Pluspunten
Holistically, there are a lot of great things about this company. The DevOps field is without a doubt the most impactful sectors of tech going today. As such, the people that are working in DevOps are amongst the most brilliant, passionate, and technically astute minds working today. This is without a doubt the case for the vast majority of Frogs. To accomplish building such a high caliber team on a global scale is no small feat. Artifactory is without question the leading binary repo in the space today. Equally, the nearest competition is a distant second, giving the entire company a sense of confidence in their work and the company’s direction that allows for bold “leaps” forward that are energized and focused. The R&D and product team works with a rich sense of dedication to the customers that is driven by clear vision and confidence. Solutions Engineering enthusiastically partners with all customer-facing roles to deliver meaningful insights, and offers authenticity and experience with passion and humility to spare. The support team is comprised of highly skilled and incredibly personable professionals who are eager to help everyone - both internally and customer-facing. The marketing team is (though they might humbly disagree) very well-organized and well-rounded, capable of having a positioning conversations as easily as more in-depth technical conversations from the C-Suite down. The sales and success team is young, hard-working, passionate, and care about their customers needs. The finance team shares a genuine enthusiasm and interest with each individual team on that team’s level and in their language in a way that is rarely seen in a company of this size with it’s growth rate. And though you might not get your desired outcome, management is reasonably responsive to questions, suggestions, and opportunities to collaborate, with one fairly significant exception.
Minpunten
Though it would seem to be a contradiction in terms, the sales and success organization is the result of nearly a decade of inexperience. Specifically, the VP had no prior sales experience - executive or otherwise, and burdens the team with an unchecked ego, deficient grasp of the products and customer needs, and an overall poor grasp of any strategic planning. Subsequently the pipeline, team structure, and overall scalability has the integrity of a 4th grade art project. This is not to say that they’ve been completely unsuccessful. Company revenue goals are met consistently. However, there is no outbound. There is no field. There is no dedicated account team. And because the product has lapped the competition so effectively, it has never been effectively tested in a bake-off or against a disruptive alternative. “Customer Success Managers” are Renewals Managers. “Warriors” are (for the most part) trial managers and order takers. Most everyone on the team could be significantly more impactly, and enjoy more rewarding challenges if given the opportunity. There has been 90% attrition on the new business (Warrior) team, and over the past 18 months that team has gone through 2 managers and has spent as much time with one as without. Each manager brought insights, ideas, ambition, and experience that was lacking, and neither could effectively manage the team because of executive interference from the VP. The split between “new” (Warriors) and “existing” (Customer Success) business is patently ridiculous, and has created a culture of uncertainty and backbiting that has slowed down sales cycles and infuriated customers.