Software Developer

Recent reviews, detailed reviews are usually more honest. Fake reviews are always brief. Apart from rating, also look for reviews on grapevine, fishbowl etc

Growth Manager

Not sure if this is the right or only metric. As a norm, people are more eager to rate and review negative experiences than the positive.

Yeah, if the org is growing, you will have a PM who is actively managing this metric as this is an important channel to generate leads.

Product Manager

Why even see the 5 then? Just not see the length of 1 star?

Because they're paying to get 5 star reviews in place - which is even worse. Focus is on reputation management of shit proposition as opposed to making the proposition better

Founder

Software Engineer

I always start with low ratings. 
 Because most of the good ones (talking about good stuff with no single con) are fake.

Backend Engineer

I'm not 100% sure if this is the right metric to draw any conclusion.
Generally, users are only putting reviews when they have a bad experience. Plus, reviews can be fake.

If you find a C 🤘shape in the app ratings, things are bad, and the longer the one star, the worst things are.  What are the other signals you use to know about the comoany.

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

If you find a C 🤘shape in the app ratings, things are bad, and the longer the one star, the worst things are.

What are the other signals you use to know about the comoany.

Unpopular way to know if a company is doing well or going down

Unpopular way to know if a company is doing well or going down- Grapevine

Let's say i m noob, observing startups or mnc. I want to evaluate, understand how is the company doing. I don't want to go into to much technicality. What are those metrics i can achieve this? Also would love you to specify resources to start journey of learning such nitty gritties about businesses.. Thanks in advance

VCs out there

I don’t know who needs to hear it, but do not blindly trust good glassdoor/ambitionbox/others ratings. In this bad market every company is working well below what their  rating portrays. Now it could be 5/5 in one team but 2/5 in another in general sense. However, now the top to bottom trickle of pressure, politics and such is ensuing. You might think you’re seeing good people in ur next job, reviews are mostly good, work/role looks fine and jump into the company - only to realise that soon good people are being removed or they’re moving.

See if u are not able to get honest feedback from someone in the company or ur new team before u join - be prepared for harsher reality. Like Swiggy was really good 1 year back or more but no longer. So it’s in ur best interest to get the current ground reality before joining somewhere in this economic condition.

PSA: Do not join company based on too good Glassdoor rating

Glassdoor really isn’t a trustworthy platform. Think of it in this way, not many people would post good reviews about anything, be it a product, a service, or a company. Always check the negative reviews, understand whether they sound legit (the legit ones are usually well explained), and speak to ex employees of that organisation/team.  
  
 Also, most good reviews are fake and written by the HR Team. Two of my previous employers used to do it.

Growth And Strategy

Everyone is raising questions about why startups are losing money so heavily

But on the other aspect, do people see that the sectors which are the highest loss making have become a crucial impact of our lives?
Example
Hospitality, Ed-Tech,Food Tech, Logistics and Ride hailing

Can we imagine our lives to go back where we were 10-12 years ago without such services?

I think the bigger game is going to be get more people to use the platform, make them high intent users and get them so used to to the platform that it becomes a necessity
Hence I feel they are spending money to grab the audience and then build on it
I am quite sure a lot of companies are going to fall, but that is how a the world of business behaves
Would love to know thoughts

Are loss making startups good or bad?

Business Development Manager

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

Glassdoor is usually tough to read, but negative reviews help
Not too many people leaving on LinkedIn is also a good thing

What are signs one can look for to identify a good startup when joining?

What are signs of a good work culture? Things you can notice before you join a startup?

Corporate Strategist

In your experience, what are some early signs that help detect incoming layoffs at a startup?

 It could be company-wide, team specific or in a particular function only.

Layoffs at startups: Early signs or warning signals

Hiring freeze, decreased marketing spend, founding team retreating away from day to day activities and meetings

Startups that we thought were dead, but are actually doing very good? (Lets bring some positivity here)

I am awaiting an offer from a big MNC, and I have discussions ongoing with some small companies as well. My notice period is now over, as my project is finished and they asked me to leave in a month (they don't want to keep me on the bench)

So, I wanted to check if there would be any issues if I opt to join a small company whoever offers me first and then whenever the big ones offer, leave the small company dropping them a mail and returning their assets, and join the big one without serving the notice period in the small company? Kindly advice.

Is there a problem if I join and leave a small company for a big one?

Senior Consultant

VC with 5+ yrs of exp - AMA

Community Manager

Welcome to Personal Finance's Private Community

- Central Banks have almost achieved their objective of controlling inflation through tightened monetary policy. Though the CPI is inching lower,  asset inflation is resurfacing through stock prices and real estate. 
- Many listed companies that came out with the quarterly numbers are nothing good to talk about. Growth and profits are subdued and for small and mid caps the numbers are decimated but the stocks are still trading at a historical premium. 
- Analysts will once again start downgrading the earnings forecast and that will start the downward momentum. Once again people will undergo the "Flight to Quality" effect. 
- No of Bankruptcies is steadily increasing 
- No of Job openings are trending lower
- Most of the US listed firms that have borrowed at a lower interest rate in 2021 are coming up for renewals this year. By the time they refinance, they will be doing it at a higher interest rate which will impact their PAT as a result their EPS estimates will take a biting. 
- Gold looks attractive from a market cycle standpoint. 

