It is truly a marvel to witness what the current CEO, Shawn Gaide, has "accomplished." It is almost impressive really...unraveling deep company culture and exponential growth that took 7 years to build in less than a year is...well impressive!
Yes, Sendlane was the hottest startup just one year ago. What changed? Leadership. Did leadership have any previous experience in the industry? No. Combine this with the general "cold and corporate" approach from Shawn and you have a recipe for disaster.
And so disaster ensued.
-The culture, which was fun, explorative, and exciting, became a non-factor.
-Team retreats got cancelled.
-Employees with years of tenure and success got suddenly fired without getting replaced. This meant more work for existing employees without more pay.
-Leadership went quiet instead of addressing issues, blurring the future for many of the hopefuls here at Sendlane.