Pendo is a chaotic company. There is a lot of reactive decision making from leadership, coupled with brash, arrogant, and oftentimes unprofessional behavior acted out under the guise of “brutal honesty”, one of the prominent core values. I’ve never worked in an organization that feels this top heavy- some of the most inconsequential items need to be approved by the C suite. For a company that values “bias to act”, leadership fails to create an environment that makes that core value tenable for its employees. There is a real lack of trust from the top down. The need to please leadership to get things done at Pendo has led to a toxic company culture, where in order to get ahead it’s necessary to adopt a sycophantic attitude to those in charge. If you don’t, don’t be too surprised if you are let go or forced out. In the meantime, employees spend so much time making sure they seem “bought in” enough, that no one bats an eye at any of the questionable decisions being handed down from the top. It can often feel cult-like in that way- any dissidents are dismissed for questioning leaders at Pendo. There is a lack of data around pay and objective requirements on tracks to be promoted, or to at least have your salary increase. This lack of data has led to high turnover, vast inequity, and sub-market pay. It feels like employees are placated instead by being promised that they’re part of a tech “unicorn” that will eventually have a big pay off. It’s a shame, because there are so many good people and hard workers that have been caught in the wake of big egos and sloppy processes at Pendo.