My Recommendation: 
- Have an emergency fund for at least 6 to 9 months to cover your expenses. 
- Exit overvalued small and microcaps stocks. Move to a reasonably valued large cap.
- Have health insurance for you and your dependents. 
- Move out of small cap mutual funds and have some allocation to debt funds. 

Let me know your thoughts. 

I hope 2025 turns out better.

[Must Read] Markets will Correct 📉

Man, not one month of 2024 has completed, and hoping for a good 2025. Tough times!

Consultant

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

10-year old Saas start-up with ~150 employees dominated the market for the last 7 years with notable clients. Trying to pivot to get more profitable. 

Raised series B in March’22 and went on a hiring spree. During that time period, they've also fired one third of the sales team due to "performance" but 0% of reps have attained quota in the last 4 quarters.

Top indicators that startup is failing

Lately many of the startups faced valuation cuts. Baron Capital cut Swiggy by 40%, Blackrock and Pepsis cut Byju’s by 70%, SoftBank cut Oyo by 70%. Just to name a few. 

Everything about Byju’s is very much present here on grapevine. I’m curious to know about others, not limited to the ones named above. How’s your organization doing these days?

Probably, there is no VC-funded unicorn in India that is likely to stand the test of its private valuation in a public market

Where have all the startup hedgehogs gone?

Devalued startups. How are you doing?

Is this buy rating for short term or long term buying on Groww?

Investor

What questions would you ask to evaluate if you should join an early stage startup in this market?

The objective is to ensure job longevity, avoid getting laid off and experience a reasonable amount of growth.

Is there anything else that we can do apart from asking questions to the company folks?

Evaluating early stage startups in this market

I have been following the Indian startup scene for a while now, and I have to say that I am not impressed. It seems like most of the startups here are nothing more than people chasing quick bucks and the entire scene is a circlejerk of people doing everything, attending these stupid conferences and gatherings than actually building something game-changing.

Every founder is chasing nothing more than a valuation just so they can exit and there’s nothing wrong with it but don’t sit on a moral high ground talking about building business etc. There’s a reason we don’t see startups here penetrating west because most of the founders in the Indian ecosystem reek of ego and it’s all because we don’t judge business on merit but based on the degree the founders have. We all can count stupid startups draining money all because they are from some IIT or IIM or now some fancy degree from Ivy and yes it takes effort and hard work to reach there. Still, it automatically doesn’t translate to you naturally being better than a guy working his ass off to make up that difference.

Also, just because you used your dad’s money to start a 'Venture Firm or be an angel investor after college doesn’t mean you’re an expert at everything. You’re just adding to the noise and the hype that is already too much in this space. You’re not helping anyone but yourself and your ego.

So a friendly reminder can we all actually focus on building things based on hard work and merit instead of glorifying this circlejerk. Can we stop being obsessed with funding rounds and valuations and start being obsessed with solving real problems and creating value for customers and society? Can we stop being influenced by the media and the hype and start being influenced by the data and the feedback? Can we stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution?

Startup scene being a complete circlejerk.

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

Hike Graph is on a roller coaster ride since covid. With nothing certain about the Interest Rates & Inflation.

What is your company offering & What all factors they look at during the appraisal cycle ?

How much Hike are you getting this FY ?

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

I work as a Product manager at a series A well funded startup.
This company is run by a solo founder/CEO.

This is a wannabe tech and product startup that does not care about their product at all. The internal review meetings get 5 minutes on product and 55 minutes on business and operations on a good day!

All they care about is how to run operations and tech just works on automation instead of building the product for the end user. Every OKR cycle runs for two months where OKRs are set for product but we end up building internal tools because things get "re-prioritised" and operations "can not miss targets".

The worst part is that the strategy changes every 2 months and every week, the CEO keeps adding new "wants". Almost like a baby seeing shiny new toys.
At this stage, the product has become a mess with no identity at all!

This baby always says "But is that even do-able" acts critical and tries to seem smart in front of their employees while lying to the investors and board every other week that we are a tech and product company.

I don't know if this happens at other startups in India. 

Would love to hear what y'all have experienced.

Identifying a Baby founder

You sound like a tech bro, who thinks that only tech runs the world. Huge companies like Tata, reliance etc are built on solid operations and business insights.  
  
 Tech is enabler, if the founder is smart with business and operations, most likely he will make a good business, and unless you start valuing things beyond tech also, you will keep hopping jobs and cribbing why people don’t value you.

Unpopular way to know if a company is doing well or going down

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