Pros
Under previous leadership the company and the staff were growing in a positive direction. Previous C-suite leadership gave the company lots of credibility in the public safety sector.
Like any start up, expenses were higher than revenue but sales were growing steadily. At that time, the company felt like it had a very promising future.
Cons
The current executive leadership team under CEO TJ Kennedy destroyed all momentum previously generated by a core team of employees.
A vast majority of key personnel were either fired for no apparent reason or resigned. Despite talk of transparency and trust from the CEO, nothing was communicated to employees about why people were leaving.
Promotion from within was non-existent, and the new executive team that supported the CEO was only effective in contributing to the destruction of the core team.
A culture of micromanagement was installed within the sales and marketing teams, which further damaged morale. No attention was paid to learning the business before sweeping changes were made. New sales personnel were not properly trained and marketing strategies were abandoned without cause.
The lack of empathy in the executive ranks was astonishing.
Sadly, this appears to be a pattern of behavior with this CEO. Some cursory research reveals a similar track record of performance at his previous company. Most notably, the implementation of a “strategic roadmap” and the outflow of good talent are eerily similar.
New hires should be aware that although the product has great potential, leadership cannot be trusted to have the best interest of their employees at heart.