Pros
I've met some great people at this company; people I'm sure I'll know forever.
Cons
Woof. Where to begin? Let's acknowledge that Product Management software, especially in today's economy, is a tough market to crack. The software itself is helpful, but not essential to business success, regardless of how hard the Marketing team tries to say otherwise. However, the real reason behind Productboard's demise is the leadership, specifically CEO Hubert's approach. His style is, frankly, concerning. Take, for instance, his comments on the layoffs in November 2022. Describing them as "trimming the fat" shows a lack of empathy for the people who lost their jobs, people whose livelihoods depended on those positions. Then there was that EPD all-hands meeting late last year. Hubert said that if employees didn't have the 'passion' required to sleep at their desks, the company wouldn't succeed. It didn't stop there. After that meeting, in a Slack message, he said he expected those without children to work 100 hours a week and those with children, 50 hours. Not only were the expectations laid out in channels where they've been recorded, screenshot, and gossiped about to no end, but they were made to a company that has just as many contractors as it does full-time employees. That's right, folks, Productboard won't pay your benefits or offer you stock options, but they WILL require you to work more than 40 hours a week-- or accuse you of being passion-less and lay you off. Hubert's leadership style has had an unfortunate trickle-down effect on the rest of the company. The C-Suite team is made up entirely of yes-men who are too afraid to challenge him on his terrible business decisions-- and honestly, I don't blame them. Nobody wants to deal with the verbal abuse that would surely follow. You might wonder why the board hasn't stepped in and fired him. Good question! As the majority shareholder, Hubert is steering this ship straight into the ground.