Exploitative Company Culture - Mobile development lead Valuetainment Employee Review

1.0
17 Nov 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You'll get your direct deposit bi-weekly, but they keep a 1-week deposit, which I did not like nor agree with. I think employees should be paid according to their time and also paid ahead of weekends and holidays.

Cons

From the outside, I was excited for the opportunity to work at Valuetainment as Tech Lead of the Minnect app. But once inside, you quickly learn about all their exploitative tendencies. In the 3-month I was there, several key employees quit or got fired. One pattern I noticed is that they hire people a few months before their big conferences (like The Vault Conference), expect you to work day and night (and weekends) to deliver a large amount of work, and then shortly after you're terminated. Don't fall for this if you rely on your job to support a family. 1. They used fear-based tactics to try and motivate you. e.g. they will use language such as "You know if you don't deliver, you'll be fired." 2. They will also promise equity, but will never actually amend the contract. 3. Micro-managing is the norm in this place. 4. You'll be messaged directly outside of working hours with the expectation that you will work on something immediately. 5. You'll be told to do things there way rather than have an open discussion with you to find the best path. 6. They constantly thinks tasks were done that weren't even part of the sprint planning discussions because of lack of process, tools, and trust in their team. And frankly, to many different things going on such as PatDavid Consulting, Podcast, Minnect, Valuetainment, Book a guest through Minnect, merchandise sales, Energy drink sales, etc, etc. Company lacks clear focus & direction. 7. They hold your first week's pay till after you leave the company. 8. They don't give any severance pay if you're separated without reason. 9. You only get 5-days of health insurance after being separated without reason. 10. You can't take onions for lunch because Pat the CEO doesn't like the smell. 11. They get furious if you're late or take longer than an hour while at lunch. 12. They don't like when you take sick days off. You can tell by there passive aggressive tone. 13. They do not like employees to do any activities like chess or others. 14. Several meaningless weekly checkpoints without agendas. 15. Ultimately the CEO does nothing to improve the culture, and rather is part of the problem. In closing, this has been the worst experience I've had with a management team and company culture in my decade-long professional career as a software engineer and technical lead.

Explore other reviews about Valuetainment

5.0
19 June 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You learn a lot and are put in an uncomfortable environment but in the best way. It unlocks so much growth

Cons

There is a lot of pressure at times but if you structure and organize yourself accordingly it gets easier.

1.0
14 June 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

You will be working on “big ideas”

Cons

First and foremost this is a sales organization. Everything is sales - including your day to day. You have to dress a certain way, look like you’re working at all times (which means being at your desk at all times) and always espouse the company propaganda. The amount of gossip, spying and paranoia at this company is unprecedented. Whether or not you are good at your job, have any idea what you’re talking about or have deep industry experience is irrelevant. It’s all about appearances here. Any questioning of authority or direction results in you “not believing” and being shut out. It literally is a corporate cult. When you interview ask them what their one year turnover rate it is. IF they tell you, remember they truly believe all of those people “didn’t have what it takes” and the organization can do no wrong because they are brilliant.

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