Great start then a long steady decline - Sales Engineer innoPath Employee Review

3.0
Oct 17, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Overall, I enjoyed working at InnoPath and thought the people were great. I am still in touch with friends I made while at the company and visit whenever I'm out in the Bay area. I'm giving an overall rating of Neutral because early on I was very satisfied (5 stars) and by the time I left on my own I was very dissatisfied (1 star). I worked at InnoPath for almost 7 years (2005-2012) and saw significant changes over the years. Initially, the technology was cutting edge and really cool. Employees were excited and energetic. Top three U.S. wireless carriers were our customers. Product roadmap was good with plenty of work to do. Company was growing and new hires into company were good people who wanted to make a difference. Benefits were good to a little above average. Compensation was competitive with the industry (although it was the employees responsibility to negotiate salary increases.)

Cons

Once the founders stepped down and new senior management was brought in, the decline started. John is an energetic and passionate CEO. However, he micro manages every aspect of the company and stifles any innovation and creativity. It's his way or not at all. HR did a fantastic job of hiring excellent talent which went to waste. Sales was handcuffed from the top and expected to enforce John's will against better judgment and recommendations. Key Tier 1 carrier customers were alienated and lost because John would not let his Sales team do what they did best - understand and manage the customer relationship. From that point on, it was a steady decline as morale sank and the long term company vision became unclear. The company had a legitimate chance of going public or being acquired early on but the actions of senior management squandered that golden opportunity.

Explore other reviews about innoPath

5.0
Feb 3, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great place to work, loved all nine years. Many friends

Cons

Sadly, defunct. Got purchased by local company. Miss my friends

1.0
Dec 16, 2008
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

InnoPath had signficant potential in the mobile space. It has a relatively strong presence on the carrier side as well as the handset side. It also has reasonable IP & dedicated employees. It has potential which it needs to exploit.

Cons

The company is driven from the top by the CEO. He is a complete micro-manager, even though he claims that he wants to let go. Additionally, he has a temper which has manifested itself on many occasions. The exec staff is not cohesive & tends to be disfunctional as a result. Because the fear that the CEO instills in the organization, his VPs are unwilling to stand up to do the correct thing for the business. The CEO also believes that he is a subject matter expert in all areas - engineering, marketing, HR, sales, and operations. He has overrriden his organization multiple times with little information; this has sometimes had disastrous results. The exec staff, particularly the CTO, is quite political. The CEO allows this type of behavior and on occasion fosters it. ICs tend to be demoralized because of years of promises of doing an IPO. Fostering this have been promises of salary increases but most people have not seen an increase in 3+ years.

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