I could list the usual things like below-average pay and out-of-touch executive management, but I think others have already covered that. The real problem is that SilkRoad isn't built or run to deliver a product, it's run to attempt an IPO, but they never get around to it.
I've been around nearly a decade, and since my first day at the office there was constant talk about an IPO. But SilkRoad's management team has never been able to pull it off because they always think they can do it better in another six months. Do you remember Duke Nukem Forever? And how it took 15 years for the game to come out because they kept re-writing it for different game engines and trying to re-work the features of the game? But eventually all they ended up with was a 15-years-late mess? That's SilkRoad. SilkRoad desperately wants to do an IPO, but because the company never quite looks right on paper they keep tearing everything up and starting over. I've seen it several times over the years: Bring in some consultants. Consultants, who are hired guns and know nothing about the company or the business, suggest making the books look better by firing a bunch of staff. Company fires a bunch of staff. Teams, now gutted, fall behind. Company hires new staff to get back to equilibrium. Repeat, still without an IPO. Or better yet: Consultant suggests company spend a fortune and buy another application (most of the company's apps were acquired, not built) for the product suite. Company does this. New app fails to improve situation and becomes a financial drain. Next consultant suggests dropping the app. Repeat, still no IPO.
I've been around for more of these iterations than I care to admit. You'd think at some point the company would figure things out, but they just never do. The CEO recently brought in another consultant, an old friend of his, who is again gutting the staff and the product lines. In the past the culls usually involved the weakest links, but this time around extremely talented and knowledgeable staff are being cut down left and right. It's starting to feel like Stalin's purges, where anyone who might possibly question the regime has to go.
