Pros
- Ability to work from home - Genuinely smart + good people
Cons
Wideorbit is experiencing major headwinds. There was a massive round of layoffs that impacted 20% of the company. DO NOT BELIEVE THE POSITIVE REVIEWS AS THEY WERE POSTED BY HR THE DAY PRIOR TO MASSIVE LAYOFFS. - WideOrbit is a legacy TV company that is really struggling to adapt to existing times. Our client base are traditional local broadcasters. - Struggling with an identity crisis because we acquired a few companies 5 years back and still have no clear path to merge said companies. Are we a buy-side or sell-side company? The CEO clearly wanted to be everything to everyone, which as a result, has created inferior products across the board - Every division is siloed and operates in a vacuum with minimal communication across divisions. Each division is strapped for resources, creating a horrible environment where colleagues are at odds vying for such resources - Revenue is declining YOY with no clear path to growth (since people are continuing to cut the cord at rapid rates) - A good idea DOES NOT come from anywhere. All decisions are made by 3-4 C-level executives, with little to no guidance from anyone else in the company. Such decisions are not presented or reviewed with anyone else, aside from said executives. Middle management has no impact whatsoever, no feedback is provided to executives to help inform decisions, it really is a vacuum. - There is no company culture, its honestly a pretty toxic environment for most people. - Morale is at an all-time low due to 1) subpar products 2) declining revenue 3) client attrition 4) massive layoffs 5) no internal communication - No opportunity for career growth. There is no real middle management, since the few VP's that exist are individual contributors. Employees have been with WideOrbit with 10+ years, stuck in the same role with the same title. If career growth is impt to you, this is not the place - HR is non-existent. Not once in my 4 years here has HR conducted an employee feedback review, performance review, 360 review, etc. - Ironically, this is the 2nd round of layoffs in my time here. You would think we would learn from their mistakes? - No board oversight since CEO is Chairman and majority stakeholder. As a result, there are no ramifications for poor management + decisions, and there have been a lot of bad decisions over the last 5 years. - Spending money on the wrong things. WideOrbit has tried to transition their products to the digital advertising world, however, those leading and selling it have no digital experience. Calling something "Programmatic" does not really make it such. The Programmatic product that does exists has a 99%+ attrition rate. It is hated by agencies, brands, digital platforms and traditional station broadcast partners. It is bad, really really bad. Don't believe the pitch about the 1-2 clients that love it, those clients disappeared long ago. - No GTM or sales strategy. Decisions are made to pivot one way or the other, with no actual gameplan on how to do it. Pounding your chest and touting the same numbers about reach and revenue is not a strategy. - NO BD - an entirely closed off company. No ecosystem of partners which has resulted on WideOrbit being on an island of it's own. Both buy and sell side clients continuously ask for various partner integrations, unfortunately, WideOrbit just keeps thumping its chest. - C-Level Executives involved in most, if not all, new business, partnership and sales negotiations. There are highly qualified people capable of handling this, however, no meeting can be had without 2-3 C-level executives in attendance. It's really kind of crazy when companies have 1 BD person at a meeting and WideOrbit rolls up with 9 people, 2-3 of which are C-Level. - Cost cutting everywhere, except executive level - all divisions are asked to do so much with very limited resources. Travel has been cut, marketing has been cut, sales cut, product cut, etc. However, executives are still flying around the country in private jets, staying at the 4 Seasons and expensing 3-star Michelin dinners - Benefits are subpar
