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Oblong Industries

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Good CEO fun vision and nice colleagues - Software Engineer Oblong Industries Employee Review

4.0
Feb 9, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

John Underkoffler is a very good person. He has created a unique company. There is respect ambition and great work being done. There is a lot of talent in Sales Finance and Development.

Cons

The accusation of nepotism from another review is somewhat true. Top leadership positions are occupied by old friends of the CEO and they are not great for their jobs (COO, Business Development, CS) which is unfortunate. The design team is getting better and learning from mistakes but could make less mistakes with a more experienced leader.

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Oblong Industries Response
9y
I recognize that this post was made a while ago, but wanted to take a moment to thank you for your feedback, as well as share some updates. First, thanks for your kind words about John. He has indeed created a very unique company! I also appreciate your feedback regarding our leadership. We have made some exciting changes and have learned from our past challenges. I can honestly say that we have a stronger leadership team than ever before and are excited about what’s in store for the year ahead.

Explore other reviews about Oblong Industries

5.0
Mar 24, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great Management Work Life Balance Remote

Cons

not many cons, just do your job

2.0
Aug 7, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fascinating technology, literally grew out of Hollywood special effects visualizations and looks awesome compared to other tech in corporate offices and meeting rooms Strong, focused, dedicated team Visionary, inspiring CEO Treated employees with respect and courtesy, up to and after termination (at least in my case) Basically, all the same positives mentioned in other reviews.

Cons

Major layoff in late June 2017, about 25-30 people out of about 100 total (numbers are guesses, likely not exact), hit all divisions - sales, engineering, etc. Basically everyone who had been there less than a year, plus a few others. For many of us who had been recruited and left other jobs (some relocated for Oblong, then got let go only a few months in) the reduction prompted a “why did you staff up a few months ago?” reaction. If they start hiring again in 2017 or 2018, I would suggest negotiating a golden parachute into any role in case they decide to suddenly modify staffing levels again. As cool as the technology is, in some ways it is still a solution in search of a problem. Adoption and growth after landing an account is hard, manual work (as is, frequently, just keeping systems running as there are many interconnected systems and potential points of failure). Very, very dependent on one large customer (who is also having financial difficulties and layoffs of their own) and efforts to diversify revenue sources have been unsuccessful. Channel development (and channel relationships/trust) is minimal or non-existent. Similar revenue challenges and mass exodus at primary competitor don’t bode well for this entire tech segment.

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