roles are treated like fuel with an expiration date. Sub-par wages are offered to new and younger employees who don't know their worth yet. Churn is high, even for a startup.

avatar
Dapper Labs Response
5y
Responding to this feedback in the interest of transparency: we have team members that have been with us for nearly a decade, and team leaders that started their careers here. For context: Dapper Labs spun out of Axiom Zen, a company that was founded on Christmas 2012. Our employee #1 at Axiom Zen is still with the company 8 years later, our employee #2 spun out to become CEO of Routific which we invested in. Dapper Labs’ CTO and Flow’s chief architect joined Axiom Zen in mid-2013. Flow’s head of product joined Axiom Zen as an intern, straight out of school. Dapper’s Director of Product joined Axiom Zen in 2015. NBA’s head of product joined Axiom Zen in 2015 as an engineer, and cofounded Toby before coming to Dapper Labs. It’s true our online presence is out of date, there’s no sinister motive here. It’s also true that 2019-2020 was a tough year in terms of team workload – we bit off too much in retrospect. We have learned from this and have taken many steps to improve work/life balance since launching our products this October. We appreciate your feedback.
1.0
Apr 26, 2022

Don't be fooled

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

great benefit and competitive salary hardworking and enthusiastic colleagues great brand partners

Cons

micromanaging leaders who expect work at any time of day, no work-life balance an excuse of a culture/work principles high churn and many senior leaders who suddenly disappear lots of unexpected layoffs lack of diversity no transparency no growth inner circle leadership

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