Brkthru Reviews

1.9

11% would recommend to a friend

(42 total reviews)

Andrew Sklerov and Jeff Hastedt

10% approve of CEO

12% positive business outlook

Brkthru has an employee rating of 1.9 out of 5 stars, based on 42 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a poor working experience there. The Brkthru employee rating is 49% below average for employers within the Media and communication industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

42 reviews
2.0
30 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Lots of amazing and talented people work there. Many have since left though or were laid off. - competitive salaries

Cons

I want to preface this entire thing with the fact that I’m not some sort of disgruntled ex employee. I have so many fond memories of working at Brkthru, but it’s been really disappointing watching the company go down an unnecessary path in the pursuit of greed. What was once a refreshing and rewarding work environment has devolved into every other marketing agency in existence. They do not truly care about their clients or agency partners but the almighty dollar. They used to have this aura of caring for their employees and that has also gone away. I actually found it to be pretty sad to watch the company head in the direction it has.

1.0
11 May 2026

Predatory Leadership. Get Out While You Can. RUN.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I worked with a few good people.

Cons

I debated whether to write this. Not because I have any loyalty left to this company, but because I wasn't sure a review could capture just how bad it actually is. I'll try. This is not a company. It is a machine designed to extract value from good people, discard them, and call it strategy. The pay is insulting. They know it, they bank on you not knowing your worth, and they will look you in the eye and tell you the compensation is competitive. It is not. Junior employees are underpaid from day one, overloaded until they break, and cut the moment they become inconvenient to the bottom line. You are not a person here. You are a number on a spreadsheet that leadership checks before deciding who gets to keep their job this quarter. And speaking of keeping your job — don't get comfortable. They have laid off significant portions of this company multiple times. This is their third time growing too fast, burning people out, and acting shocked at the fallout. The pattern is not bad luck. It is a business model. They hire aggressively, underpay, overwork, and then cut to fund acquisitions and protect the people at the top. They laid off 10% of the company and promoted two senior leaders at the company offsite less than a week later — without a single word of acknowledgment for the people who had just lost their livelihoods. Let that sink in. They have five core values. Employees are expected to memorize and recite them at mandatory offsites. Positive Attitude. Caring. Communication. Trust. Contribution. I have watched every single one of them be violated — openly, repeatedly, and without consequence — by the very people who enforce them. Colleagues were let go with no warning, no conversation, no performance plan, and no explanation. Just a calendar invite and a goodbye. Good people. Hard workers. Gone. And leadership moved on before the door closed. Do not preach CARING while cutting people without dignity. Do not preach COMMUNICATION while managers learn about changes to their own teams from rumor. Do not preach TRUST when every decision made from the top gives people every reason to distrust you. Do not preach CONTRIBUTION when your strongest contributors are treated as expendable the moment budgets tighten. And do not — do not — ask people to maintain a POSITIVE ATTITUDE while systematically dismantling their sense of security, worth, and purpose. That isn't culture. That is gaslighting. The founder started this company saying he wanted to give employees "the tools he never had." Years later, there are still no tools. What exists instead is obsessive monitoring of employee communication, last-second demands that eat into any semblance of work-life balance, and a culture of fear so thick you can feel it in every Slack message. Nobody speaks freely. Nobody challenges up. Everyone is waiting for the next round of cuts. Promotions are not earned here — they are granted. Senior leadership has continued to promote itself through every single one of these crises. New titles. New levels. New compensation. Meanwhile the people doing the actual work — the account managers, the operators, the individual contributors — are stretched beyond capacity, blamed for outcomes they were never given the resources to control, and shown the door with no explanation when the numbers don't land. The most damning thing I can say is this: the people are extraordinary. The individual contributors and middle managers at this company are some of the most talented, dedicated professionals I have encountered in my career. They deserve far better than what this leadership team has built around them. And one by one, they are figuring that out and leaving. A mass exodus is coming. The trust is gone, and you don't get that back. I left on my own terms. I have no regrets and no bitterness — only clarity. And this review is the last thing I can do for the people still there who haven't found their way out yet. To anyone reading this while considering a role here: the warning signs are all in these reviews. We are not disgruntled. We are not isolated incidents. We are a pattern. Believe us. You were warned.

1.0
4 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Remote work and accommodating to everyday life: doctor appointments, kids, etc. They understand life happens. Great work chats - had a lot of genuine laughter with the back and forths from coworkers. High performers land on higher priority teams/accounts. Made friends with people that I'm still in contact with today. The quarterly awards for top performers recognized these people with a bonus to be used on vacation.

Cons

While this is a marketing agency, to be very clear - this is a Sales led organization. Client Success Directors (aka Sales person) say yes to quite literally everything clients ask (one of their core values) - regardless of the impact it has on the people who actually have to do the work. Sales doesn't have to do any of it! Every conversation with Sales where I had to explain my work priorities felt like a negotation of time. As an AM, if you don't know how to stand up for yourself to maintain a proper work/life balance - you will be overworked. I have never had so many "hey have time for a quick call?" asks in my entire life. No - I don't have time for a quick call because I'm doing all the other work you need! And that's how Sales is taught to go about their business. There is no respect for other priorities - just what they need at any given time. 2 rounds of layoffs in the last year isn't a great sign. There is HEAVY expenditure on the Sales team: weekly national flights, frequent sales-only offsites, expensive dinners, rounds of golf with clients that equal junior employees paychecks, Detroit Tigers corporate box, Co-founder's designer clothing collection. The only thing growing is the Sales suit jacket size. VP tier mostly worked together prior to Brkthru. They make all the decisions, and they all look out for each other first. Supervisors didn't even sit in on interviews for their own team. Once they realized I wasn't going to let them hijack my work life, I was moved to a less established team that impacted bonus structure. After I put in my notice - then came the "will you let us match your salary?" offer. Sure would be nice to not have to put in a notice to get that pay increase. It was an easy "no thanks" from me.

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Glassdoor has 42 Brkthru reviews submitted anonymously by Brkthru employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Brkthru is right for you.