You'll learn a lot about what Keas does by their website: keas.com
I accepted the offer for my position because I believed in the product (still do). The product is designed to get people healthy in a fun way: through an interactive game. A really, really great product.
The problem lies with management.
How to best explain this is to say: Imagine a company that is very well funded with a great product being run by a 2 year old with the terrible 2s.
They lack direction. They don't have the knowledge to properly run a company. And they throw hissy fits when things don't go their way. How is this exhibited?
They sell a product before the product is finished.
The company is run, and dictated by the sales department. Why is this a problem?
If sales leads the direction of the product, the product is unable to evolve naturally. The product will be poke and prodded by different clients who need this, or need that, or the other. You are then left with a mish mash of sewn together needs, which destroys the product, and will eventually destroy Keas.
Good companies (yelp, twitter, facebook, square) don't allow their product to be dictated by sales. They focus their attention on the product and Voila! the product sells itself. The product does not bend to the needs of every client. Can you imagine what Yelp, or Facebook would look like if they listened to every paid advertiser and accepted all their requests. You'd have giant ads, with little room for social media.
If you're looking to work for Keas, this is what you should keep in mind:
The product is sold on the basis of what it "will do", instead of what it "does do." This leads to unrealistic deadlines, set by sales (not by engineers or creatives who can tell you how long it'll take), which equals extreme pressure regardless if you're in the sales, engineering, client services, marketing, or creative department.
Most successful companies simply say: This is a great product and all these features are available NOW. Not "will be" available.
And Keas has hired, and continues to hire great people. Smart. Out-going. Hard-working. Problem solvers. Think outside the box-ers. Work well under pressure. Etc. But....
Rather than work on the structure of new product releases, or new communication techniques with current and future clients, management lays blame on staff, and lets these smart/hardworking/incredible people go. Again, and again. One staff member after another. Sayonara! See ya never!
But you see: It's like any relationship: if you're constantly having problems with one person after another, and that problem is the same problem (they don't do this, or that, or the other) you have to look at the common denominator. And that common denominator is: you.
In summary: the problem lies in management itself. Not in the product. Not in old staff. Not in new staff. But simply, in management.
