Pros
My coworkers that became family
Cons
I gave over 10 years to this company, and for most of that time I genuinely loved what I did. The people were smart, hardworking, and we built something that actually mattered. Then came the last CEO and that’s when everything went off a cliff. He had no real understanding of the business, no product sense, and no vision. The only thing he seemed confident in was playing with numbers and pretending that was leadership. Running a company into the ground while acting like the “big bad CEO” isn’t leadership it’s incompetence. He surrounded himself with the wrong people, listened to the wrong voices, and let completely unqualified decisions drive the business. Meanwhile, the owner was pulling money out for personal use while the foundation was already cracking. And who paid for it? The employees. People who gave 20, 30+ years of their lives were the ones shown the door because of a handful of bad decisions at the top. What made it worse was the lack of accountability. Instead of owning the mess, he had the nerve to call people out when they were rightfully upset. Reality check: this didn’t just “happen.” This was a direct result of poor leadership, bad judgment, and ego. It didn’t have to end this way. Under the right leadership or even just involving the people who actually understood the business it could have been a completely different story. I’ll always respect the people I worked with. They deserved better.