Leeo Reviews

It is possible that Leeo’s talented team built a solution to a problem that nobody had. It is also possible that the company took too much funding, and hired too many people, on the basis of exuberant forecasts, or no forecasts at all. It is possible that the visionary skills required to conceive of a company’s first product are not the same as the managerial skills to market that product, design a functional management structure, and develop its second product. None of these is condemnable — that happens to startups. However. Ultimately, what did the company in was a lack of marketing. To launch a consumer product in a new category requires sustained investment in brand advertising, and a steady hand to ride the first year before channel partnerships come to fruition — but the founders supplied zero strategy, human support, or budget to selling the product. The company dispatched with its marketer shortly before product launch, never replaced him, and left a probably able, and definitely over-staffed, marketing organization to spin with no executive sponsorship or advertising budget. In the face of this total breakdown, it’s no surprise that product sales never materialized. The resulting panic proved the undoing of a senior management who had never developed any long-term plans or expected to have to solve problems. This is not to say that the company did not have many other, deeply troubling, structural defects. But if the product had sold well, most of these issues could have been tolerated, papered over, or even ignored altogether. There are plenty of completely dysfunctional companies that nonetheless survive because they have revenue (looking at you, Microsoft). But without revenue, all the other issues contributed to fatal paralysis.

As we were growing, and with so many strong friendships built amongst co-workers, I think some got a bit too relaxed and absorbed in the "fun startup culture" aspect of Leeo. At one point, there were nearly daily board games, nerf darts flying across the office, etc. In retrospect, I think it was just a sign that we had gotten too big to be a maximally focused, agile, and productive team. Although it's quieter around the office (and a lot less likely to get hit with a nerf dart), I do feel more confident (and relieved) in our strategy moving forward. Another early problem was over-structuring of management. We were growing on such a fast trajectory, and I think we tried to implement some of the structure of larger corporations. However, going along with the theme of a maturing company, the management recognized the mistake and removed a lot of the hierarchy. Now, I feel that I can work as fast a pace as I want and have my opinions/criticisms heard by anyone (even founders). Finally, I did want to address another reviewer's comment about the sexist remark made about developing an app for women and clarify that it was made by a visiting speaker, and a lot of us cringed. That said, many of the other lunch speakers (founders of companies, investors, etc.) have shared stories, lessons learned, etc., and have been very frank in answering all of our questions about their experiences. The speaker series has been enlightening and valuable to me.