5y
Hey there - PC (CEO of ProfitWell). Wanted to address your comments directly. I wrote a very lengthy response to the review titled "Not worth it", so I'd love for you to check that out, because I believe it'll address some of the same concerns you have, which hopefully helps you get a wider perspective.
Ultimately if you feel similarly as that reviewer, I just want to apologize. While I disagree with a good amount of the information relayed in that review, the reviewer and you didn't get a great impression of ProfitWell, nor did you feel like you could openly talk about this or ask questions to get some clarity to check your assumptions. That's on me and the rest of the management team. I'm genuinely sorry.
I care a lot about everyone who's worked (or is working) here and while we're never going to be perfect, the bedrock of a good culture is making sure everyone can feel comfortable asking someone or through some channel to clarify situations. I hope my comments in that response help you get a clearer picture of the story and help clear up some fears.
That being said, couple of quick comments on some specifics you said in your review:
1. Reviews written by management or recruiting
We do not write reviews for anyone, nor do we work to game reviews. Like most review sites, those positively inclined don't always think about posting, so Recruiting does run campaigns from time to time asking team members for reviews. We don't ask them to write something specific, nor confirm if they've written something. Of course, some people do tell us they wrote something (to be fair).
I also do get some folks who come to me and personally ask about a negative review. They typically want more insight and then mention their experience is different. If they ask what they can do to help (and only when they ask), I do encourage them to post their own review, but don't tell them or ask them what they'll write. Glassdoor is anonymous so hard to tell, but based on timing I'm sure one of the positive reviews stemmed from one of those interactions. I do not (nor will I) follow up with those people to confirm, because what or if they write is their prerogative.
2. Buying back equity
I'm not sure who you spoke with or if you asked, but we do buy back equity on a number of occasions. It's not an automatic when someone leaves the company, but normally around end of year or tax time we'll offer to buy back equity from some folks. This all depends on how much the person had, the current strike price, and logistics. Some folks have a large stake which if bought at a fair price are expensive. Others fit this example - if someone was only here for a year and was entry level, they'll likely have a small amount. Logistically around tax time, it may cost more to administrate their holdings so we'll offer to buy the stake back, but we never force this and in fact have some folks who left very early who still hold on to their interests as they continue to increase in value.
In terms of worth, what's unique about our equity is that you outright own it. You didn't have to buy them as options nor do you have to pay taxes on them. I know that's some insight that can get complicated, but this is very different than a lot of companies and has a lot of benefits that allow you to more easily leave and still hold on to their value. If we were to go through a liquidity event or even start distributing profits you would gain in those instances without having to do anything (except pay taxes). Since we're bootstrapped and profitable, these scenarios have a much higher likelihood of getting you some value (and sooner) than a traditional tech company.
Hopefully that clears some of your concerns up. Again, apologies if you didn't feel comfortable asking some of these questions. That's on me. If you'd like us to buy your equity back, more than happy to do that. Just reach out to me or PeopleOps and we can carefully explain the tradeoffs and give you a clear offer. Happy to help.
