Pros
When I joined, Turn was a healthy and profitable company considered to be a leader in the industry that was growing faster than any of its peers. After a while it raised around $80m from investors and became cash-rich. This was the beginning of a series of disasters. All of the sudden, executives came up with the doomed idea of selling media like a software simply because Wall Street prefers software companies over media companies. They hired many people from various software industries who had no experience in advertising, but these people were also the victims of a catastrophic shift in the company's strategies. Obviously no agencies or trading desks welcomed the idea of buying media as software, and one-by-one they walked away from Turn.
After less than a year it became clear that things at Turn were going wrong. It kept losing its biggest customers. The revenue continued to decline, and a couple hundred people left, including many of the most talented employees. It burned most of the money that it raised in the last round of funding. Many of the then-current executives were either fired or voluntary left Turn, leaving very little money in the company's bank account.
Then the new CEO came, but it was already too late to turn the situation around. I have tremendous respect for those who decided to stay at Turn at that point. They were brave, dedicated, and didn't choose to leave what was now obviously a sinking ship... Together with the new CEO, they redefined their reason for being, developed a differentiated vision and built a healthy organization. In less than another year it became a company focused on its mission more than it ever was before, and more than any of its competitors as well. Ultimately they weren't able to get back on a strong growth track, but that was because there was no money left in the bank for hiring and investing. The new CEO did a truly impressive and admirable job. Only the ex-executives that were no longer with Turn were to blame...
Singtel's recent acquisition of Turn may look like a terrible deal considering that Turn had at one point almost attained Unicorn status, but the true story was that the remaining employees and the new CEO successfully turned the company around, increased its value and sold the company for a higher multiple than many of its peers that have already gone IPO and had twice the number of people that Turn had. Unfortunately, nobody made significant amount of money from the deal, except perhaps for the execs who created the problems and had already left Turn. It's sad, but true. Under the new leadership, Turn won many huge deals when up against giants such as Google and Facebook despite having much less money and resources, which required a great deal of talent and dedication from each of the employees.
I have seen all the good, the bad and the ugly, in my days at Turn. I worked alongside both the best and the worst executives and professionals in the industry. The worst ones screwed up the once-promised unicorn, but the best ones dedicated themselves to recover it. Now backed by a tremendously resourceful telecom giant, I hope Turn can finally unlock their potential and really get back into the game.
Cons
Employees in international markets had been unfairly treated. I'd have warned that people outside the US should avoid Turn at all costs, but that could be different now with the acquisition.
