Run the other direction - Anonymous employee Sonder Employee Review

1.0
Feb 25, 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

A few bright, talented people, free lunch, travel perks, potentially cool product.

Cons

I know, I know. You want so hard for Sonder to be a cool place. It seems like a sexy brand. Travel. Design. A product that exists IRL. And then you get hired and realize this place has all the classic startup flaws. And then some. Arrogant founder CEO. Inexperienced execs (lots of B and C level players). Lack of strategy. Lack of vision. And you realize you didn’t get a seat on a rocket ship, you’ve gotten a seat on a piece of space junk. Something that managed to make it into orbit by burning through serious VC cash and riding the tailwinds of Airbnb and other OTAs. You realize you could forgive the company for not being what you thought and hoped it was except for one fatal flaw: The culture sucks. It’s the worst you’ve ever seen. Bullying. Mean girl stuff. Tech bros who strut around with iPhones a leather holsters like wanna-be-detectives. This 1000+ person company communicates entirely on Asana. For. Everything. There’s a blatant disregard for the environment (single-use plastics fill Sonder spaces, the company churns out tons of junk everyday with it’s throwaway lunches). And the memos - my god, this place is into memos like it’s the 1980s. In short, Sonder isn’t powered by ideas or by heart or even a belief that travel is good for the world and brings us closer. This place is about greed and money, and if that’s not the only thing that moves you, don’t take a seat on this ride.

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Sonder Response
6y
We appreciate you for taking the time to share this, and are disappointed to hear we missed the mark on delivering the experience you thought you'd have here. 2019 was a big year for us. We grew by the hundreds, all over the world. We expanded in new countries, built-on our foundation of tech and improved business processes left and right. We also learned a lot along the way — and if there's one thing we're proud to admit, it's that we know we're not perfect yet. It's why "Improve Continuously" is a core Principle of our culture and why we take feedback like yours so seriously. Please get in touch with hrbp@sonder.com. We’d love to chat more about this with you.

Explore other reviews about Sonder

5.0
Nov 11, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Culture was great. We had a lot of fun building something that could have gone to the moon. Best employer I ever had until we closed our doors.

Cons

It's closed now. Unfortunately had to happen very abruptly,

1.0
Jul 16, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Flexible work from home and ok pay

Cons

Company's leadership was a mess and company had to file for Chapter 7

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