Pros
So much latent potential practically bursting at the seams. The company (if it plays its remaining cards right) is positioned to emerge from crypto winter as the top blockchain company in canada, and hopefully rocket onwards and upwards from there. The CEO has it in him to be an excellent leader if he kicks the spoiled rich kid outlook on life and gets back into day-to-day operations. Everyone has seen him be a charismatic, inspirational and generous leader in the past. He’s not a write-off. Just needs to do some introspection. And stop viewing his workforce as the enemy. The recent changes could lead to a positive new chapter. If those remaining are empowered to make the necessary improvements, they are absolutely capable of revitalizing the company & culture. Incredible, resilient, innovative, down to earth, hard working talent across the board. Great office space
Cons
There’s a lot said in the other reviews, so will focus on the things that have been left out. First, the layoff. Layoffs happen. The company had to make a change and, though the collateral damage is unfortunate, it will hopefully lead to a more positive future. But here are some details about the layoff worth noting: While 40 talented employees were being laid off and told the company couldn’t afford to keep them, the CEO hosted a fully-catered meal at a fancy hotel downtown the street for anyone not getting laid off. While I get this was well-intentioned -- they took the people not getting laid off out of the office so the people getting laid off could preserve a shred of dignity -- it really stung the people staying who got fed the "we're poor cause of the market" answer to why they don't have a livelihood anymore. The layoffs came less than a week after the most recent of many engagement surveys. The CEO told everyone he laid off that he offered them a handshake and a hug, then promptly left the room. The company provided the bare minimum in severance packages, which they justified as being because they could not afford to pay more. Then the CEO bragged to the media (and in a press release) about having $40 million in the bank, mostly in cash. The Leadership Team: The founder - is a smart guy, but it is clear he prefers to work alone and can’t cope with what the company has grown to. He occupies a massive office removed from the rest of the company, and the guy seems like he goes to bed every night wishing he could just go back to building the product in his garage. As a result of his refusal to work directly with the rest of the company, Coinsquare has a garage startup-calibre product while running the overhead of a massive tech company. The CEO - shows glimmers of being well-meaning under his ‘wolf of wall street’ facade, but he always seems to succumb to the temptation to do the selfish and hedonistic thing….even when it directly conflicts with the company’s well-being. Rather than learning from his mistakes, he always seems to be too proud to admit to them and doubles down on his bad behaviours to ‘prove everyone wrong’. He is a solid leader when he wants to be, but nobody has seen him engaged in day-to-day operations in over eight months. Instead he can be found storming around the office to investigate who wrote the latest negative Glassdoor review about him. The CGO - The company’s undoing is its Chief Growth Officer (CGO). Coinsquare’s downfall to its unfortunate current state can be traced not to crypto winter, but to the moment he was hired. There are a lot of comparisons to Fyre Festival on this board — mainly because he operates under uncannily similar morals to Billy McFarland. After joining he ordered an abrupt halt to key projects that stood to improve the platform, shifting the focus of the company from building innovative tech products to rolling-out shady-at-best multi-level marketing initiatives. This was a turning point in the company’s mission and a bait-and-switch for those who joined the company to drive the blockchain industry forward. Culture & work life balance - Projects are run with unrealistic deadlines, completely unfounded revenue projections, and systematic intellectual abuse of anyone who opposes the CGO’s ideas. Failures of projects go un-addressed by management, which takes a massive toll on employee faith in the leadership team. Most of the technology team was forced to miss the company’s first and only hackathon to meet a deadline that was arbitrarily pushed forward. Productivity is monitored with inaccurate tools that have contributed to creating a culture of finger pointing and identifying problems not solutions. These issues ultimately caused the resignation of all but a handful of the company’s developers, and a dozen or so key individuals throughout the rest of the company over the past few months. Salaries & Titles - Coinsquare has been handing out raises and promotions like candy. Before the layoff, nearly 50% of the company had inflated senior titles and bloated salaries to match. This might sound like a pro, but when senior positions and manager titles are being handed out without the necessary development and training to go with them it is not. This resulted in a surplus of first time managers with no idea how to run a team and little to no support from the C-level. Most people’s motivation is to target their next promotion, with expectations of it happening inside of three months. The whole company rides on the backs of people in their first five months gunning for a promotion. Then, whether they get it or not, they burn out and leave within 8 months.