Pros
Positive Early Years: The initial years at OSARO were truly outstanding, embodying the quintessential Silicon Valley/SF startup lifestyle. The work environment was vibrant, with a genuine sense of camaraderie. We embodied the often-cliched term 'family' in its truest sense, balancing hard work with enjoyable moments together. Strong Early Engineering Team and Management: The core engineering team was exceptionally close-knit, creating an atmosphere where colleagues felt more like friends. Early engineering managers were not only skilled in their craft but also excellent mentors. They were thoughtful, courteous, and inspiring, fostering a positive and productive work environment.
Cons
Shift in Dynamics Post Client Loss: The company's trajectory began to shift following the loss of a major client in the automation and material handling space; 2018-2019. Impact on Leadership and Funding: This loss added significant stress to the leadership team and affected the confidence of prospective investors, leading to noticeable changes in company dynamics and decision-making. Lots of Panic Pivots and ideas from inexperienced employees. Resulting Organizational Changes: These pressures contributed to a series of organizational changes, including increased turnover, leadership challenges, and a shift in company culture. Leadership Dynamics and Absence: The CEO's frequent absence post-funding rounds, leading to the delegation of key decisions to the CTO and Operations Teams, created a vacuum in leadership and strategic direction. A microcosm of incompetence. CTO's Leadership Mismatch: The CTO, more aligned with technical roles, struggled with the broader leadership responsibilities, impacting the company’s direction and team dynamics. Lacked the required soft skills to be an engineering leader. Brilliant individual that is more fit for a heads-down engineering role than one requiring leadership skills. COO's Controversial Management Style: The hiring of a COO was a positive step, but the individual's management style, including the monitoring of internal communications, raised concerns about privacy and trust within the workplace. This began the "dark" times when employees did not know who to trust. Leadership and employees began backstabbing and being dishonest to ensure they were seen in a good light by the COO; Lying and manipulation. High Engineer Turnover: A striking aspect of my experience was the high turnover rate among the engineering team. Of the nearly 35 or so engineers during my tenure, only 2 remain with the company. This level of turnover could be indicative of deeper issues within the company culture and management practices. Strategic Focus on APAC Market: The company's emphasis on the APAC market, often at the expense of local opportunities and coupled with operational inefficiencies, was a significant strategic decision that impacted the company's growth and market alignment. Culture and Employee Relations: The manner in which the leadership handled employee relations, including the layoff of founding engineers (Seed and Series A) and the general approach to communication and feedback, was a key factor in the work environment and morale. Operational and Strategic Challenges: The company faced several challenges in terms of operations and strategy, including a reluctance to acknowledge and learn from past mistakes, which hindered its potential for growth and improvement. Disregard for Employee Feedback in Hiring Decisions: OSARO often showed a blatant disregard for employee feedback during the hiring process. There were instances where candidates, who received uniformly negative feedback from existing staff, were still hired. This approach not only undermined the value of team input but also raised concerns about the decision-making criteria used for expanding the workforce. Financial Mismanagement and Wasteful Spending: OSARO exhibited significant mismanagement of funds, particularly during periods of client scarcity. Examples of this include: Excessive spending on unnecessary "benefits" such as daily Uber/Lyft rides and UberEats orders for lunch and dinner. OSARO was not Google; it was a scrappy start-up. Foolish investment in internal automation projects without having engineers with relevant automation experience, leading to a costly, trial-and-error approach. Resources were spent on continuous testing of concepts that never materialized into viable products, demonstrating a lack of strategic focus and financial prudence.